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Karen Read’s unexpected ally might be a plow driver who reported noticing nothing during several passes by the location where she is accused of leaving her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, to succumb to the elements in a January 2022 blizzard.
On Wednesday, Brian “Lucky” Loughran testified that he did not observe a body on the lawn while he was clearing snow from the street in the hours after prosecutors claim the victim became inactive.
Prosecution experts state that O’Keefe’s last known activity ceased at approximately 12:30 a.m., and his body reportedly remained untouched until first responders arrived around 6 a.m.
“I saw nothing,” Loughran told defense attorney David Yannetti, speaking of his first pass around 2:45 a.m. He cleared that side of the block, turned around at the end and saw nothing again when he went back the other way.
That, combined with surveillance video from the bar, illustrates part of the defense’s effort to sow reasonable doubt.
“The defense is trying to develop possibilities, and they were trying to get the possibility that something was going on with John O’Keefe and the other men,” Edwards said.
Kolokithas discussed another interaction that stood out to her that night: O’Keefe kissing Read on the forehead.
“I’d never seen something like that before; a boyfriend do [that] to a girlfriend in public,” she said. “Never saw that, so it just stood out to me. I was like, ‘Wow, that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.'”
That nugget could also boost the defense, Bederow said, after Read’s team introduced evidence that ATF Agent Brian Higgins, another man at the bar that night, was exchanging flirtatious text messages with their client behind her boyfriend’s back.
“Kolokithas’ description of John being affectionate with Karen right in front of Higgins minutes before Higgins seemingly was agitated towards John and had to be calmed down by Chris Albert, around the time Jen McCabe oddly told Karen she was leaving with her, was also helpful to the defense,” he said.
Surveillance video appeared to show Higgins and O’Keefe gesturing at one another from across the room shortly before the group left and headed to Brian Albert’s house at 34 Fairview Road.
There is no audio, and Kolokithas did not testify about an argument between the men. However, Chris Albert, Brian’s brother, can be seen pushing Higgins’ arms down during the exchange.
