Jurors at Karen Read murder trial visit crime scene

Following a half-day of testimony, Karen Read spoke to reporters about her decision to stay back as the jury traveled to the home where John O’Keefe’s body was discovered hours after his death as she departed Norfolk Superior Court on Friday. 

“I don’t ever want to go back to 34 Fairview,” Read said. 

In response to Fox News’ Alexis McAdams’ question about hearing her text messages to O’Keefe read aloud in court on Thursday, Read said, “I felt it was normal, and like any argument that is private, it’s embarrassing.” 

Read was all smiles as she told reporters she is leaving the first week of testimony feeling, “strong, like always.”

Canton firefighter and paramedic Jason Becker testifies during her trial, Friday, April 25, 2025, at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass. (Josh Reynolds /New York Post via AP, Pool)

The prosecution called firefighter and paramedic Jason Becker as their final witness of the day, with Becker testifying about his interaction with Karen Read in the ambulance to the local hospital after John O’Keefe’s body was discovered.

Becker said his primary role at the time was to gather information regarding Read’s mental state as she was being transported for a psychological evaluation, describing her as “agitated” at certain points but overall cooperative with first responders.

Becker also testified that Read expressed being upset that her final moments with O’Keefe consisted of the pair fighting.

Following multiple objections regarding both side’s questions surrounding Read's description of an argument with O'Keefe while speaking to Becker, Judge Beverly Cannone dismissed the jurors for the day, ending the first week of testimony in Read’s trial.

Dr. Garrey Faller reviews the medical record of defendant Karen Read as he testified during her trial, Friday, April 25, 2025, at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass. (Josh Reynolds/New York Post via AP, Pool)

Karen Read’s trial resumed following the jury’s trip to 34 Fairfield Road with the prosecution calling Dr. Garrey Faller, a lab director at Signature Healthcare.  Faller previously worked as chief of pathology and laboratory medical director at Good Samaritan Medical Center at the time of John O’Keefe’s murder January 2022.

Faller’s lab drew Read’s blood samples at 9:08 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, with the tests finding Read’s blood alcohol level (BAC) was 93 milligrams per deciliter of alcohol, or 0.093% - above the 0.08% legal limit permitted to operate a vehicle and nine hours after she left the bar.

Faller went on to explain the methods his lab uses to test blood samples is somewhat different from forensic testing by testing liquid within the specimen using “serum tests."

Faller went on to explain the methods his lab uses to test blood samples is somewhat different from forensic testing by sampling liquid within the specimen using “serum tests.” Faller testified that the results are very close and while the lab has a clinical accreditation, it is not accredited for forensic testing.

Police officers secure Moselle, Alex Murdaugh’s former estate where the double murders took place, prior to the jury’s visit on in Walterboro, South Carolina on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)

While visits to crime scenes - called “jury views” - are rare, several high-profile cases have taken jurors to the heart of trial to give a firsthand view before deliberations. 

Notably, jurors in Alex Murdaugh, O.J. Simpson and Scott Peterson’s trials took trips to crucial locations in their cases. 

Jurors in the 2004 trial of Scott Peterson were transported to California’s Berkley Marina to view where the body of his wife, Laci, was found.  The prosecution wanted the jurors to visualize their theory of how Peterson disposed of Laci’s remains, ultimately leading to a guilty verdict in the trial. 

Simpson’s 1995 trial took jurors on a trip to his California estate as well as his ex-wife's condominium, where the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman occurred. The NFL Hall of Famer was subsequently acquitted of both murders. . 

Jurors in Murdaugh’s 2023 trial visited the family’s South Carolina estate, viewing the dog kennels where Alex’s wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, were shot to death. Murdaugh was later found guilty of murdering his wife and son and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.  

The jurors in Karen Read’s trial are headed to the Massachusetts home where John O’Keefe’s body was found in the front yard on a snowy January morning, marking yet another high-profile case where the trial left the courtroom and took a trip back in time to the crime scene.

