Where Is Karen Read Now? Inside Her Life 4 Years After Becoming a Suspect In Her Boyfriend’s Death

Three days after O’Keefe’s death, Read was arrested as a suspect on several charges, including manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of a personal injury or crime, per The Boston Globe. The manslaughter charge was later upgraded to second-degree murder, and she pleaded not guilty to all counts.

Prosecutors allege Read, intoxicated after a night of bar hopping, hit O’Keefe with her SUV while dropping him off and left him for dead, PEOPLE previously reported. During Read’s first trial, Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally presented a voicemail where a reportedly drunken Read yelled, “John, I f—ing hate you!” as she left Albert’s driveway.

Additionally, witnesses testified that when Read and two friends found O’Keefe unconscious, she allegedly said, “I hit him,” per documents cited by Boston magazine.

The defense, however, argues that O’Keefe’s injuries occurred during a fight with someone inside the house with whom he had a longtime conflict. They allege he was then attacked by the homeowners’ German shepherd, dragged outside and left to die.

Read’s lawyers further claim that she was framed by local law enforcement protecting their colleagues, asserting that she did not say, “I hit him,” but rather, “Did I hit him?” The defense also stated that O’Keefe’s injuries weren’t consistent with being hit by a vehicle.

What was Karen Read charged with?

Karen Read and attorney Alan Jackson arriving at court for a pre-trial hearing.John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty

Three days after O’Keefe’s death, Read was arrested as a suspect on several charges, including manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of a personal injury or crime, per The Boston Globe. The manslaughter charge was later upgraded to second-degree murder, and she pleaded not guilty to all counts.

Prosecutors allege Read, intoxicated after a night of bar hopping, hit O’Keefe with her SUV while dropping him off and left him for dead, PEOPLE previously reported. During Read’s first trial, Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally presented a voicemail where a reportedly drunken Read yelled, “John, I f—ing hate you!” as she left Albert’s driveway.

Additionally, witnesses testified that when Read and two friends found O’Keefe unconscious, she allegedly said, “I hit him,” per documents cited by Boston magazine.

The defense, however, argues that O’Keefe’s injuries occurred during a fight with someone inside the house with whom he had a longtime conflict. They allege he was then attacked by the homeowners’ German shepherd, dragged outside and left to die.

Read’s lawyers further claim that she was framed by local law enforcement protecting their colleagues, asserting that she did not say, “I hit him,” but rather, “Did I hit him?” The defense also stated that O’Keefe’s injuries weren’t consistent with being hit by a vehicle.

What was Karen Read’s first verdict?

Karen Read with her defense attorneys Alan Jackson and David Yannetti at Norfolk County Superior Court on February 26, 2024.Getty

Read’s murder trial related to O’Keefe’s death began in April 2024.

After three months of hearing testimonies and the jury’s deliberation, though, the jury foreperson informed Judge Beverly Cannone that, despite thoroughly reviewing the evidence, they were unable to come to a unanimous verdict on June 28, 2024, per several outlets.

While Cannone sent the jury back to deliberate further, the trial ultimately ended with a deadlock, leading the Norfolk County Superior Court judge to declare a mistrial on July 1.

That same day, Massachusetts State Police announced that Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, had been removed from his position “effective immediately.” He was set to be transferred out of Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office State Police Detective’s Unit. Proctor was reportedly suspended without pay, per Vanity Fair.

During his testimony, Proctor was forced to read vulgar and derogatory texts he had sent about Read, including offensive language and a wish for her to take her own life. The former professor’s attorneys argued that Proctor was biased due to his personal ties to the Alberts and others involved that night, alleging that he had planted evidence of a broken taillight at the scene.

Additionally, reports surfaced that five jurors have since come forward contesting the hung jury, claiming that the jury had unanimously voted to acquit Read on two of the three charges, according to a motion published by WHDH and reviewed by PEOPLE. They were deadlocked on the manslaughter charge.

Immediately following the mistrial, Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey said in a statement that “The Commonwealth intends to re-try the case.”

