The Bizarre Boston Case of Karen Read

Summary

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Infamous Podcast – The Bizarre Boston Case of Karen Read

Date: March 26, 2026
Hosts: Vanessa Grigoriadis, Gabriel Sherman (not present this episode), Natalie Robehmed
Guest: Rebecca Lavoie (Journalist, Podcaster)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Infamous dives into the widely debated case of Karen Read, accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, on a snowy January night in 2022. The focus is not only on the facts and courtroom battles but also on how the case reflects public trust in police, complex gender and community dynamics, and the uniquely insular culture of suburban Massachusetts. The hosts and guest journalist Rebecca Lavoie trace how the story spiraled into a local civil war, inspired viral activism, and continues to unfold in the courts.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Case Background and Setup (00:52–08:20)

• Karen Read, an upwardly mobile Massachusetts professional, was charged with the death of her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, a Boston Police officer.

• After her criminal acquittal in 2025, new civil lawsuits erupted:

  • O’Keefe’s family is suing Karen Read.
  • Karen is suing some of the party hosts from that night, claiming she was framed.

• Civil vs. Criminal Trials:

  • Civil trials require a much lower burden of proof: “51%...so what’ll happen there is anyone’s guess.” (01:18, Natalie Robehmed)
  • “Usually defendants are the ones who get sued in civil cases…But Karen’s filed a civil suit saying she was framed, which is unusual…” (01:32, Natalie)

The Night Itself: The Drunk, Snowy, Tragic After-Party (08:20–12:50)

• The group—Karen, John, the McCabes, Alberts, and DEA agent Brian Higgins—moves from bar to bar ending up at Brian Albert’s house at 34 Fairview.

• Karen was an “outsider” to the tight-knit “peaked in high school” clique of locals.

  • “They sort of still behave like they’re still in high school together. Right. They’re cliquey...Some people classify the McCabes and Alberts, which have been nicknamed the portmanteau ‘McAlberts,’ as peaked in high school and never stopped thinking that they peaked like that.” (07:03, Rebecca Lavoie)

• John, local and well-liked, had taken custody of his deceased sister’s children.

• Relationship Tensions:

  • Their relationship was fraught: arguments over the kids, tone, and boundaries.
  • Voicemails emerged in which Karen leaves multiple volatile, foul-mouthed messages as John doesn’t respond.

  “If that’s evidence of murder, then I guess a lot of people have evidence that they’re capable of murder on their cell phones.” (10:37, Karen Reed, quoted)

• Karen’s account: She thought John entered the house, waited in the car as snow fell, then left angry after he didn’t return, only to later discover his body.

Discovery and Immediate Aftermath (12:03–14:00)

• Early the next morning, Karen woke up to find John missing. She and Jen McCabe search for him and find his body outside the Albert home.
• John was found dead in the snow, with Karen and Jen attempting resuscitation. The condition of his body led to questions about both causality and police response.

Evidence and Investigation: The Two Theories (15:40–24:06)

• Prosecution Theory:

  • Karen, angered, unintentionally struck John during a hasty, drunken departure—cracking her Lexus tail light—and left him to die in the blizzard.
  • Police and at least one paramedic claimed she blurted out incriminating admissions (“I hit him”), though testimony is complicated by personal connections to the Alberts.

• Defense Theory (and Rebecca’s View):

  • Injuries inconsistent with being struck by a car:
    • “He had a devastating laceration in the back of his head...a series of dog bites and scratches...no broken bones.” (18:53, Rebecca)
  • Key evidence tampering and mishandling: destroyed phones, absence of clear chain of custody, and the sudden disappearance of the Albert family’s aggressive shepherd mix, Chloe.
  • “They got rid of their dog. Not only did they get rid of their dog, but they also sold the home that had been in their family since, like, 1970.” (19:52, Rebecca)
  • Suggestion of institutional protection for the “McAlberts” due to familial, professional police connections.

Alleged Conspiracy and Police Corruption (21:21–27:52)

• Rebecca outlines how the defense alleges investigators—some with direct ties to the defendant pool—suppressed evidence, allowed or performed phone destruction, and possibly upcharged Karen to pressure a plea.

  “Michael Proctor is the name of this police officer. He ended up becoming this very polarizing figure in the case…he wrote the time of that taking of the car an hour later than he actually took it…If he took it at the later time, then he would have had the car after the first piece of taillight was found in the Albers yard.” (25:13, Rebecca)

• Theory that John died inside (possibly in the garage, after a confrontation, bit by the dog and struck his head), and was moved outside after.

  “...he falls, he’s injured, he’s immediately incapacitated. And during that altercation, Chloe jumps up and bites him on the forearm…” (26:53, Rebecca)

Motive: The Love Triangle and Group Dynamics (30:32–34:55)

• Flirtation and a possible affair between Karen and Brian Higgins, the DEA agent, created tension; digital evidence and suggestive texts exist.

