Katie Ring (3:12)
Join the Nordy Club at Nordstrom Rack to unlock exclusive discounts on your Favorite brands, shop new arrivals first and more. Plus, get an extra 5% off every rack purchase with a Nordstrom credit card. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. Okay, quick recap of the last episode. We started with the anonymous call Karen's lawyer, David Yannetti received from an unknown number. The one where the caller told him that Karen was actually innocent and the real killers were inside 34 Fairview, the house whose lawn John O' Keefe was found on. This leads their team down a rabbit hole to craft a third party culprit theory to convince the jury that their client is innocent and someone else was responsible for John's death. The trial starts with opening statements on April 29, 2022. Countless people tune in to watch the defense team present all of the suspicious activities the people inside of 34 Fairview were up to after John's death. For all of those details, make sure to go back and watch episode two. But these are some of the top hits. First off, these people who should just be regular witnesses are oddly hostile. They don't seem to recall anything at all except a few details about Karen. And they don't explain why their stories keep changing. They have a shocking amount of butt tiles. They get rid of their phones the day before they're subpoenaed to preserve them. They get together to create timelines. They call each other. They have extremely suspicious group chats. They sell their childhood home, and they re home their family dog of seven years. So all of this is suspicious to say the least. But the question is, why the shady behavior? Well, the defense theory goes like this. Around midnight on January 29th, Karen dropped John off at the Albert house. Once he was inside the house, John got into a fight with someone. The defense hints that it could potentially be one of three people. Could it maybe be Brian Higgins, the man Karen was texting on the side? Was he frustrated Karen had ghosted him and then was ignoring him at the bar? And he wanted to confront John to tell him what was actually happening and get back at her. Could it be the homeowner, Brian Albert, the hot headed cop with prior allegations of swinging at another cop? Or could it be Colin Albert, Brian Albert's nephew, who despite claiming he had never been in a fight except with his brothers, was caught fighting and making violent threats on video. He also had suspicious cuts on the top of his knuckles that he claimed he got from falling on the ice when landing with a closed fist, which many argue would never actually happen. Then there's the dog, Chloe, who had been rehomed after the incident, John had marks on his arm that looked like dog bites or scratches. Did she interfere and try to protect someone? The defense then claims that it was likely that the people inside the house didn't mean to kill John. But when John fell and hit his head, the injuries were too far to recover from. And this is a house full of cops who know in cases like this, intention doesn't matter. And if they don't make this look like an accident, someone inside the house is going to jail. So they drag him and leave him on the front lawn. And we're originally going to blame the plow driver, but when Karen started freaking out the next morning and asking if she could have done this, they found the perfect scapegoat. This may all seem a bit far fetched, but the defense also points to Jen McCabe's Google search for Hoss long to die in cold before John's body was even discovered. And this does become a battle of the experts later on, but it still does not look good. They also bring up the butt dials and the group chats corroborating their stories that that we went over in the last episode. Let's just say nothing is adding up and something smells fishy. But the suspicious behavior of the partygoers alone isn't enough to convince the jury and the public of their theory. But when they start diving into the details of this investigation and all of the missteps of almost everyone involved in this case, the many members of the public are convinced that this may actually be a full blown conspiracy and that Karen Reed is in fact being framed. And things only get worse for the prosecution when the defense introduces one of the most controversial characters in this entire case, the lead investigator, Michael Proctor. If you watch any detective show, you know how crucial it is that law enforcement officers recuse themselves from a case if they have any conflict of interest because it can taint the entire investigation and lose the trust of the public if they do. The Canton Police Department ended up recusing themselves when they revealed that the lawn that John was discovered on belonged to Brian Albert, the brother of one of their own officers, Kevin Albert. So the case was passed off to the Massachusetts State Police and a trooper named Michael Proctor takes on the role of lead investigator. And trooper Michael Proctor will become one of the most notorious figures in this trial. Quick background on Michael Proctor. He has been in law enforcement for 12 years. He has a wife named Elizabeth, a young son and and a sister named Courtney. The case was handed over to the Massachusetts State Police and Specifically, Michael Proctor, because he wasn't supposed to have any ties with anyone involved in the case. But after Janetti got the tip, Karen starts browsing social media to find ties between the McAlberts and the New investigators in the case. And it turns out that Michael Proctor's family and the Alberts were are good family friends. Take a look at this picture from July 15, 2016, listeners, you can see that image on our YouTube @Crime House daily, which shows Michael's mom at a birthday party with Colin Albert, Brian Albert's nephew, and Chris Albert's son, Julie Albert Collins. Mom also has connections to the Proctors. Julie went to Michael Proctor's sister's wedding and babysat her kids. She also called Courtney many times when Karen was arraigned in February 2022. And she babysat Michael's son just 10 days before John died. In other words, their connection was fresh and thriving. But here's the real kicker. Alan Jackson reveals that on February 1, just a few days after John died, Michael. Courtney sent Michael a text that said, quote, just saw Julie. And Julie said, when this is all over, she wants to give you a thank you gift. And Michael told her to get his wife Elizabeth one instead. Possibly a way to avoid accusations of a bribe. So let me get this straight. Julie Albert, the mother of a violent boy who was at 34 Fairview on January 28, wants to send the lead investigator of the Karen Reed case a thank you gift. If that's not grounds for conflict of interest, I don't know what is. And that's not even the most disturbing thing. The defense finds out about Michael. After Michael sees Karen's phone for the investigation, he started looking through it for things unrelated to the murder trial. When Karen's lawyers got access to Michael's phone, they found out that he had texted his cop buddies, including his boss and his boss's boss, quote, no nude so far. Which means he was looking through Karen's phone for nude pictures of her, the woman he's trying to put behind bars. He's supposed to be looking for evidence for John's killer, not intimate images of the main suspect. While on this case, Michael also says some horrible things about Karen. He called her a, quote, nut bag and a, quote, whack job. C word. He also said that Karen has no butt and he makes fun of her for having Crohn's disease and multiple sclerosis. Just when it seems like things can't get any worse, it does. The defense brings up a truly diabolical text. Michael Proctor sent To his sister, that completely ruins his credibility. He said, quote, hopefully she kills herself.
