A Body In The Snow: The Trial of Karen Read

[DanaK]

Quote

Investigation Discovery's 3 part doc series premieres on Investigation Discovery on Monday March 17, time TBA, and will air over 3 consecutive nights

Read is accused of killing her boyfriend John O’Keefe, a local police officer. On a cold January morning in a sleepy suburb outside of the city, a local police officer named John O’Keefe was found dead on a fellow officer’s front lawn. Authorities, citing a toxic dynamic between O’Keefe and his girlfriend, Read, immediately narrowed in on Read as their main suspect. They alleged Read backed into O’Keefe with her car in a fit of passion and then left him to die in the snow – but Read maintains her innocence with her defense alleging something far more nefarious was at play.

Article on the series https://deadline.com/2025/02/karen-read-docuseries-investigation-discovery-1236275278/

ETA:

Times will be 9-11pm ET/PT for Monday and Tuesday's episodes and 9-10pm ET/PT on Wednesday. The episodes will also stream on Max

Full press release http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2025/02/03/investigation-discovery-to-premiere-a-body-in-the-snow-the-trial-of-karen-read-offering-unprecented-access-to-read-and-her-legal-team-529515/20250203id01/

Edited February 3 by DanaK

[DanaK]

Trailer

 

[SunnyBeBe]

I was hoping others are watching this.  I was curious.  It’s not what I expected at all.  I have a lot of questions after watching the Monday night episode.  

[CAM]

So that was something...with cases like this I always go back to this: the simplest answer is usually the right one. The frame up would require way to many people to keep quiet. Karen said it herself she has no memory of what happened that night.

I'm surprised that there wasn't a gag order in place or something (with Karen intentionally leaking info to that social media dude). I also wonder if this special will end up backfiring on the defense. Wonder if there will be a change in venue request for the new trial or media blackout.

The snow plow drive...people have a bad habit of not seeing things right in front of them, especially if it is something that they don't expect to see. 

If it was true the the jury couldn't hear the chanting, then provided they informed the Judge, I'm surprised she didn't do anything about it.

 

[mmecorday]

Karen Read really seems like a very self-centered and obnoxious person. I'm thinking that she probably did hit John, but was too drunk to remember doing so. She claims that when she drinks, her memory is often compromised, but she does not have blackouts. I hate to tell her, but not remembering striking your boyfriend with your car while drunk would fall under the category of a blackout. 

I'm surprised that John was the only casualty that night with all those drunk people driving around in a blizzard. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 3/24/2025 at 1:24 PM, mmecorday said:

Karen Read really seems like a very self-centered and obnoxious person. I'm thinking that she probably did hit John, but was too drunk to remember doing so. She claims that when she drinks, her memory is often compromised, but she does not have blackouts. I hate to tell her, but not remembering striking your boyfriend with your car while drunk would fall under the category of a blackout. 

I'm surprised that John was the only casualty that night with all those drunk people driving around in a blizzard. 

PREACH! I would add, narcissistic to that.

I stumbled onto this when scrolling through what to watch last weekend. She's so freakin' unlikeable and arrogant, to boot.

I agree there were a lot of holes in her case, and I'm especially disappointed that Alan Jackson was and continues to be her attorney. No mention of her local counsel, whose name I'm blanking on, also representing her, and who said he'd been with her since "Day ONE" and will continue to be there. Since he wasn't mentioned in the articles I've read about how they tried to get the two larger charges dismissed under double jeopardy. What a joke. Just because four or five jurors came to them and told them that-they DID NOT tell the judge that, so all three charges still remain.

Jackson knows better.

I wonder if they're doing this pro bono?

And not for nothing, but the jury in the first trial did say they could hear her cult chanting, so I'm hoping increasing the buffer zone, will ensure, that when this jury deliberates, they won't hear them. I mean, like, NONE of them KNOW her.

[GHScorpiosRule]

ETA:

Just read this on WCVB: Read now has Five, that's FIVE attorneys in the retrial, and one of them served as the alternate juror on her first trial! The what, now?

Here is the LINK.

And I can see in the background, original local counsel is still there.

I laughed at reading one of the excused jurors not wanting to have anything to do with this trial.

[badhaggis]

I was telling my husband about this. He said I said she is very unlikable about 10 times. What can I say she is very unlikable!

[Spartan Girl]

9 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

And not for nothing, but the jury in the first trial did say they could hear her cult chanting, so I'm hoping increasing the buffer zone, will ensure, that when this jury deliberates, they won't hear them. I mean, like, NONE of them KNOW her.

I really don’t get why people are so personally involved in this case. I’m so sick of media and the netizen conspiracy buffs turning criminals into celebrities.

Edited April 3 by Spartan Girl

[GHScorpiosRule]

13 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I really don’t get why people are so personally involved in this case. I’m so sick of media and the netizen conspiracy buffs turning criminals into celebrities.

According to the documentary, it was Turtleboy-some podcaster, who heard about it and started a harassment campaign, and of course Karen herself, who said she liked the color pink-even though she never wears it-and has says so-that they chose that color.

And Karen was cackling at how the daughter of one of the witnesses was brought to tears in the first trial, when she testified about the harassment she was getting-and she wasn't even there! Or involved with anything to do with O'Keefe's murder. Karen was all "I don't care because now they know how I feel" or some such, and how she's the one on trial, blah, blah, blah.

