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Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman acquitted earlier this year of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend, has filed a lawsuit alleging that a group of current and former law enforcement officials and their relatives conspired to frame her and protect “the party or parties responsible” for the crime.
The complaint, filed Monday, accuses several members of the Massachusetts State Police, the Boston Police Department and private citizens of orchestrating a cover-up following the death of Officer John O’Keefe, who was found dead outside a Canton home in January 2022. Read claims the defendants used their law enforcement connections to manipulate evidence, mislead investigators and falsely implicate her in O’Keefe’s death.
O’Keefe’s body was discovered around 6 a.m. Jan. 29, 2022, on the lawn of Brian and Nicole Albert’s home after a night of drinking during a blizzard. Read and two other women, including Jennifer McCabe, a suburban soccer mom accused of masterminding the cover-up, found him.
Neither McCabe nor any of the other defendants named in the suit have been named a suspect in O’Keefe’s death by law enforcement.
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Read was later charged with second-degree murder and related offenses, but, in June 2024, a jury acquitted her of all homicide charges, convicting her only of drunken driving. She has consistently maintained her innocence, alleging that investigators ignored or concealed evidence pointing elsewhere.
According to the lawsuit, O’Keefe was killed inside the Alberts’ home during a late-night altercation after heavy drinking. The complaint refers to several defendants as the “House Defendants,” accusing them of using their law enforcement experience to “concoct a plan immediately after the altercation to avoid culpability and to frame Karen Read.”
“Karen Read did not kill her then-boyfriend, Mr. O’Keefe,” the lawsuit reads. “Rather, in the early morning hours of January 29th, Mr. O’Keefe was killed in Defendants Brian and Nicole Albert’s home … in an altercation during a late-night house party with other Defendants (collectively, the “House Defendants”) after a night of heavy drinking.”
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Other defendants named in the lawsuit are Michael Proctor, a former Massachusetts State Police detective who was fired after discussing confidential aspects of the case with his friends in a lewd text chain; MSP Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik, another investigator on the case; Lt. Brian Tully, another MSP homicide investigator who faced disciplinary repercussions over the Read case; Brian Albert, a former Boston police officer who had a party at the address where O’Keefe was found dead; his wife Nicole; his sister-in-law Jennifer McCabe; her husband Matthew; and ATF Agent Brian Higgins, who was at the party.
The lawsuit alleges that the “House Defendants” used their law enforcement expertise and “concocted a plan immediately after the altercation to avoid culpability and to frame Karen Read.”
Citing expert testimony from her criminal trial, which prosecutors sought to discredit, the complaint claims that the “House Defendants” searched Google for the phrase “hos long to die in the cold” rather than call 911, conspiring to make it look as though O’Keefe had been killed by Read’s SUV, then dragged his body out of the home and left him in the snow overnight.
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The lawsuit also highlights investigative errors, including the use of red Solo cups to store evidence, mislabeled evidence bags and a failure to check nearby security cameras, missteps that the complaint argues undermined the case against Read.
It further accuses investigators of planting evidence, manipulating surveillance video and destroying cellphones to bolster the false narrative.
According to the complaint, Proctor, Bukhenik and Canton Police Chief Ken Berkowitz had access to Read’s vehicle after it was seized.
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“One or more of them destroyed the taillight, secretly took pieces of it into their possession, and then planted some of them in various places at 34 Fairview and on Mr. O’Keefe’s clothes,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit goes on to claim that Proctor and other members of the state police “intentionally disregarded the obvious and compelling evidence” that O’Keefe had been killed inside the home.
Read’s legal team says investigators failed to search the interior for blood, ignored signs of injury consistent with an assault and neglected to send a crime scene photographer or criminalist to examine the property.
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No one other than Read has ever been charged in O’Keefe’s death. The FBI has interviewed several individuals linked to the case, but no new suspects have been named by law enforcement.
Attorneys representing the defendants have not yet filed responses to the lawsuit.
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to [email protected].
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