  “She starts flirting with him by text...They have this lengthy, extremely embarrassing text back and forth…She kisses him outside of John O’Keefe’s house at one point...” (31:36, Rebecca)

• Hypothesis: confrontation at the afterparty (possibly over this “betrayal”) led to violence, accidentally fatal injury, and subsequent cover-up.

• Snowplow driver’s account (“Lucky Loughran”) suggests the body was not there during his early route, indicating movement after the fact.

Trial Outcomes, Community Fallout, and Free Karen Campaign (34:55–38:19)

• Karen found not guilty of second-degree murder/manslaughter; convicted only of DUI.

• The case splintered the community (“civil war in Boston”, “the Karen Reed Show”) and prompted a viral #FreeKarenReed movement.

  “What’s interesting to me is how this case absolutely crosses political lines...They have never believed ever in police corruption, police misconduct, or wrongful convictions. But they see Karen Reed and...hear these details about the missing video...the phones being thrown away, the dog being given away, this dirty cop, and they finally believe it...” (36:07, Rebecca)

• Raises broader issues: police trust, public activism, and how true crime obsessions can shift conventional wisdom.

Cultural Takeaways and Final Thoughts (37:39–38:19)

• Pattern of “upcharging” defendants to coerce pleas highlighted.

• The story’s impact is in exposing alleged internal rot—possible only because Read’s resources allowed a fight.

• The ongoing civil battle will determine what, if any, closure the community receives.

  “...when someone has the resources to fight back, it can open a can of worms that reveals, like, the rot inside that can. And I believe that’s what happened here.” (37:44, Rebecca)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Rebecca Lavoie:

  “This really is, I think, the most Boston case that’s ever Boston.” (04:47)

• Rebecca on local dynamics:

  “They still in many ways behave like they’re still in high school together...Some people classify the McCabes and Alberts…as peaked in high school and never stopped thinking that they peaked like that.” (07:03)

• On Karen's outsider status:

  “Karen’s an outsider…She was definitely a bit of an outsider for this group in terms of social status, in terms of professional status.” (07:52)

• On instigating a cover-up:

  “We are talking about five people with a hell of a lot to lose who would have been lying. And we’re talking about a cop who walked into it with a story and then very likely put his finger on the scales to make his story the right story.” (25:08)

• On the reaction:

  “There is an entire online, social media and in person campaign around Karen Reed. Some of this was absolutely fomented by her attorneys...But what’s interesting is how this case absolutely crosses political lines...” (36:07)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:52–02:19: Intro to the case and the civil/criminal trial dynamic
• 04:47–08:23: The Boston social scene and “McAlbert” local power structures
• 09:41–12:03: The night’s convoluted events and Karen’s fraught texting/voicemail chain
• 12:03–13:49: Discovery of John’s body and suspicious elements
• 15:40–24:06: The two conflicting theories (prosecution vs. defense) and messy evidence
• 24:06–26:53: Rebecca’s alternate timeline and allegations of evidence tampering
• 30:32–34:55: Motives linked to the alleged love triangle and post-mortem body movement
• 34:55–38:19: The trial’s outcome, movement for Karen, and wider community impact
• 37:39–38:19: Cultural implications and takeaways
• 38:25–39:00: Rebecca’s recommendations and podcast plugs
• 39:00–40:13: Current state of civil litigation and closing remarks

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Conclusion

The Karen Read case, as dissected in this episode, is more than a whodunit; it’s a microcosm of how true crime, police legitimacy, gender, and small-town power intersect, exposing systemic shortcomings as much as individual failings. As the story continues to unfold in civil court, it remains a touchstone for debates around justice—and an emblem of how the “Boston-ness” of a tragedy can grip both a community and a nation.

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Transcript

[Podcast Host]

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[Rebecca Lavoy]

Campsite Media.

[Natalie Robomed]

Hi, everyone. This week we're going to talk about a huge story in the true crime space, the Karen Reed case and whether she killed her boyfriend, police officer John o'. Keefe. Karen Reed, this very Massachusetts, upwardly mobile professional woman, was found not guilty in 2025 in a criminal trial, as you may know if you follow true crime. But her civil trial is ramping up.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Now.

[Natalie Robomed]

The family of John o' Keefe has sued her, and even though it hasn't had anything like the coverage that her criminal case had, civil trials have a much lower burden of proof, 51%. So what'll happen there is anyone's guess. Plus, Karen herself has brought civil charges, which is very rare. Usually defendants are the ones who get sued in civil cases, like the way Ron Goldman's dad sued OJ for damages in civil court after OJ Was found innocent in criminal court. But Karen's filed a civil suit saying she was framed, which is unusual and definitely bolsters the free Karen Reid movement. So we thought it was a good moment to go back to this case and all its ins and outs, from what it says about how we feel about police to women accused of crimes, to the very specific, very Massachusetts culture it's steeped in. Let's get to it.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Welcome back to Infamous everybody at Campside Media and social Sony Music Entertainment production. I'm Vanessa Grigoriadis.

