Karen Read, the woman accused of murdering her Boston police officer boyfriend, has listed her colonial-style home for $849,900- just two weeks after her case was declared a mistrial. Read, 44, dubbed ‘America’s happiest murder defendant’ for her blithe courtroom behavior, was told on July 1 that jurors were unable to agree on whether she’d deliberately killed Officer John O’Keefe with her SUV in January 2022.
Days after the end of a contentious nine-week trial where Read alleged that she was the victim of a wide-ranging plot to frame her, jurors voted 12 – 0 in favor of acquittal for murder, according to court documents filed by the defense. They also voted unanimously to acquit her of leaving the scene of an accident where there was injury or death but remained deadlocked 9 – 3 in favor of her being guilty of vehicular manslaughter.
Read, a former professor at Bentley College, was living in her four-bedroom at the time of O’Keefe’s death. Her realtor, Richard Rocci, revealed she now wants another family to have it.
Rocci of RE/MAX Platinum told Boston.com, “Ms. Read has not been living in Mansfield since last year and now wishes for another family to enjoy the property she spent many years enhancing.” The massive Mansfield home is more than 2,000 square-feet with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. The ‘meticulously maintained’ home built in 1972 also comes with a large driveway, double-garage, a large fireplace, and is located 30 miles outside of Boston, according to Zillow.
Rocci explained how Read has made sure to update the home over the years, saying, “She’s definitely put a lot of time and money into it. The house has a lot of charm. The brick fireplace, the beams, it’s just really warm.” The home is fit with a spacious ‘sun-drenched kitchen’, two living rooms, and three additional bedrooms and two full bathrooms on the second floor.
On the evening of O’Keefe’s death, he and Read had been drinking with a group of friends at the Waterfall Bar and Grill in Canton, around 14 miles south of Boston, and were invited to his friend Brian Albert’s home for an afterparty. The couple had been dating for two years at the time of O’Keefe’s death. He was found outside in the snow at his friend’s Brian Albert’s home.
Read, who prosecutors say drank several alcoholic drinks beforehand, decided to drop her boyfriend at the afterparty before she went to his home – that O’Keefe shared with his orphaned niece and nephew – to sleep at around 1am. Court documents revealed that the couple had been bitterly arguing for weeks beforehand, and on the night O’Keefe died, Read left him a voicemail calling him a ‘f****** loser’, and telling him: ‘John, I f****** hate you.’
The couple had been dating for two years at the time of O’Keefe’s death. He had been serving in the Boston Police Department for 16 years. According to Read’s version of events, she woke up at 4am to find that the late officer never returned home, leading her to frantically drive out to try and find him.
After finding O’Keefe’s body outside Albert’s home around 6am on January 29, 2022, which party attendees claimed he never entered, first responders on the scene alleged that Read repeatedly told them she hit him while in a panicked state. Vehicle data also found that Read reversed her SUV for 62 feet at 24mph near to Albert’s home. O’Keefe’s cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma and hypothermia, with pieces of Read’s taillight found around his body, prosecutors said.
In his closing argument two weeks ago, Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally said the claims that Read was framed was little more than ‘rampant speculation.’ Lally also pointed to hair and DNA from O’Keefe found on the rear end of Read’s SUV. The defense countered that the taillight was actually broken by Read when she left in a panic to find O’Keefe when he never returned home. This included security video shown at trial showing Read clipping O’Keefe’s vehicle as she backed out of her home to search for him.
Read claimed that attendees at the afterparty beat him to death, and her attorneys presented phone data that showed O’Keefe’s phone climbed dozens of steps at the time he was allegedly struck. Her attorney, Alan Jackson, claimed that these steps could have been the basement of Albert’s home. Albert was never charged with any wrongdoing. Read’s attorneys added that although first responders claimed Read spoke of hitting O’Keefe at the scene, they claimed this evidence was falsely given at a later date and not said at the time.
A forensic engineer was brought in to evaluate the case, who testified that if O’Keefe had been struck by a vehicle at over 20mph he would expect to see more severe injuries. The reason why the jury was unanimous on the charge of leaving the scene of an accident and split on the charge of manslaughter lies in the question of Read’s intent. In order to be guilty of leaving the scene of an accident where death or injury is present, the driver must be aware that someone was maimed or killed.
The jury agreed that Read, who was accused of leaving her boyfriend for dead in the snow outside a friend’s house, was ignorant of O’Keefe’s plight. If Jackson succeeds in his bid to push the double jeopardy issue, Read could still be retried on the charge of vehicular manslaughter. The charge of manslaughter, however, does not hinge on intent, and all prosecutors are required to prove is reckless conduct.
When her trail began, Read received a slew of support from true crime fans who camped outside the courthouse with signs reading ‘Free Karen Read.’ Many took to wearing pink as a show of support for Read, leading a judge to issue an order barring any clothing or accessories that could be perceived as encouraging, and banning them from coming within 200 feet of the courthouse.
Others have been seen protesting against Read with signs that say ‘Karen Read killed a man!’ and ‘Karen Read is guilty!’ DailyMail.com contacted Rocci and Jackson for comment.
