MA - Professor Karen Read, 43, charged with murdering police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe by hitting him with car, Canton, 14 Apr 2023 #12

[Jber]

Possible. Let's face it, he had to play them for motive, weak as they are with regard to that.

Or he just relied on Jen McCabe. An obvious liar.

None of the seven calls Jen made were butt dials. They never went to John's VM so she made them, hung up, and did it again. Why? And why the texts around the same time? She and Matt were looking out the dining room window. Maybe not the whole time but if you're looking for someone to get out of a car and they didn't respond to your 12:31 contact, wouldn't you glance out to the street before sending a barrage of calls and texts their way? Karen had to have been gone before 12:31.

I don't think the defense is going to bother calling Erin Beatty (although she's on their list) as they think the case is already won, but she told an investigator Colin contacted her around 12:30 for a ride. Despite literally everyone else remembering he left at exactly 12:15 (not that they remember much else) and despite the McCabe daughter's very questionable testimony. (Life360)

My speculative timeline is that John got out of the car immediately and just before the three witnesses noticed Karen alone in her car. He was in the house by 12:24 or 12:25. Not hearing back from him, an upset Karen heads for home at about 12:29. The CW says the GPS on his phone stopped at 12:25 (By which time I think he'd arrived inside the house) but his health app time stamp has his phone moving until 12:31.

I think he was smacked in the head with a hard object and disabled shortly after he arrived, with Chloe getting involved at some point. Instead of calling 911, Colin is hustled out and Jen tries to muddy the timeline waters with all of her calls and texts pretending she doesn't know where John is. A drunk Higgins heads out to Canton PD to establish an alibi. Despite the fact that he returned to his home (10 miles away) earlier to prepare to work, Tristan Morris, Caitlin Albert's fiancé, is called back to Canton to help and get Caitlin and possibly Chloe out of the house. After Lucky's first pass around 2:45 am (when there is no body seen on the lawn) BA and Tristian move John's body to the darkest part of the lawn, using the SUV Lucky saw as cover from the street.

BA knew full well he could count on his cop friends not to ask any actual questions. And he was right.

Just my speculation, of course.

I’ve been following this case a LOT less than many of you here, so please forgive me if this is a dumb question.

With respect to your speculative timeline of events, do you think it’s possible Jen McC didn’t yet know what had happened to JO during those 20 minutes (12:31-12:50) of her texts and calls to him? That she was legitimately looking for him and confused about where he was during that time, since she’d been expecting him? And that the lying or coming up with a false story happened sometime after 12:50 that night?

Just curious, because TBH, I’m imagining myself (in a past life!) on a night of drinking, expecting my friend to show up and them not arriving quickly when I knew they were on their way… I can totally see myself sending 4 texts and calling several times in the span of 20 minutes (even if just to make sure they were ok or didn’t get lost, etc.).

 

[keek]

A hunka burnin' love, for sure. I don't believe Karen was actually interested in him.

OH nooooooooo she was not, that whole thing was irrational.

 

[HarmonyE.]

I’ve been following this case a LOT less than many of you here, so please forgive me if this is a dumb question.

With respect to your speculative timeline of events, do you think it’s possible Jen McC didn’t yet know what had happened to JO during those 20 minutes (12:31-12:50) of her texts and calls to him? That she was legitimately looking for him and confused about where he was during that time, since she’d been expecting him? And that the lying or coming up with a false story happened sometime after 12:50 that night?

She testified she saw Karen's car at 12:45 and she and Matt both testified they were looking out the window for him.

I can buy she may not have seen John immediately head downstairs, but Karen was gone by 12:29 and I can't believe she wasn't aware of that long before 12:50 when she stopped calling him.

 

[themonk]

I don't believe for a moment this was accidental. I think he was purposely hit in the head by someone, possibly during an altercation. There has to be a reason Colin was hustled out and why no one mentioned him until Erin Beatty came forward said he called her around 12:30 looking for a ride from Fairview.

Colin on trial would be the perfect sequel to this one when it's over.

How do these people sleep at night

 

[Leilei]

Yes...she lied, and did so under oath.

While being interviewed by the FBI, if she lied to them and made false statements, she could face up to five years in federal prison.....

There's at least two more that need to go with her!
IMO

 

[kittythehare]

I’ve been following this case a LOT less than many of you here, so please forgive me if this is a dumb question.

With respect to your speculative timeline of events, do you think it’s possible Jen McC didn’t yet know what had happened to JO during those 20 minutes (12:31-12:50) of her texts and calls to him? That she was legitimately looking for him and confused about where he was during that time, since she’d been expecting him? And that the lying or coming up with a false story happened sometime after 12:50 that night?

Just curious, because TBH, I’m imagining myself (in a past life!) on a night of drinking, expecting my friend to show up and them not arriving quickly when I knew they were on their way… I can totally see myself sending 4 texts and calling several times in the span of 20 minutes (even if just to make sure they were ok or didn’t get lost, etc.).

It wasn't just that tho', she was also hallucinating vehicles... a Lexus, specifically.

