'Taillight Murder' Accused Karen Read Explains Her Version of Events

Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman accused of killing her police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, in January 2022, explained her own version of events for his death in an interview.

She sat down with NBC Dateline's Dennis Murphy and explained her side of the story, dismissing the police's official conclusion. A snippet from the interview was shared on the Today Twitter page on Monday and has since gone viral. A specific air date of the full interview was not mentioned, however.

Read, 42, is scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on Tuesday and is charged with second-degree murder in the death of O'Keefe, to which she pleaded not guilty. She has been out on bail since her initial arraignment in Stoughton District Court days after O'Keefe's body was discovered, according to a Boston Herald report.

In O'Keefe's death, the Massachusetts State Police concluded Read hit him with her SUV after an argument after dropping him off at a fellow officer's house for a party in Canton after the pair left a bar that same night, NBC Boston reported.

Dateline has dubbed the incident the "Taillight Murder" as police said they found broken pieces of a taillight at the scene of the crime.

Read has denied the accusations that she killed her boyfriend and she and her attorney, Alan Jackson, have said they believe O'Keefe was set up and there is a large-scale coverup in the works.

Newsweek reached out to the Boston Police Department via email and Jackson via his website for comment.

Norfolk Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally stated in court in September 2022 that Read and O'Keefe had been fighting in the weeks leading up to his death, and that he had attempted to break up with her. Read said that she and her boyfriend were happy together on the night of his death.

"We were happy, having fun, laughing, just very normal," Read said about the evening with her boyfriend while at the bar. When asked whether she felt she and O'Keefe were overserved alcohol, she said no.

Read said the pair were invited to a house party at a fellow Boston Police officer's home, whom they did not know well. She said that she waited in the car while O'Keefe went inside the home and that she sent him messages and calls moments later and did not receive a response.

"I texted him, I called him, and within minutes of him exiting his car, he is not answering his phone," Read said.

She said she then left the area and went home and fell asleep. When she woke she did not find her boyfriend and returned to the home where she found O'Keefe's body unresponsive in the snow.

"His eyes were swollen shut. He had blood dripping out of his nose," Read said.

First responders were then called and Murphy asked Read whether she said she could have killed him, she clarified that she asked whether she could have hit him.

In court, a prosecutor read from a first responders interview who quoted Read saying "I hit him" repeatedly.

O'Keefe's autopsy in February 2022 found that the officer had abrasions to his right forearm, two black eyes, a cut on his nose, and a two-inch laceration on the back of his head, as well as skull fractures. He was also hypothermic, which was determined to be a potential factor in his death.

"I have an innocent client, period. John walked into an element of hostility in that house," Jackson told NBC. "John O'Keefe got out of a car, walked into the house, was sucker punched, fell, hurt himself and ultimately his body was moved."