Loading summary
Transcript18 lines
- [00:00]
A
Foreign.
- [00:06]
B
This is Crime House.
- [00:09]
A
A Boston police officer was laid to rest today. A steady stream of police officers could be seen heading into a church in Braintree. Those who knew Officer John o' Keefe say he put others first. He stepped up when others needed him, and he was the example of what a good person could be. O' Keeffe's girlfriend is facing a number of charges in connection to his death, including manslaughter. Prosecutors say she hit him with her car last Friday night. I did not kill John o'. Keefe. I've never harmed a hair on John o' Keefe's head. Hi, I'm Katie Ring, a true crime analyst, self defense instructor, and fierce advocate for victims. And this is Crime House Daily, your essential true crime companion every weekday morning and night powered by Pave Studios. My personal favorite part about true crime is the investigation. And here at Crime House Daily, we will be taking an investigative approach to true crime. We will stay on the cases and trials making headlines now where justice is still in motion, arrests are still being made, and where new evidence is still coming to light. Every morning, we'll make sure you're up to speed on today's biggest crimes with our first Watch episodes. And every night, we will go deeper with our Night Watch episodes. If you want to follow a case from the first 911 call to the final verdict, you're in the right place. Make sure to follow Crime House Daily wherever you get your podcasts. For video content, head to our YouTube channel, Rimehouse Daily. This episode discusses active criminal cases and breaking news. The information we share is based on what's publicly available at the time of recording and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not decide, guilt or innocence. Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in the court of law. Right now, a Massachusetts woman named Karen Reed is facing a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of her deceased boyfriend, John o'. Keefe. What happened to John and why is his family going after Karen? We're breaking it down in a special Night Watch extended series. Last episode, we laid out the timeline. Prosecution says Karen Reed hit and killed John o' Keefe with her car and and threw her in jail. But when Karen's defense attorney gets a mysterious call from an anonymous source, he gets a tip that could change everything. Hi, it's Katie Ring. Thank you for listening to Crime House Daily. Make sure to follow the show now on Amazon Music so you never miss an episode.
- [03:03]
B
Foreign.
- [03:07]
A
It'S now February 3, 2022, and Karen Reed has just been released from jail after posting bail. Her defense attorney, David Yanetti, is studying her case when he receives a mysterious call. The man on the other side of the phone drops an absolute bombshell. He tells Yannetti that his client, Karen is is innocent and that he should be looking into the owner of the house where John was found dead. He alleges that the homeowner, Brian Albert, and his nephew, Colin Albert, were responsible for John's death and that another federal agent helped them drag the body to the lawn in front of the flagpole. This is a huge break in the case for Karen's team. They end up tracking down the unknown caller and. But he claims that he was just speculating and completely recants his statement. But Yannetti still believes the tipster's original story. So he keeps digging. And what he finds next changes the course of their entire investigation. If there is one family in Canton that you do not want to cross, it's the Albert family. First, we have Brian Albert, the homeowner of 34 Fairview Road, who who served as a Boston police officer for 30 years. And he has the reputation of being one of those stereotypical tough guys. Fun fact, if you ever caught the reality show Boston's Finest, Brian Albert was actually one of the main guys featured on the show. Next is Chris Albert, who is a member of the Canton Select Board, which is a committee that holds decision making power over public safety, public works, and general government. This includes the power to appoint and fire a chief of police. So if you want to keep your job or get anything approved by the governing body of Canton, you do not want to get on Chris's bad side. And lastly, we have Kevin Albert, who is a Canton police officer. There are more Albert siblings, but for this case, those three are the ones we only really need to know. Given the influence of this family, David's wheels start turning. He believes that Karen is truly being framed. So he turns to the scene of the crime and goes through the list of people who were at 34 Fairview. Who are they? Did any of them have a motive to kill John? And why exactly would they help cover it up? First, we have the homeowners, Brian and Nicole Albert, and their children, Kaitlyn Albert and Brian Albert Jr. The Alberts invited everyone back to their house because Brian Albert Jr. Was celebrating his birthday with some friends. Next we have Jen McCabe and her husband, Matt McCabe. Jen is the sister of the homeowner, Nicole Albert. And although they have different last names, the McCabes and the Alberts are one tight knit family. Hence why many refer to the whole clan as the McAlberts. And if you remember from last episode, Jen was Karen's first call when she realized that John was missing. And also the one who called the police when they found John's body. The last member of the Albert family in attendance was 17 year old Colin Albert, son of Chris Albert and