[Natalie Robomed]

And I'm Natalie Robomed.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

So this week we are going to be talking about, I would say, the greatest true crime case of the past few years. And I don't mean to say that it isn't also a tragedy because somebody was killed. If you haven't been following it, the reason I think it grabbed so much attention is that it was not only about whether or not Karen was culpable for killing her boyfriend, John o'.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Keeffe.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

On a very drunken, very confusing night in the middle of a snowstorm. But also about what we actually think about police today. Do we trust them to run a case where one of their own people are killed? On top of that, you had the Karen is so Boston. She's so there with the accent, with the forthrightness, but she's also in some ways playing the media. And it really is a case of how much things have shifted between back in the old school days where somebody who was on trial for murder wouldn't even talk to a journalist. She has given so many different interviews. Vanity Fair, I believe it was Boston Magazine. There's an entire documentary where she's letting the filmmakers just be there for every moment of her defense.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

There's never been a case that I've seen that's divided a community like this case has.

[Natalie Robomed]

It's become a civil war in Boston

[Rebecca Lavoy]

on both sides of the the argument

[Advertisement Voice]

of people who are either sure Karen

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Reed did it or think Karen Reed didn't do it. John o' Keefe rarely comes up.

[Natalie Robomed]

He's supposed to be the focus here. This is justice for John o' Keefe and it has completely become the Karen Reed Show.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

There is no one that is a better storyteller of this case than Rebecca Lavoy, who we are going to have on now to talk to us about what she thinks about all I just said, why this case gripped the nation, why it is just the stickiest thing ever.

[Natalie Robomed]

Yeah. Rebecca is a journalist and podcaster. Welcome to the show, Rebecca.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Thanks so much for having me.

[Natalie Robomed]

Vanessa has already introduced Karen Reed. Her boyfriend was Boston police officer John o'. Keefe. What do we know that happened on that night? It was late January 2022.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Yeah. This really is, I think, the most Boston case that's ever Boston. I mean there's so many things about it. Most of the story sort of unfolds in Canton, Massachusetts, which is a town outside of Boston, kind of like a wealthy suburban enclave. A lot of upper middle class blue collar people, upper middle class professional people. It's a really interesting town and it's a small enough town where folks who went to high school there and who still live there are actually people that other people in town know. They get elected to local office, for instance, or they're they're high ranking police officers in town or they just have family name recognition. And the characters in this case are those people. So what happened that night was that Karen Reed and her boyfriend John were invited out to basically drinks at a bar in Canton Massachusetts. They actually went from one bar to another with members of this family, the Albert McCabe family, and with a DEA agent named Brian Higgins. So they're all at the bar together. They're all at this place called the waterfall together. Second destination. And somebody says at some point, come back to our house. Now, that house belonged to Brian Albert, who was another Boston police officer, A Boston police detective who'd been involved in many high profile cases. His wife Nicole. And she was also invited by Brian Albert's sister in law, Nicole's sister, Jen McCabe. The idea was they were all gonna go back to the Albert house and have some more drinks, hang out, et cetera. Karen didn't know these people very well. Karen says that she wasn't 100% sure they were welcome at the house. She thought maybe they just invited them to be nice. She didn't know. They then drive back to 34 Fairview in Karen's SUV. And this is where the story sort of diverges from what we know. No, no. To what we think. To what the FBI thinks and to what the state alleges. Karen says that she dropped off John O' Keefe outside of 34 Fairview and that he went into the.

[Natalie Robomed]

Is the Albert home.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

That's the home of Brian and Nicole Albert on 34 Fairview.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

And we should say they're hammered.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Yeah, there's a lot of alcohol. This is an alcohol soaked story.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

They're like people in their 40s. Some of them have kids, some of them don't have kids, but they're partying.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

They are. I mean, they still in many ways behave like they're still in high school together. Right. They are cliquey. They hang out together all the time. They seem to drink a lot. Some people classify the McCabes and Alberts, which have been nicknamed the portmanteau McAlberts, as peaked in high school and never stopped thinking that they peaked like that. Is the vibe here, right? Yeah.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Tragic.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Yeah. And they're also characterized as town bullies. Just FYI, Brian Albert's brother Chris, he is a selectman in town. And the select board is like the board of five people that decide all this stuff for the town. So he actually is an elected official in town. Brian Albert is this kind of scary, big, beefy former Marine cop. And Jan McCabe is like the queen of the town sports moms.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

And what about Karen? What's she an archetype of to you?

