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- [00:00]
Paula Barros
Wondery subscribers can binge all episodes of Karen early and ad free right now. Join Wonder plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
- [00:11]
Matt Timpanek
This is a law and Crime network presentation.
- [00:14]
Paula Barros
This podcast explores themes of violence and death and contains harsh language. Please listen with care.
- [00:22]
Carrie Roberts
I saw Kerry wiping the snow off of John's face and I could not believe that that was John laying there. She said, I hit him. She repeated it, I hit him. And there was a police officer who was in that vicinity who replied, you what? She repeated it one more time.
- [00:43]
Matt Timpanek
Trooper Proctor seems really early on to have decided that it's definitely Karen Reed.
- [00:49]
Carrie Roberts
On the day of leading up to this, she was leaving him expletive filled hate filled voice messages. John, I'm going home.
- [00:57]
Matt Timpanek
I cannot leave you to Amy. I need to go home.
- [01:00]
Carrie Roberts
You. You are fucking using me right now.
- [01:02]
Matt Timpanek
You're fucking another girl. She's sleeping next to me. You're a fucking loser.
- [01:08]
Carrie Roberts
Fuck yourself.
- [01:11]
Paula Barros
From Law and Crime. I'm Paula Barrows and this is Karen. Dawn is breaking on the morning of January 29, 2022, as Matthew McCabe is abruptly awoken from his slumber.
- [01:25]
Matt Timpanek
I awoke to the screaming of Jen, Jen, Jen. So when I woke up, I thought there was somebody in my bedroom. Kind of snapped up out of bed. What the hell's going on? Looking around the room, realized my wife was actually on the phone. It was loud enough to wake me up from a dead sleep.
- [01:44]
Paula Barros
On the other end of Jennifer's line is Karen Reed.
- [01:48]
Carrie Roberts
She proceeds to scream my name multiple times and she tells me that John didn't come home, they got into a fight and that she left him at the waterfall and she was just screaming my name over and over. And so then I remembered that Chris Albert had still been at the bar. So I thought, well, maybe, maybe John walked home with Chris. Cause Chris lives close to the waterfall.
- [02:16]
Paula Barros
When Jennifer relays to her husband what Karen just said, he's baffled.
- [02:21]
Carrie Roberts
He said, what are you talking about? We saw them outside of your sister's house.
- [02:26]
Paula Barros
Jennifer is officially on high alert. She leaps out of bed, sensing that this is serious. Jennifer tells Karen to come pick her up and they'll go straight to Brian and Nicole's. Maybe John had just slept it off at theirs. Before heading to Jennifer's, Karen calls John's friend Carrie Roberts to alert her too that John was nowhere to be found.
- [02:49]
Carrie Roberts
Karen called me at 5 o' clock in the morning. I answered the phone and she said, John's dead. Carrie, Carrie, Carrie. And then she hung up. She called me back again. And she said, I'm afraid John might be dead. He might have gotten hit by a plow. He did not come home last night. I think something happened.
- [03:12]
Paula Barros
Kerry makes a mad dash to John's house where she's greeted by both Karen and Jennifer.
- [03:17]
Carrie Roberts
I pulled in the driveway behind Karen's car and Karen and Jen are in the car talking. I'm still on Bluetooth so I can hear them. And Karen said that she remembered leaving him at waterfall. And Jen said, no, I saw you pull up to my sister's house.
- [03:33]
Paula Barros
It was then that Carrie and Jennifer noticed something different about Karen's black suv.
- [03:39]
Carrie Roberts
Karen brings us to the back of the car and says, look, see, I have a cracked tail light. I looked and there was a piece missing, but it was caked on with snow. You could tell there was a little black hole, but there was snow like caked on it. And it was a blizzard at this point. I saw that there were missing pieces, but there was also snow covering it. And Karen was screaming, look, look. And then Carrie was screaming back at her. It was very chaotic, so I didn't stare in depth, but what I can tell you is I saw missing pieces.
- [04:13]
Paula Barros
From the taillight on Nightline. Karen said that when she told Jennifer and Kerry that she cracked her taillight, they told her to calm down. There were more pressing matters. They needed to find John. Kerry volunteers to drive the three of them over to the Alberts. But first they circle the perimeter for signs of John driving around the two square miles they had spent hanging around town the previous night. Jennifer says Karen was in complete and utter distress as they drove around the neighborhood.
