Karen Learn trial reveals doable love triangle in Boston officer’s dying

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Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe's 2022 dying may have been the results of a violent love triangle involving an ATF agent and his girlfriend, suspected killer Karen Read , who started texting one another simply weeks earlier than he was final seen alive, her protection posited on Monday inside a courtroom in Dedham, Massachusetts.

Learn, now 45, is accused of killing her 46-year-old boyfriend, a Boston police officer, on Jan. 29, 2022. Police allege she hit him with the rear finish of her Lexus SUV and drove off, incapacitating him and leaving him to die throughout a blizzard.

Learn has pleaded not responsible and denied hanging O'Keefe in any respect by way of her attorneys.

"You had been simply requested about your opinion whether or not or not there was a motive that you just discovered for Brian Higgins to need to murder John O'Keefe ," protection legal professional Alan Jackson requested Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik of the Massachusetts State Police. "I am asking you a distinct query. Did you, in your thoughts, in your opinion, after having learn these texts, discover a motive for Brian Higgins, maybe need to confront John O'Keefe due to jealousy?"

KAREN READ TRIAL REVEALS FLIRTY TEXT MESSAGES WITH ATF AGENT BEHIND BOYFRIEND'S BACK

Choose Beverly J. Cannone listens to the testimony of Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik of the Massachusetts State Police in the course of the homicide retrial of Karen Learn in Norfolk Superior Courtroom, Could 12, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Pat Greenhouse/Boston Globe through AP/Pool)

"If you happen to're asking for my opinion, my opinion is that he would not have to confront Mr. O'Keefe," Bukhenik mentioned. "Mr. O'Keefe was not the one pursuing Mr. Higgins. It was your consumer that was pursuing Mr. Higgins."

On Friday, Jackson had Bukhenik learn by way of a prolonged string of texts between Read and Higgins exchanged within the weeks earlier than O'Keefe's dying, the place they flirted, invited each other over, mentioned a kiss exterior O'Keefe's home and incessantly introduced up heavy consuming.

Learn started the dialog, and Higgins' response was to ask how she obtained his quantity and why she was reaching out to him. Learn stopped responding a couple of days earlier than O'Keefe's dying. Higgins, Learn and O'Keefe had been all current on the Waterfall Bar and Grille on Jan. 28, 2022, and Jackson requested Bukhenik whether or not surveillance video confirmed Higgins being aggressive towards O'Keefe.

STATE TROOPER POINTS TO POSSIBLE WEAPON IN JOHN O'KEEFE DEATH – AND IT'S NOT KAREN READ'S CAR

Karen Learn's legal professional, Alan Jackson throughout Learn's trial at Norfolk Superior Courtroom, Tuesday, Could 6, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald through AP/Pool)

That very same evening, Higgins despatched two unanswered texts to Learn.

"After weeks of speaking with Miss Learn in a romantic method, after which … seeing her stroll within the door with John O'Keefe and sending the textual content message, ‘Umm. Effectively,’ after having been intoxicated, do you see that, detective, as an investigator, as an affordable, goal investigator, as a doable situation for Brian Higgins to be jealous about John O'Keefe?"

"There is a chance there, however I did not see it," Bukhenik mentioned.

"Did you discover that chance?" Jackson mentioned.

KAREN READ'S GOOGLE TIMELINE DERAILED AGAIN AS 2ND EXPERT DISPUTES DEFENSE CLAIMS

<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_22.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_22.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"> A video body reveals homicide sufferer John O'Keefe, prime middle, on the Waterfall Bar and Grille in Canton, Mass., on Jan 29, 2022. The video was proven as proof in the course of the Karen Learn homicide trial on Could 9, 2025. (Mark Stockwell/Solar Chronicle through AP/Pool)

Bukhenik testified that he didn't however mentioned he relied on the "totality of the investigation," which led to costs in opposition to Learn.

Bukhenik returned to the stand for his third day of testimony and spent hours answering questions. His testimony concluded on the finish of the day and Choose Beverly Cannone instructed him he wouldn't must return on Tuesday.

Below re-direct examination from particular prosecutor Hank Brennan, Bukhenik testified that inexperienced marks on the again of O'Keefe's denims regarded like grass stains that he surmised had been sustained when O'Keefe fell to the bottom after being struck.

On cross-examination, protection legal professional Alan Jackson requested if grass stains may come from somebody being dragged.

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Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik holds up pants worn by John O'Keefe throughout testimony within the trial of Karen Learn on Could 8, 2025. (AP Photograph/Charles Krupa/Pool)

"My frequent sense dictates that it was not a drag mark as a result of it will have linear characterizations, and it will be each buttocks which might be engaged involved with the bottom whereas being dragged," Bukhenik mentioned.

Earlier within the day, Bukhenik learn textual content messages from former state Trooper Michael Proctor , who has since been fired over his off-duty conduct in the course of the preliminary investigation.

Throughout questioning by Jackson, Bukhenik confirmed that Proctor known as Learn "retarded," mentioned he hated her different protection legal professional, David Yannetti, and wrote about looking her cellphone for nude selfies.

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John O’Keefe (Boston Police Division)

Jackson additionally performed video that seems to indicate Brian Higgins on the Canton Police Department headquarters about an hour after prosecutors say O'Keefe died.

Higgins was seen on surveillance video amongst a bunch of individuals on the Waterfall Bar and Grille together with Learn and O'Keefe on Jan. 28. He additionally went to an after-party at 34 Fairview Highway, a house owned by one other Boston cop, Brian Albert.

O'Keefe was found lifeless exterior the next morning.

A number of witnesses have testified that they heard Learn repeatedly saying, "I hit him," the morning Learn and two former associates discovered O'Keefe lifeless underneath a mound of snow on Albert's garden.

Karen Learn sits together with her protection crew throughout her trial, Could 8, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Charles Krupa/AP Pool)

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After sending jurors to lunch Monday, Cannone held a fast voir dire listening to and finally mentioned she wouldn't permit Jackson to query Bukhenik about what he knew in regards to the relationship between Proctor and relations of Albert, together with certainly one of his brothers, Chris, who was additionally on the Waterfall on Jan. 28.

Learn may resist life in jail if convicted of the highest cost, second-degree homicide. She can also be accused of manslaughter and leaving the scene of a lethal accident.