Brian Albert's nephew. Colin has a widespread reputation as a troublemaker and used to be John's neighbor. This will be important later, so remember that there were only three non family members in attendance that night, but all three were longtime friends of at least one of the Alberts. First we have Brian Higgins, one of Brian Albert's very good friends. Brian is also in law enforcement, but works as an ATF agent, the federal agency that oversees alcohol, tobacco and firearms. Lastly, we have Julie Nagle and Sarah Levinson, both lifelong friends of Brian Albert Jr. And they were there to celebrate his birthday. Considering the fact that everyone in the house is either family or close friends, Jannetti starts thinking that the tipster's theory might not be too far off. So he and his team slowly narrow in on some of the partygoers and start crafting their defense. And they end up finding evidence that turns the prosecution's argument upside down. And they are ready for trial. The date is April 29, 2024. We're in Dedham, Massachusetts at the Norfolk County Superior Court. The jury has been selected and Karen's defense team and the prosecution are both getting ready to present their opening statements. Karen is armed with her local star defense attorney David Yannetti and another hotshot attorney out of LA named Alan Jackson. Jackson joined the team after Karen sent him an email titled Murder of a Boston Cop. And once he looked at John's injuries, he was in. The prosecution is up first and the lead prosecutor, Adam Lally, gets up and delivers what is now considered one of the worst opening statements in history. After going through an exhaustive list of names, he does finally present his theory. John and Karen's relationship was on their last leg. They ended up getting into a fight and in a moment of rage, Karen backed into him with her car going 24 miles per hour. She hit him, he fell and she drove off, leaving him on the front lawn of 34 Fairview Road for dead. David Iannetti is up next and he gives one of the most compelling opening statements I've ever heard. His client is being framed and this is actually a story of cops protecting their own. He claims someone inside of the house is responsible for the Death of John o' Keefe and starts presenting the wild details of this case. Their homework has paid off and the nation is captivated. The onus is on the prosecution that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. And even though a third party culprit defense points the finger at someone else, the defense does not have to prove someone else is guilty. Their goal is just to sow enough doubt. And so they did. Foreign the very first detail I heard about in the Karen Reed trial was the infamous Hoss Long to die in the cold Google search. I thought to myself how is this lady on trial if someone who was inside the house, the one everyone claimed he never came into, was searching how long it would take for him to die out there before they even discovered his body? I don't know if it's undiagnosed ADHD or the fact that I'm a Gemini, but I have a tendency to go down rabbit holes and I went down this one deep. And although I had never covered a true crime case on my self defense girl Paige, I made an exception because I just couldn't believe how insane it all was. When Jen McCabe is called to the stand and she claims that she searched Hoss Long to die in the cold around 6am when she found John's body, she testified that Karen was frantic and told her to look up that information. And the third woman with him that morning, Carrie Roberts, testified under oath that she heard this conversation. This will be important later. The defense doesn't believe her, so they call an expert named Richard Greene to the stand who says based on the data, Jen made that search at approximately 2:27am in the morning. That was hours before John's body was found in the snow. So Jen is looking pretty suspicious right now. Richard also revealed that Jen deleted the search after making it. But get this, Jen denies deleting it. So the prosecution calls two data experts to debunk the defense. They say that Jen opened a Browser tab at 2:27am to search for the song It's Raining men. Then around 6:23am Right after John's body was found, Jen reuses that same tab for its reigning men to type. Hoss longed to die in cold. And since she reused the tab instead of making a new one, the phone only shows the original 2:27am timestamp because that's when the tab was open. That's not the only thing that's ringing alarms against Jen. Jen McCabe was the prosecution's star witness because she claims that she heard Karen say I Hit him. I hit him. I hit him. But the defense points out that Jen curiously left out that key admission of guilt when she first testified in the grand jury hearing. In fact, this statement isn't in any of the initial police reports or interviews on the day John was discovered. Jen did, however, call back the officer that took her original statement to add that she actually remembered Karen asking if she hit him or if she could have hit him. There's a big difference between a woman in shock asking if an inexplicable situation could have been her fault and a straight up admission of guilt. The night of John's death, Jen also called John's phone seven times in a row between 12:29am and 12:50am and none of these calls went to voicemail. Which is weird because if none of them went to voicemail, that means she would have had to end every single call herself. Get this. She also testified that they were butt dials. Here's what Jen has to say.
