By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-03 16:57:16 | Updated at 2026-08-06 03:39:59
2 days ago
The investigation into Boston police officer John O'Keefe's death was a 'disaster from the start,' turning what was first treated as a simple hit-and-run into one of America's most divisive true crime sagas, the author of a new book has claimed.
Veteran crime reporter Dave Wedge, whose book Blizzard of Lies examines O'Keefe's death and the two criminal trials of his girlfriend Karen Read, said the belief by investigators that they had an open-and-shut case may have cost his family any chance of justice.
But after prosecutors increased the charge against Read to second-degree murder, her defense team picked apart the police work, highlighted vulgar texts and alleged bias by the lead investigator, and helped transform her into a folk hero for supporters who believed she had been framed.
'It's a story filled with scandal and allegations of corruption that has divided the town but, to me, the real story is that there has not been justice for the O'Keefe family,' Wedge said.
Read, 45, was acquitted in June 2025 of second-degree murder and leaving the scene resulting in death after prosecutors claimed she drunkenly backed her SUV into O'Keefe, 46, and left him to die in the snow outside a home in Canton, Massachusetts, in January 2022.
She was convicted only of operating under the influence and sentenced to probation.
Wedge, a New York Times bestselling author and former Boston Herald reporter, said that, while the verdict was legally appropriate, the acquittal has left O'Keefe's loved ones without closure.
His book promises new reporting on Read and O'Keefe's volatile relationship, evidence excluded from court, allegations of misconduct uncovered during the trial and the family's ongoing civil suit.
After prosecutors increased the charge against Read to second-degree murder, her defense team picked apart the police work
John O'Keefe was a decorated police officer who died in January 2022
He described his own connection to the case as both professional and personal.
'I've lived in the Boston area my whole life and have many personal connections to people close to the case,' Wedge said.
'I've also covered crime and the courts for 20 years in Boston, so I know a lot of the lawyers involved on both sides.'
He subsequently sat in on many of the early court proceedings and was struck by what he claimed was a number of irregularities.
'As news tumbled out daily about the layers of intrigue, corruption accusations and mystery, I knew it was a compelling story,' he said.
The case gripped Boston and then the country, with Read's supporters crowding outside court wearing pink and chanting for her freedom as the trial exposed a series of problems with the investigation.
Former Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, was fired after vulgar texts he sent about Read were revealed, including comments about her appearance and jokes about searching her phone for nude photos.
'She's a babe,' he wrote in a group chat. 'Weird Fall River accent though. No ass.'
He later called Read a 'whack job c***,' adding: 'She's f*****. Hopefully she kills herself.'
The defense also attacked the handling of evidence, the alleged failure to properly search the home where O'Keefe was found outside, and the investigation's early focus on Read.
Wedge said that, in his view, the case was mishandled almost immediately.
Karen Read and John O'Keefe allegedly had a volatile relationship
'I discovered a lot of new information about John and Karen's relationship, including new details of her jealousy toward John,' claims the author
Her defense team claimed Read was been framed and argued that O'Keefe was beaten up inside the house before being left outside in the snow
'Investigators had a suspect [Read] who they claimed made a drunken confession and they thought it was an open-and-shut case.'
But Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey later increased the charge from manslaughter to second-degree murder, which could have put Read in prison for life.
'Once that happened, the stakes increased and Read and her attorneys tore the investigation apart, exposed the misconduct of several officers involved, and launched a media and social media campaign that turned Karen Read into a folk hero and a symbol of the nation's broken justice system,' he said.
'The grassroots movement to "Free Karen Read" is like nothing I've seen in my 25 years of covering crime and writing books.
'This groundswell of support, coupled with a relentless social media campaign, a shoddy investigation at best, and a collection of police officers who have since lost their badges or been disciplined because of egregious misconduct, led to the results we saw in two criminal trials.'
The case also elevated Aidan Kearney, the blogger known as Turtleboy, who became one of Read's most prominent supporters and helped fuel the online movement around the case.
Kearney was later charged with witness intimidation and harassment. He has pleaded not guilty and the case is ongoing.
Wedge described him as a 'previously little-known local blogger who has since become a social media star by blowing the case wide open through his dogged reporting and fearless, if offensive to many, online persona.'
A former schoolteacher from Worcester, Kearney wrote an anonymous, scathing blog for years until he was outed by a local newspaper in 2015.
'He's an often crass, mudslinging muckraker who's as quick to eviscerate a sitting US attorney as he is a welfare mother accused of setting up fake GoFundMe sites,' wrote Wedge in the book.
Read's first trial ended in 2024 after jurors failed to reach a verdict.
At her retrial, they again heard the prosecution's theory that she and O'Keefe had been drinking before she dropped him outside the home of fellow Boston police officer Brian Albert in the early hours of January 29, 2022.
Prosecutors alleged that Read accidentally hit O'Keefe with her SUV and left him outside in blizzard conditions.
However, her defense team claimed she had been framed and argued that O'Keefe was beaten up inside the house before being left outside.
