Parents of Karen Read, woman charged in Boston officer’s death: ‘My daughter will be free’

The parents of a woman charged in a Boston Police officer’s death say they’re confident in their daughter’s innocence as her legal fight continues.
Karen Read, the girlfriend of late Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, has been accused of backing over her boyfriend in Canton, MA, and leaving him to die in a January 2022 blizzard.
She was charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter, and leaving the scene of a collision in connection with O’Keefe’s death. The case has drawn national attention over claims of a cover-up. A Facebook page called, Justice For John O’Keefe & Karen Read (Mass corruption) has more than 18 thousand followers.
In Massachusetts, second-degree murder includes when a person intentionally kills another without premeditation.
“We’ll resolve these issues,” William Read, father of Karen Read, told Investigative Reporter Ted Daniel. “My daughter will be free. That’s what I believe.”
William Read says his daughter told him she thought she “struck something” while she was at Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton, where O’Keefe was pronounced dead.
The father denied that Karen Read thought she struck O’Keefe.
“No, no, no,” William Read said. “She felt she struck something. She said: ‘Dad, I think I struck something.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ This was in the hospital, she says, ‘I remember backing up and hitting something, but I can’t say what it was’ and at this point, she’s frantic.”
VIDEO FROM THE BAR HOURS BEFORE DEATH:
Karen Read’s parents say she and O’Keefe became serious in 2019 right before the Covid pandemic.
“They just seemed to be in a happy place, you know,” Karen’s mother Janet Read said.
The Reads shared multiple pictures of the smiling couple at family events and on vacation.
Daniel also reviewed surveillance video showing Read and O’Keefe laughing and embracing at C.F. McCarthy’s, a restaurant and bar in Canton.
According to police, Karen Read would back over O’Keefe and leave him for dead in a snowstorm less than 3 hours after the bar video was recorded. In court documents, police estimated that Read’s blood alcohol level would have been between .13% - .29%. at 12:45 a.m., the time they believe O’Keefe was struck.
Police determined Read backed over O’Keefe after dropping him at 34 Fairview Road where a party was taking place. At the time, the home was owned by another Boston police officer named Brian Albert.
‘SUCKER PUNCHED’ IN THE BASEMENT THEORY:
William Read told Daniel he believes O’Keefe was lured to the late-night gathering and quickly ended up in the basement.
“I think John O’Keefe entered that house, was sucker punched, a fight ensued, and he was overwhelmed,” he said.
William Read suggested O’Keefe was dragged out of the house through a basement bulkhead, taken around the side of the house, and placed near the road where he was found unresponsive in a snowstorm later in the morning.
Hospital medical records detailed O’Keefe’s injuries: including his eyes swollen shut black and blue, a cut on his right eyelid, a cut to the left side of his nose, a two-inch laceration on the back of his head, multiple skull fractures, and six bloody cuts of varied length on his right forearm from his forearm to bicep.
Read’s defense team has argued that police failed to seriously consider any of the party attendees as potential suspects.
According to the Norfolk County DA’s office, eight people inside the home and three more outside testified that O’Keefe never entered, and the office states that GPS data from O’Keefe’s phone supports that.
William Read suggested that the alleged attack was kept secret from most of the people inside the Albert home, including teenagers celebrating a birthday, and only a limited number of adults were aware of it.
Ted Daniel asked Read’s parents: “if the events happen the way Karen’s attorneys say they did, how many people would have to be involved in the cover-up?”
Read’s father said: “My sense is that there are a handful of people, influential people, who know what happened.”
The Norfolk DA’s Office tells Daniel, “There was no conspiracy or cover-up,” and “such claims have been systematically refuted by evidence submitted to Norfolk Superior Court and provided to the defense.”