- [13:37]
B
I don't remember making any of those calls. So my assumption is I put my phone in my back pocket and that was it.
- [13:44]
A
After hearing this answer, people start speculating. Were those calls actually butt dials or could they have been attempts to locate John's phone? And when asked about a call Jen made to her sister Nicole Albert at 5.07am, an hour before the three women discovered the body, she claims the call was another butt dial. She's adamant that she never spoke to her sister that morning. But the call logs tell a different story. They show that the call was answered and lasted 38 seconds. And get this, when Jen was asked about the call in the retrial, she said that there was nothing nefarious about the call. An interesting choice of words. Another thing that people found curious was the fact that Jen never went inside to check on her sister when they discovered John's body on the lawn. Personally, if there was a man dead on my sister's front lawn and she's allegedly not answering her phone, the first thing I am doing is running inside and making sure she is okay. They also found it odd that she wouldn't go inside to grab her brother in law, Brian Albert, who's a first responder and the one person best fit to help in a situation like this. Another red flag people pointed out was the distancing language Jen used on the 911 call. She referred to John, who she claims to be one of her closest friends, as a man unresponsive in the snow and my friend's boyfriend and a guy but in my opinion, the most suspicious evidence of all is the group chat between Jen McCabe, Matt McCabe, Brian Albert and Nicole Albert. On February 1, the day after John's death, Brian Albert texted the group. Julie said Channel four is in D and E, which is a pizza and sandwich shop owned by his brother Chris Albert. Matthew McCabe responds, eating, I assume. Ask Chris to ask some questions. Tell them the guy never went into the house. Brian Albert replies, exactly. Later, in that same group chat, Jen types four texts in a row. Carrie is here going over timeline and we handed the phone to Carrie. She is telling him everything, all the stuff. Matt McCabe replies, Yep, if she pleads out, it will end. If she fights it, it will be an episode. Nicole likes the text. And then Matt says, brian sitting separate. Brian Albert responds, okay. And then Jen says, cops here again. Call us. After Matt chimes in, this girl could write a book nonstop. Jen says, I love it. She is telling them everything. And Nicole replies, good. When defense attorney Alan Jackson asks Jen McCabe who the guy is, she responds, john. Between referring to John as the guy and loving the fact that a woman who is not part of your family but who you just admittedly created a timeline with is telling them everything, things are seeming very sus. And those aren't the only texts that would raise suspicion. At 7:54pm on January 29, 2022, the day John passed, Jen texted her sister in law Nicole. Carrie talked to cops and kept simple. Nicole asks if there was any update and Jen replies we'll get more info. Tom don't want to text about it. But Jen McCabe isn't the only person who is making questionable moves or suspicious butt dials. Both Brian Albert and Brian Higgins disposed of their phones the day before they were served with subpoenas to preserve them. Yes, people upgrade their phones, but one day before Brian Albert exchanges his phone for a new one and conveniently that old phone is set back to factory settings and Higgins, he goes to a military base, separates his SIM from his phone and disposes of both of them. But before he gets rid of his phone, he he uses FBI resources to download a few things, which by the way is illegal. And when he is asked about this on the stand, the judge stops him and advises him to consult with his lawyer. These two characters also use the butt dial excuse for their late night calls. At 2:22 in the morning on January 29th bridge, Brian Albert called Brian Higgins. The call only lasted one second. Brian Albert testified that he was in an intimate situation with his wife and Must have accidentally butt dialed Higgins. I butt dial people often and make inadvertent calls. I could have hit a last call from him by accident, thus calling his phone. Higgins immediately calls Brian Albert back, and. And the call lasts 22 seconds. Higgins testifies that it was also a butt dial.
- [19:34]
B
You acknowledge that there's a 22 second.
- [19:37]
A
Phone call in your phone records, correct?
- [19:40]
B
That's what's reflected by the record.
- [19:42]
A
And 22 seconds is quite an amount of time, would you agree?
- [19:46]
B
It's 22 seconds.
