Matthew McCabe’s text message about John O’Keefe, a cliffhanger in Karen Read Trial

Witness Matthew McCabe testifies during the trial of Karen Read in Norfolk County Superior Court. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, swimming pool)

In the days after John O’Keefe’s death, Matthew McCabe asked witnesses closest to the Karen Read murder case to tell the media that ‘the guy never came into the house’ .

The revelation came to the fore at the end of defense attorney David Yannetti’s fierce cross-examination of McCabe on the 14th day of testimony in Read’s murder trial.

On Friday, witnesses said they had never seen O’Keefe, a Boston police officer for 16 years and Read’s boyfriend of two years, enter 34 Fairview Road in Canton. But screenshots of the message McCabe sent to witnesses, which Yannetti presented to the jury, turned out to be a bombshell.

McCabe confirmed to Yannetti that “the guy” was O’Keefe.

“When you told the group to tell them, the guy never came into the house,” Yannetti said. “You were the one talking about how you all should get your stories straight, weren’t you?”

“No,” McCabe said before adding, “John never came into the house. It’s not a story. It’s a fact.”

McCabe sent the message to his wife, Jennifer McCabe, Jennifer’s sister, Nicole Albert, and Nicole’s husband, Brian Albert, on February 1, 2022, just three days after O’Keefe’s death.

Brian Albert is one of three people the defense says may have been involved in the beating to death of O’Keefe in his home at 34 Fairview Road in Canton.

O’Keefe was found on the morning of January 29, 2022, dead or dying on the lawn of the Albert property he owned at the time with his wife. The defense developed a third-party killer theory and alleged a massive frame-up was used to frame their client.

The theory’s two other targets are Albert’s nephew, Colin Albert, then a high school student who appeared with bruised and cut knuckles weeks later, and Brian Higgins, an ATF agent who was allegedly romantically involved with Read.

Colin and Brian Albert said they did not see O’Keefe enter the house that night. Higgins has not yet been called to the stand.

Jurors appeared to focus on the intense exchange between Matthew McCabe and Yannetti.

In response to McCabe’s instructions, Brian Albert replied, “Exactly.”

“We’re done here,” Yannetti said as he finished the cross-examination.

Read, 44, of Mansfield, faces charges of second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in the death of O ‘Keefe.

Prosecutors say that after a drinking party, Read and O’Keefe got into an argument and she killed him by backing her Lexus SUV at high speed, leaving him to die in the cold during a major snowstorm.

Jennifer McCabe, during her testimony after her husband left the stand, reflected on the emotional and vivid moments when she, Read and Kerry Roberts in the back of a Canton police cruiser after O’s body was discovered ‘Keefe this cold, snowy January morning.

Yannetti unleashed his anger on Matthew McCabe when the husband tried to explain the location between Read’s SUV and Higgins’ Jeep earlier in the morning, when the Alberts hosted an after-party for their 23rd birthday son Brian Albert Jr.

“Is this funny?” I’m sorry but we’re laughing,” Yannetti asked McCabe.

“It’s not funny, sir,” McCabe said. “Not at all. It’s been two years of misery.

Earlier this week, McCabe’s daughter, Allison McCabe, broke down in tears on the stand following the “alleged harassment” she and her family allegedly suffered during the case.

Emotions ran high when she confirmed investigators questioned her last year after the defense and its supporters alleged Colin Albert played a role in John O’Keefe’s death.

“Colin wasn’t home when John was there…I drove him home,” McCabe said. “People are harassing him saying he was at home when that’s not true.”

During Wednesday’s emotional testimony, prosecutor Adam Lally asked McCabe: “What if your family or Colin Albert and his family had suffered anything else during the course of … this case.” » She replied, “Harassment.”

“Harassment, by whom,” Lally asked. “Bloggers, online people,” she replied.

“People are showing up at our house, people are emailing my school,” she said, beginning to shed tears. “Like a lot of…harassment.” »