 

[HarmonyE.]

I know a lot of people have trouble with the short time frame (although they should have far more trouble with Trooper Joe Paul's inane "reconstruction") but I think it's possible John went into that house looking to deal specifically with Higgins. Especially if Karen told him about Higgins's text to her at the Waterfall.

If so, it would explain why something happened so quickly as we know Higgins was at the house before John was. Where's Higgins? Downstairs with Brian and Colin and Chloe looking for some whiskey.....

 

[Wishbone]

It's still nagging me that JO was intentionally lured to the house that night. Not only the verbal invitation to JO, but also BH sending a text to KR at the waterfall as well. In addition, JM physically trying to exit the waterfall bar with KR in tow. Taking into account that here both JO and BA worked as cops in Boston and lived in the same town but did not seem to associate previously, why invite him to party on this night when before there didn't seem to be a friendship or relationship. I suspect some kind of planned confrontation was meant to take place and they did everything they could to get JO to that house. Be it over KR, Colin involved in something illegal, or even more going on in Canton with BA.

JO enters the house, and in the process of bending over and taking off his shoes, as is his practice at home, possibly one of the three says something while JO has just managed to remove only one shoe. At this point JO is in a perfect position to receive the blow to the back of his head. What happens after that is the mad scramble to cover up the attack. JMOO

 

[Maat99]

Maybe the guys wouldn't tell her what they did with him after whatever happened in the basement occurred, so she was trying to find him via his phone?

This makes sense to me. JM goes downstairs to look for BO. Finds out there was a fight. JO could have stumbled out or been forced to leave. Maybe the guys at the house legitimately didn’t know where he went, or assumed Karen was there too and drove him home. So she is texting - trying to find him and see if he is ok - maybe eventually also assumes he must have found a ride home.
Then at around 2:00 or so something happens because this is the next flurry of activity. I think this is when they found JO. NA went to bed - maybe she saw something on their own Ring camera? Maybe she let Chloe out one last time before bed and Chloe found him. BA calls BH, then BH calls him back. JM does her search, snowplow driver sees a car parked in the road but no body.

 

[kittythehare]

It's still nagging me that JO was intentionally lured to the house that night. Not only the verbal invitation to JO, but also BH sending a text to KR at the waterfall as well. In addition, JM physically trying to exit the waterfall bar with KR in tow. Taking into account that here both JO and BA worked as cops in Boston and lived in the same town but did not seem to associate previously, why invite him to party on this night when before there didn't seem to be a friendship or relationship. I suspect some kind of planned confrontation was meant to take place and they did everything they could to get JO to that house. Be it over KR, Colin involved in something illegal, or even more going on in Canton with BA.

JO enters the house, and in the process of bending over and taking off his shoes, as is his practice at home, possibly one of the three says something while JO has just managed to remove only one shoe. At this point JO is in a perfect position to receive the blow to the back of his head. What happens after that is the mad scramble to cover up the attack. JMOO

That's a theme that keeps playing around on my mind as well..
I wasn't sure why exactly and I wondered whether he had discovered something about one or more of them in the course of his work in sex crimes..

 

[Name_Withheld]

I don't think there was a plan to attack/kill JOK. But I think it was a situation where one thing led to another, the dog jumped in to "defend" someone, and he got dead, and then they covered it all up.

If I had to guess what started it, it was drunk guys late at night and I bet some flash-moment happened as JOK came in. I'd guess it was about someone messing with someone's woman, either right then (for example, did drunk JOK walk in, hoping to get laid, and say something aggressively sexual to the wrong woman?) or something said earlier and now it boils up. Punches are thrown (including JOK getting punched in the face, ending up with cuts to the nose and black eyes), and then the dog jumps in biting and attacking (to defend his master), and JOK falls or is knocked backwards and his head hits something that causes major slice and damage, there's unconsciousness, huge bleeding. Instead of calling 911, figuring he's already a goner, not wanting to have to face consequences, they wait until they have a discreet chance to put him outside, like taking out the trash. Not meaning to be disrespectful to JOK, but commenting on what I think happened.

This seems to be a very plausible scenario. But what if…just IF JO had in fact learned of the texts between KR and BH and confronted BH in the home and that kicked off the chain of events leading us here. I know this paints JO as the aggressor but in everyone’s stage of intoxication I don’t find this to be an unreasonable scenario.

On the other hand, we’ve heard no testimony in court or reports anywhere else that JO was the aggressive type when drinking.

 

[HarmonyE.]

This makes sense to me. JM goes downstairs to look for BO. Finds out there was a fight. JO could have stumbled out or been forced to leave. Maybe the guys at the house legitimately didn’t know where he went, or assumed Karen was there too and drove him home. So she is texting - trying to find him and see if he is ok - maybe eventually also assumes he must have found a ride home.
Then at around 2:00 or so something happens because this is the next flurry of activity. I think this is when they found JO. NA went to bed - maybe she saw something on their own Ring camera? Maybe she let Chloe out one last time before bed and Chloe found him. BA calls BH, then BH calls him back. JM does her search, snowplow driver sees a car parked in the road but no body.

