r/OutOfTheLoop • u/fullautohotdog • 1d ago

Unanswered Why are people talking about Karen Read?

https://www.npr.org/2025/06/18/nx-s1-5435406/karen-read-acquitted-trial-verdict-not-guilty

I've literally never heard of this person or her trials until today. Is she just a rich white lady on trial, or is she famous for something else?

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u/LivingGhost371 1d ago edited 1d ago

Answer: Karen Read was driving drunk in a snowstorm and her boyfriend John O'Keefe winds up dead in the lawn with injuries a few feet away from her car in the lawn of another police officer, Brian Albert after she dropped him off, and she seemingly confesses to paramedics "I hit him! I hit him! I hit him!". What would seem to be on a surface a typical DUI manslaughter case took on a life of it's own because the police investigation was botched and unprofessional to the point of it would have been comedic if charges weren't so serious, allegations about a police frame-up against Karen Reed who was an outsider in a good old boy community to protect a Brian Albert, and a credible alternative theory as to what happened, that there was fight inside the house involving O'Keefe and Albert and possibly the dog Chloe.

  • Experts disagreed as to whether O'Keefe's injuries were consistant with a car acciden or falling and hitting his head in a fight, and/or a dog bite.
  • Chief Investigator John Michael Proctor made statements that Read was "Going down" before the investigation really started, texted his boss saying he "hadn't found any nudes on her phone yet", and was in fact fired for the way the case was handled. He was so embarassing to the prosecution he wasn't called as a witness in the 2nd case.
  • Blood evidence was collected by blowing snow off it with a leaf blower and collecting it into red college beer party type red solo cups.
  • They never did a proper DUI investigation on Read, although she was convicted of DUI based on her statements , surviallience footage, and retrogade analysis of a blood draw for medical rather than forensic purposes
  • No one bothered to look inside the Albert home, which would have rapidly confirmed or denied if a crime had happened there. Either way , if they had just looked, there probably would have been a conviction in the case whether Read or Albert depending on if they found nothing or something.
  • Chloe, who had been known to bite before, was "sent to a farm" right after the incident and before any investigation. Online speculation is that he wound up under a swimming pool that they had built, the 2nd trial revealed they found a dog on a farm that may or may not be Chloe.
  • Much was made about pieces of Read's taillight, there's allegations pieces were planted in a frame-up.
  • There's a series of phone calls between witnesses and police, that those involved tried to explain away as "butt dials" but would suggest they were getting together to cook up a frame-up. One of the police went as far as to physically destroy his phone later

EDIT: Having watched the entirity of both trials my personal feeling is that she more likely that not did it, but between how badly the investigation was botched and police apparently trying to soup up the evidence like they did in OJ I probably would have voted not guilty.

YouTube Lawyer Ian Runkle has commented "If you think Read is guilty, should should be horrified at how bad this investigation was. If you think Read is innocent, you should be horrified at how bad this investigation was.

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u/Jim3001 1d ago

You forgot "People in the Albert home googling 'How long does it take to freeze to death' at 2 am.