Karen Read: What did star witness text to other witnesses?
Karen Read's defense team has long argued was framed for John O’Keefe's death. Jennifer McCabe's testimony is central to the case.
Editor's note: This page summarizes testimony in the Karen Read trial for Friday, May 2. For the latest updates on the Karen Read retrial, visit Paste BN's coverage for Monday, May 5.
A key witness in the Karen Read trial who says the Massachusetts woman admitted hitting her cop boyfriend with her SUV was grilled about cryptic text messages she sent in the aftermath of the death of John O’Keefe.
Jennifer McCabe, a friend of the couple who went out drinking with them the night before O’Keefe died, is perhaps the central witness in the case against Read. McCabe testified earlier in the week that the former finance professor confessed to hitting the Boston police officer with her Lexus.
On Friday, she sparred with lawyers about text messages she sent after O’Keefe's death in January 2022. Defense attorneys have long maintained that Read was framed and they say McCabe’s messages show she organized a cover-up around how the 46-year-old officer wound up unconscious in the snow outside a Canton, Massachusetts home.
“Kerry talked to the cops and kept simple” McCabe said in a text at about 8 p.m. on January 29, 2022, the day O’Keefe’s body was found outside her sister Nicole Albert’s home. Kerry is Kerry Roberts, another key witness. Her sister responded: “We’ll get more info tomm. Don’t want to text about it.”
Questioning of McCabe’s text messages comes after she has already been on the witness stand for days, delivering testimony about Read’s bombshell admission, vivid details about discovering the body of “one of her closest friends” and Read’s “crazy” and “erratic” behavior that morning following a night of drinking with the couple.
The star witness’ testimony has marked a highpoint in the ongoing trial. Read, 45, is back in court after a trial in 2024 ended in a hung jury. The years-long whodunnit legal saga has garnered massive intrigue from true-crime fans across the country, spurring an array of podcasts, movies and television shows.
In a heated cross-examination on Friday, Read’s lawyers continued their strategy of sowing doubt in witnesses called by prosecutors. Read has long argued that she was framed for O'Keefe's murder by law enforcement officers who she alleges killed O’Keefe during an altercation.
McCabe’s three-day-long testimony delivered a slew of bombshell admissions that are expected to play a crucial role as the trial continues. It’s expected to last at least six more weeks.
Here’s what else happened at the trial out of Dedham, Massachusetts, on Friday.
What was Read's blood alcohol level?
Prosecutors called Hannah Knowles, a forensic scientist at the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab to the stand. She began by talking about the definition of toxicology.
Knowles told jurors Read’s blood alcohol level was between 0.078% and 0.092% when she was tested at the hospital after 9 a.m. on January 29, 2022. Based on a retrograde analysis, she found Read's blood alcohol level at 12:45 a.m. that morning could have been between 0.14% and 0.28%. The legal limit for driving in Massachusetts is 0.08%.
The findings were based on a blood sample taken from Read at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Massachusetts.
McCabe's finishes testimony
After almost three days on the stand, McCabe’s testimony ended a little before 3 p.m.
More of McCabe’s texts entered
Prosecutors entered into evidence more of McCabe’s text messages from the morning she found O’Keefe’s body. At about 5:30 a.m., she called O’Keefe and sent a message saying “please answer so I know you’re OK.”
That afternoon, she texted a friend: “My mind is racing. I have that awful feeling in my gut like I am about to puke. Besides seeing the awful image, trying to wrap my mind around what happened to him.”
Brennan also read a message McCabe’s sister sent her the day O'Keefe was found. It said: “I love you, don’t beat yourself up, you did the best you could.”
Canton neighborhood was quiet morning O'Keefe's body was found
During the prosecution's redirect, Brennan asked McCabe if she remembered hearing sirens when first responders arrived at the scene of O’Keefe’s body on January 29, 2022. She said she didn’t.
He also asked if anyone came out of their homes in the densely packed neighborhood that morning to help. McCabe again said they did not.
The line of questions appeared aimed at countering doubts raised by Read's defense about why McCabe's sister and brother-in-law, who lived in the home near where O'Keefe's body was found, did not immediately awake when first responders arrived.
When Read’s defense team later pressed McCabe again on whether there was a “cacophony” of lights and other sounds, including Read’s screams, outside the home, she said there was.
What did McCabe do when she arrived at the scene?
Read's defense attorney pressed McCabe on her actions upon arriving at the address where O'Keefe was found. She testified that she called 911 before making two unanswered calls to her sister, Nicole Albert.
