THIS is the stunning moment that Jennifer McCabe admitted to being “untruthful” with investigators during Karen Read’s second murder trial.
She was asked about the claims of overhearing the accused killer repeatedly saying, “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him” after the body of Read’s boyfriend, John O’Keefe, was discovered in the snow.
Read’s attorney Alan Jackson clashed with McCabe during intense cross-examination in the Dedham, Massachusetts, courtroom on Wednesday.
The defense disputed her version of the events, going as far as suggesting that she collaborated with other witnesses to align their testimonies — a claim that McCabe refuted.
Read, 45, has pleaded not guilty to killing John O’Keefe outside a house party after an argument in the early hours of January 29, 2022.
Prosecutors asserted that Read reversed her SUV into the 46-year-old Boston police officer after he was dropped off at a party by another officer and deserted him in the snowy conditions.
Defense attorneys have claimed that Read has been a victim of a conspiracy involving the police.
They’ve also suggested her boyfriend was killed by someone inside the home in Canton.
A judge last year declared a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
During the second murder trial, Read’s former friend, key prosecution witness Jennifer McCabe, was questioned about the morning she found O’Keefe in the snow.
Describing a chaotic scene, McCabe said she had called 911 to report a body.
Read and another friend, Kerry Roberts, tried to warm up O’Keefe and do CPR on him.
McCabe told jurors that Read was “hysterical” when they found O’Keefe in the snow.
SNOW ON FACE
“It wasn’t until I got very close over to them that I saw Kerry removing the snow from John’s face,” McCabe testified.
“I was shocked, I couldn’t believe that was him just lying there.”
McCabe said that Read straddled the cop, lifted up both their shirts and laid on top of him, to try to warm him.
“Kerry Roberts and I made eye contact and I, like, knew, I was like, ‘I’m going to call 911,’ but I think I knew, in that moment, that John was dead,” McCabe added.
She recalled that, later, Read was running around and screaming so much that police suggested she sit in a police cruiser.
Read, McCabe and Roberts prayed for O’Keefe – but when paramedics moved his body to an ambulance, Read screamed for Roberts to go check on him and wondered if he “was dead,” the court was told.
McCabe then testified that while she was standing next to a police officer and a paramedic as Read allegedly told them “I hit him” three times.
I thought she was talking crazy
This corroborated earlier testimony from paramedics, including Timothy Nuttall who had testified that when he responded to the scene that morning, a frantic Read allegedly said, “I hit him. I hit him. I hit him.”
McCabe told special prosecutor Hank Brennan yesterday that hours after finding the officer’s body, she began to recall conversations with Read.
“Miss Read stated to myself and [Kerry Roberts], ‘I hit him, I hit him, I hit him’,” McCabe alleged.
She told jurors that she had interrupted her friend because, “I thought she was talking crazy.”
“Karen was hysterical, irrational,” McCabe testified.
A timeline of Karen Read’s case
Karen Read, the Mansfield woman accused of fatally striking her cop boyfriend with her SUV in January 2022, is currently undergoing a second murder trial.
A judge declared a mistrial on July 1, 2024, after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict after five days of deliberation.
- January 29, 2022: O’Keefe’s body is found outside of a friend’s home.
- February 1, 2022: Read was arrested and charged with manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide, and leaving the scene of a vehicle homicide.
- February 2, 2022: Read pleads not guilty in Stoughton District Court.
- June 9, 2022: A state grand jury indicts Read on upgraded charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter, and leaving the scene.
- April 12, 2023: Read’s attorneys publicly release court documents they say contain “bombshell exculpatory information,” including Jennifer McCabe’s Google search.
- Nov. 20, 2023: Residents of the divided community vote 903-800 to audit the Canton Police Department over the case.
- May 23, 2023: During another pre-trial hearing, the defense says that the murder of John O’Keefe is a massive cover-up involving members of law enforcement and their friends and family members.
- Feb. 22, 2024: Prosecutors unveil long-awaited results of crime scene evidence tests, alleging that O’Keefe’s DNA was recovered from the broken taillight of Read’s vehicle.
