‘Long 19 months’: Canton residents discuss impact Karen Read case has had on their community

Canton residents, some in tears, opened up about the impact the Karen Read murder case has had on their community during a town select board hearing on Tuesday night.

Read, the girlfriend of late Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, is accused of backing over him and leaving him to die in the snow outside of a Canton home during a blizzard in January 2022. She is charged with second-degree murder in his death.

The case has drawn national attention over the defense’s claims of a wide-ranging cover-up encompassing everyone from attendees of a party at the home, to law enforcement officials who have investigated O’Keefe’s death.

The defense claims O’Keefe entered the home, where party attendees beat him up and then covered up his resulting death and left him outside in the snow.

Prosecutors allege Read was drunk behind the wheel when she hit O’Keefe while executing a 3-point turn in the driveway.

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Fatal hit-and-run: Karen Read, 41, of Mansfield, Mass., is charged with manslaughter in the Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022, death of Boston police Officer John O’Keefe. O'Keefe, 46, was off duty at the time of his death. (Boston 25 News, Boston Police Department)

“It’s been a long 19 months and I want to see if there’s an outside and independent investigation, non-biased, that can look into this terrible thing that happened 19 months ago today,” an emotional Canton resident said in front of a large crowd that gathered at the board hearing.

O’Keefe’s bruised and battered body was discovered in a snowbank outside the home the next morning.

Read has maintained her innocence from the start, and earlier this summer, her parents told Boston 25 News that they’re confident in their daughter’s innocence as her legal fight continues.

In a rare move, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey released a video statement condemning the alleged ongoing harassment of witnesses in the case, calling it “absolutely baseless.”

An investigation remains ongoing.

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