- [04:42]
Carrie Roberts
She just continuously screamed that. And then as we got by different landmarks, she then started, you know, screaming, asking if John could be at certain people's houses.
- [04:53]
Paula Barros
They saw no signs of him anywhere on the snow covered streets until the three women encountered something suspicious.
- [05:02]
Carrie Roberts
And there was an unbelievable blizzard like feet of snow in Massachusetts.
- [05:07]
Paula Barros
In the sprawling fresh snowfall appears an unusual mound formation between a flagpole and a fire hydrant.
- [05:14]
Carrie Roberts
We drive past the flagpole area and all of a sudden Karen starts screaming, there he is, there he is. And she's banging to get out.
- [05:24]
Paula Barros
Karen urges them to stop.
- [05:26]
Carrie Roberts
I wasn't the one to first see him. Karen was.
- [05:28]
Paula Barros
She beelines directly towards what she believes to be John's body.
- [05:33]
Carrie Roberts
She just runs straight to John.
- [05:35]
Paula Barros
Karen's eyes didn't deceive her.
- [05:38]
Carrie Roberts
She straddles John and she lifts up his shirt. And then she lifted up her shirt and went to lay on him. And Ms. Roberts went over and she was removing the snow from his face. I got out of the car and I came around and for a second or two I completely just froze. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I saw Kerry wiping the snow off of John's face. And I could not believe that that was John laying there. He was just laying flat on his back.
- [06:15]
Paula Barros
John was unresponsive. Karen told ABC's Nightline that when she found John, his mouth was open, his eyes were shut, and he had spots of blood on his face. But this detail still mystifies people like criminal defense attorney Matt Timpanek.
- [06:30]
Matt Timpanek
So after he is found dead, here's the important thing to remember. The first thing you notice is when she gets to the scene. This is white out conditions. So if you've ever lived in someplace that snowed whiteout conditions, you can't see more than a few feet in front of you. And the biggest problem in this case is she was somehow able to spot officer O' Keefe about probably 40, 50ft away in white out conditions. So the two individual women in the car, when she says, oh, I see him, but the other people don't see them and they don't know where she was going, they kind of seem like she didn't really was kind of, as you can understand on the days in shock, but yet was still able to find Officer O' Keefe on the front lawn at 34 Fairview.
- [07:15]
Paula Barros
Carrie and Jennifer Tag teamed a call to 911. We were able to retrieve the recording, but it's mostly indiscernible to the naked ear. However, dispatchers did note they could hear Karen wailing in the background. As they anxiously awaited first responders, the women attempted CPR on John.
- [07:34]
Carrie Roberts
So I run the blankets over to Ms. Roberts and she's putting, kind of lifts him up, put the blankets underneath him. And she's screaming at Ms. Reed to get off of Mr. O'. Keefe. And they're kind of yelling back and forth. Karen screaming, is he dead? Is he dead? I at some points walk over towards the car, Kerry's car, to get away because they're so loud. And I was trying to be calm and get help there for John as fast as possible. They start. Kerry starts yelling about doing cpr. She tells Karen to do mouth to mouth. Karen's yelling because as they start, blood starts coming out of John's mouth.
- [08:24]
Paula Barros
Karen was in shock.
- [08:26]
Matt Timpanek
She's crying. She appeared very distraught, very upset.
- [08:29]
Carrie Roberts
Just her facial expressions. She was just visibly distraught.
- [08:34]
Paula Barros
Then Canton police Officer Steven Saref Arroy arrives at the scene.
- [08:39]
Carrie Roberts
He was trying to figure out what had happened. Karen just ran around screaming my name, Kerry's name. Is he dead? Is he dead? It was on repeat. Could I have hit him? Did I hit him? More officers started to arrive. The EMTs, they began to work on him.
- [09:00]
Paula Barros
While they assess the situation and the paramedics prepare John for transport to the hospital. Karen allegedly makes an exclamation that immediately grabs their attention.
- [09:10]
Carrie Roberts
She said, I hit him. I hit him. I hit him.
- [09:13]
Matt Timpanek
I heard I hit him, I hit him.
