After Karen Read's mistrial for the murder of John O'Keefe, his family is still fighting for justice

A relative of the Boston police officer who died after Karen Read allegedly ran him over in her SUV said her family fully supports a retrial for Read after her high-profile murder trial ended with a hung jury earlier this year.

Beth, who is part of John O'Keefe's extended family and asked to be identified only by her first name for fear of harassment, told Dateline that while Read put her family “through hell,” she raised them a second trial had been prepared. This process is expected to begin early next year.

“No matter what we’re dealing with, justice for Johnny,” Beth said.

The twisted legal saga surrounding the case — which involves allegations of a widespread coverup by law enforcement — began after O'Keefe's body was found outside the suburban home of a now-retired Boston police sergeant on a snowy morning in January 2022.

The medical examiner attributed O'Keefe's cause of death to blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia.

Read, a stock analyst who had been dating O'Keefe for two years at the time of his death, was charged with second-degree murder, negligent motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence and leaving the scene of a collision involving death. She has protested her innocence.

The case will go to the Massachusetts Supreme Court next month, when Read's defense team will argue that some of the charges against her – including murder – should be dismissed. Prosecutors said there was no basis for the lawsuit.

What prosecutors say happened

Prosecutors said the couple's troubled relationship ended when a drunken Read backed his Lexus into O'Keefe, leaving him for dead outside the home of former Sergeant Brian Albert.

There were no known witnesses to O'Keefe's death, but Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally said vehicle data from the Lexus showed Read was reversing at 24 mph for 60 feet near Albert's home, where Read said she would drop O'Keefe off for a while after the party.

O'Keefe never made it in, Lally said, and no one who was at the event remembered seeing him there. The rear taillight of Read's Lexus was broken and O'Keefe's hair and DNA were found on the vehicle's bumper and taillight, the prosecutor said.

Lally also quoted Read's own alleged words immediately after O'Keefe's death: A friend who was with Read when O'Keefe's body was discovered recalled saying “I hit him” three times.

Shifting the blame onto other officials

Read has repeatedly said she is innocent of O'Keefe's death, and her lawyers have alleged that law enforcement officials tried to frame her for the killing.

According to the defense, Read dropped O'Keefe off and saw him enter Albert's home, where a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent she had recently flirted with – and then ghosted – was also at the afterparty located.

That tension likely led to an argument that led to O'Keefe's injuries, Read's lawyers said at trial. Afterwards, the defense said, O'Keefe was left lying outside, dead.

Albert and agent Brian Higgins, through their lawyers, denied involvement in O'Keefe's death. The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office also released a statement saying it had nothing to do with his death.

The defense has also accused Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor of leading a biased and improper investigation into O'Keefe's death. During the trial, Proctor admitted using derogatory language about reading texts to friends, relatives and superiors. He testified that although his language was “unprofessional,” it did not affect the integrity of his investigation.

Proctor was suspended without pay days after a mistrial was announced on July 1, and his conduct is the subject of an ongoing investigation by state police. He did not respond to multiple requests for comment from NBC News.

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For Beth, Proctor's texts – in which he said, among other things, that he hoped Read would take his own life and described her with an insulting term for developmentally disabled people – were “completely inappropriate.” But that didn't mean Read was framed, Beth said.

“I never believed that there was this massive cover-up that benefited the state police,” she said, noting that anyone who was in the house that night would have to be “complete sociopaths” to be able to continue and remain silent about the events described by the defense.

“We shouldn’t have to justify why we don’t believe this crazy story,” she said. “I think others should have to justify why they believe it.”

The defense theory of murder was reinforced by a local blogger – Aiden Kearney, known as “Turtleboy” – who described Read as a victim and mocked O'Keefe's family for believing in her guilt. His candor on the matter drew large crowds at the Norfolk County Courthouse during the trial.

Outside the courtroom, cameras showed crowds booing the family as they walked inside. In a separate clip, Kearney was seen calling O'Keefe's brother a “disgrace.”

“For the things he said and continued to say and the things he got his mob to say with that mob mentality, it’s despicable,” Beth said. She continued: “The focus should be on Johnny and not on the blogger and not on the accused. It should be about the fact that Johnny died. Johnny died because of someone else, and those two people made everything around them.”

“This was a murder trial that was lost almost every day,” she added.

Last year, Kearney was charged with witness intimidation and conspiracy in connection with his online media coverage of the case. He pleaded not guilty and the case is ongoing.

After his arraignment, Kearney said he would not be intimidated or silenced, NBC Boston reported.

More than 60 people supporting O'Keefe's family or witnesses were present throughout the trial, Beth said, but her family remained publicly silent because they believed the courtroom was the most appropriate place to play out the case . She said they felt disheartened when the jury deadlocked after a nine-week trial and five days of deliberations and the judge declared the trial invalid.

The family had hoped to move on, Beth said, but instead they were faced with another thought: “Oh God, we have to do this again.”

Read's retrial is scheduled to begin on January 27.