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Karen's an outsider. So Karen actually lived in a different community, and she knew John from when she was in her early 20s. They had dated briefly, and then when the pandemic started, she saw him on Facebook and they connected again and they started dating again. Karen was definitely a bit of an outsider for this group in terms of social status, in terms of professional status. She was a financial analyst at Fidelity. She was also a professor and very much steeped in the white collar world.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Right. And then John is sort of a hometown guy. I mean, he does have that sympathetic angle as well, where his sister had died and he had taken over the care of her two adolescent kids.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Yes, we heard it characterized this way in court. He sort of has this reputation as like a stand up guy. Although I think through this case, some things have been revealed about Karen and John's relationship that point to it not being a great relationship. I've sort of seen some of their communications with each other via text and there was tension there. John didn't like that Karen was taking his niece and nephew to Dunkin Donuts. You know, she was really trying to be the soft one in their lives. And he didn't always like that. I mean, there's some of that stuff going on. It was a complicated situation. They weren't her kids, but they also weren't his kids. And they're both very Boston, so they're both. Or at least we know she is. Yellers. There are some voicemails that came up in this case where Karen, after whatever happened, happened, called John something like 50 times and is like screaming at him and cursing at him. These are voicemails that I very much recognize as being of a certain Boston type of communication. They don't seem to me particularly different than voicemails I've heard girlfriends of mine play on their phones. I wouldn't leave one like it, but yeah, you're. You're off.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Effing loser. You're a loser. A pervert. Basically, from her telling, you know, they get to 34 Fairview. This is like the after party, right? Okay, we're gonna keep the party going and drink some more. And she says, oh, it's all dark. I don't know, are we really invited in? John, you go in and check out what's going on. And as far as she knows, he goes in the house and she's sitting there and the snow's falling. And then she says, ah, forget it, he's not coming back. I'm out of here. And she drives back to the house where she's sleeping with. With these two kids that he's taking care of and becomes convinced that he's cheating on her and is like, where are you, John? And that's when she starts calling him an effing loser. Right, right.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

So she's very hot under the collar. I mean, they appear on video at the Waterfall Bar looking very affectionate, very friendly. And so there's no reason to believe that they were driving to the house with any kind of conflict between each other already there.

[Karen Reed (quoted)]

I think if you look under the hood of anyone's or go through anyone's phone and they've taken multiple phones of mine, like, yeah, I've argued with John. We argued that day. If that's evidence of murder, then I guess a lot of people have evidence that they're capable of murder on their cell phones.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

I mean, I think for her it was very much sparked by him going into the house, or so she thought, and never coming out and abandoning her. And it was freezing out and it was like 10, 12ish minutes. Timelines are a little bit wiggly and disputed in this case, but we know it was around that period of time that she texted him, she didn't hear from him and she got piss and she left. Which by the way, in my opinion consistent with her personality to just be like, f this, I'm out of here. I mean, from what we sort of have seen in her other communications. So that's kind of the moment of truth. Right. That's where the state alleges she was really mad at him for some reason. They have a couple of theories they threw out in the different, the two different trials that did not match up but kind of have the same themes and that she, in a fit of anger pulled forward and then reversed her car and I guess clipped him and caused him to have this fatal injury. She goes home, back to John's house, not to her own house. She spends the night there. She wakes up on the couch, it's like 5 o' clock ish in the morning and he's not there. And she absolutely freaks out. His niece is home, his nephew is not. But she absolutely freaks out, runs up, talks to the niece and starts making phone calls.

[Natalie Robomed]

Who does she call?

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Well, notably she calls Jen McCabe. She calls Brian Albert's sister in law, Nicole Albert's sister, Jen McCabe, who they were with the night before. She and Jen didn't know each other well, but they had met up a few times and they had something in common. Karen Reed has Ms. And Crohn's disease and I guess Jen also has Ms. So they had talked about their medical conditions. That they shared. You know, they weren't friends, but they were certainly friendly. And Karen knew that Jen was supposed to be at 34 Fairview the night before. So she was calling Jen to say, where's John? Where do you think he is? So they drive to John's house. They walk into the house, and then they all leave John's house. He's not there, obviously. They begin driving around Canton, and they end up in front of 34 Fairview, where Karen sees almost immediately John's body lying on the snow in front of and to the left of the front door of the house near the street where there's a little flagpole, like in some mulch around it. So she immediately sees him, goes flying out of the car, Notably leaves her cell phone on the backseat of the car, the cell phone on which she was actually leaving a message for John in the moment. So that was the discovery of John. She and Carrie are trying to administer Emergency aid. Jen McCabe calls 91 1. Eventually the cops arrive. He's taken to the hospital and declared dead. At the hospital, he wasn't. There's a thing with hypothermia when they suspect hypothermia that somebody has to be warm dead for them to be declared dead. And he was cold. He clearly was deceased at that point. But very often they try to, you know, resuscitate somebody by warming them up first and then they're able to resuscitate them. And they were not able to resuscitate John o'.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Keeffe.

