In a lawsuit filed this week, Karen Read — who was acquitted earlier this year of the murder of her boyfriend, Officer John O’Keefe — alleges that multiple current and former law-enforcement officials, along with private individuals, conspired to frame her. The complaint claims the defendants orchestrated a cover-up following O’Keefe’s death, manipulating evidence and misleading investigators rather than seeking the true perpetrator.
According to the suit, O’Keefe was found dead on January 29, 2022 outside a home in Canton, Massachusetts, after a party at that residence during a blizzard. Read and two others came upon his body that morning. The lawsuit asserts that the killing actually occurred inside the home after heavy drinking and alleges the “House Defendants” then concocted a narrative that placed responsibility on Read.
Among those named in the suit are former Massachusetts State Police detective Michael Proctor (who had been fired for discussing case details in a text chain), MSP Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik, MSP Lt. Brian Tully, former Boston Police officer Brian Albert (who hosted the party at his home), his wife Nicole, his sister-in-law Jennifer McCabe and her husband Matthew, and ATF agent Brian Higgins. The complaint details alleged investigative missteps: mislabeled evidence, ignored surveillance, destroyed cell phones, and taillight fragments secretly planted by the defendants, according to Read’s legal team.
Read contends she was wrongly accused and that investigators failed to examine the interior of the residence properly for blood evidence or to send a criminalist or crime-scene photographer to the scene. No one other than Read has ever been formally charged in O’Keefe’s death, though the FBI has interviewed individuals connected to the case. The defendants in the lawsuit have not yet filed responses.
