Karen Read has filed a new lawsuit against the people she believes “concocted a plan” to frame her for the murder of her then-boyfriend, Boston Police Office John O’Keefe.
Read was acquitted of murder earlier this year in a high-profile case that took two trials to complete after the first one ended in a hung jury and mistrial. Prosecutors had accused Read of drunkenly backing her SUV into O’Keefe after dropping him off at a house party in January 2022. But at the end of the retrial, she was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter, and convicted only on a drunk driving charge.
Read has always maintained her innocence, and her new civil suit — filed in Bristol County, Massachusetts Superior Court earlier this week — centers around a theory she and her defense team have long floated: That O’Keefe was actually killed “in an altercation” during the house party, and that those inside tried to make it look like Read hit him with her car.
The suit alleges that, rather than call for help after the altercation, the people at the house party Googled “hos [sic] long to die in the cold,” moved O’Keefe’s body outside, and placed him on the front lawn “near the road to make it look like Mr. O’Keefe was hit by a vehicle and that he died in the snow without ever coming into the House that night.”
The lawsuit names numerous defendants who served as witnesses in the criminal case, including fellow Boston cop Brian Albert and his wife Nicole (owners of the house where the party took place), Matthew and Jennifer McCabe, and Brian Higgins. (None, it should be noted, are specifically identified as being involved in the alleged altercation with O’Keefe.)
It also names several members of the Massachusetts State Police, including Michael Proctor. The now-former state trooper led the original investigation into Read, but damaged the state’s case after it was revealed that he had sent vulgar and misogynistic texts about Read to friends and shared details of the investigation with family members. (Proctor was fired after the first trial.)
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The suit claims that the house party attendees and the MSP investigators were “working in tandem” throughout the investigation. It alleges that Proctor and the MSP “allowed” those at the party to “direct the investigation away from themselves, and towards Ms. Read.” It also claims that investigators “intentionally disregarded the obvious and compelling evidence tying” the attendees to O’Keefe’s death.
They did so, the suit alleges, because those at the house “were a well-connected and close social group with strong ties to law enforcement,” and Proctor and his MSP colleagues were “adhering to the unwritten rule of ‘protecting their own.’”
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The Massachusetts State Police did not immediately return Rolling Stone‘s request for comment. Lawyers for the Alberts, McCabes, and Higgins did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s requests for comment, though they did share a statement with The Associated Press: “The allegations made by Karen Read are entirely false, defamatory, and without merit. Our clients categorically deny each and every claim. This lawsuit is nothing more than a continuation of a baseless conspiracy narrative that has caused significant harm to the reputations and lives of innocent people. Our clients acted responsibly, fulfilling their civic duty as witnesses, and have participated appropriately in the legal process from the outset.”
While Read’s criminal case is over, she was already facing a wrongful death suit, filed by O’Keefe’s family after the first criminal trial. In her new civil suit, Read said she would aim to combine the two cases “for discovery and trial efficiencies.” Read could also soon face a defamation suit from the Alberts, McCabes, and Higgins, who signaled their intention to take legal action early this week.