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[Rebecca Lavoy]

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[Rebecca Lavoy]

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[Natalie Robomed]

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[Natalie Robomed]

So at this point, it seems like Karen Reid might have clipped John o' Keefe with her Lexus when she pulled out of this after party driveway without going inside. Maybe she thought he was inside and partying and just never came back out to get her. And maybe she reversed to leave and hit him with the car. And John o' Keeffe's phone did not move that night from the location where his body was found. But there are a lot of other theories that Karen Reed's defense put forward as to what happened to John that night and that Rebecca argues for as well. Now, we should say that none of the people Rebecca is going to talk about have been charged with a crime in connection with John o' Keeffe's death.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

So. But meanwhile, all of this hubbub is going on, and the guys that you were describing before, the ones who were hosting the party, these good sons of Canton, Massachusetts, are just chilling in the house. Or maybe they're passed out. They don't even come outside.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Brian and Nicole Albert say they slept through this huge police response and all the screaming happening in their front yard, that they claim that they slept through it. They never came outside. It wasn't until Jen McCabe, when they were on the scene for a little bit, went into their house that they understood something happening outside, but they still didn't come out of the house.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Yeah. So you basically have this attractive, highly educated finance professional who's now accused of killing her cop boyfriend and leaving his body on another cop's lawn, right?

[Rebecca Lavoy]

That's right.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

So this is gonna blow up in the Boston media. And she, you know, gets charged with manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide, leaving the scene of the personal injury or death. She loses both of her jobs, her health insurance, her car, her life savings. She was hammered. She hit him on the front lawn. She was confused. And this is what happens. But it feels like she's getting overcharged.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Yes, in fact, she was upcharged. She was arrested twice. And it was the second time she was arrested that they upcharged her to murder. Her attorney David Yannetti, at her first arraignment actually evoked the idea of a tragic accident in court. And Whether or not that was because he didn't know all the details or because Karen was still confused about the details, that's unclear. But after that court appearance, he received a phone call at his office. There was a message waiting there for him that indicated something else may have happened.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Okay, so tell us about that.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Okay, so David Yannetti received a phone message at his office that he returned. And the person on the phone, which we now know was a man named Steve Scanlon, who was, again, a Canton resident who had a daughter who was the same age as somebody who was in the house. That's Brian and Nicole Albert's nephew, Colin Albert. He said that he, in some form or fashion, was aware that John o' Keefe died inside the house. There had been a fight, that he had passed out, that he vomited a whole lot of times, and that that was the cause of his death, not a car crash outside the house.

[Natalie Robomed]

He didn't just die of hypothermia. Right. He had all these other injuries that maybe fit with being hit by a car or maybe don't. Can you talk me through what his injuries were?

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Absolutely. So this is the crux of the case, honestly. This is the thing that when I tell people my opinion about this case, I show them the photos of John Okeefe's injuries because they are incredibly important. John o' Keefe had a devastating laceration in the back of his head in the lower part of his skull. He also had on his arm, would appear, and what I believe are a series of dog bites and scratches. He had no broken bones, basically no injuries below the neck, except for on the arm. And their theory of the case is that he was hit by a car hard enough to hit his head on the frozen ground and cause this injury, which appears to have been caused by a sharp object, like a corner of something. And they say he received that injury from falling back on the frozen ground.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Right. And let's be clear that the Alberts also owned a dog. Correct.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

They owned a dog with a history of biting people, but not for long

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

because they gave away the dog.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

That's right. They had had this dog for something like nine years. Her name was Chloe. She was a shepherd. Malinois mix, which is, you know, Malinois are very difficult, aggressive, big dog. They're police dogs or military dogs. Same with German shepherds. They can also be police or military dogs. And there were reports in the town and at the animal control office that this dog had actually bitten other people. Their dog being difficult to say it kindly was a known fact and a well documented fact. They got rid of their dog. Not only did they get rid of their dog, but they also sold the home that had been in their family since, like, 1970.

[Natalie Robomed]

Right. And, I mean, the backdrop of all of this is that all of these people, the people whose house it is, everyone else, they're incredibly well connected. That also ties back to another story about this dog that Vanity Fair reported, which was that a Canton resident said that their dog was attacked by Chloe, the Albert dog. And allegedly, after the woman whose dog was injured by this dog left her information with Canton police. She says that Kevin Albert.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Yes.

[Natalie Robomed]

Contacted the woman's husband with a message from the then police chief saying, quote, how can we make this thing go away?

[Rebecca Lavoy]

That's right.

