Photo: WBZ NewsRadio
Updated: 4:30 p.m. 5/7/25
DEDHAM, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Day 11 of testimony in the Karen Read murder retrial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass. has ended for the day.
Read is accused of hitting her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow on Jan. 29, 2022. Read’s defense team has claimed she is innocent and is being framed.
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Connor Keefe Testimony
Massachusetts State Police (MSP) Trooper Connor Keefe was the first witness called to the stand on Wednesday morning. Keefe works for MSP’s homicide unit as a digital forensics examiner, testifying that he extracted the contents of Kerry Roberts’ and Jennifer McCabe’s phones, who were both with Read when O’Keefe’s body was found.
Keefe opened evidence bags on the stand, with items that were recovered from the lawn of 34 Fairview Road in Canton, Mass. He testified that he put the items into bags, which included a singular black and white shoe and broken taillight pieces, as authorities were processing the scene.
Defense attorney David Yannetti handled cross-examination for the defense. He grilled Keefe on his relationship with MSP Trooper Michael Proctor, the former lead investigator in the case. The way Proctor handled the case is central to the defense’s claim that Read was framed.
Keefe was also asked about O’Keefe’s autopsy, which he was present for. He disputed Yannetti’s characterization of “giving input” to Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, as she performed the autopsy. Keefe added that investigators “don’t give input, [they] give the facts.”
Digital Forensics Expert Credibility Dispute
The jury was asked to leave the courtroom as defense attorney Robert Alessi raised concerns over Jessica Hyde, a digital forensics expert witness who testified in the first trial. Alessi said the defense should be able to question her about a report she did in another case that was rejected by a different court.
In response, special prosecutor Hank Brennan called it “an attempt to try to malign a witness with something that’s wholly unrelated and not relevant to what she’s going to testify to, or the basis of her opinion.”
Judge Beverly Cannone said she wished she “had more notice” on the issue, but ultimately ruled that the defense must exclude the aforementioned report while cross-examining Hyde.
Jessica Hyde Testimony
Hyde was the next witness on the stand once the jury was called back into the courtroom. Much of her testimony was focused on her analysis of McCabe’s text messages and Google searches. The defense has argued that McCabe searched “hos long to die in the cold” at 2:27 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022. The prosecution has argued that McCabe did not make the search until hours later at Read’s request.
Hyde’s analysis supported the prosecution’s argument, testifying that the 2:27 a.m. time stamp only refers to the time McCabe opened the tab, not when she ultimately made the search. Hyde also said it would not be possible for McCabe to have deleted the search from the data.
“To a reasonable degree of certainty, I can say that ‘hos long to die in the cold’ was searched at approximately 6:24 a.m.,” Hyde testified.
Testimony for the day ended at 3:40 p.m.
After testimony ended, the state played a clip for the court of Read on ID Docuseries where she said "Jenn McCabe, it's me or her. Either I'm going down, Jenn, or you are," Read said.
Testimony is scheduled to resume Thursday morning.
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