On January 29, 2022, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe went out for a night of drinking with his girlfriend Karen Read. After midnight, they decided to leave the bars and head to an after-party at a friend’s home.

What happened next is unclear. We know that both John and Karen were likely intoxicated. Karen eventually told police that she felt unwell so she dropped John off and headed home. She woke up at around 5am and realized that John had not returned home. She started retracing her steps and she went back to the house where the after-party was held. There she found John’s cold and lifeless body in the snow.

This case is very convoluted. Karen was charged with manslaughter following John’s death – her SUV had apparent damage to the back and it was insinuated that she hit him while driving intoxicated. In the past few weeks though, Karen’s attorneys have filed documents that indicate there may have been a cover up by John’s colleagues, other members of law enforcement. It is claimed that John was likely beaten to death at the after-party and that he may have been attacked by a dog on the premises. An attendee at the after-party also googled ‘how long to die in the cold’ at around 2.30am on the morning that John died.

In this episode of the True Crime Society Podcast, we discuss the death of John O’Keefe – was he killed by his girlfriend or is there a cover-up involving law enforcement?

You can read our blog for this case - https://truecrimesocietyblog.com/2023/05/07/what-happened-to-john-okeefe/


If you’d like to skip straight to the crime content, please goto (7:03) for updates on Madeline Kingsbury, Casey and Vicky White.

Please go to (12:36) for the start of the John O'Keefe episode.