- [19:47]
A
The crazy thing about this whole situation is that there could have been such a simple explanation for these butt dials. Like, hey, it was blizzarding outside and I wanted to make sure my friend made it home safely. But instead, they want us to believe that Albert butt dialed Higgins while getting it on with his wife. Higgins butt dialed him back. Albert butt answered. And they butt stayed on the phone for 22 seconds. And then both butt hung up. Brian Albert also raised suspicion when he sold his childhood home nearly 50k under asking when real estate was in high demand. And when he rehomed his German shepherd, Chloe, that he had owned for seven years, a dog that many had speculated caused the lacerations on John O. Keefe's arm. During Higgins testimony, we also find out some interesting information about him and the defendant, Karen Reed. They had been exchanging flirtatious texts, and in one of the cringiest moments in court history, Higgins had to read them all out loud. Let's listen. I said.
- [21:02]
B
You suck in your double trouble. Defendant responded, you're hot.
- [21:09]
A
The prosecution pointed to these texts to make Karen out to be a bad person who was cheating on her boyfriend. But the defense had another theory. After an incident in Aruba where Karen thought John cheated on her, she needed a little confidence boost, and she reached out to Higgins to fill that void, but that she didn't actually have plans to pursue anything real. But from the text, it's clear that Higgins got excited and he wanted more. But he would get frustrated with Karen when she was being vague or nonchalant about what she wanted on the stand. Alan Jackson grills Higgins on whether or not he was mad that Karen hadn't texted him for a week before John's death. He asked him, did she ghost you? He goes, well, she didn't ghost me, but she ghosted him. And that night on the 28th, Karen completely ignored him the entire time at the bar. Higgins ended up texting her well, and when she didn't respond, he reached out to John and said, are you coming here? Question mark. Question Mark question Mark Jackson questions Higgins again. Did he want to get John out of the way and have Karen all to himself? Or maybe he wanted to confront John and tell him what was happening. And lastly, we have colin Albert, the 17 year old hot headed nephew of Brian Albert that the tipster mentioned in his call. At this point in the trial, the defense is building a pretty good case that the people inside could have had the motives and the means to cover this up. But convincing a jury and the public that these people would be involved in a conspiracy this, this big is a tall order. And this brings us to the piece of evidence that sows the most. The autopsy. Even people who hate Karen Reed have a hard time explaining how John Okeefe's injuries, or should I say lack of injuries, could have been caused by a car. Other than the lacerations on John's arm, he did not have a single single injury below the neck. He had cuts on his face, long scratches on his arm, a gash on his head, a small laceration above his right eye, a small laceration on his nose, and his eyes were black and blue. The medical examiner confirmed that John's cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia. Meaning he hit his head hard enough to cause skull fractures of bleeding and serious brain damage. And the freezing temps finished the job. The medical examiner also revealed a bombshell in court. When asked if John's injuries were consistent with being hit by a car, she testified that she couldn't find any evidence of an impact site on John's body. She ruled John o' Keeffe's manner of death as undetermined. As an aside, cause of death refers to the injury or injuries that caused the victim's death. But manner of death is the way in which the victim dies. There are five determinations for manner of death. And this is homicide, suicide, accident, natural and undetermined. This is yet another odd thing about this case. Because when manner of death is undetermined, it the case rarely, if ever, goes to trial. Because if your own medical examiner isn't confident enough to say that the victim was murdered, it's extremely difficult to prove your case beyond a reasonable doubt. If Karen really did hit John with her car, especially at the speed they claim you would expect severe injuries to the trunk of his body and to his legs. But besides some of the scratches on his arm, he didn't have any injuries below the neck, not even a bruise. So if he wasn't hit by Karen's car, how do you explain his Injuries or lack thereof. The defense points to a theory that is more sinister than an accident. When John O' Keefe was discovered the morning of January 29, 2022, he had already suffered fatal injuries. The prosecution says his girlfriend Karen Reed hit and killed him with her car. But the defense disagrees. They believe John got into a physical altercation with someone inside side of the home and that the lacerations on his arm were from a dog. And guess whose family had a dog of seven years that was conveniently rehomed shortly after John's death. If you guessed the Alberts, you are correct. As I mentioned earlier in a third party culprit argument, the defense doesn't have to prove who actually did it. The key is to simply present other suggestions that provide the jury with reasonable doubt. So what did the defense suggest