- [09:15]
Carrie Roberts
She said, I hit him. She repeated it. There was a woman standing across from her who I believe at that point said, you're hysterical, you need to calm down, you're hysterical. She repeated, I hit him. And there was a police officer who was in that vicinity kind of with us who replied, you what? She repeated it one more time.
- [09:41]
Paula Barros
The way Karen remembers it, however, was pointedly different. Karen told ABC that it was more of a question, did I hit him? Jason Becker, who was a first responder on the scene that day, corroborated Karen's interpretation.
- [09:56]
Matt Timpanek
It was more of could he be dead? Could he be dead?
- [10:00]
Paula Barros
By 6:23am still grasping to make sense of how John met this tragic fate, Karen, exasperated, pleads to Jennifer to pull out her phone.
- [10:09]
Carrie Roberts
She said, google hypothermia. Goo goo how long it takes to die in the cold. She was shaking me, screaming at me to do it.
- [10:17]
Paula Barros
Jennifer and Karen joined in prayer as paramedics transferred his body onto a gurney. Matt Timpanik recalls what was revealed when they picked him up.
- [10:27]
Matt Timpanek
When they lifted up the body, there was grass underneath Officer o'. Keefe. So that tells you that one of two things. Either a, that Officer o' Keefe was either on there before it started to snow or he'd been there only a short amount of time.
- [10:43]
Paula Barros
The ambulance drove with John's body in tow to Good Samaritan hospital. There, at 7.59am, 46 year old John O' Keefe was pronounced dead. But the investigation into his mysterious death was only just beginning. An hour after John was declared dead, Karen found herself in the hospital too. First responders were concerned by statements Karen had made on the scene.
- [11:14]
Matt Timpanek
She kept saying, I don't want to live anymore if my husband dies, I don't want to, I don't want to be alive anymore.
- [11:20]
Paula Barros
Once assessed, they gleaned her reaction was normal grief in the purview of a response to a traumatic event. And while they had her there, they ran some additional tests.
- [11:31]
Matt Timpanek
They Take blood, they're able to get a blood alcohol concentration and try to read that back to when they think the murder happened.
- [11:39]
Paula Barros
Nurses drew blood showing an ethanol reading of.93 milligrams per deciliter. So suggesting at the time the sample was taken, her blood alcohol level that morning was between.07 and.08%. In Massachusetts, this is considered the legal limit permitted to drive with alcohol in one system. Attorney and lawtuber Ian Runkle says it remains unclear just how much Karen had to drink the night before.
- [12:07]
Matt Timpanek
Theory is that she had nine drinks that night and that she was heavily intoxicated. There's some evidence to support it, but there's also a whole bunch of evidence to counter it.
- [12:17]
Paula Barros
Some claim Karen wasn't acting drunk at all.
- [12:20]
Matt Timpanek
Could she have been higher than how she was acting? Absolutely. So when you think about what was actually her bsc, they had their. The medical record. I mean, I think the ER doctor talked about how it was twice the legal limit. They had the retrograde extrapolation talking about it's closer to the third. Three times the legal, legal limit. But unfortunately when you do those retrograde extrapolations, those are really kind of guesses. They're educated guesses, but they're guesses nonetheless. So I definitely think her blood work, when it came back was more an appropriate number of what it was. So it's pretty clear she was under the influence. But when it comes to when you have blood test results and they come back, those are pretty almost always on point. So I definitely think that there wasn't really much of a question about whether or not she was intoxicated.
- [13:07]
Paula Barros
We will never really know exactly how much Karen had to drink that night. But it's not the only detail in this case that has been subject of much debate.
- [13:18]
Matt Timpanek
Ben hadn't had a decent night's sleep in a month. So during one of his restless nights, he booked a package trip abroad on Expedia. When he arrived at his beachside hotel, he discovered a miraculous bed slung between two trees and fell into the best sleep of his life. You were made to be rechargeable. We were made to package flights and hotels and hammocks for less. Expedia made to travel with more questions.
- [13:50]
Paula Barros
Than answers in the death of John o' Keefe percolating to the surface. Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor was dispatched to the Alberts home to probe witnesses. Here's Ted Daniel with what came after Trooper Proctor spoke to the first responders.
