Court video: McCabe’s early morning Google search at center of Day 14 of Karen Read trial testimony

DEDHAM, MA — Jennifer McCabe took the stand Friday afternoon. She’s the woman who googled “How long to die in cold.”

Kare Read’s defense has said that phone records show the search occurred at 2:27 a.m. But McCabe told the court Friday she made the search hours later, after O’Keefe’s body was found. She testified that Karen Read asked her to do it in a panic.

Mathew MCabe, who claims to have seen Karen Read’s SUV outside of the home where John O’Keefe died also took the stand Friday morning.

Matthew McCabe said he and his wife Jen were out with John O’Keefe and Karen Read the last night O’Keefe was alive.

Read, 44, of Mansfield, is facing charges including second-degree murder in the death of O’Keefe, who was her boyfriend at the time. She has pleaded not guilty.

• WATCH LIVE: Streaming coverage of Wednesday’s witness testimony begins at 9 a.m.
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• Live court updates from Boston 25′s Ted Daniel

PLAY-BY-PLAY FROM DAY 14 OF TESTIMONY:

4:00 p.m.

• Court finishes for the day. Jackson says he will wait until Tuesday for the cross. No trial Monday.

3:30 p.m

• McCabe says they found O’Keefe on his back. In her 911 call, it sounded like McCabe said “We just flipped him over”.
• McCabe says she heard Read tell an EMT “i hit him” three times.

3:15 p.m

• McCabe says Read was also asking if O’Keefe could be at the house of a former girlfriend. “She was just spiraling,” McCabe says
• As they pull up to 34 Fairview McCabe testifies: “We drive past the flag pole area and all of a sudden Karen starts screaming, ‘there he is, there he is’” “She just runs straight to John”

3:00 p.m.

• Jen McCabe says she and Kerry Roberts searched O’Keefe’s home and his bed was made before they returned to 34 Fairview Rd with Read
• McCabe gets emotional when talking about her conversation with O’Keefe’s niece. “I promised her I would find John and everything would be ok”
• ADA Lally asks JM if she recognizes damage on Read’s taillight and shows the following picture below. She says yes but without the snow.

2:30 p.m.

• Jennifer McCabe says she pulled up the song “It’s Raining Men” at 34 Fairview because her sister dances to it.
• Jennifer McCabe says she talked to Karen Read at 4:53 am by phone. She says Read said “John didn’t come home, they got into a fight and she left him at the Waterfall” and “She kept screaming my name over and over”
• Jen McCabe says Karen said, “Did I hit him?” and then proceeded to say, “She had a cracked taillight”. McCabe then says Read showed up at her house screaming.
• McCabe says Read then showed up at her house screaming
• McCabe says Read showed her taillight, “I saw there were missing pieces but I also saw snow covering it.”

2:10 p.m.

• Jennifer McCabe begins texting JO again around 5 a.m. and asks where he is. She says JO never came into the house.

2 p.m.

• Court has resumed after lunch. ADA Lally continues his questioning of Jennifer McCabe.
• Jennifer McCabe sent a text to JO “pull behind me” at 12:31am when he arrived in Karen Read’s SUV to 34 Fairview. at 12:40 she texts “hello”. She says she got no response and she didn’t know if he was still outside.

1 p.m.

• Judge calls for lunch break, court will resume at 2 p.m.

12:50 p.m.

• Jennifer McCabe says her nephew said another car was outside and she went to the front door, the storm door. She says she “saw a dark SUV” and she texted JO.
• She says she texted “here.”

12:40 p.m.

• Jennifer McCabe says her daughter Alli and Colin Albert were close - born a week apart. She says Colin Albert was not in the house when she was there, and she says John O’Keefe was not in house.

12:30 p.m.

• Earlier in the night, Jen McCabe says KR had shared “a little bit of frustration” that JO had expressed concern to her about taking his niece to Dunkin Donuts - he didn’t want it to be a habit.

12:25 p.m.

• “I enjoyed Ms. Read, she was very easy to talk to...” Jen McCabe says. She says both have MS and they bonded over that.

12:20 p.m.

• Jennifer McCabe tells ADA Lally O’Keefe was “her friend”, “he was an amazing guy”.

12:15 p.m

• Matthew McCabe excused. His wife Jennifer McCabe called to the stand.

12:10 p.m.

• Days after John O’Keefe’s death, Matthew McCabe texts a group “Tell them the guy never went into the house”. Brian Albert’s response was “Exactly” Yannetti ends on that.
• Matt McCabe says he was referring to “Ch 4″ when he texted: “Tell them the guy never went into the house.”

12:00 p.m.

• DY wants to enter a specific text. Judge Cannone says no. He asks to be heard at sidebar.
• Judge sends jury out of the room.

11:50 a.m.

• DY shows group text. Brian Albert texts: “hope that they don’t think she’s making it up after the fact” referring to Kerry Roberts interview with Trooper Proctor.

11:30 a.m.

• Court is back in session. Matthew McCabe was allowed to use flashlight from his own phone.

11:00 a.m.

• Judge tells jury it’s time for a morning break.

10:55 a.m.

