A forensic scientist at the Massachusetts Police Crime Laboratory revealed during Karen Read’s murder trial that evidence collected in the Red Solo Cup had never been tested when her Boston police boyfriend, John O'Keefe.
Wednesday's testimony came from O'Keefe's niece, who was caring for him after his parents died within months, as well as forensic experts involved in searching for Read's Lexus SUV and Crime Lab tests.
Maureen Hartnett of the Massachusetts Police Crime Laboratory testified that she found broken glass, scratches and at least one dent on the back of Read’s vehicle, as well as blood and debris recovered from O’Keefe’s clothing.
She also wiped the evidence collected by Guangzhou police in the Red Solo Cup - although she testified that it was never tested so she could not even identify it as blood.
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Karen Read left court at a murder trial at the Norfolk Superion Court in Dedham, Massachusetts on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Mark Chavous/Enterprise News via AP, Pool)
She collected samples for other tests, but testified that she did not. That is someone else's responsibility.
She also testified that she could not rule out any damage to Read's SUV happened before January 29, 2022, when O'Keefe died.
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Images of evidence of the Red Solo Cup used by Guangzhou police were shown during the Karen Read trial in Didem, Massachusetts on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald via AP, swimming pool)
When she saw it, the reddish-brown substance, known as "Red-brown", was collected by the front lawn of 34 Fairview Road, collected on the front lawn of Fairview Road, and sprinkled with snow where investigators believe O'Keefe has been found.
"I think anyway, even if there is no custody chain, even if there is no custody chain, it's just to make the case relevant," said Paul Mauro, a retired investigator at the New York Police Department. "If there's a fight in the house, probably O'Keeffe will fight back. If the blood in the snow is back to one of the Alberts or Higgins, if you're defensive, it's doing the air missile."
He said the defense could ask for a test today if the swab was still present.
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Officer John O'Keefe poses for his official title. O'Keefe's girlfriend Karen Reed was found dead outside a Massachusetts house in January 2022 and is currently on trial for the murder. (Boston Police Department)
However, police can also make better collection and document evidence, especially after a series of times that officials must defend against making abnormal decisions, including having others fill the level of evidence bags, using grocery bags instead of evidence bags, and sending someone home without sending anyone to the police station to seek a job in order to get the proper evidence container.
Other awkward moments include a bag of evidence, with the wrong number of broken taillight fragments and a state police sergeant was asked to open a bag of evidence with the wrong one inside of one of the victims' sneakers.
"You don't have to do a homicide investigation every day to know that if you collect a bunch of things from the crime scene, keep it and make sure it's recorded in the evidence so that you can retrieve it later because you don't know where it is," Mauro said. "If they know enough and care enough to sample from the scene, then they do it, whatever they do... and then they put each cup in a separate dock and shopping bag and put it in a snowstorm.
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Defendant Karen Read met with attorneys during her murder case in Norfolk Superior Court in Didem, Massachusetts on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Mark Chavous/Enterprise News via AP, Pool)
Defense attorney Robert Alessi also asked Hartnett about two photos, allegedly showing the same unique hair sample recovered from the back of the SUV.
"You might say snow seals it there," Mauro said.
Read faced a charge of second-degree murder, drunk driving homicide and fled the scene of a fatal accident related to O'Keefe's death.
Prosecutors claimed she poured the Lexus SUV into him and died on the ground in a snowstorm.
She pleaded not guilty to all charges and her lawyer said she had never hit him.
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William Read, the father of Karen Read, William Read, greets defense attorney Robert Alessi before the Karen Read murder trial in Norfolk Superior Court in Didem, Massachusetts, on Friday, May 9, 2025. (Mark Stockwell/The Sun Chronicle via AP, swimming pool)
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Although prosecutors have shown photos of her broken taillights, investigators testified that this played a role in their allegations against Red, her lawyer played a close-up video showing that she appeared to be back in O'Keefe's parking car, and then she and two other women found O'Keefe on the ground outside Fairview Road House.
The night before, a group of people had a party there after going out to drink in the evening.
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Reading, talking to journalists outside the court, claiming she saw O'Keeffe enter the party before she left.
Other witnesses who testified under oath told the juror that he did not come in.