Owners of home where John O’Keefe was found dead testify in Karen Read trial

DEDHAM, Mass. — Friday marks Day 9 of the high-profile Karen Read murder trial and Julie Albert was first back on the stand after the defense on Thursday started to question her about her connection to Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead detective assigned to investigating the death of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.

Read, 44, of Mansfield, is facing charges including second-degree murder in the death of O’Keefe, her boyfriend.

The judge then barred Aidan Kearney, the blogger known as “Turtleboy,” from being present in court during testimony from several key witnesses, including Nicole and Brian Albert, who lived at 34 Fairview Road in Canton where O’Keefe’s body was found on their lawn.

Nicole Albert was the second witness called to the stand on Friday. Brian Albert was called next.

• WATCH LIVE: Streaming coverage of Friday’s witness testimony begins at 9 a.m.
• Also streaming on Facebook, X, and YouTube
• Live court updates from Boston 25′s Ted Daniel

PLAY-BY-PLAY FROM DAY 9 OF TESTIMONY (Friday, May 10, 2024):

3:45 p.m.

• Brian Albert says the same as his wife that O’Keefe’s death had nothing to do with the sale of his own. Court finishes for the day as judge announces next week will be a full schedule with Tuesday and Thursday serving as half-days.
• Defense will cross-examine Brian Albert on Monday.

3:25 p.m.

• Brian Albert testified that John O’Keefe and Karen Read never entered his home and he says he didn’t learn of what happened to JO until Jen McCabe burst into the bedroom around 6 in the morning.
• Brian Albert says “Shock, that’s how I would describe everyone’s reaction that morning”
• Brian Albert says he knew Trooper Proctor “professionally”

3:10 p.m.

• Brian Albert says he was with the group gathered at his home for all but “2 to 3 minutes” when he took Brian Higgins upstairs to look at photos of one of his sons who’s in the military.
• Higgins, an ATF agent, “coaxed” O’Keefe to the Albert house and later destroyed his phone, Read’s defense team has alleged.

3 p.m.

• Brian Albert testifies that his nephew Colin was in his home when he got back from the Waterfall bar but he says he went to use the restroom and Colin left.

2:45 p.m.

• Brian Albert says he knew John O’Keefe as a “friend” and a Boston Police Officer and he described the relationship as “cordial.”

2:25 p.m.

• ADA Lally calls Brian Albert to the stand. Nicole’s husband, former owner of 34 Fairview, retired Boston Police Officer.

2 p.m.

• Testimony resumes after the lunch break with Nicole Albert on the stand.
• Nicole Albert says Chloe, the family dog, is in Vermont on a farm. The defense asks why she hasn’t produced documentation of that despite a request. objection... sidebar.

1 p.m.

• Judge Beverly Cannone calls for a lunch break. Testimony will resume at 2 p.m.

12:50 p.m.

• Nicole Albert says she was unaware of anything going on outside her bedroom until Jen McCabe walked in.
• Eliza Little then asked about 2 calls, she said records show that Jen McCabe called Albert at 6:07 a.m. and 6:08 am.
• Albert said, “She may have placed a phone call to me but I never answered it.”

12:40 p.m.

• Eliza Little asks Chloe Albert about how in May of 2022, 4 months after John O’Keefe’s death she got rid of her dog. Nicole Albert says she rehomed the dog and says the dog now lives in Vermont. Albert says that a neighbor was injured trying to break up a fight between Chloe and another dog.

12:35 p.m.

EL: What type of car is that? (husbands work car)

NA: It’s a Ford Edge, a black Ford Edge

EL: Is there a reason why you didn’t want to say that? (in prior testimony)

EL: In your mind, a Ford Edge has significance in this case?

NA: I have heard it talked about

12:30 p.m.

• Judge calls for sidebar after defense attorney Eliza Little asks Nicole Albert, “You do know your husband is a highly trained fighter?” Nicole Albert answers “No he’s not.”

12:20 p.m.

• Lally asks Nicole Albert if O’Keefe’s death had anything to do with sale of their home in April 2023. She says, “it had no relation, we already had thoughts and plans. We reached out to a realtor at the end of 21″

12:10 p.m.

• Nicole Albert tells says they had one pet. “Chloe, a German shepherd mix” She says the dog had been up in “the room” and her husband let it out in the backyard to use the bathroom.

12:00 p.m.

• Nicole Albert says she was first interviewed by Massachusetts State Police at her home “a couple of days later”

11:50 a.m.

• Nicole Albert said her sister Jennifer McCabe burst into her bedroom between 6 and 6:30 a.m. and said “he’s out in the snow, he’s out in the snow.” in reference to John O’Keefe.

11:45 a.m.

• Nicole Albert says she was unaware that Karen Read and John O’Keefe were planning to come over. She says her husband Brian was awake “just watching TV” when she went to bed around 2 a.m.

11:35 a.m.

• Nicole Albert tells says she remembers seeing Colin Albert leave 34 Fairview and she says, “She didn’t see him again.”

11:30 a.m.

• Nicole Albert is asked about the Waterfall bar and the people there.
• When it comes to O’Keefe, Albert said “I didn’t know him that well. I think I met him once or twice.”
• She then said she never had met Karen Read.

11:15 a.m.

• Nicole Albert, the wife of Brian Albert, is called to the stand. Nicole and Brian lived at 34 Fairview Road in Canton where the body of John O’Keefe was found on their lawn.

11:05 a.m.

• Judge Cannone says Aidan Kearney will be excused from the courtroom when people named in his witness intimidation case are called to the stand for testimony, including Julie Nagle, Christopher Albert, Colin Albert, Michael Proctor, Jennifer McCabe, Matthew McCabe, Brian Albert, Nicole Albert, and Yuriy Bukhenik, per the Commonwealth’s motion.
• Cannone says Kearney’s seat on the media row will remain open to observe the testimony of witnesses who don’t fall under her order.