• Matthew McCabe says an Asian family lived there but he did not know their names.
• The court clerk Jim McDermott just gave MM his phone to use the flashlight so he can look at the texts he exchanged in the days after JO’s death. It would be logical that MM’s phone data comes from the federal investigation of this case.
• MM: “I was not monitoring what was going on, I just happen to drive by at that moment”.

10:50 a.m.

• On 2/1/22 (3 days after JO’s death), DY says MM texted his wife, Brian Albert, and Nicole Albert “Troopers back out front but in front of Asian house”. McCabe says he was not monitoring the house when DY asked him about that.
• Matthew McCabe says an Asian family lived there but he did not know their names.

10:40 a.m.

• MM testified he never saw JO on the lawn of 34 Fairview and he didn’t not hear any crash or screams outside.
• He didn’t see any taillight pieces or anything unusual when he left the house.
• Matthew McCabe also testified he never heard Julie Nagel say anything about seeing something on the lawn. In previous testimony, Nagel said she mentioned it in his car.

10:30 a.m.

• MM agrees, the plan was for JO and KR to go inside 34 Fairview according to the call his wife had with him.

10:20 a.m.

• DY: You never observed any damage to the rear of that vehicle? MM: Correct.

10:10 a.m.

• MM says he didn’t see the SUV actually move but saw it in 2 different locations.
• The previous testimony DY is asking about was provided to Trooper Proctor. We have a sidebar as Yannetti wants to continue with this line of questioning.

10:00 a.m.

• As DY asks MM several questions re: what he’s previously testified about the location of KR’s SUV outside 34 Fairview. DY: Is this funny? MM: No, it’s not, It’s been two years of misery.

9:55 a.m.

• Reddington has previously stated that Jen McCabe passed a polygraph. I have never seen any documentation re: that

9:50 a.m.

• Matthew McCabe says Brian Albert and Brian Higgins were playing “grab ass” at the Waterfall Bar when Yannetti asks if he saw them in a fighting stance

9:45 a.m.

• Attorney Kevin Reddington who represents the McCabe’s is here and is seated directly behind the podium where the prosecution and defense stand when asking questions

9:40 a.m.

• MM: “2 Mass State Police Officers came to my house” later on the 29th (Proctor and Bukhenik). He says he’d never met either before.
• MM says his wife is “very calm” in crisis moments.

9:35 a.m.

• Matthew McCabe says his wife Jennifer, Brian Albert and Nicole Albert appeared “shocked” when he went to 34 Fairview. 1st responders and Officer Lank were there

9:25 a.m.

• When he says KR showed up at his house, Matthew McCabe says he told his wife Jen to tell Karen to “please tell her to shut up because she’s going to wake up the whole neighborhood”

9:20 a.m.

• Matthew McCabe speaking about calls his wife had with Karen Read (KR) on the morning of 29 th: ”One of the phone calls she blurted she broke her taillight. or cracked her taillight”

9:15 a.m.

• Matthew McCabe returns to the stand. ADA Lally will continue his questioning.
• Matthew McCabe on the morning of the 29th: “I awoke to the screaming of Jen, Jen Jen!…” “...It was loud enough to wake me up from a dead sleep...”

PREVIOUS STORY:

McCabe took the stand Thursday afternoon and said he met O’Keefe when he became the caretaker for his niece and nephew.

He said O’Keefe called for directions to the Alberts’s house in between leaving the Waterfall bar and getting to the Alberts.

McCabe testified to seeing Karen Read’s SUV outside of the window of the Alberts at least three times but didn’t see anyone outside of the SUV and couldn’t see who was inside.

He said when he left the Alberts he did not see anything in the yard.

Karen Read is accused of killing her Boston Police officer boyfriend by hitting him with her car.

But the defense has long argued that O’Keefe was beaten by others.

McCabe’s Thursday testimony came after Colin Albert took the stand for a few hours, with pictures and videos analyzed.

The defense suggested that Colin Albert and others left John O’Keefe with two black eyes and a fatal head injury.

In video shown to jurors, Albert is heard saying, “I will beat all you’re a---s. I promise you I will f—k all you up. Pull up, bitch.”

Albert admits to taunting a rival youth hockey team when he was in high school with the videos.

Albert told defense attorney Alan Jackson they were sent as threats.

“It was a threat directed at some other individuals in which you had some sort of a beef or problems,” said Jackson.

“Correct,” said Albert.

Jackson also showed a picture from less than a month after John O’Keefe’s death at Fenway Johnnies.

Albert’s knuckles on his right hand were injured, he said he fell walking up an icy driveway at a house party.

Another picture was shown Wednesday by the prosecution with no apparent injuries to his knuckles two weeks after O’Keefe’s death.

Albert was also asked about testimony he gave in July 2023 to a federal grand jury when he went to court with injuries to his hand. He says he was injured hitting a heavy bag.

After court Thursday, attorney Yannetti commented on Albert’s testimony and said, “I think that pretty much anybody can you know hear that testimony and realize it’s just not believable.”

When Matthew McCabe takes the stand again Friday morning, it will likely pick up when he found out John O’Keefe was dead and he woke up to screaming.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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