- April 12, 2024: Read’s defense attorneys say in court that Brian Albert, his son Colin Albert, and Brian Higgins could have each killed O’Keefe at the party that night.
- April 16, 2024: Read’s trial began in Massachusetts Superior Court.
- May 17, 2024: Jennifer McCabe, who was with Read when she discovered O’Keefe’s body, testifies that during their search, Read repeatedly said: “Did I hit him? Could I have hit him?” She also says Read later said when emergency workers were on the scene: “I hit him.”
- June 3, 2024: The defense accuses police of planting the shattered fragments of taillight from Read’s car at the scene of the crime.
- June 24, 2024: The defense rests their case.
- July 1, 2024: A judge declared a hung jury after five days of deliberation.
- April 22, 2025: Read’s second murder trial begins.
After contacting state police to pass on that allegation, Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor visited her home to take her statement.
Jackson told McCabe that she had testified in April 2022 that Read had expressed that statement as a question, “Could I have hit him? Did I hit him?”
McCabe testified that recalling those words had been “part of the answer” during her April 2024 testimony.
She added, “I know I had said what Karen had said to me and then she had said, ‘I hit him, could I have hit him?’ I told them how she showed up at my house, I just basically gave them the events of that morning.”
But Jackson challenged McCabe’s allegation.
“Was it important to you to tell these jurors that you heard my client say ‘I hit him’ three times?” Jackson asked McCabe.
“I answered the questions and I’m telling the jurors what I know,” McCabe replied.
“I do know that morning your client said ‘I hit him, I hit him, I hit him’ and there was a female EMT there.”
In your entire grand jury testimony, you never said my client said the words ‘I hit him’
Pressing McCabe, Jackson asked why those alleged comments could not be found in earlier police reports, or in the 227 pages of her grand jury testimony.
“You claimed on direct examination today, as a matter of fact, that [Karen] Read looked at you at the scene and said the phrase, ‘I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,’ she said it three times, very distinctly, according to your testimony, correct?” Jackson asked.
“She did, yes,” McCabe said.
“In point of fact, in your entire grand jury testimony, you never said my client said the words ‘I hit him,’” he claimed.
However, McCabe insisted she had told police what Read allegedly said — even if it wasn’t in the reports.
She also said it wasn’t in the grand jury testimony because she wasn’t asked specifically about it.
“I hit him. I hit him. I hit him is just as fresh today as it was three years ago,” she added.
Read has denied this alleged confession.
“FORGOT” INFORMATION
McCabe also told jurors that she had called unnamed authorities with information she had “forgot” to tell them.
She admitted that she had left out the fact that she had called five people before her interview with investigators
Jackson grilled McCabe about her decision to call the investigators back after they left her house to tell them she “had been untruthful with them.”
During cross-examination he accused McCabe of lying to officers from another law enforcement agency who questioned her about the case.
McCabe testified that she had initially told visiting officers that she had called two people – her husband and Roberts – during the time between their arrival and her speaking to them.
However, she then contacted them later to inform the officers she had spoken to three additional people.
McCabe said she had spoken to O’Keefe’s mom, along with her witness advocate at the local district attorney’s office, and her Boston-based police officer brother-in-law.
READ ACCUSES MCCABE
As Read left Norfolk Superior Court, she alleged to reporters, “Another witness, another instance of perjury – or instances, I’d say.”
After hearing McCabe’s testimony, Read alleged the witness had been “lying” on the stand about what happened on the day of her boyfriend’s death.
While flanked by her defense team, she further alleged, “Every statement’s different. Under oath. Not under oath. This is very similar to what we saw a year ago.”
TRIAL RESUMES
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Read’s double-jeopardy appeal on Monday, which effectively cleared the way for her trial to continue.
Her defense attorney had dubbed the case “the definition of reasonable doubt” in his opening statement.
The prosecution said its case would rely on “facts, science and data.”
A break in court was scheduled for today, with McCabe returning to the stand on Friday, when the trial is expected to resume.
Read has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death.
