Karen Read denies noticing confrontation between deceased boyfriend and ATF agent hours before death

Shortly after her lawyers played video that appeared to show the late John O’Keefe and ATF Agent Brian Higgins gesturing aggressively at one another in a bar in Canton, Massachusetts, Karen Read told reporters she wasn’t paying attention to the interaction.

“The video speaks for itself,” she said on her way to a waiting SUV on Thursday. Read is on trial for the second time in the January 2022 murder of her boyfriend, O’Keefe, a Boston police officer.

“Do you think John and Brian Higgins were at odds?” a reporter asked her.

“It appears that way,” Read replied. “It appears that way.”

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“Did you pick up on that, though?” the reporter pressed. “I mean, you were with John all night. Were they fighting? Did it seem like they were at each other’s throats at all?”

“I was not paying attention,” Read replied. “As you can see, if you watch the full length of the Waterfall [Waterfall Bar and Grille] between the two trials, I was pretty much in that spot with [witness] Karina [Kolokithas]. We were there for about 90 minutes.”

“So you didn’t notice that?” the reporter asked.

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“I didn’t pick up on it,” she said. 

Read was talking about Karina Kolokithas, a witness for the defense who was present at the Waterfall Bar and Grille in Canton in the hours before O’Keefe was last seen alive. 

Kolokithas testified that she saw a strange interaction between Jennifer McCabe, whose brother-in-law owns the home where O’Keefe would later be found dead, and Read as they were leaving, but she did not say anything about a fight between Higgins and O’Keefe.

“This is exactly why she shouldn’t talk about the case,” said David Gelman, a Philadelphia-area defense attorney and former prosecutor who has warned for months that Read’s public commentary could hurt her at trial. “The prosecution will certainly use this.”

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On the other hand, Read appears on the video speaking with Kolokithas at length, as she told reporters.

“She was having a great conversation with Kolokithas,” said Grace Edwards, a Massachusetts trial attorney who is also following the case.

Read, O’Keefe, Higgins and several other people who attended an after-party at the nearby home where the Boston police officer would later be found dead were seen on surveillance video at the bar as it was closing for the night.

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An interaction played in court that took place on their way out appears to show Higgins gesturing toward O’Keefe from across the room and another man, identified as Chris Albert, grabbing his arm.

It happened less than an hour before she is accused of killing O’Keefe by striking him with the back corner of her Lexus SUV and leaving him to die on the ground in a blizzard outside Albert’s brother’s house at 34 Fairview Road.

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Read’s defense has denied her vehicle hit him and has been inviting witness testimony to illustrate other potential causes for his injuries, including a potential fight with Higgins, who was not charged with a crime but was carrying on a flirtatious relationship with Read behind O’Keefe’s back.

Prosecutors have alleged that investigators recovered from O’Keefe’s clothes taillight pieces that matched the Lexus.

Multiple witnesses testified that after his remains were found on Jan. 29, 2022, Read repeated the phrase “I hit him. I hit him. I hit him.”