What was the verdict in Karen Read’s second trial in 2025?

Karen Read confers with defense attorneys on June 9, 2025.Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty

In November 2024, Read and her lawyers appeared in Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to appeal Cannone’s decision to deny Read’s request to dismiss two of three charges against her, the Associated Press reported. Her lawyers claimed that trying her again amounts to double jeopardy.

The Boston Globe reported that Martin G. Weinberg, an appellate lawyer for Read, said that their appeal amounts to a fight for “protections that safeguard defendants, in this case Ms. Read, from re-prosecution for the very same offenses from which a prior jury was discharged without manifest necessity [for a mistrial declaration], without her consent.”

Ultimately, a federal judge denied Read’s request to have two charges dropped, CBS News reported in March 2025.

Read’s new trial began in April 2025, during which Morrissey’s office once again prosecuted Read on all three charges: second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence and leaving the scene of a fatal crash.

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The trial went on for months, and included some new testimonies, including that of O’Keefe’s mother, Peggy. She took the stand for nearly 20 minutes and recalled the moment she found out about her son’s death via a phone call from one of his friends.

“She said, ‘John was found in a snowbank,’ ” Peggy recalled. “I didn’t understand. I said, ‘What do you mean?’ She’s like, ‘Found him in the snow. They don’t know what happened.’ ”

Peggy also tearfully described her brief encounter with Read when they both arrived at the hospital shortly after.

“I hear Karen Read yell, ‘Peg, is he dead? Is he dead, Peg? Peg, is he dead?’ And I just kept walking,” Peggy said, describing Read as being “loud.”

On June 18, 2025, Read was found not guilty of killing O’Keefe, but was found guilty of operating under the influence of liquor. They also found her not guilty of manslaughter, and not guilty of leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death, per NBC Boston.

Where is Karen Read now?

Karen Read waves to her supporters on June 17, 2025, outside of Norfolk Superior Court. David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty

Now that she is acquitted on the most serious charges, Read still must face a civil case over O’Keefe’s death, per The Patriot Ledger. According to the outlet, O’Keefe’s brother Paul filed a civil lawsuit in August 2024 against Read and two bars in Canton that the former couple visited before his death.

The suit is seeking at least $50,000 in damages including “reasonably expected society, companionship, comfort, guidance, counsel, net income, services, assistance, protection, care, and advice to next of kin,” per the outlet.

During a pre-trial hearing in September 2025, her lawyer Alan Jackson asked the court to dismiss part of the wrongful death lawsuit, arguing that the O’Keefe family didn’t have standing to sue.

As for her life outside of court, Read detailed a slower-than-expected return to normalcy during her August 2025 interview on The Howie Carr Show, saying, “There’s moments I have every day that have these little epiphanies of, ‘Wow, this is the first time I’ve done fill-in-the-blank in the last four years that I wasn’t living with this nightmare.’ “

She went on to say that it isn’t quite as she “expected,” before delivering a direct message to Morrissey: “You lost. You lost big time, and you know what you did,” Read said.

As the trials were underway, Read sold her Mansfield home, moved in with her parents and lost her jobs (she previously worked in equity research at Fidelity Investments and as an adjunct professor at Bentley University).

“That was my career, and I still miss it,” she told Carr, noting that now, she isn’t sure she could “hop back on the commuter rail and walk through South Station every day.”

Jackson suggested that they might pursue further legal action, saying that they “damn well intend” to go to court to air what they claim is the truth about the case — something that might also be discussed in a book Read is considering writing one day.

In November 2025, Read filed a civil lawsuit accusing state police investigators and several former friends of shielding the real killers and framing her for the crime.

While a Prime Video limited series about Read’s trial has been greenlit with Elizabeth Banks as the lead, per Deadline, Read told Carr that she has no involvement in the project.

“I have nothing to do with that; it’s not authorized by me in any way,” she said, while her lawyer added that it is “Karen Read’s story to tell,” not Hollywood’s