- [14:05]
Matt Timpanek
From speaking with some of the people at 34 Fairview Road. I Think that's kind of what led them to think that okay, maybe Karen Reed hit John o' Keefe and they started going down that path by speaking with her, going to her parents home and towing her car.
- [14:28]
Paula Barros
On the afternoon of 29 January, Karen was interviewed at her parents home in Dighton, Massachusetts by Massachusetts State Police Sergeant Yuri Buchenik. Sergeant Buchenik said Karen was polite and courteous as she sat on her parents couch across from him while he had her walk him through the events of the night before.
- [14:47]
Matt Timpanek
The content of the conversation began with her saying that she doesn't want to go into too much detail but she was willing to answer our questions. We asked what she had for plans, what she had for as far as activity the night before leading up to Mr. O' Keefe being discovered. She stated that she was in a relationship with Mr. O' Keefe that morning, meaning the 28th of January. She got into a fight with Mr. O' Keefe over what the niece and nephew were being fed for breakfast or what they had for breakfast. She went on to say that she met Mr. O' Keefe at CF McCarthy's approximately 9pm the night of 28th January 2022. She stated that the gentlemen were drinking, consuming beers, Bud Lights and she was drinking vodka soda. Prior to moving on to the bar at Waterfall, the defendant was asked where she parked her vehicle. She told me that she parked her vehicle on Washington street. Across the street from CF McCarthy is facing northbound so the vehicle was on the side of Waterfall Bar and Grill. We went on through the conversation, the interview to the Waterfall Restaurant at which point she was asked if she left CF McCarthy's with a beverage or a container from that establishment, to which point she stated that she did not. She also confirmed that Mr. O' Keefe did not have any injuries on him when she interacted with him at Sea of McCarthy's or the waterfall. He did not get into any verbal or physical altercations with anyone to have sustained those injuries. She stated that once at the waterfall they stayed for approximately an hour hanging out with acquaintances and then they left the waterfall. After they were invited to a residence she drove them to location in Canton where she dropped Mr. O' Keefe off. She was asked if she saw Mr. O' Keefe walk into the home at 34 Fairview and she stated she did not. She stated that she made a three point turn after dropping him off and.
- [16:59]
Paula Barros
Left like Jennifer and Carrie Buchanak also recalled noticing the broken tail light on Karen's suv.
- [17:08]
Matt Timpanek
She was asked how she found out about the damage to her vehicle to which she stated quote I don't know. It happened last night.
- [17:16]
Paula Barros
As Karen's car headed to the impound. The Massachusetts State Police special emergency response team was at the Alberts home where John o' Keefe had been found dead earlier that morning. Criminal defense attorney Matt Timpanek says this isn't this department's typical area of expertise.
- [17:34]
Matt Timpanek
They made it sound like this was a very unique situation and they don't usually handle traffic homicides.
- [17:40]
Paula Barros
The unit called to investigate wasn't the only thing underway that seemed atypical. Here's Investigative reporter at Boston 25 News Ted Daniel.
- [17:50]
Matt Timpanek
The state police get involved and they call the on call detective for the region for the Norfolk County DA's office and then the state police start investigating it and that's when they send their team to do a search. There's been a lot of criticism about the initial evidence gathering that took place at the scene. You know they, they used a leaf blower to clear the snow away. They used red solo cups to collect blood drops. They used bags from the stop and Shop to put those red solo cups in. And I just don't think that they had a lot of experience dealing with something of this magnitude.
- [18:31]
Paula Barros
You heard that correctly. Police collected samples of blood on the scene by scooping the stained snow into six red samples solo cups that they borrowed from a fellow officer who lived down the street. The kind you typically associate with a party game like beer pong. Then the cups were placed in a paper stop and shop grocery bag.
- [18:52]
Matt Timpanek
So my understanding is that the processing of the crime scene was a textbook example of how not to do it. They didn't interview any of the people who were in the home. They allowed a significant amount of time to elapse before they conducted any real investigation about what may have happened in the house.
- [19:12]
Paula Barros
Will Korman illuminates another curious point. That day Trooper Michael Proctor only interviewed three witnesses from both the night John allegedly attended the party at the Alberts and the morning he was found dead. But remember there were at least 10 people there. They didn't search inside Brian and Nicole Albert's home either. Medicolegal death investigator expert Joseph Scott Morgan says in his experience this is a major issue.
