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What happened to John O’Keefe? · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: All right, so are you ready for a deep dive.
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  That's well, it's going to leave you with a lot
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  more questions than answers, I think.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, this one's a doozy.
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  Speaker 1: It really is. We're talking about the death of John O'Keeffe,
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  a Boston police officer found dead in the snow back
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  in January twenty twenty two. And you know, we've got
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  court documents, forensic reports, news articles, a whole nine yards.
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  It works, Yeah, And it's just a case where nothing
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  seems to add up.
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  Speaker 2: It really makes you wonder, you know, what really goes
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  on behind the scenes. Sometimes with these cases, you think
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  you have all the facts, but then you realize truth
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  can be a very slippery thing.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And speaking of facts, let's start by setting the
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  stage introducing the key players in this whole drama.
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  Speaker 2: It sounds good.
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  Speaker 1: So we've got John O'Keeffe, forty six years old, sixteen
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  years on the Boston Police force. And here's the kicker.
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  He was also raising his young niece and nephew after
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  they tragically lost both of their parents within just a
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  couple of years of each other.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a heartbreaker right there, and it adds this
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  whole other layer of complexity to the case, you know,
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  because it's not just about John's death, but also about
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  the future of these two kids he was raising.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and then you've got Karen Reid, John's girlfriend at
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  the time, a finance lecturer and equity analyst, so successful
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  in her own right, but from what we can gather,
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  their relationship was kind of a mess, on again, off again.
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  Constant arguments that sort of thing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, a real roller coaster. Yeah, it sounds like they
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  were living together at the time of John's death too,
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  which you know, just adds fuel to the fire.
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  Speaker 1: So let's rewind back to Friday night, January twenty eighth,
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  twenty twenty two. That's when this whole thing kicks off.
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  John and Karen are out at a couple of bars.
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  First they're at cfcf McCarthy's, a pretty standard Irish pub.
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  Then they head over to the Waterfall Bar and grill. Now,
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  the prosecution makes a big deal out of Karen's drinking
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  that night. Six drinks in about an hour and a half.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a lot in a short amount of time,
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  and it becomes key part of their argument later on.
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  You know, they're going to say that Karen's judgment was impaired,
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  that she wasn't thinking straight because of the alcohol.
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  Speaker 1: Right. So they leave the second bar around midnight, and
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  it's seems like they were heading to a house party.
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  Speaker 2: We have text messages between John and a woman named
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  Jennifer McCabe. They were friends, and it looks like they
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  met up at one of the bars that night. John's
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  texting Jennifer trying to figure out how to get to
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  this house on Fearview Road.
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  Speaker 1: And get this, the homeowner, Brian Albert, is a Boston
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  Police sergeant oh wow, on the Fugitive Apprehension Team no Less,
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  and his wife is Jennifer McCabe's sister. So you've got
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  this very tight knit group of law enforcement folks right
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  at the center of it all.
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  Speaker 2: Talk about a tangled web.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it gets even more complicated because John was a
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  Boston police officer himself. So from the very beginning, you've
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  got this question of whether there was any bias involved
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  or even a possible cover up.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, when you have all these connections within
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  law enforcement, it definitely raises some red flags. Yeah, you
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  have to wonder if everything was investigated as thoroughly as
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  it should have been.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly. So back to that Friday night, around twelve point
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  four to five am, Karen's black SUV is seen driving
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  away from the party house. Hours go by, and then
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  early in the morning, Karen starts making some calls, first
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  to Jennifer, then to a friend. She's frantic, saying John
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  never made it home.
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  Speaker 2: And that's where things take a really dark turn. Around
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  six in the morning, John's body is found in the
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  snow right in front of Brian Albert's house. I mean
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  picture this. It's a blizzard, Visibility is awful, and there's
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  a man lying dead.
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  Speaker 1: In the snow chilling.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And to make matters whorse, Karen is there and she's hysterical.
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  First responders say she kept repeating I hit him.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Those words are going to come back to haunt
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  her later on, but at this point, it's just one
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  piece of a very messy puzzle, right.
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  Speaker 1: So the police arrests Karen and they hit her with
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  a slew of charges, manslaughter, leaving the scene of a
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  fatal accident and motor vehicle homicide.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, they really threw the book at her.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Prosecutors often do that. They charge defendants with multiple offenses,
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  hoping that at least one of them will stick. You know,
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  manslaughter that implies there was a reckless act that led
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  to death. But then you've got motor vehicle homicide, which
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  is specifically about a death caused by a vehicle. And
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  then of course leaving the scene. Well, that one's pretty
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  self explanatory.
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  Speaker 2: It's like they're covering all their bases, giving the jury
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  options depending on how they interpret the evidence exactly.