[Natalie Robomed]

Now, Kevin Norcount. And police responded to Vanity Fair's question. So that hasn't been denied or refuted or commented upon. But I bring that up to say that there's a lot going on here with who these people know and who their connections are.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

And there was also a phone that was destroyed.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

There were two phones, two very important phones destroyed. So the defense is ramping up, and they want the phones preserved so that the phone preservation is like that. The people can't delete their information or change anything on their phones or get rid of their phones. They had a hearing about phone preservation orders the day after that hearing. Ish. Like before these people were served with their notice that they had to preserve their phones. Brian Albert says he upgraded his phone and got rid of his phone. And Brian Higgins, the DEA agent who's a very important figure in this case, drove to a military base on Cape Cod, took the SIM card out of his phone, put the SIM card and the phone in a dumpster.

[Natalie Robomed]

That's completely normal behavior.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

I say, but, okay, let's. Let's. Let's do the other side. Let's talk about the prosecution. Because it is also true that Karen did, you know, as you were saying earlier, her phone picked up her talking about different stuff. And she does say some stuff like, could I have hit him?

[Rebecca Lavoy]

She doesn't.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

I mean, she seems to be.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

She doesn't. This is what people point to as proof that Karen Reid hit John o', Keefe, that she allegedly said, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Okay, she didn't say that, but she did say something to her girlfriends as they're going over there. Could I have hit him? Right.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

She says that if she said anything like that, it would have been, could I have hit him? Okay. But the origin story of the I hit him. I hit him. I hit him is very interesting. After the first responders leave 34 Fairview, the early morning of January 29th, the family, Nicole Albert, Brian Albert, Jen McCabe, Matt McCabe, they all gather together at the Albert residence. So they're doing something there. We don't know what they were doing. At about 9 o' clock in the morning, Ish. The Canton police gets a phone call that Jen McCabe says, like, you need to come over here. And when she gets there, she says, I remembered something that I forgot to tell you earlier. And that is where she makes the claim that Karen Reid said something like, could I have hit him?

[Natalie Robomed]

For what it's worth, a firefighter paramedic who responded to the scene also says that Karen Reid says, quote, I hit him. But that paramedic also happened to go to high school with the Alberts daughter.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

The thing to know is that Karen Reid did have a crack on her taillight. A little crack on her taillight ring. Video shows her backing out of John o' Keefe's garage and actually striking his car on the corner. Which is likely where that crack came from.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

But wait, but she did. I mean, is your assertion that she never hit him on that front lawn and that he indeed did go in the house.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

She did not hit him.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Okay, but let me ask you this question. You know, they have the first trial, stuff comes out that is not looking good, right? For the cops. For example, the trooper who says 16 hours in his investigation, he texts his friends there will be serious charges brought on the girl. She's a whack job cunt. Zero chance she skates. She's f ed. She's fucked. Even in a later group text, he tells his supervisors he's searching Reid's phone and he says, hey, here's my progress. Quote, no nudes so far. So you know, certainly we are seeing a lot of dirty stuff happen. But there is a trial in which Karen Reid does address pretty much everything that you just said. She put forth those allegations and. And it ends in a hung jury and there's a second trial. And in that second trial she doesn't talk about anything you just talked about. Right?

[Rebecca Lavoy]

They planned to present all of this evidence and ultimately the strategic decision that the defense team made. Two of her lawyers have given extensive interviews about this. They made the decision that what the state presented was so weak that they were going to focus on this one aspect of the case, that there was no collision. Now the issue people have with this case is that they believe that in order for John o' Keefe to have been killed in the house or the garage or something, that there had to have been this huge conspiracy involving lots of people who were lying in order to keep this whole thing a secret. And that is simply not true. We are talking about five people with a hell of a lot to lose who would have been lying. And we're talking about a cop who walked into it with a story and then very likely put his finger on the scales to make his story the right story. And I believe that this is the kind of cop that he was. So I'll give you a very specific example of this. Michael Proctor is the name of this police officer. He ended up becoming this very polarizing figure in the case. Karen Reed's car was impounded by the police. Her car was parked at her parents house in Dighton, Massachusetts. Okay. Michael Proctor wrote the time of that taking of the car an hour later than he actually took it. And he repeated that wrong time over and over and over and over again. The Reeds have a ring camera and they were able to document the time that he took the car. If he took it at the later time, then he would have had the car after the first piece of taillight was found in the Albers yard.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

So, okay, wait, so what do you believe happened? I mean you, you said it a little bit already. But you believe that, that John o' Keeffe went in that house?

[Rebecca Lavoy]

There is a reason why there could have been an altercation in the house. There is a dog that's known to not be good with people. And anybody who has an aggressive dog knows they are very likely to attack somebody that they perceive is in conflict with their owner. And it is not unlikely that they would have kept Chloe in the garage when they had a bunch of people at their house, which they did. It was also Brian Albert's son's birthday and he had a bunch of friends over. It's not unlikely that they would have kept her away from the people. Right. So John goes into the garage, quick altercation happens, he falls, he's injured, he's immediately incapacitated. And during that altercation, Chloe jumps up and bites him on the forearm. Which is exactly if you've ever seen those police dog training videos. That's exactly what those dogs do. They bite you right here and they grip.