- [19:40]
Matt Timpanek
That whole damn thing should have been locked down. They go in and they thoroughly examine that area. Every bit of it is a crime scene period.
- [19:50]
Paula Barros
Ted Daniel explains investigators rationale.
- [19:53]
Matt Timpanek
What a number of police officers said is hey we need probable cause. We, we need some reason to go into that home and search it. And they felt like they did not. At least they said that they felt like they didn't have probable cause to go into the home and conduct a search. But they said that they didn't see anything out of the ordinary in at least the kind of the foyer area or where they entered and spoke to some of the people there. But, you know, this is a community where people, you know, Brian Albert is a Boston police officer. He's the owner of that home. He's. The family is well connected in that town and especially with the law enforcement there. And I think the initial word from them was, hey, we were sleeping. We know that Karen dropped him off, or at least Karen's car was out in front of the house and that we didn't see her anymore.
- [20:50]
Paula Barros
And reporter Christina Rex says this just wasn't in their wheelhouse.
- [20:55]
Carrie Roberts
It wasn't this cut and dry crime scene where police showed up and taped it off with crime scene tape and immediately started collecting evidence and also immediately knew what happened and immediately suspected it was a homicide. None of that was true at first. When officers responded, they did not know that this was a homicide or they did not even suspect that this was a homicide. Canton police officers don't actually handle suspicious death cases, so they weren't properly equipped to investigate this and had called the state police, who were unavailable to immediately respond. And so Canton was kind of stuck with this crime scene, which is not one they usually handle. And so that was the beginning of, forgive my pun, a snowball effect of an investigation that really started out not in a typical way.
- [21:46]
Paula Barros
While the scene of the crime wasn't secured by any means, investigators did recover one of John o' Keeffe's shoes matching the other he had been wearing when he was found dead. They also found two red plastic pieces and one white piece of car taillight with Karen's right rear taillight noticeably cracked. The pieces of taillight on the scene piqued their interest. So much so, in fact, Trooper Proctor took to a group chat with friends and texted there will be some serious charges brought on the girl. The girl being Karen Reed.
- [22:21]
Matt Timpanek
Trooper Proctor seems really early on to have decided that it's definitely Karen Reid.
- [22:27]
Paula Barros
But in the nascent phase of this haphazard investigation, in a country that's legal system rests on the notion that you are innocent until proven guilty, Proctor's conviction that Karen Reed knowingly killed John o' Keefe with such little evidence to go off seemed unethical.
- [22:44]
Matt Timpanek
This provides an indication that perhaps they Were engaged in tunnel vision. And tunnel vision can be a big problem.
- [22:53]
Paula Barros
Proctor wasn't the only one grasping for a rationale. That evening, word began to spread throughout Canton, too.
- [23:00]
Matt Timpanek
I don't remember the last time there had been alleged murder in canton. I don't think that department deals with a lot of major crimes. It's the home of a Boston police officer who everyone knows in the town. His brother is a detective on the canton police department. So I think there were probably a number of behind the scenes phone calls that took place as they tried to initially figure out what happened. And I think in the first couple hours, they did not know what they had. You know, was it possible that John could have been hit by a plow or. Or something else happened to him that would lead him to. To be on the lawn of 34 Fairview Road? So, you know, according to the canton police, within, you know, a few hours, Canton was conflicted out of the case because of the connections that existed.
- [23:51]
Paula Barros
By 31 January, John OKeefe's autopsy was complete and the official cause of death had been determined by the office of the chief medical examiner. On his right arm, o' keefe had multiple abrasions on his face, Several lacerations, and two black eyes. He had skull fractures conducive to blunt force trauma to the back of the head. And hypothermia was undeniably a contributing factor in his death. But attorney and legal analyst Alita majeika, who breaks down criminal trials on her YouTube channel legal bites, Remembers there was still one major undetermined mystery.
- [24:28]
Carrie Roberts
The medical examiners were unable to testify about a conclusive manner of death or to say how exactly he got that blunt force trauma to his head that ultimately killed him.