actually happened? They say that Karen and John didn't know the people in the house all that well. So John went in first to get a temperature check and see if they were actually welcomed before they committed to going in. Karen says she saw John go into the house but that he never came back out to get her and was not replying to any of her calls or texts. Karen thought John had ditched her and was pissed and she was also having stomach issues so she just left and went home. The defense suggests the real reason John wasn't answering the phone is is because he was confronted when he walked into the house. An altercation ensued and at some point the family dog Chloe jumped in to protect someone. John was struck, he fell, he hit his head on a ridge surface and the injuries were too extreme for him to recover. They believe whoever did this didn't mean to kill John. But since this was a house full of law enforcement officers, they realize that intention doesn't matter. Someone was going to jail if they didn't cover this up. Defense hasn't presented an exact suspect and they don't need to. But they have hinted at a few people. Could it be Brian Albert, the homeowner mentioned by the tipster who is known for being a tough guy and and who was caught on surveillance footage at the bar earlier roughhousing with his friend Brian Higgins? Could it be Brian Higgins, the star crossed lover who wants to confront John about Karen? Or could it be Colin Albert, the hot headed nephew with a history of being a troublemaker and getting violent? When Colin takes the stand and Alan Jackson is cross examining him, it becomes clear that he is the front runner. Jackson asks if Colin has ever been in a fight and Colin says other than my Brothers. No. Which we find out is a lie. And he is, in fact, caught on video fighting. Jackson then proceeds to play two clips of Colin threatening multiple people. He then asks Colin what he meant in those videos. And. And Colin confirmed that he was making threats. Combining Colin's violent tendencies and John's traumatic injuries, the defense suggests that Colin was involved. They bring out another piece of evidence, a photo of Colin from February 26, 2022, less than a month after John died. In the photo, Colin is standing between two friends at a restaurant in Boston. And if you zoom in on his right hand, you can see that his knuckles are red and scabbed over. Injuries that look consistent with being in a fight. On the stand, Colin explains where the injuries came from. Let's listen.
- [30:04]
B
I was at a party, my house party, my senior year, and it was. I remember it being ICO'd, and I was. It was like a. It was kind of like a steep hill of a driveway. And I was walking up the driveway and I slipped down the driveway and I tried to catch myself, but I had something in my left hand, so I had tried to brace myself with my right hand and I ended up sliding a little bit down the driveway.
- [30:26]
A
Karen's team argues that it is highly unlikely that someone would brace themselves during a fall by placing their hand knuckles down. But since they can't prove this theory any further, they hope the jury believes it's weird, too. But one of the most curious things about Colin Albert is the fact that the lead investigator, Michael Proctor, left Colin Albert off of the witness list. He did this because Colin had left before Karen and John even arrived. But when screenshots between Jen McCabe's daughter, Ally McCabe and Colin Albert were pulled up to prove what time she picked him up, there was a curious anomaly in the text thread that led people to believe the messages had been edited. Ally McCabe and Colin Albert are very close. And in fact, they're basically cousins. Well, their cousins are their cousins. But their text chain curiously stops. And they didn't text each other for 22 days, which the defense finds very odd. So why does it seem like everyone is trying to protect this kid? But more importantly, why would the lead investigator of the case leave him off one of the most important documents, the witness list? He was out the house when John died, and he should be questioned like everyone else, especially when we're still left wondering who killed John o'. Keefe. Tomorrow we head back to Dedham, Massachusetts, for Karen Reed's retrial. New witnesses are stepping up and old witnesses are coming back. What they have to say could shake the timeline to its core. We'll dive deeper into the botched investigation and sketchy police behavior that could point to a new culprit. What do you guys think? Did Karen Reid do it, or is the defense's third party theory more convincing? The trial clearly left the jury divided, which goes to show that just how messy the truth can be. Part 3 of 5 is coming out tomorrow, so tune in to see what new testimony reveals. In the meantime, make sure to drop your facts, theories, or anything you have in the comments. I want to hear it all. And what should we cover next? Tell us rimehouse247 on TikTok and Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube rimehouse daily for ad free listening and more. Join Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. Until then, you stay curious and I'll stay on the case. We'll see you tomorrow.
- [33:29]
B
Trip Planner by Expedia. You were made to outdo your holiday, your hammocking and your pooling. We were made to help organize the competition. Expedia made to travel.