The case also elevated Aidan Kearney, the blogger known as Turtleboy, who became one of Read's most prominent supporters
The grassroots movement to 'Free Karen Read exploded locally and nationally
A social media campaign turned Karen Read into a folk hero and a symbol of the nation's broken justice system, said the author (photographed: a Karen Read supporter dressed as Judge Beverly Cannone)
No one else has been charged in connection with O'Keefe's death.
After Read's acquittal, some jurors said there were simply too many holes in the prosecution case.
One said the investigation left too much reasonable doubt, while another believed that 'a collision did not occur.'
Wedge reiterated that the second verdict was the right legal outcome, even as he expressed sympathy for O'Keefe's family.
Asked whether he believes Read is innocent or guilty, he said: 'I lay out the different scenarios of what may have happened that night in 2022, the circumstances that led to it and the ongoing fallout, and leave it to the reader to decide.
'I believe the verdict in the second trial was appropriate as there was ample reasonable doubt, much of it caused by police misconduct.'
But when asked what actually befell O'Keefe, Wedge gave his own assessment.
'John died from blunt trauma and hypothermia after getting out of Karen Read's vehicle during an argument on the front lawn of 34 Fairview Road,' he said.
'Whether we will ever get the full story of what happened that night remains to be seen.'
Beyond the legal fight, Wedge said the book also digs into the relationship at the center of the case.
'I discovered a lot of new information about John and Karen's relationship, including new details of her jealousy toward John, as well as incidents she's had with prior boyfriends.'
For instance, the author said O'Keefe's brother Paul told him about a trip the family took to Cape Cod, during which the couple almost came to blows after a day of drinking.
'Karen lunged at him, furious,' wrote Wedge in the book. 'Paul had to physically get between them.'
Read's lawyers were approached for comment regarding this claim.
On another occasion, he alleges that Read exploded with jealousy when O'Keefe hugged a female family friend, accusing him of 'making out' with her.
The fight continued for hours, according to O'Keefe's niece Kayley, who was in the house at the time and was interviewed for the book.
'It was very loud... she was very upset.'
Wedge also found more about the life and career of O'Keefe, who had been with the Boston Police Department for 16 years, including commendations received as an officer and heroic acts performed both on and off duty.
He was part of the first police unit to arrive at the site of the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, and was one of the first on the scene in Watertown, Massachusetts, when the two bombers engaged in a deadly shootout with police.
On a personal level, he had taken in his niece and nephew after the deaths of their parents, a fact that Wedge said has too often been lost amid the frenzy surrounding Read.
'The biggest tragedy in this case is that the family has no closure,' he said.
'Also, I have never seen a victim's family treated so maliciously by so many.'
Most of O'Keefe's family members disabled their social media accounts in the aftermath of his death, but those who didn't were bombarded with attacks and conspiracy theories claiming that relatives were covering up the truth and protecting his killer.
Paul O'Keefe received a Facebook message telling him: 'You are a terrible evil person and I hope you know it.
'Your family is trash… and soon you are all going to be exposed.'
Wedge said: 'The disrespect and vitriol directed at the O'Keefe family has been a disgrace and is completely unwarranted.
Peggy O'Keefe, left, mother of John O'Keefe and her son Paul, rear, in court. They still have not seen justice served
Read leaves the courthouse after she was found not guilty of second-degree murder
'John was a beloved police officer, brother, son, uncle and friend who took in his niece and nephew as his own under extremely tragic circumstances.
'For his life to end so tragically and his memory to be sullied by such legal chaos and scandal is very sad.
'Officer O'Keefe certainly deserved better.'
Read's criminal case might be over but the legal fallout continues.
O'Keefe's family has filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit against Read and two Canton bars, CF McCarthy's and the Waterfall Bar and Grille, which they accuse of overserving her before his death.
Both bars deny their involvement in the death of O'Keefe, and maintain that they did not violate state law barring alcohol sales to intoxicated customers.
The civil case carries a lower legal burden than the criminal trial, meaning the family need only prove their case by a preponderance of the evidence rather than beyond a reasonable doubt.
Read has also filed a civil lawsuit against the Massachusetts State Police and the town of Canton Police Department, claiming its misogynistic culture led to corrupt officers framing her for the murder.
Both were approached for comment.
Wedge said he hopes O'Keefe's family will one day get answers but believes the two criminal trials marked the end of that road.
'The civil trials will proceed for years and hopefully the family can get some answers through that process.'
However, the enduring power of the Read case lies not only in the question of what happened on one snowy night in Canton, but in what the case revealed about trust, policing, and small-town loyalties, believes the author.
'For suburban Bostonians, especially those on the South Shore near Canton, the case hits home because of the heinous acts of the police involved, the small town politics that seem all-too-familiar to many, and because many of us know someone like Karen Read, or perhaps even really know Karen Read, John O'Keefe or some of the witnesses,' he said.
That sense of proximity, Wedge argues, helped turn the case from a local tragedy into a national obsession.
Read is free. Her supporters believe she was vindicated. The prosecution has been left in ruins. The police investigation remains under intense scrutiny.
But for O'Keefe's family, Wedge said, the central fact has not changed: they still don't know exactly how he died.
Blizzard of Lies: Karen Read, John O'Keefe, and the Shocking Unsolved Murder in Cop Town, USA by Dave Wedge is published by BenBella Books, July 28.