Officer John O’Keefe poses for his headshot. (Boston Police Department)

On Friday morning, Judge Beverly Cannone revealed to the jury in Karen Read’s trial they will be traveling to 34 Fairview Road in Canton, Massachusetts. The home is the location where John O’Keefe’s lifeless body was found on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022 and is the centerpiece in Read’s second murder trial. 

Cannone instructed the jury not to take notes or conduct any investigations while visiting the home. 

Before the jurors boarded the bus, prosecutor Hank Brennan asked them to look at Read’s Lexus SUV and take mental note of the height of the bumper while visiting. Read is accused of using the same vehicle to ram O’Keefe outside the home, leaving him to die in frigid temperatures on the cold January morning.  

Defense attorney David Yannetti instructed the jury to look at the distance between the home’s second floor window and the front lawn where O’Keefe’s body was found, while also encouraging the jurors to take a look at Read’s Lexus. 

“The purpose of this view is to help you better understand the evidence and to appreciate the location and its surroundings,” Cannone told the jury.

Karen Read and John O'Keefe together in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Karen Read)

On Thursday, jurors heard text messages from Karen Read and John O’Keefe from the day O’Keefe was murdered. The messages, read by detective Nicholas Guarino, painted a rocky picture of the couple’s relationship in the hours leading up to O’Keefe’s death . 

The argument began in the morning, with O'Keefe writing that he was "sick of always arguing and fighting."

By afternoon, the conversation turned toward early evening plans, as Read texted, "Why don’t you meet me at the hillside at 4:30/5."

After a few follow-up texts, O'Keefe replied, "Like I said, [doctor] now, and he has practice til 6. If you want to go start drinking then go for it." 

Read said she didn't know what time practice was but that she wanted to meet him out rather than at his house to give him "space."

After more back-and-forth, O'Keefe texted her at 3:39 p.m., "You're like jonesing to drink. So go!"

At another point in the conversation, she indicated she'd rather meet in town "for drinks" than hang out at his house. 

When O'Keefe said his friend, Mike Camerano, was coming over, he suggested Read drop by too.

"Mike doesn't want to go out for a bit?" she replied. "I would like to, been a s--- day from the jump."

Read the full story here.

Sometimes, Karen Read might take things into her own hands, like when she got a "weak pour" at a bar the night her boyfriend died.

Unhappy with the alcohol level, she added extra shots on her own, according to a 2024 interview she gave for a documentary on Investigation Discovery.

The clip aired in court Thursday as part of her retrial on murder charges in the death of her boyfriend, John O'Keefe.

"The drinks that they were pouring me at McCarthy's, which was where I consumed most of the alcohol, was the weakest vodka tonic," she told the camera. "It tasted just like all soda water with lime, not that I need it to be a martini, but it might have a splash of vodka in it."

She said she complained about it to O'Keefe, and he suggested ordering another shot and dropping it in herself.

"So each drink was being counted as a double," she continued. "I would get a vodka tonic, and then I would pour a shot into it."

Read recounted drinking at CF McCarthy’s bar in Canton, where she said she drank "most of [the] alcohol" she'd consumed on Jan. 28, 2022.

Read the full story here.

Jurors are set to view key locations in Karen Read’s trial on Friday. (Fox News Graphics)

Karen Read’s trial is set to resume Friday with jurors taking a road trip to tour key sites from the night John O’Keefe was killed. 

Read is facing second degree murder charges for the alleged murder of O’Keefe in January 2022. Prosecutors allege Read mowed the Boston police officer down with her Lexus SUV during an emotionally-charged, drunken argument, leaving him to die in the front yard of a fellow officer’s home in frigid temperatures. 

Read’s defense team is telling a different story, insisting Read is innocent. Attorney Alan Jackson alleges O’Keefe was killed inside the home and his client was framed in an elaborate cover-up orchestrated by now-fired lead investigator Michael Proctor. 

The bus trip to view the locations comes on the fourth day of testimony, with prosecutors spending the week calling numerous state witnesses to set the stage for Read’s second murder trial.

Read the full story here.