Jackson asked McCabe why she didn't ask her brother-in-law, Brian Albert, a police officer, for help given that he would have had first responder training and lived at the house. McCabe said she didn't think to go inside to get Brian Albert, find warm blankets or to check whether the Alberts were also in peril, and she was entirely focused on helping O'Keefe.
"The reason you didn’t go inside the house is because you knew better," Jackson exclaimed. "You knew what really happened, didn’t you?"
"At that moment, I didn't know that (O'Keefe) was hit by a vehicle and there was tail light found next to him," McCabe responded.
Defense presses McCabe on timing of Google search in Karen Read trial
Jackson asked McCabe what time she made searches on Google upon returning home the early morning hours the day O’Keefe was found dead. She said once she got home after about 2 a.m., she searched for a sports website.
Jackson presented records showing McCabe’s phone made a browser search for “hos (sic) long to die in cold” made at 2:27 a.m.
Questioning appeared combative at times as Jackson pressed McCabe on the timing of the search. McCabe denied making the search at that time, but said later that day after O’Keefe’s body was found, she made a similar search because Read asked her to.
“I never did that search at 2:27,” McCabe said.
Jackson asked her about data showing the search was later deleted while others were not.
“I never deleted a Google search off my phone,” McCabe said. “I deny it. I never made the search.”
IIan Whiffin, a digital intelligence expert with the company Cellebrite, previously testified that forensic data showed McCabe's Google search occurred at about 6:23 a.m., not 2:27 a.m. He gave a live demonstration of why, according to his analysis of the phone records, the search did not occur at 2 a.m.
Calls between McCabe and O'Keefe at center of questioning
Jackson questioned McCabe about her call history the night before O’Keefe died. Phone records show McCabe made at least seven calls to O’Keefe starting at about 12:41 a.m., in addition to the multiple calls she testified that she made earlier that night.
McCabe said she believes they were accidental “butt dials” made while she was texting O’Keefe.
Do Jennifer McCabe's texts show witness collusion?
Jackson presented McCabe with a series of messages she sent to her husband, Matt McCabe, sister Nicole Albert and brother-in-law Brian Albert, in the days after O’Keefe’s death. He alleged that the texts showed she was “colluding with other witnesses” in the case.
In the first string of texts entered into evidence, McCabe texted her sister, “Kerry talked to the cops and kept simple” at about 8 p.m. on January 29, 2022, the day O’Keefe’s body was found. Her sister responded: “We’ll get more info tomm. Don’t want to text about it.”
Another set of messages sent on Feb. 1, 2022, between the Alberts and McCabes appeared to show Jennifer McCabe and her husband listening to O’Keefe’s friend Kerry Roberts’ conversation with Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in Read’s case at the time
“You listening?” Jennifer McCabe wrote in the group text. Her husband later responded: “This girl could write a book. Nonstop.”
Highlights from McCabe’s April 29 testimony
McCabe shared vivid details about discovering the body of “one of her closest friends” and Read’s “crazy” and “erratic” behavior that morning following a night of drinking with the couple.
Prosecutors also played McCabe’s eerie 911 call the morning she, Read, and O’Keefe’s friend Kerry Roberts, found him lying in the snow outside the home of 34 Fairview Road in Canton, Massachusetts.
“There’s a man passed out in the snow,” she could be heard telling a first responder. “I think he’s dead.”
Upon cross-examination, the defense continued challenging the memory of witnesses against Read by pointing out inconsistencies between testimony given to the grand jury, in the first trial and on the stand at the ongoing trial.
Jackson pressed McCabe on why she didn’t tell the first grand jury that she heard Read say, “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,” if the memory was as ingrained in her memory as she said.
Who is Jennifer McCabe?
McCabe is one of the prosecution's key witnesses. She is the sister of Nicole Albert, who is married to Brian Albert, one of the men Read's defense team has alleged killed O'Keefe. The couple lived at 34 Fairview Road.
McCabe and the Alberts were out drinking with Read and O'Keefe the night before the Boston police officer was found dead. McCabe testified that the couple was supposed to join an afterparty at the Alberts' house, but never arrived. She alleges that she saw Read's car in front of the house in multiple spots that night.
In the first trial, Read's defense team suggested that McCabe knew something happened to O'Keefe and later helped frame Read.
How to watch Karen Read trial
CourtTV has been covering the case against Read and the criminal investigation since early 2022, when O'Keefe's body was found outside a Canton home.
You can watch CourtTV’s live feed of the Read trial proceedings from Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. Proceedings begin at 9 a.m. ET