Karen Learn trial forensic professional reveals proof in pink solo cups by no means examined

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Having trouble? Click here. A forensic scientist from the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab revealed throughout Karen Read's murder trial that proof collected in pink Solo cups was by no means examined within the demise of her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe.

Testimony Wednesday got here from O'Keefe's niece, whom he was caring for after her mother and father died inside months of each other, in addition to forensic specialists concerned within the search of Learn's Lexus SUV and crime lab testing.

Maureen Hartnett, of the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab, testified she discovered broken glass , scratches and at the least one dent on the again of Learn's car, in addition to blood and particles recovered from O'Keefe's garments.

She additionally swabbed the proof that Canton police collected in pink Solo cups — though she testified that it had by no means been examined, and consequently she could not even determine it as blood.

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Karen Learn leaves courtroom throughout a brief recess throughout her homicide trial in Norfolk Superior Courtroom in Dedham, Mass., Wednesday, Might 14, 2025. (Mark Chavous/Enterprise Information through AP, Pool)

She collected samples for added testing however testified that she didn't carry out testing herself. That was another person's duty.

She additionally testified that she couldn't rule out that any of the injury on Learn's SUV occurred earlier than Jan. 29, 2022, the morning O'Keefe died.

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An proof image of pink Solo cups utilized by the Canton police to gather blood proof is displayed throughout the Karen Learn trial, Tuesday, Might 6, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Matt Stone/The Boston Herald through AP, Pool)

The pink substance, described as "red-brown" by the point she noticed it, was collected by Canton police from the entrance garden of 34 Fairview Highway, underneath a dusting of snow on the spot the place investigators believed O'Keefe had been found .

"I believe you take a look at it anyway, even when there's no chain-of-custody , simply to contextualize the case," mentioned Paul Mauro, a retired NYPD investigator who's following the case. "If there was a struggle inside the home, presumably O'Keefe would've fought again. If the blood within the snow got here again to one of many Alberts or Higgins, if you happen to're the protection, you are doing backflips."

If the swabs nonetheless exist, nevertheless, the protection might ask for them to be examined in the present day, he mentioned.

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Officer John O’Keefe poses for his official headshot. O’Keefe’s girlfriend, Karen Reed, is at the moment on trial for homicide after he was discovered useless outdoors of a Massachusetts house in January 2022. (Boston Police Division)

However police might even have carried out a greater job amassing and documenting proof, particularly after a sequence of occasions when officers needed to defend making uncommon selections, together with having another person fill out the extent of an proof bag, utilizing a grocery bag as a substitute of an proof bag, and sending somebody house to seize a leaf blower with out sending anybody to the police station to get correct evidence-gathering containers.

Different awkward moments included an proof bag with the fallacious variety of damaged taillight shards and a quick delay after a state police sergeant was requested to open a mislabeled proof bag with one of many sufferer's sneakers inside.

"You do not have to be doing murder investigations every day to know that if you happen to gathered a bunch of stuff from a criminal offense scene, protect it and ensure it is logged into proof so you'll be able to retrieve it later since you do not know the place that is going," Mauro mentioned. "In the event that they knew sufficient and cared sufficient to take samples from the scene, nevertheless imperfect they did it… they usually put every cup in a separate Cease and Store bag, initialed it, closed it pretty much as good as they may in a blizzard. It's unorthodox, not excellent, however defensible."

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Defendant Karen Learn talks along with her attorneys throughout her homicide trial in Norfolk Superior Courtroom in Dedham, Mass., Wednesday, Might 14, 2025. (Mark Chavous/Enterprise Information through AP, Pool)

Protection lawyer Robert Alessi additionally requested Hartnett about two pictures purported to indicate the identical lone hair pattern recovered from the again of the SUV.

"You can argue that the snow sealed it in there," Mauro mentioned.

Learn faces fees of second-degree murder , drunk-driving manslaughter and fleeing the scene of a lethal accident in reference to O'Keefe's demise.

Prosecutors allege she reversed her Lexus SUV into him and left him to die on the bottom throughout a blizzard.

She has pleaded not responsible to all fees, and her legal professionals say she by no means hit him.

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<source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/05/931/523/karen-read-boston-ma-retrial-john-okeefe-day-13_12.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/05/1862/1046/karen-read-boston-ma-retrial-john-okeefe-day-13_12.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"> William Learn, left, father of Karen Learn, is greeted by protection lawyer Robert Alessi earlier than the beginning of the Karen Learn homicide trial in Norfolk Superior Courtroom in Dedham, Mass., Friday, Might 9, 2025. (Mark Stockwell/The Solar Chronicle through AP, Pool)

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Whereas prosecutors have proven pictures of her damaged taillight and investigators have testified that it performed a job of their allegations towards Learn, her legal professionals performed a close-up video of her showing to again into O'Keefe's parked automobile earlier than she and two different girls discovered O'Keefe on the bottom outdoors the Fairview Highway home.