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It was all just a big misunderstanding.
That was Kerry Roberts’ explanation after getting grilled by accused cop-murderer Karen Read’s defense team as to why she contradicted her grand jury testimony that is at the heart of the sensational trial playing out in Massachusetts.
Roberts, a close friend of victim John O’Keefe who was with Read and Jennifer McCabe the morning they found the Boston cop dead in a snowstorm, admitted during a relentless cross-examination Wednesday that she did not hear Read ask McCabe to initiate a web search for hypothermia, according to Fox News.
The now-infamous search read: “Hos long to die in cold.”
The query is central to 45-year-old Read’s defense team’s contention that she is being framed by Massachusetts police for the death of her boyfriend three years ago.
The bombshell admission contradicted testimony she gave to a grand jury behind closed doors in April of 2022, the same grand jury that indicted Read on manslaughter and murder charges.
She told the grand jury then that she heard Read ask McCabe to Google hypothermia as they prayed while paramedics retrieved O’Keefe from the snow.
Under Alan Jackson’s cross-examination Wednesday, Roberts changed her tune.
“You painted a very, very detailed picture in front of the grand jury, didn’t you,” Jackson asked, as he pointed to a transcript of Roberts’ grand jury testimony.
“Yeah,” she said.
“Except it’s not true, is it?” Jackson persisted.
“I did not hear her ask that,” Roberts conceded.
Roberts said that she did not intentionally lie. Instead, she claimed that she misunderstood the question when she appeared before the grand jury, Fox News reported.
What to know about the Karen Read murder case
- Karen Read, 44, was charged with second-degree murder for allegedly mowing down her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, as she was dropping him off to meet friends in Canton, Mass., on Jan. 29, 2022.
- The night of O’Keefe’s death, the couple had been out on a bar crawl, with Read allegedly consuming seven drinks in just 90 minutes, according to reports.
- Prosecutors claim that after Read drunkenly ran over her boyfriend, she drove off and left O’Keefe to die outside as a snowstorm was set to sweep in.
- Read’s lawyers argued she was framed in a sweeping law enforcement cover-up and that O’Keefe actually died after getting into an altercation with his officer friends.
- On July 1, 2024, Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in the case since the jury was not able to reach a unanimous verdict after five days of deliberations.
- On April 22, 2025, Read will stand trial for the second time, facing the same charges despite her lawyers’ failed plea attempt to the top Mass. court to drop the murder and hit-and-run charges.
- Read faced up to life in prison if she had been convicted on the top count of murder.
Experts say Roberts’ about-face could damage her credibility in front of the jury.
Read’s trial is expected to last six to eight weeks after taking more than two weeks to seat a jury of 18, evenly split among men and women.
Read’s first trial — which saw 74 witnesses take the stand over two months — ended in a hung jury in July.
Read, who has maintained her innocence, could face a maximum of life in prison if convicted of the top charge, second-degree murder.
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