- [24:40]
Paula Barros
Investigators were stumped. By now, 11 witnesses claim that John o' keefe never entered the party at the alberts. They unanimously agreed that they never saw him inside that house. To police, the drunk girlfriend with the broken taillight was their most solid lead. On February 1, 2022, Karen Reed was arrested.
- [25:03]
Matt Timpanek
When they initially arrested her, it wasn't a murder charge. It was a much lesser charge.
- [25:08]
Paula Barros
She was initially charged with motor vehicle homicide, manslaughter, and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle collision causing death. Here's attorney Jennifer Roman explaining the charges.
- [25:20]
Carrie Roberts
Driving under the influence. Here we call it oui operating. Because you have to be operating a motor vehicle to be charged and convicted of this crime. Presumptively, you're going to be found guilty of operating under the influence of alcohol. If your blood alcohol level is 0.08. So six hours later, her blood alcohol level was somewhere between.07 and 0.08. And they did a retrograde analysis of that, which had her blood alcohol level almost twice the legal limit at the time of this incident. So that's where our OUI comes in, and it elevates the motor vehicle homicide charge.
- [25:53]
Paula Barros
The following day, Karen was seen entering Stoughton District Court wearing a black jacket and a blue face mask, her hands cuffed behind her back as she was escorted into the courthouse by police officers. That morning, Karen pleaded not guilty beside her defense attorney, David Yannetti, and she was released on a $50,000 bond. Over the course of that winter into spring, Karen and her legal team prepped her defense on her three initial charges. But they had an inkling another charge was on the horizon.
- [26:25]
Matt Timpanek
They knew that an indictment was going to come down because that's the practice. And they said, hey, just give us a heads up. We'll bring her in. She can turn herself in. She's not a flight risk.
- [26:35]
Paula Barros
Ted remembers what came next, but, you.
- [26:38]
Matt Timpanek
Know, they went out and arrested her, put her in handcuffs. They took the case to a grand jury and indicted her, which is kind of the normal process in Massachusetts. They'll go and arrest you, but then that is a district court case, and then they bump it up to superior court through an indictment. So they brought the case to a grand jury, and when they brought the case to the grand jury, they brought a second degree murder charge.
- [27:03]
Paula Barros
On June 9, less than six months from her first arrest, Karen Reed was arraigned on a second degree murder charge.
- [27:11]
Matt Timpanek
There was some surprise when they brought murder two to the table because that essentially meant that they believed that Karen didn't necessarily premeditate this, but she knew that by her actions, could kill John o'. Keefe. That's essentially what the second degree murder charge is. So I think that caught some people by surprise. That, okay, initially we thought maybe they're going to allege that she hit him by accident in this snowstorm. But no, they're saying that she wanted John dead or she knew that she could kill John by allegedly hitting him.
- [27:47]
Paula Barros
Karen once again pleaded not guilty, this time at Norfolk Superior Court, where her bail was set at $100,000, which she posted soon after. With murder two on the table, Karen and her defense team had their work cut out for them.
- [28:03]
Carrie Roberts
So the most serious charge is the second degree murder charge. The next most serious would be the motor vehicle homicide while under the influence of alcohol. Then we have, if the jury did not convict of the motor vehicle homicide. They could convict of the lesser charge, which would be an involuntary manslaughter. And then the third one of the third primary charges, because there are some subsidiary charges. But the third primary charge is the leaving the scene of death, which simply means that you hit somebody, injured them perhaps, or caused their death in this case, as the prosecution would say, and left. You didn't call 91 1. You didn't take any intervening measures.
- [28:45]
Paula Barros
And these serious charges would require Karen's attorneys to provide answers to a litany of outstanding questions.
- [28:52]
Carrie Roberts
So that's your second degree murder charge is this concept that she had this hate? She knew the relationship was ending, she wanted him out of her life. Right. And she was drunk. The motor vehicle homicide piece is a little bit simpler in the sense that we don't need intent. We don't need intent to kill. But did she act in such a reckless or wanton manner? And did that recklessness cause John o' Keefe's death? So in other words, did she actually hit him with her SUV on the night in question? And did she leave him there after she hit him? They need to conclude what happened beyond a reasonable doubt in order to convict Karen Reid of any one of these charges.
