(NEW YORK) — Karen Read arrived in court Tuesday for the first day of her second murder trial as her defense team maintains her innocence, saying she is the victim of a botched investigation and law enforcement cover-up.
However, prosecutors allege that a drunk and angry Read knowingly slammed her SUV into her boyfriend — Boston police officer John O’Keefe — outside of a get-together at another officer’s home and left him to die in a blizzard in January 2022.
Read pleaded not guilty to charges including second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of a collision causing death.
One of the trial’s key witnesses, Kerry Roberts, who was O’Keefe’s lifelong friend, spoke exclusively to “Good Morning America” on Wednesday morning, saying she is speaking out because she believes people have forgotten O’Keefe was the victim in this case.
“I think people have forgotten John in general,” Roberts told ABC News’ Matt Gutman in the “GMA” interview. “He is the victim. He’s lost his life. He’s not coming back.”
The judge in Read’s first trial declared a mistrial on July 1, 2024, after the jury said it was unable to reach a unanimous consensus on the fifth day of deliberations. Roberts also testified in the first trial, though she wasn’t cross-examined.
Roberts, who took the stand on Tuesday and will continue testifying Wednesday, is a critical witness for the prosecution because she was among the the first people Read called at 5 a.m. on the morning of the blizzard trying to find O’Keefe.
Roberts told ABC News she then relayed to Brendan Kane, another longtime friend of O’Keefe, the contents of her call that morning with Read.
“The first phone call was, ‘John’s dead.’ Then she hung up,” Roberts told “GMA.”
It was early morning and dark outside when Roberts then picked up Read and Jennifer McCabe, another O’Keefe friend who Karen had called, but whom Kerry said she didn’t really know. Kerry drove the women to the house where Read had dropped O’Keefe off.
“It was so snowy you couldn’t see,” Roberts said. “And as we were driving, Karen would lean in between us, and she was frantic. I mean, she knew John was missing, so she was frantic about it, as I would be. And then we turned to pull down Fairview, and she saw him on the lawn, and I didn’t.”
Roberts and Read jumped out of the vehicle where the two women performed CPR on O’Keefe until police arrived, according to Roberts.
“We went to go find him, and make sure he got home OK,” Roberts said. “And when you find him and he’s not OK, it was, it was pretty hard.”
O’Keefe became a police officer, just like his grandfather, and stayed close with his family, including his sister, Kristen. When she and her husband died within months of each other, O’Keefe took his niece and nephew in as his own. Roberts said she acted essentially as his right hand during this period.
“It was like all hands on deck,” Roberts said. “When they would go to dance recitals and stuff, father-daughter dances, I would do their hair and get the boutonniere and get the corsage. He did a great job. This was one of my best friends”
In the three years since Read was arrested, the town of Canton has been transformed as neighbors have taken sides and witnesses have been harassed.
“It’s all about which side are you on,” Roberts told “GMA.”
“We’re John’s closest friends and family, and we still haven’t been able to grieve because of all of this. It’s all lost on this circus,” Roberts said.
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