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[Natalie Robomed]

So in the wake of John o' Keefe's death, Rebecca argues that Karen may not have run him over. Karen's own defense team has pointed out that it's pretty weird that, quote, it doesn't seem like he had any broken bones. Rebecca also says there's a lot of inconsistency and investigation credibility problems. There's concerns about how evidence was collected and handled at the scene. Bloody snow reportedly scooped into solo clothes cups, evidence stored in grocery bags unclear chain of custody, plus lots of witnesses and investigators had personal or professional ties to each other and to law enforcement. It's all a big mess. And it means that it's very hard to figure out whether Karen Reed did or did not kill John o' Keefe beyond a reasonable doubt. Now, Rebecca is going to continue to describe Karen's theory of what happened that night, rather than the state of Massachusetts, which argued that Karen reversed and hit John o' Keefe with her Lexus, hence the cracked tail light, causing him to fall and suffer a skull fracture and then left him to die in a blizzard. Karen and her lawyers argue that the people in the home are at fault. But FYI, according to NBC News, an attorney representing some of the people you're going to hear about has described this theory as, quote, false, defamatory and without merit, end quote, a baseless conspiracy narrative that has damaged reputations. You said you believe that there may have been a conflict that happened inside that house. What do you think the reason would be for there to have been a conflict between John o' Keefe and the People in that house, I mean, what motive do they have?

[Rebecca Lavoy]

First of all, I don't think they planned to kill John o'.

[Natalie Robomed]

Keefe.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

I don't think that was ever on the table. That's why I start this is something likely very dumb. So the real dumb thing that happened was that Karen and John were kind of unhappy. She was becoming increasingly unhappy with him. And she does a thing that sometimes people do when they're unhappy in their relationships, which is to seek validation from other people. One of the people that she did that with, as far as we know, the only person she did that with was Brian Higgins, the DEA agent. Brian Higgins, who's friends with John o' Keefe and would come over to John o' Keefe's house to watch football games and so forth. She starts flirting with him by text. They have this lengthy, extremely embarrassing text back and forth relationship over a few period of days.

[Text Message Quoter]

Defendant said, hey, we're single and we don't have kids. We can do whatever we want. Then I said, what do you like about me? Defendant responded, I just feel like you're from my neighborhood and I think you're hot. You really think that? I have always thought that about you, that you're hot, smart, witty, but I didn't think you were interested.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

She kisses him outside of John Okeeffes house. At one point. At one point they get together and then she completely ghosts him. He starts writing her text. She's just not replying, not replying, not replying, not replying. So the day before John o' Keefe died, Brian Albert and Brian Higgins, they were on a trip to New York for an officer's funeral in New York. And I don't know if you know this, but cops actually get like paid detail to go to those big parades and funerals. So that's what they were doing. They like went to one of of these funerals where they all stand there in blue. They were driving back. It's not unlikely that Brian Albert, who's best friends with Brian Higgins, got some of this information. Got this. Karen says that she's unhappy with John. We've been kissing, blah, blah, blah, we've been texting. And then she ghosted me. The reason that's not unlikely is because at the waterfall on the video, you can see at one point Brian Higgins picks up his phone and texts Karen, even though she's standing literally right there with her boyfriend John. And he sends her one word. Well, with a question mark. So then he and Brian, you can see them together, sort of like Confabbing all night. When it's time to leave, Brian Higgins is standing at the door with Brian and Chris Albert and makes a gesture like he's going at John o', Keefe, like he points at him. It looks like he's yelling something. Chris Albert grabs his arm and pulls him back. So if anything, what I think could have happened is that Brian Albert likes and wants to defend his friend. Brian Higgins is all hot under the collar because he's drunk. And I believe that maybe they were planning on telling Jon what Karen did or saying something to John about the fact that Karen had been flirting with Brian, which is maybe why they wanted them to come by the house. Because Brian Albert's pissed on Brian Higgins behalf that there's this woman who's like doing this thing to him.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Right.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

So what I think happened, this is my opinion, is that John o' Keefe is walking toward the house. Perhaps Brian Higgins and Brian Albert are in the garage talking about this. They see him approach and they're like, come in here, Johnny, let's talk. And then something happens. Someone says something, someone gets hot under the collar, punches John o' Keefe in the face. Dog attacks him. He falls backwards and hits his head on this little ledge that's all the way around the inside of the garage that's made of concrete.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

So, okay, but how does he get outside? So you think they took him out onto the lawn? Right.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

So snowplow driver, Lucky Loughran. Lucky went to high school with all these folks too.

