Karen Read live updates: Crude text messages from fired state trooper read to jury

Show Caption

Editor's note: This page summarizes testimony in the Karen Read trial for Thursday, May 8. For the latest updates on the Karen Read retrial, visit Paste BN's coverage for Friday, May 9.

Another Massachusetts state trooper took the stand in the murder trial of Karen Read on May 8, reading crude text messages sent by one of his subordinates during the investigation.

Read, 45, is accused of hitting her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, with her Lexus SUV and leaving him for dead outside the home of a fellow cop in January 2022. Prosecutors say Read deliberately hit O’Keefe, 46, in a drunken rage.

The testimony comes after defense attorneys sparred with an expert over the timing of a star witness' Google search.

An analysis of the phone of Jennifer McCabe, a friend of the couple who testified for the prosecution, found she Googled how long does it take to die in the cold the day O’Keefe was found. A second expert testified that the search was made after O’Keefe was found unconscious, not before as the defense has suggested.

Read’s lawyers say she was framed for O'Keefe's murder. Court ended May 7 with prosecutors playing a clip of Read saying "Jen McCabe, it's me or her. Either I'm going down, Jen, or you are."

The case out of Dedham, Massachusetts has turned into a years-long whodunnit legal saga that has garnered massive intrigue from true-crime fans across the country, spurring an array of podcasts, movies, and television shows. The former financial professor is back in court after a 2024 trial ended in a hung jury.

The first full day of testimony was April 23. Judge Beverly Cannone estimated the trial could last between six and eight weeks and told jurors recently that the proceedings are on or slightly ahead of schedule.

Was John O'Keefe in a fight before he died?

One of Read's attorneys questioned Yuri Bukhenik, a Massachusetts State Police trooper, about the thoroughness of his investigation, including whether he investigated the possibility that O'Keefe was involved in a physical altercation before his death. 

Bukhenik said it was possible he told the medical examiner’s office on Jan. 29, 2022, that O’Keefe had potentially been struck in the face with a cocktail glass.

Bukhenik said he did not go into the house or secure the lawn as a crime scene on the day O’Keefe was found outside. But he said he interviewed the homeowner, Brian Albert, and two witnesses, McCabe and her husband, to determine if anyone in the house had been involved in an altercation.

Read’s attorney asked if witnesses who were in the house would be motivated to lie if they were involved an altercation with O'Keefe. Bukhenik said he couldn’t answer that, but later acknowledged that someone who appears to be a cooperating witness could be a suspect who's lying.

Bukhenik is expected to return to the stand on May 9.

Defense grills state trooper about fired subordinate

One of Read’s attorney started questioning by pressing Bukhenik about the involvement of his former subordinate, Michael Proctor, in the investigation.

Bukhenik said Proctor, who was later fired for unrelated charges, was involved with collecting evidence, authoring search warrants and conducting interviews. But Bukhenik denied that Proctor had a major role in the investigation in the contentious back and forth. 

Ultimately, Bukhenik said bias and Proctor’s involvement did not taint the investigation.

“This investigation was conducted professionally with integrity and all the evidence collected, all the statements collected pointed in one direction,” Bukhenik said. 

“All the evidence pointed in one direction and one direction only,” he later added.

Crude text messages from fired state trooper read aloud during Karen Read trial

Bukhenik read aloud to the jury crude text messages sent by an officer he supervised during the investigation into Read. In the August 2022 messages, trooper Michael Proctor used a slur and said he was going through a person’s phone but had found “no nudes so far.” Bukhenik did not identify the people Proctor was referring to in the messages.

Bukhenik said an internal investigation later found he failed to adequately supervise Proctor and gave an inaccurate quarterly performance review. He said he lost five vacation days as a result. Proctor, who testified in Read's first trial, was fired in March for reasons unrelated to the text messages.

Bukhenik also described the process of finding evidence as the snow melted in the days following O’Keefe’s death including his hat, a drinking straw and more pieces of clear and red plastic. Prosecutors played Ring and dash camera footage showing the damage to Read’s taillight.

Bukhenik began to walk jurors through surveillance footage from the two restaurants where Read and O’Keefe went drinking the night prior to his death before the court broke for lunch.

What did Karen Read tell police after John O'Keefe died?

Bukhenik told jurors what Read said to police and what O’Keefe’s body looked like the day he died.

Bukhenik said blood was pooled beneath O'Keefe's head and seeping into the sheets of his hospital bed after his death. Both of O’Keefe’s eyes were swollen and discolored and there were small cuts on his face. Bukhenik said there were also cuts and bruises on his right arm, hand and knee.

Bukhenik showed jurors pieces of clothing O’Keefe was wearing the day he died. He said he found it “very significant” that one of O’Keefe’s shoes was missing and while he was at the hospital, he began to theorize that O’Keefe had been struck by a car. 

“I was suspecting that he was hit out of his shoes,” Bukhenik said.

O’Keefe’s sneaker was later found at the scene, according to previous testimony.

Bukhenik then went to talk to Read at her parents' home, where he saw that a large piece of the red taillight cover was missing from her SUV. When asked about the damage, Read said, “I don’t know how I did it last night.”

Read told police that after a night of drinking, she dropped O’Keefe off at 34 Fairview Road. She said she made a three-point turn and left without seeing him go into the house, according to Bukhenik.

When asked how O’Keefe might have sustained his injuries, Read told police O’Keefe had bumped his head two nights before and had asked her about it. Police then seized Read’s vehicle and cell phone, Bukhenik said.

When did O'Keefe's friend search how long it takes to die in the cold?

Jessica Hyde, a digital forensics examiner, said a tab was opened on Jennifer McCabe’s phone at 2:27 a.m. on Jan. 29 and multiple searches were made at some point, including for sporting events, a video of the song It’s Raining Men and two crucial, misspelled questions “hos (sic) long to die in the cold” and “how long ti die in cikd (sic)”

Hyde said “hos (sic) long to die in cold” was the final search made in the tab at 6:24 a.m. O’Keefe was found around 6 a.m.

Hyde is the second expert to tell jurors this search was made after 6 a.m. Ian Whiffin, a digital intelligence expert, testified on April 28 that forensic data showed the Google search occurred at about 6:23 a.m.

Read’s attorney attempted to poke holes in Hyde's testimony by pointing out differences between her previous testimony, her report and Whiffin's findings.

How to watch the 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.   

Contributing: Michael Loria, Paste BN