Chloe was only put out in the fenced back yard. Not the front.
Why did no one see John on the lawn, including Lucky?
And why are so many innocent people lying and destroying evidence?

 

[I am not Sherlock H.]

I hope it's Jackson that gives the closing and also hope he pulls out the big easel and physically writes all the conflicts in the CW's case - esp. the key log data, start with 1164 (where Trooper Paul accessed it) and work backward everywhere there is evidence that vehicle had been up to 34 Fairview (and who had custody of it). I'm sure the jury took notes but seeing it big and bold in front of their faces will make an equally big impact.

That alone just kills the CW's case, but writing out the phone timeline wouldn't hurt either, show what a fibber JMcC was in her testimony about seeing KR at 12:45 outside, when we know (through one of the CW's own witnesses) that she was at JOK's house by then.

Can't wait for closings!

Yes geevee!!! And not at all telling the defense or AJ or others what they should do……. but for those that watched the Michelle Troconis / Jennifer Dulos case in CT, closings by state’s attorney’s Michelle Manning and Sean McGuiness were phenomenal. And McGuiness gave a wonderful summation of basically some 30 coincidences that one would have to ignore to conclude that Troconis was not involved in the conspiracy / murder. Something similar in this case with all the unusual circumstances and oddities (including all the derrière dialings….. a favorite) would be a nice close. MOO

 

[KSwizzle]

i think, and it’s speculatory, if you think or speculate if he was in the house and had some sort of physical altercation, people sometimes don’t realise how quick things can happen. He could have gone into the house and maliciously or not, got into an argument with someone(s) and a fight could happen and this could have taken place quickly. Look at cases that are currently high profile like the Moscow case or Delphi, unlike movies/tv shows incidents can happen quickly

Which, makes me think of the testimony yesterday that there was a 3 minute difference on the phone times, doesn’t prove anything but 3 minutes could introduce reasonable doubt

 

[geevee]

It's still nagging me that JO was intentionally lured to the house that night. Not only the verbal invitation to JO, but also BH sending a text to KR at the waterfall as well. In addition, JM physically trying to exit the waterfall bar with KR in tow. Taking into account that here both JO and BA worked as cops in Boston and lived in the same town but did not seem to associate previously, why invite him to party on this night when before there didn't seem to be a friendship or relationship. I suspect some kind of planned confrontation was meant to take place and they did everything they could to get JO to that house. Be it over KR, Colin involved in something illegal, or even more going on in Canton with BA.

JO enters the house, and in the process of bending over and taking off his shoes, as is his practice at home, possibly one of the three says something while JO has just managed to remove only one shoe. At this point JO is in a perfect position to receive the blow to the back of his head. What happens after that is the mad scramble to cover up the attack. JMOO

Anyone know how Higgins got JOK's cell number? Did they ever call or text before this evening?

 

[HarmonyE.]

Anyone know how Higgins got JOK's cell number? Did they ever call or text before this evening?

He had Karen's number. And Higgins and John got drunk together before this. Very drunk, in fact. Higgins texted John about being sorry that he broke John's nephew's game because he was so drunk.

 

[HanniBJeter]

I thought Karen texted him and he asked her how she got his number?

 

[Wishbone]

Anyone know how Higgins got JOK's cell number? Did they ever call or text before this evening?

Higgins and JO spent time together at JO's house watching sports and elsewhere I guess. I'm sure they both had each others numbers.

 

[geevee]

He had Karen's number. And Higgins and John got drunk together before this. Very drunk, in fact. Higgins texted John about being sorry that he broke John's nephew's game because he was so drunk.

Oh, okay, thanks.

 

[ch_13]

I hope it's Jackson that gives the closing and also hope he pulls out the big easel and physically writes all the conflicts in the CW's case - esp. the key log data, start with 1164 (where Trooper Paul accessed it) and work backward everywhere there is evidence that vehicle had been up to 34 Fairview (and who had custody of it). I'm sure the jury took notes but seeing it big and bold in front of their faces will make an equally big impact.

That alone just kills the CW's case, but writing out the phone timeline wouldn't hurt either, show what a fibber JMcC was in her testimony about seeing KR at 12:45 outside, when we know (through one of the CW's own witnesses) that she was at JOK's house by then.

Can't wait for closings!

Yannetti did the opening, so I'm pretty sure that Jackson will do the closing. And I bet they have charts and visuals they've been working on to lay out their whole view of the case. I fully expect he'll hit it out of the park.

I'm actually very curious about what Lally will say during closing. How will he excuse Proctor's actions? Will he stick with his reconstructionist's theory with the whole "John's arm hit the back of the SUV and launched him 30' backwards" thing? How will he explain away the discrepancies in the timeline that his own witnesses have introduced? I doubt he has it in him to rise to the occasion. I expect he'll just mumble his way through a completely unmemorable closing the same way he did the opening.