KAREN Read told her cop boyfriend she “hated”; him in a barrage of expletive-riddled voicemails as he lay dying in the snow, a court has heard.
The accused killer, 45, called John O’Keefe, 46, over 50 times in the hours before he was discovered in freezing temperatures.
The jury in Read’s second murder case on Tuesday heard multiple angry voicemails she left for her Boston police officer boyfriend in the hours before before his battered body was pulled from an icy Massachusetts driveway.
Prosecutors have alleged that Read backed her SUV into O’Keefe and left him to die after dropping him off at a party hosted by a fellow cop.
Her lawyers have said she was framed in a police conspiracy, and that someone inside the home that night in January 2022 must have killed him.
Prosecutors called State Police Trooper Nicholas Guarino, who confirmed that he had retrieved cellphone data from O’Keefe’s phone.
He detailed how the data showed Read called O’Keefe 52 times – without a pickup – early on the morning of January 29, 2022.
She also left him eight voicemails.
On the tenth day of her new murder trial, the court was shown the call and text message log on a Power Point presentation.
There were four unanswered phone calls from the defendant to O’Keefe between 12:33:35am and 12:35:09am.
A further three unanswered phone calls were made between 12:35:35am and 12:36:40am, with the eighth phone call ending in a voicemail left for O’Keefe at 12:37:08am.
In this first voicemail, Read can be heard yelling “John I f**king hate you.”;
There were a further four unanswered calls to his phone, until 12:40:43am. At 12:41:35am – her 13th call – a second voicemail was left for the cop.
However, the court was told that it appeared to be an “accidental butt dial”; as there were just a series of loud beeps heard.
Read then texted him, saying “I’m going home”; at 12:55:31am.
She followed that up with a further text saying, “See u later”; at 12:55:50am.
After two more unanswered calls to his phone, the 16th call, at 12:59:24am resulted in a third voicemail from her.
She said, “John I’m here with your f**king kids, nobody knows where the f**k you are, you f**king pervert.”;
A 17th call was also unanswered, while the 18th phone call to O’Keefe resulted in a fourth voicemail.
A text sent at 1:02:00 read, “Your kids are kucking [sic] ALONE.”;
Seconds later, another text said, “Im back in Mansfield. The kids are home alone.”;
At 01:10:17am, Read left her fifth voicemail, saying, “Yeah, it’s one in the morning... f**k you you f**king pervert. You’re a f**king pervert.”;
More calls were made until a sixth voicemail was left at 01:17:37am, in which she said, “John, I’m going home... I need to go home, you are f**king using me right now, you are f**king another girl, you’re a f**king loser... f**k yourself.”;
Read also left several profanity-laced emails.
These included one in which she accused O’Keefe of sleeping with someone else and leaving his two adopted children home alone.
The calls from Read resumed several hours later, with most not connecting.
But one voicemail just after 6 a.m. sounded like it came from the scene and included a muffled voice, apparently Read’s, screaming and sounding distraught.
SHOE FOUND
Also on Tuesday, Canton Police Lt. Charles Rae testified police officers searched the site on the afternoon of January 29, 2022.
The court was told that they found a shoe along the curb – O’Keefe was missing a shoe when he was found.
They also found six or seven pieces of a broken taillight.
The pieces were red and clear, the jury was told, with prosecutors showing the court images of them.
The search was suspended that day because of darkness.
EVIDENCE IN CUP
Earlier yesterday, former Canton Police Lt. Paul Gallagher finished his testimony.
Gallagher was asked about evidence-gathering at the scene.
In the first trial, he had testified about the use of red Solo cups to gather O’Keefe’s blood, and a leaf blower to clear snow.
He agreed this time that a plastic cup was not normally used to collect evidence.
But he maintained the circumstances required quick thinking and improvisation.
“If we didn’t collect that biological matter, we weren’t going to get that biological matter,”; Gallagher said.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Alan Jackson grilled Gallagher on the evidence collection method.
He asked why police didn’t go back to the station to obtain proper equipment – including swabs and an evidence bag.
Instead, they relied on a neighbor’s cups, and transported the materials in a Stop & Shop bag to the station.
“With an evidence bag, you know exactly where it came from and who is handling it,”; Jackson said.
Read has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene.