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  Speaker 1: But for Karen it meant facing a possible life sentence
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  and having her whole world turned upside down. I mean
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  the charge is alone, are enough to ruin someone's reputation.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, it's a lot to come back from. Yeah,
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  and just when you think you're starting to understand what happened,
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  the defense drops a bombshell that changes everything.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, this where things get really interesting. So we
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  left off with Karen facing some serious charges, and you know,
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  everyone's trying to figure out what happened that night. But
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  then the defense comes in and just blows the whole
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  case wide open.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they come out swinging, don't they. They're saying that
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  Karen actually dropped John off at the party, and she
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  never even went.
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  Speaker 1: Inside really, so she just left him there.
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  Speaker 2: That's what they're claiming. They say she had some medical
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  issues that prevented her from going in. But the real kicker,
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  the thing that really throws a wrench in the prosecution's
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  case is this Google search.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, a Google search. Now, I'm really intrigued. How does
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  that become a game change? You're in a death investigation.
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  Speaker 2: So remember Jennifer McCabe, the friend who was texting John
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  directions to the party. Well, the defense finds out that
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  there was a Google search made on Jennifer's phone at
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  two point twenty seven in the.
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  Speaker 1: Morning, so like two hours after John was last.
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  Speaker 2: Seen a love exactly and guess what the search was.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, I'm on the edge of my seat here, tell me.
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  Speaker 2: How long did die in cold? WHOA?
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  Speaker 1: That is seriously creepy and the timing is just way
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  too suspicious for it to be a coincidence, don't you think.
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  I mean, if Karen hit John with her car, like
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  the prosecution is saying, why would Jennifer be searching that?
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  Speaker 2: It definitely makes you wonder what Jennifer knew and when
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  she knew it? Right, It shifts the whole focus away
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  from Karen and toward whatever might have happened inside that house.
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  Speaker 1: So what did the prosecution say about this Google search?
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  Did they have any explanation?
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  Speaker 2: Well, they claimed that the phone was actually being used
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  to look at a youth basketball website at that time,
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  not for a Google search about hypothermia a youth.
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  Speaker 1: Basketball website at two point two seven am.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it does sound a bit fait fetched. They also
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  admitted that Karen did ask Jennifer about hypothermia at some point,
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  but they insisted it was a later conversation completely unrelated
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  to the Google search.
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  Speaker 1: It sounds like a classic case off. He said, she said.
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  You know, both sides have their own story and it's
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  up to the jury to decide who they believe. But
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  regardless of who's telling the truth, this Google search introduces
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  a whole new level of doubt. It makes you question
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  whether the police really did a thorough investigation from the start.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and that's exactly what the defense is trying to argue.
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  They're saying that the police jump to conclusions the zero
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  dan on Karen and they didn't even consider other possibilities
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  or other suspects.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so now we've got this mysterious Google search, and
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  the defense is pointing fingers at other people who were
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  at the party that night. But what about the physical evidence.
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  Did John actually go inside the house that night or not?
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  Speaker 2: That's another big point of contention. The defense presented health
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  data from John's phone which suggests that he was climbing
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  stairs inside Brian Albert's house shortly after midnight.
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  Speaker 1: Sounds like he did go inside. Does that mean Karen
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  is off the hook?
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  Speaker 2: Not necessarily. The prosecution argued that the phone data just
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  shows John using his phone for navigation, not actual movement
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  inside the house. They're suggesting that he might have been
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  trying to figure out where he was going by using
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  his phone.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so back to square one. Conflicting interpretations of the
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  same data. It's like everyone's playing a game of clue,
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  but nobody can agree on who did it, where they
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  did it, or what weapon they used.
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  Speaker 2: And to make things even more complicated, the official autopsy
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  report doesn't give us a clear answer either. The cause
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  of death was listed as blunt force trauma to the
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  head and hypothermia, but the manner of death, whether it
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  was an accident, a homicide, or something else, is still
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  undetermined and determined.
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  Speaker 1: Seriously, how is that even possible? After all the evidence
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  they collected, it seems like the most important question is
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  how did he actually die.
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  Speaker 2: It really does show you the limits of forensic science
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  and how difficult it can be to interpret evidence, especially
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  in a case as complex as this. One district attorney
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  released a statement based on the autopsy report and said
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  there were no signs of an altercation or a fight.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so it sounds like they're leaning towards an accident.
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  Speaker 2: Then you would think so, right, But that's when the
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  defense throws down another bombshell.
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  Speaker 1: Oh boy, here we go again. What did they say?
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  Speaker 2: They're claiming that John actually had a lot of defensive wounds,
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  which means there was probably a fight.
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  Speaker 1: A fight, really yeah.
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  Speaker 2: And not just a little scuffle either. They're saying it
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  was a brutal fight. They think that he was beaten
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  inside the house, maybe even by more than one person,
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  and then they dumped his body outside to make it
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  look like an accident.
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  Speaker 1: So they're basically accusing the other people at the party
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  of covering up a murder.
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  Speaker 2: That's the gist of it. And get this, they even
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  suggested that Brian Albert's dog might have been involved in
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  the attack too.
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  Speaker 1: Wait, a dog attack now we're throwing animal forensics into
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  the mix. This is getting crazier by the minute. What
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  evidence do they have to support that theory.