- [29:28]
Paula Barros
With so little to go off of in the mysterious death of John o', Keefe, what did the prosecution have on Karen to substantiate a second degree murder charge? And what could have been her motive to murder her boyfriend in such an impulsive way?
- [29:43]
Matt Timpanek
Based on what they allege are Karen's voicemails, leaving John a voicemail saying I hate you. So they took that as intent and motive.
- [29:54]
Paula Barros
In the months following John's death, the investigation into Karen Reed illuminated a digital footprint that didn't do her any favors. By retrieving both John's phone and Karen's phone records, prosecutors discovered something alarming on.
- [30:10]
Carrie Roberts
The day of leading up to this. She was leaving him expletive filled, hate filled voice messages.
- [30:19]
Paula Barros
In the hours leading up to the discovery of his body, Karen had called John over 50 times, leaving several disturbing voicemail messages.
- [30:29]
Matt Timpanek
John, I'm here with your fucking kids. Nobody knows what the fuck you want. Pervert. Yes, once in the morning. I'm with your fucking niece and nephew, you fucking pervert. You're a fucking pervert.
- [30:43]
Carrie Roberts
John.
- [30:43]
Matt Timpanek
I'm going home. I cannot leave you sitting in these. I need to go home.
- [30:47]
Carrie Roberts
You. You are fucking using me right now.
- [30:49]
Matt Timpanek
You're fucking another girl. He's sleeping next to me. You're fucking loser.
- [30:55]
Carrie Roberts
Fuck yourself.
- [30:58]
Paula Barros
It Wasn't just voicemails, either. There were texts, too. Here's Ian Runkle with the gist of their text exchange.
- [31:06]
Matt Timpanek
They were sending some texts back and forth, you know, sort of angry texts. That evening. She's calling him a pervert, which suggests that she thinks he's off sleeping with somebody else during that time.
- [31:19]
Paula Barros
Yet there's something about connecting the text to John's murder that stood out as odd to Ian.
- [31:25]
Matt Timpanek
And those texts and voicemails continue on past when the prosecution thinks that she killed him. So it's kind of unusual that she would be continuing a fight with a person that she would have thought she left for dead. That would be strange, right?
- [31:40]
Paula Barros
It does seem strange, but not enough for the prosecution to change their mind. As they continued to probe Karen's motive to kill John, more and more evidence was mounting that their relationship problems had reached critical mass shortly before his untimely death.
- [31:56]
Carrie Roberts
There's also the subtext that she believed he was having an affair. So there's a lot of, like, subtext here about the nature of their relationship. Was it on the brink or not? Was that the motivation that, you know, John o' Keefe wanted to end the relationship and Karen Reed didn't. And so the prosecution's theory is that her refusal to accept that the relationship was ending or about to end was the motive for her wanting to kill him. To hit him and leave him, basically is their theory.
- [32:28]
Paula Barros
According to the prosecution, Karen believed John was planning to leave her.
- [32:32]
Matt Timpanek
So the motive basically appears to be suggested to be sort of jealousy combined with drinking.
- [32:40]
Paula Barros
But it turns out Karen wasn't the only party in the relationship with reason to be jealous.
- [32:45]
Carrie Roberts
She seemed to be having some sort of at least flirtatious romantic relationship with one of his friends.
- [32:51]
Paula Barros
Here's Luis Fieldman on the friend in question.
- [32:54]
Matt Timpanek
There's somebody who was at the Waterfall Bar and Grill in Canton where Karen Reed, John o' Keefe and other folks were out drinking. And there's an individual there who had this relationship that it's kind of hard to categorize with Karen Reed. His name is Brian Higgins, and he is an ATF agent.
- [33:16]
Paula Barros
Brian and Karen did have a history.
- [33:19]
Matt Timpanek
It became known that he had shared some flirty text messages with Karen Reid. At one point, he had gone over to John Okeefes House to watch a Patriots game with Karen Reed there, and they had shared a kiss that night.
- [33:36]
Paula Barros
While the discovery of Karen and Brian's flirtation may have painted Karen as a hypocrite, it also provided her defense team fuel for an alternative theory as to who else may have been motivated to harm John.
- [33:47]
Matt Timpanek
There were some rumors of bad blood between the folks who were in the house and Karen Reid's boyfriend.
