Karen Read Trial Bombshell: Key Witness Claims She Overheard Accused Killer Repeatedly Say 'I Hit Him' After Boston Cop's Lifeless Body Was Found in Snow
April 30 2025, Published 4:30 p.m. ET
A key witness took the stand for a second day in the Karen Read murder retrial and her testimony shocked the courtroom.
Witness Jennifer McCabe testified to hearing Read repeatedly saying "I hit him" to a first responder after they discovered her boyfriend John O'Keefe's lifeless body in the snow, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Read is being retried on second-degree murder charges after her 2024 trial ended in a hung jury.
Read faces charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence, and leaving the scene of an accident causing death. She is on trial again after jurors were unable to come to an unanimous verdict in her first trial.
Prosecutors argued Read intentionally hit O'Keefe, a Boston police officer, with Lexus SUV on January 29, 2022, after a night out in Canton, Massachusetts, and left him to die outside as a snowstorm approached.
Defense attorneys claimed Read has been the target of a biased investigation and the victim of a cover-up as they argued someone else killed the cop.
Jennifer McCabe recalled Read being 'hysterical' on the morning O'Keefe's body was discovered on her sister's lawn.
McCabe plays a central part in the case due to being with Read at a local bar in the hours leading up to O'Keefe's death, as well as being with the defendant when the officer's body was discovered.
On Tuesday, April 29, McCabe testified to seeing Read's SUV outside her sister's home at 34 Fairview Road, but said the defendant never came inside. She said she texted O'Keefe to see if he and Read were coming inside, where friends and family gathered after visiting a local bar, but he never responded.
While recalling the fateful night, McCabe said she received a call from O'Keefe's niece around 5 A.M. and could hear Read screaming in the background.
The witness claimed Read told her she and O'Keefe had gotten into an argument and she left him at the local bar, but he never came home.
McCabe claimed she overheard Read telling a first responder 'i hit him' after they found O'Keefe's body.
She then recalled telling Read she saw her car at her sister's house hours earlier – and Read started sobbing.
McCabe said: "And then she told me she didn't remember being there. And then she went on to say – she started saying, 'Could I have hit him? Did I hit him?'"
Read allegedly told McCabe she had cracked her taillight earlier that night.
Shortly after the call, Read arrived at McCabe's home. They, along with a woman named Kerry Roberts, drove to McCabe's sister's house in hopes of finding O'Keefe.
When the group arrived at 34 Fairview Road, the witness said Read shouted, "There he is, let me out," and exited the car.
McCabe's 911 was played in court and Read could be heard screaming in the background.
She recalled: "Karen was hysterical, irrational. She's doing a lot of screaming, asking 'Is he dead, is he dead, is he dead.'
"She just was kind of all over the place."
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Read has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder.
On cross-examination, Read's defense lawyers attempted to highlight McCabe's connections to police, including her brother-in-law Brian Albert, a Boston police officer who owned the home at 34 Fairview Road.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson tried to get McCabe to acknowledge that after O'Keefe's body was found, police did not separate potential witnesses before taking their statements.
McCabe claimed she saw no need for the witnesses to be separated, most of which were family members.
