Karen Read’s sweeping text fight with boyfriend hours before his death read to stunned jury: ‘You’ve really hurt me this time’
Karen Read and boyfriend John O’Keefe had a bitter fight over text just hours before the Boston cop’s lifeless body was pulled out of the snow — and a stunned jury heard the entire exchange Thursday as Read sat stone-faced.
The acrimonious exchange was recited in a matter-of-fact monotone by a Massachusetts state trooper during an action-packed day, the third in a sensational murder trial playing out in a Massachusetts criminal court.
The texts, between 2:30 p.m. and 8:35 p.m. Jan. 28 2022, were introduced in the last trial — which ended in a mistrial — but this is the first time a jury heard them play out in one continuous exchange.
The beleaguered couple argued over a wide range of touchy issues familiar to anyone in a strained relationship, everything from child care and Facebook statuses to hot water heaters and desperate questions about their future as lovers.
“You’ve really hurt me this time,” read one of Read’s texts to O’Keefe flashed on the courtroom screen.
Read and the jury watched the screen as State Trooper Nicholas Guarino re-enacted the text fight from the stand.
“I’m sorry,” O’Keefe writes back, according to Boston 25 News. “This has been an issue w me for 8 years. It physically hurts me to see EVERYONE else in their life do things for them and I’m forced to ALWAYS be the bad guy.”
Read wonders about their future, and accuses O’Keefe of having a wandering eye and having interest in another woman.
“Tell me if you are interested in someone else. Can’t think of any other reason you’ve been like this,” she writes to her beau.
He responds, “Nope” and then “Things haven’t been great between us for awhile. Ever consider that? Kids are here. Not in the mood to talk.”
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“So you’re not into me anymore,” she shoots back, accusing O’Keefe of lacking affection for her.
O’Keefe responds that he is sick of fighting “weekly for several months now.”
“So yeh I’m not as quick to jump into being lovie dovie as you apparently,” he adds.
He then texts Read, “Omg!! Stop calling.”
Read’s blank, expressionless face was lit by the glow from the screen as Guarino continued to recite the tense exchange. The rapt jurors followed along as well.
After a few phone calls between the two, one of which O’Keefe declines to answer, the text fight continues.
“I’m going to grab a drink in a bit. Can you pls answer??” Read sends.
O’Keefe writes back, “No Karen. Not sure why you need to announce that you’re grabbing a drink but have fun.”
What to know about the Karen Read murder case
- Karen Read, 44, was charged with second-degree murder for allegedly mowing down her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, as she was dropping him off to meet friends in Canton, Mass., on Jan. 29, 2022.
- The night of O’Keefe’s death, the couple had been out on a bar crawl, with Read allegedly consuming seven drinks in just 90 minutes, according to reports.
- Prosecutors claim that after Read drunkenly ran over her boyfriend, she drove off and left O’Keefe to die outside as a snowstorm was set to sweep in.
- Read’s lawyers argued she was framed in a sweeping law enforcement cover-up and that O’Keefe actually died after getting into an altercation with his officer friends.
- On July 1, 2024, Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in the case since the jury was not able to reach a unanimous verdict after five days of deliberations.
- On April 22, 2025, Read will stand trial for the second time, facing the same charges despite her lawyers’ failed plea attempt to the top Mass. court to drop the murder and hit-and-run charges.
- Read faced up to life in prison if she had been convicted on the top count of murder.
Read explained that she was in the throes of a “personal crisis” and that she needed to lean on O’Keefe for emotional support. Another time she texts about how O’Keefe’s adopted children are “slowly killing our relationship.”
“I know your heart isn’t in this anymore. I’ve felt it for awhile and esp lately,” Read texts.
After some back-and-forth about meeting up, O’Keefe, apparently growing frustrated at the indecision, writes: “I already told you what you should do. Not going to keep doing this.”
The couple, however, met up hours later at a bar in Canton — with video surveillance showing them embracing, hours before O’Keefe was found dead in the snow. They hit another bar afterward.
Read allegedly downed seven drinks in just 90 minutes, according to reports.
Read is accused of drunkenly backing into O’Keefe with her SUV in January 2022 after she dropped him off at a house party. Her lawyers have insisted that he was fatally attacked by a cop at that party — and that she’s being framed as part of a conspiracy.
She faces up to life in prison.