[Natalie Robomed]

Okay.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Of course, he says, and he showed a picture of his truck. The Franken truck is what he called his plow truck because it was made of all different parts of different trucks. Very descriptive about his truck. And he shows the lights and how they actually illuminate all of the areas around his truck. He made a couple of passes by 34 Fairview at like 2:30 in the morning, 3:30 in the morning, and there was no body on the lawn. None. Later he sees parked in front of the Alberts house a Ford edge. A car, a Ford edge that's not supposed to be there because it's actually against the law to park there when there's a snow operation going on. Right. And he decides to not report them or not call it in as a courtesy to the Alberts. So there's a theory here that John's body, if especially makes sense if it happened in the garage, was put in that Ford edge, the forward edge, was driven up to the lawn in order to conceal across the street to being from being able to see where they were putting his body.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

So in the second trial, as we said, they don't talk necessarily about all of this, but they do make arguments that end up sticking because the jury begins deliberations on June 13, 2025, and wow, they return an acquittal for the most serious charge. They find her not guilty of second degree murder and manslaughter. She gets guilty of driving under the influence. Certainly she is somewhat dinged. I mean, there are these flirtatious texts that she's sending saying, you know, hey, we don't have kids. We can. Yeah, we can hook up with anybody. Plus, the case has really turned into a referendum between people who believe that she was framed and the Free Karen Reid movement, which is primarily made up of women. Why is it drawing in all these

[Rebecca Lavoy]

women, not just primarily made of women, but also made up of a lot of conservative women.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Oh, interesting.

[Rebecca Lavoy]

One of the things that's very interesting about this case and one of the other reasons why I'm completely fascinated by it, kind of obsessed with it, There is an entire online, social media and in person campaign around Karen Reid. Some of this was absolutely fomented by her attorneys. She initiated this relationship with this local blogger and she was feeding him information about her case. So, yes, part of the campaign was designed by the team, as is common with defense teams in murder trials. This is not unusual. But what's interesting to me is how this case absolutely crosses political lines because of the makeup of this part of a very blue state, by the way. But this makeup of this part of the state is like a little bit redder. You have a lot of people who say when they were talked to outside the courthouse, they've always been blue lives matter people. They have never believed ever in police corruption, police misconduct, or wrongful convictions. But they see Karen Reed and they hear these details about the missing video, by the way, the inverted video at trial, the phones being thrown away, the dog being given away, this dirty cop, and they finally believe it. They believe that somebody could be set up by the cops or have the scales of justice measured against them. They've never seen it before, and all of a sudden they're like, this could happen to me. In many ways, the prevailing story here is about corruption and less about whether Karen Reed killed John o'. Keefe. Because one thing that we know from history in the United States is that corruption, like the real enemy, the one that has power over all of us, is something that can unite us even when we disagree on everything else. And it's important because perhaps some of these people are going to be more likely inclined to believe someone in the future, maybe a person of color, maybe a person without money, when they say they were screwed by the police.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

What is the larger cultural takeaway here? What can we take from this whole story?

[Rebecca Lavoy]

I think what we can take from this, and this is not a news story. It's just a news story to this particular audience in this section of America, right, that people get upcharged all the time. They usually get upcharged in order to force a plea. And I do believe that Michael Morrissey was expecting that result with Karen Reed. But the story here is that when someone has the resources to fight back, it can open a can of worms that reveals, like, the rot inside that can. And I believe that that's what happened here.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

So tell me, Rebecca, where can people find you if they want to hear you talk more about this as well?

[Rebecca Lavoy]

Well, I have a podcast on YouTube called Something's off in which me and another podcaster, Mel Barrett, talk, talk about all sorts of criminal stuff. But we talk about the Reid case a lot because the civil trials are ongoing, et cetera. And you can also listen to my podcast where I review other podcasts called Crime Writers on.

[Vanessa Grigoriadis]

Awesome. Thank you so much for coming on Infamous.

[Natalie Robomed]

So, as we said earlier, there's a couple of civil trials going on now. John o' Keefe's family is suing Karen, and then Karen is suing Brian Albert, Nicole Albert, Jem McCabe, Matthew McCabe, and Brian Higgins, as well as members of police enforcement. She's looking for damages, alleging gross misconduct of the Massachusetts State Police and a conspiracy to frame her for the death of John o'. Keefe. So this story is still active and we'll see what juries think when they have a lower burden of proof than a criminal trial. Regardless, a lot of lives were ruined here and a lot of corruption, all after a night getting drugged in Boston bars in the snow. That's it for Infamous. If you enjoy the show, please leave us a rating and review and tell your friends. If you want to follow me on Instagram, you can find me at Natrobe. That's N A T R O B E. And if you want to support Vanessa's work, you can buy her book, Blurred Rethinking Sex, Power, and Consent on Campus. See you next week.

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