CNN —
In the pre-dawn hours of January 29, 2022, a man was found dead in a blizzard outside a house in suburban Boston. He was wearing two shirts, blue jeans, socks and one black Nike sneaker. On the blanket of snow near his body were shards of glass and splotches of blood.
His name was John O’Keefe, and he was a Boston police officer.
O’Keefe and his girlfriend of two years, Karen Read, had been on a bar crawl earlier that night. Shortly after midnight, according to court documents, they climbed into her black Lexus SUV and headed to an afterparty at the home of a fellow Boston police officer on Fairview Road in Canton.
About six hours later, O’Keefe’s body was spotted in the front yard of the house, covered in snow. But what happened during those six hours has sharply divided Canton, a town of 24,000 people about 15 miles southwest of Boston.
Residents of the town and neighboring suburbs have spent months debating two potential scenarios: Was O’Keefe beaten inside the house and tossed outside to die in the snow? Or did his girlfriend fatally strike him with her car?
Local prosecutors have made their position clear, charging Read with second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a collision. She has pleaded not guilty, and her trial is set for March.
With both the trial and the two-year anniversary of O’Keefe’s death looming, debate over the case has torn apart the tight-knit town.
Residents have stormed city council meetings, demanding answers. Some have accused the local police of a cover-up to protect those at the party on Fairview Road. Others have visited Facebook group pages and local blogs to discuss intricacies of that fateful night, turning what began as a local homicide case into a broader sensation.
