DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - The mother of late Boston police officer John O’Keefe gave an emotional witness testimony Wednesday in the Karen Read murder retrial.
Read is accused of hitting O’Keefe, her boyfriend at the time, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow after a night of drinking in January 2022. Her defense claims she’s been framed.
Her first trial last summer ended in a mistrial. A retrial began this month, and 18 jurors were picked to hear the case.
John O’Keefe’s mother, Peggy, gives emotional testimony
O’Keefe’s mother, Peggy O’Keefe, answered the prosecution’s questions on the stand Wednesday, with the defense declining to cross-examine her.
She became visibly emotional at times, recalling the moment she heard the news of her son’s death on Jan. 29, 2022. She recounted how frantic Read appeared to be when the O’Keefe family arrived at the hospital that morning.
“I hear Karen Read yell, ‘Peg, is he dead? Is he dead? Peg, is he dead?’ And I just kept walking and then I asked — I don’t know who — it was a nurse or a worker at the hospital, and I said, ‘What is she doing here?’ And she says, ‘Oh, she’s being psych evaluated,'” Peggy O’Keefe said.
She also spoke about what her son looked like in the hospital.
“He was bruised up, his eyes were closed. Just not a good scene,” Peggy O’Keefe said.
Kerry Roberts, longtime friend of John O’Keefe, faces cross examination
Kerry Roberts, one of two women with Read when they discovered O’Keefe’s body, also took the witness stand Wednesday after she began her testimony the day before. She was a longtime friend of O’Keefe.
Read’s defense attorneys grilled Roberts over inconsistencies with some of her prior sworn statements.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson accused her of lying to a grand jury about whether or not she ever heard Read ask another woman, Jennifer McCabe, to Google hypothermia or if McCabe searched that on her own.
“Technically I was under oath and I did not hear Karen ask Jen to Google it, but I knew it happened at that time,” Roberts said.
“And yet, under oath, you said you did,” Jackson said.
“Correct,” she replied.
“And that was a lie, correct?” Jackson asked.
Judge Beverly Cannone then asked Roberts the same question.
“I — not intentionally,” Roberts said.
Assistant District Attorney Hank Brennan showed a dashboard camera video from the night of O’Keefe’s death. Roberts became visibly emotional as Brennan asked about the moment they found O’Keefe’s body in the snow.
“His body was completely covered, but his head was completely covered, so I started to dig around his face and his eyes, and his left eye was fine, but his right eye looked like it was huge. Like he had had something happen to it,” Roberts said.
Daniel Whitley, Canton firefighter/paramedic, called to testify
Canton firefighter and paramedic Daniel Whitley testified Wednesday.
Whitley testified that he came to the crime scene to take Karen Read to the hospital for a mandatory psychological evaluation. He said Read referred to O’Keefe as her husband and wondered if he was still alive.
“She kept saying, ‘I can’t take care of these kids, I can’t take care of these kids. They’re not my kids and they’re not his kids,'” Whitley said.
Whitley testified that Read was agitated and crying and did not want to go to the hospital. She eventually cooperated.
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