11:00 a.m.

• ADA Lally says he’s requesting this based on the indictments Kearney faces for witness intimidation.
• Lally says he’s asking Aidan Kearney to be “excluded psychically from the courtroom... while those witnesses are on the stand.”

10:50 a.m.

• Attorney Bradl says he received no notice re: request to remove Aidan Kearney. He says “government is seeking to trample all over his client’s first amendment rights as a journalist.” “There’s some funny business going on here” Bradl says.
• Attorney Bradl says Judge Krupp already adjudicated this matter and allowed Kearney to attend. “It’s done, it’s been adjudicated,” he says.

10:30 a.m.

• Prosecution wants Aidan Kearney removed from the courtroom, Boston 25′s Ted Daniel reported.

10:25 a.m.

• Judge Beverly Cannone sends the jury out to take something up. Defense Attorney Tim Bradl is called into the sidebar. He represents Aidan Kearney, the blogger known as Turtleboy.

10:10 a.m.

• Yannetti asks Julie Albert how she was able to remember a call from Jennifer McCabe at 5:55 a.m. on 1/29/22 but not “67 phone calls with Courtney Proctor.” JA responds: “I just don’t remember them.”

10 a.m.

• Julie Albert sent Canton Police Lt. Lank’s number to Jennifer McCabe. Yannetti asks: “Did you see Jennifer McCabe delete that text message to you?” ADA Lally: Objection, Judge: Sustained

9:50 a.m.

• Yannetti asks Julie Albert how she was able to remember a call from Jennifer McCabe at 5:55 a.m. on 1/29/22 but not “67 phone calls with Courtney Proctor.”
• Julie Albert responds: “I just done remember them.”

9:35 a.m.

• Yannetti asked Julie Albert if she was nervous that one of the investigators would approach her son and ask about his whereabouts. Julie Albert replied no.
• Julie Albert describes Courtney Proctor as “a good friend and sister’s best friend.”

9:25 a.m.

• Defense attorney Yannetti is asking Julie Albert about her testimony yesterday regarding the 67 phone calls she had with Courtney Proctor, the sister of the lead MSP investigator.
• Julie Albert doesn’t remember a 12-minute call on 2/1/22 the day Read was arrested.

9:20 a.m.

• Julie Albert husband of Chris, Sister-in-law of Brian) returns to the witness stand.

9:11 a.m.

• Court is underway without the jury and goes directly into a sidebar initiated by the defense.

PREVIOUS STORY:

Julie Albert, the wife of current Canton selectman Christopher Albert, was still on the stand being cross-examined by defense attorney David Yannetti when Judge Beverly Cannone ended testimony on Thursday.

Both Chris and Julie, the family of Brian Albert, who owned the home at 34 Fairview Road in Canton where O’Keefe was found dead in the snow as a blizzard raged in January 2022, testified that they were at the Waterfall bar having drinks with Read but had gone to bed before her boyfriend’s death.

Chris Albert testified that he and his family knew Trooper Proctor, the lead investigator assigned to the Read murder case, for many years and well before they were questioned in O’Keefe’s death.

Julie Albert testified that she was a longtime friend of Proctor’s sister, Courtney, but she denied using her friend as an intermediary to Proctor and the case focusing on Read.

But Read’s defense claimed Julie and Courtney Proctor spoke 67 times over the phone in the seven months following O’Keefe’s death.

“I don’t deny it but I don’t recall the exact amount,” Julie said when asked, “Do you deny that you spoke with her over the phone 67 times?”

The Massachusetts State Police Internal Affairs Unit said in March that it was investigating Proctor for a potential violation of department policy in connection with the Read murder case.

Months early, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey asserted that Proctor did not have a personal connection to any of the people involved in the case.

Read’s defense has alleged that Proctor was not truthful with his relationship with people he has identified as witnesses in the case.

The Alberts also said they lived two doors down from O’Keefe, saying, “We were friendly.” They also said they would routinely watch his home while he was away.

Chris Albert testified that he and his wife used to refer to O’Keefe as “Mr. Nebbercracker,” a character from the animated film Monster House.

They referred to him as the “old, curmudgeonly” figure because he wouldn’t want anyone on his lawn.

The defense has argued that Read is a scapegoat for a well-connected group of people, including the Albert family, who were at a party inside 34 Fairview Road in Canton on the night of O’Keefe’s death.

Read’s attorneys have long argued that O’Keefe was beaten up inside the home and then dragged outside. Read’s defense attorneys have also alleged that the Albert family is at the center of an effort to frame Read.

On Wednesday, the jury in Read’s murder trial saw the video as a number of close friends took the stand and recalled the night before O’Keefe’s death.

The prosecution showed O’Keefe with friends at Canton’s CF McCarthy’s hours before he died. Read joined them later and drank with the group.

Video shows Karen Read, John O'Keefe embracing at Canton bar hours before his death

Tuesday’s testimony focused on a busted cocktail glass and a piece of broken taillight in the snow. The prosecution said the taillight and other evidence led them directly to Read.

Prosecutors claim Read drunkenly struck O’Keefe with her luxury Lexus SUV while making a three-point after dropping him off at the home. They allege she fled the scene and left him to die.

Last week, jurors traveled to Canton for a tour of the crime scene outside retired Boston Police Officer Brian Albert’s former home, where the body of O’Keefe was found.

Also, a focus during last week’s testimony was Read’s demeanor and the words she uttered at the crime scene. Testimony from two police officers and two firefighters described Read as distraught and screaming and that O’Keefe had no pulse and wasn’t breathing.

RELATED VIDEO:

Witness testimony in Karen Read murder trial from Thursday, May 9, 2024

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