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  Speaker 2: Well, they want to compare the dog's DNA to samples
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  that were taken during John's autopsy. But here's the problem.
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  The dog was re homed out of state after a
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  bit someone else a few months after John died. Yeah,
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  so that key piece of evidence might be gone forever.
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  Speaker 1: It's like every time we think we're getting close to
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  the truth, another twist pops up. So we've got this
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  cloud of suspicion hanging over everyone who is at the
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  party that night. But what about Karen? We know she
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  was really upset that morning, But what else can you
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  tell us about what she did and why the prosecution
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  is so focused on her?
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's where we get into the heart of the
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  defense's argument. They're saying that the prosecution's case is built
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  on shaky ground and they might even be hiding evidence
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  that could clear Karen's name.
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  Speaker 1: All right, so we're back, and I got to say,
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  this whole case just it's mind boggling. You know, We've
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  got these conflicting stories of mysterious Google search and now
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  we're even talking about a possible dog attack. It makes
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  you wonder if we'll ever really know what happened to
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  John O'Keefe that night.
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  Speaker 2: It's like a real life who did it? You know.
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  Every time you think you're getting close to the answer,
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  another twist pops up.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly. So before we go down that rabbit hole too far,
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  let's circle back to Careen and what she was doing
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  that morning. Remember John's niece, Kaylee, the one he was raising, right,
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  she was the.
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  Speaker 2: One who found Karen early that morning acting really strangely.
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  What exactly did she tell the investigators?
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  Speaker 1: What was her story?
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  Speaker 2: Well, according to Kaylee, Karen woke her up around four
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  thirty am screaming and acting frantic.
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  Speaker 1: Oh wow.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. And she also said that Karen kept changing her
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  story about what happened that night, So.
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  Speaker 1: It sounds like she wasn't making a lot of.
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  Speaker 2: Sense, not really. But then Karen's attorney comes out and
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  says that she was just worried because John hadn't come
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  home and Kaylee had to go to bed without saying
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  good night to them.
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  Speaker 1: So again it's like he said, she said two totally
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  different versions of the same event exactly, And it's.
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  Speaker 2: Up to the jury to sort through all of that
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  and figure out who they believe. But there's another thing
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  that makes this whole case even more complicated. The defense
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  is accusing the prosecution of withholding evidence.
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  Speaker 1: Wait, hold on, that's a pretty serious accusation. What kind
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  of evidence are we talking about here.
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  Speaker 2: Well, they've been asking for a lot of things close
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  for example, Yeah, the forensic evidence that was collected from
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  Karen's car, and they also want to see samples from
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  John's autopsy. They're saying that the prosecution just keeps stone
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  walling them, refusing to hand over this information.
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  Speaker 1: That's a pretty bold move by the defense, don't you
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  think accusing the prosecution of hiding evidence? Why would they
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  do that if they're so sure that Karen is guilty.
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  Speaker 2: It definitely raises some questions, right, I mean, the prosecution
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  has to disclose any evidence that could potentially prove the
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  defendant innocent, even if it hurts their case. If they're
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  withholding evidence, it makes you wonder if they're trying to
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  manipulate the outcome of the trial.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's not how the justice system is supposed to work.
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  Everyone deserves a fair trial.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly, and that's what the defense is fighting for They're
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  saying that Karen is being treated unfairly, that she hasn't
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  had a chance to defend herself properly.
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  Speaker 1: It's a lot to take in, and I feel like
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  we're only scratching the surface of this case.
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  Speaker 2: It really is a deep dive, isn't it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no kidding. So where does this all leave us?
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  What's the next chapter in this whole saga?
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  Speaker 2: Is still ongoing, so there's always a chance that more
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  evidence will come to light. Maybe the defense will find
• 12:07
  something that clears Karen's name, or maybe a new witness
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  will come forward with crucial information.
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  Speaker 1: Hopefully something will happen that gives us some answers, because
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  right now it just feels like we're stuck in this
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  limbo of uncertainty.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's tough, but that's the nature of complex cases
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  like this. You know, they're always going to be loose
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  ends and unanswered questions.
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  Speaker 1: It's a good reminder that the truth is often messy
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  and complicated, and that things aren't always as clear cut
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  as we'd like them to be.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and it's important to remember that behind all the
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  legal arguments and the media frenzy, there are real people
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  whose lives have been deeply affected by this tragedy.
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  Speaker 1: Well said. So to our listeners out there, we want
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  to hear from you. What are your thoughts on this case?
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  What stood out to you the most? Do you think
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  Karen Reid is guilty or is there something more to
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  the story. Keep an open mind as this case unfolds,
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  and remember the truth is often more complicated than it appears.
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  Speaker 2: And who knows, maybe there will be some new developments
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  that completely change our understanding of what happened that night.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us on this deep dive. We'll be
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  back soon with another case that's sure to keep you
• 13:09
  on the edge of your seat.