Edited April 3 by GHScorpiosRule

[amarante]

I am amazed that this has gotten so much media attention

I saw the trial on either 20/20 or Dateline and it wasn't one of the more fascinating cases I have watched. As I recall I thought she was guilty and should have been convicted but not of murder but of something equivalent to negligent homicide. 

A plea deal plus a reduced sentence would probably have meant she would have been out of jail by this time

Has she received significant money from sources? Gofundme or other donations? I know that theoretically news media isn't supposed to pay for interviews but typically they get around this by paying a lot of money to use photos or other stuff or to film in one's home. 

[MamaMax]

As unlikable as she is, I’m not ready to say she’s guilty. I’ve read a lot about the case and I’m willing to believe that something happened in that house and they circled the wagons with the cops. I’m also not sure how someone is supposed to act under the circumstances. If she really is being framed, then being pretty pissed off all the time seems pretty appropriate to me. 

[MicheleinPhilly]

I knew nothing about this case and decided to watch it on the recommendation of a friend. 

Karen is a bit of a sociopath methinks. Her seeming lack of emotion over the death of her boyfriend as well as the situation she found herself in definitely gave me pause. As did her decision to allow this documentary to be made with her full cooperation. 

Did she pitch this or was she approached by the producers? 

All of her supporters need to find a hobby/get a life. Is Canton really that boring that you can think of nothing better to do than hang out in front of a courthouse for 10 weeks listening to the radio? Get a damn job! 

Having said all of that, based on what I saw here, if I was a juror, I would have voted not guilty. I know we didn't get the full trial, but I feel there was PLENTY of evidence presented and refuted to justify reasonable doubt. The prosecution's entire case was flimsier than tissue paper and all of those law enforcement officers were shady AF. 

I'm amazed they're going through the whole thing again. 

[MamaMax]

1 hour ago, MicheleinPhilly said:

I knew nothing about this case and decided to watch it on the recommendation of a friend. 

Karen is a bit of a sociopath methinks. Her seeming lack of emotion over the death of her boyfriend as well as the situation she found herself in definitely gave me pause. As did her decision to allow this documentary to be made with her full cooperation. 

Did she pitch this or was she approached by the producers? 

All of her supporters need to find a hobby/get a life. Is Canton really that boring that you can think of nothing better to do than hang out in front of a courthouse for 10 weeks listening to the radio? Get a damn job! 

Having said all of that, based on what I saw here, if I was a juror, I would have voted not guilty. I know we didn't get the full trial, but I feel there was PLENTY of evidence presented and refuted to justify reasonable doubt. The prosecution's entire case was flimsier than tissue paper and all of those law enforcement officers were shady AF. 

I'm amazed they're going through the whole thing again. 

While I understand what you're saying, I would just consider (as Devils advocate) that the talking head portions of this were filed more than  2 years after John's death.  In the police video at the scene, she is pretty hysterical.  As of the time of the trial, her primary emotion seems to be anger - which, I think, is pretty understandable if she IS actually innocent. 

[Unclejosh]

While I would never hang out at the courthouse as someone who grew up in that area and went to school with some of the family members involved (McCabes), a lot of of people have a vested interest because they know the participants AND it is about a bigger issue than just this case due to corruption and cronyism with the Canton police department. I am from the next town over which has has it's own share of police corruption issues going back to when I was a kid and there is a big case going on now regarding the grooming while she was underage and possible murder of a pregnant girl and staging it to look like a suicide by a police officer. 

So it isnt just about Karen but the overall system that has drawn a lot of interest. 

 

Edited Thursday at 05:33 PM by Unclejosh

[bilgistic]

Yeah, while I don't disagree that Karen is problematic on a few levels, I really don't think she killed John. I fully believe all the other cops involved in this situation did it and tried (poorly) to frame her.

My deadbeat father was a police officer and detective, and I can tell you that there's no such thing as a good cop. Cops protect each other but will also rain hell upon whoever crosses them, including fellow officers. My father--a man sworn to uphold the law--refused to pay child support for my two sisters and I until my mother was finally able to get his wages garnished. The system absolutely protected him. He is abusive and got away with everything because: cop.

[MamaMax]

21 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Yeah, while I don't disagree that Karen is problematic on a few levels, I really don't think she killed John. I fully believe all the other cops involved in this situation did it and tried (poorly) to frame her.

My deadbeat father was a police officer and detective, and I can tell you that there's no such thing as a good cop. Cops protect each other but will also rain hell upon whoever crosses them, including fellow officers. My father--a man sworn to uphold the law--refused to pay child support for my two sisters and I until my mother was finally able to get his wages garnished. The system absolutely protected him. He is abusive and got away with everything because: cop.

My father and my husband were both cops and I can assure you they are great people. Please don't spew this ACAB nonsense.  Every kind of profession has people who are good and bad. 

One thing that's making me nuts is the "all-or-nothing" arguments people are making.  IMO, its not "either Karen murdered him or the cops murdered him."

I've thought that there was a fight and John left the house under his own steam but passed out on the lawn.  Then the cops circled the wagons to protect the Alberts. I don't think there was necessarily a grand plan to frame Karen, I think she was a convenient scapegoat. I even think Proctor (a statie, not Canton PD) may have thought she was guilty, based on what the Alberts at al told him. He may default to believing cops automatically, and then broken taillight was confirmation bias.