- [33:54]
Carrie Roberts
The only potential motive that was put forward by Karen Reed's attorneys for other people to have killed John o' Keefe was this flirtatious relationship between ATF agent Brian Higgins and Karen Reed that had been going on that month.
- [34:10]
Paula Barros
Ian posits what could have transpired between Brian and John. That evening at the Alberts home.
- [34:16]
Matt Timpanek
Mr. Higgins was engaged in some flirtatious discussions with Karen Reid which never actually went anywhere. And from looking at these discussions it looks like it's because Higgins kind of came on too hard. He was looking for a lifelong commitment whereas she was kind of flirting around and so she sort of broke that off. But he appears to have been upset by it. When it was suggested to him that Karen Reed ghosted him, he looked hurt and offended by that. So it's possible that he's sitting there, he's smarting over this and decides to make mention of that to John o'. Keefe.
- [34:55]
Paula Barros
Armed with these details, it was possible to counter the argument that Karen was the only person who had animosity towards John.
- [35:02]
Matt Timpanek
The defense, you know, they're pointing to some individuals who might have some sort of motive. And I guess just to couch all this is that, you know, the defense is job obviously is to create reasonable doubt. The case that they're putting forward, the burden of proof isn't on them. So you know, they're saying that there's other people who could have done this. And for example, here's one individual who could have had the motive. And that being that the relationship was unclear between this individual and Karen Reed and that he was jealous that he wasn't getting the responses that he wanted.
- [35:35]
Paula Barros
Could it be that John actually made it into the party at the Alberts home that evening? If so, did a jealous fight between two men escalate to murder? Could the well connected crew of law enforcement at the home that night be protecting one of their own? With the revelation of Karen and Brian's ambiguous romantic ties, her defense finally had some merit and two divided camps were solidified. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts on one side.
- [36:07]
Carrie Roberts
If you believe the prosecution, it's because the evidence was so compelling that she struck him with her motor vehicle. She had been under the influence. They had been arguing this was clearly an intentional act. She knew she hit him and she left him there in his. In his cause of death was undisputed. Again was blunt Force trauma with hypothermia.
- [36:27]
Paula Barros
And Karen Reed's defense on the other.
- [36:29]
Carrie Roberts
If you believe the defense theory. However, this was all a cover up. That John o' Keefe and Kieran Reed, because he was a Boston police officer, had many friends who were police officers and state troopers. And on this evening was no exception.
- [36:42]
Paula Barros
Details would soon emerge that gives this latter theory legs to stand on, and it soon picks up in enough steam to energize an entire movement.
- [36:57]
Matt Timpanek
David answers the phone and the guy gives a fake name and he says, you, client is innocent. She did not kill John o'. Keefe. He was actually beaten up inside the house.
- [37:10]
Carrie Roberts
He sort of took this case on pretty early on, pushing that there was a cover up. He's got a huge following, and that really stirred up a lot of drama and really spurned the Free Karen Reid movement.
- [37:22]
Matt Timpanek
I don't think this was a media strategy that was envisioned by attorney Iannetti or attorney Jackson, but good Lord, it certainly worked out to their benefit, in my opinion. They had included 30, 40, 50 people in this conspiracy. It's like, all right, you can't really get like three people to agree usually on anything, five people. But 30 to 50 people all agreed to, oh, we're just part of this railroading of Karen Reed to cover up the death of Officer John o'. Keefe. It's just preposterous.
- [37:53]
Carrie Roberts
People come by my house. They take video, they scream. They've gone to my child sporting events and called me names. They've written letters to my daughter's colleges and said that they shouldn't allow them to play. They send me Facebook messages. They call my home phone and cell phone all hours of the night. They tell me to kill myself.
- [38:16]
Paula Barros
That's all coming up on the next episode of Karen. This has been a law and crime production. I'm your host, Paula Barros. Our executive producer is Jessica Lowther. Our producer and writer is Cooper Maul. Our editor is Brad Mabie. Our researcher is Stephanie Doucet. Our bookers are Alyssa Fisher and Diane Kay. Legal and fact checking by Elizabeth Vouli. And special thanks to Shawn Panzera for designing our key art. Follow Karen in the Wondery app. You can binge the entire series early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts or Spotify.