An independent agency found that the Canton Police Department, Massachusetts, had covered up the cover when Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe died, part of an audit ordered last year.
Town residents requested an external review in November 2024 to investigate the police department’s response to O’Keeffe’s death. Officials chose a company called 5 Stones Intelligence (5SI) to take place between November 18 and March 30 this year.
The 206-page report was unveiled on Tuesday Karen ReadO’Keefe’s girlfriend is accused of killing him drunk after an argument.
Karen Read and John O’Keefe: Evolution of the Boston Murder Mystery since July’s turnover
Karen Read was located in Norfolk Superior Court in Didem, Massachusetts on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Dario Alequin from Fox News Digital)
Read’s first trial was alleged to have biased against her in defense, and her first trial ended in a misjudgment after a crime scene lapse and potential cover-up.
The auditors provided cover-up charges to Guangzhou police, but members of several different law enforcement agencies participated in the investigation, or were witnesses with O’Keeffe that night.
“Our team has not found any information indicating any action by Canton PD Officials or detectives 5Si discovered that this was part of a plot to murder anyone who murdered Mr. O’Keeffe.
Complete coverage of the second Karen Reading Trial here
Karen Read and John O’Keefe (Contributed by Karen Read)
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The 5SI report found many errors within the department, including:
- The first officers on the scene should have photographed O’Keefe before he was taken into an ambulance and taken to the hospital.
- Witnesses should be conducted at the Guangzhou Police Headquarters.
- Police should secure the crime scene at the home of Boston policeman Brian Albert.
- The internal affairs process of Guangzhou police is “inconsistent”.
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They advised Guangzhou detectives to conduct “advanced training” on crime scene investigations, and all patrol vehicles should be equipped with crime scene kits and evidence collection bags. They called for an increase in the police department’s budget.
John O’Keefe (Boston Police Department)
They also found that department-issued radios did not have full coverage of the community and were not given work cell phones. They recommend giving all officials a job phone and rewriting department policies to enable them to use work phones to take crime scene photos, never having their personal phones.
Aidan Kearney, a blogger known as Turtleboy, walked towards the court before Karen Read, the Norfolk County Superior Court outside the courtroom in Dedham, Massachusetts, on April 1, 2025. (Charles Krupa/AP)
The auditor also mentioned the case of Sandra Birchmore, and recommended that the supervisor review the accuracy of all deaths.
“A Guangzhou PD detective wrote Sandra Birchmore “Diet in the initial report, she was strangled and killed later,” the auditor wrote.
Former Stotton policeman Matthew Farwell is charged with the murder of Sandra Birchmore. (ap | imagine)
One of the suspects in the case was indicted in August, a police officer in another Boston suburb. Matthew Farwell, 38, is charged Strangled her to death After she told him she was pregnant with his baby, then staged it on the spot, making it look like it had committed suicide. He pleaded not guilty.
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Experts say Red’s retrial began with a jury selection after the first collapse this week, arguably due to the defense’s ability to attack investigators and how they handle the investigation.
“A sloppy investigation [or] The defense lawyer is the defense lawyer 101.
In Read’s case, the chief investigator had a tough time in the witness stand as the juror was shaken while reading his text message, joked about searching for the phone for nude and calling her “c —“. State police fired him last month after a month-long review of his actions.
“The investigation is unreliable; the evidence, witnesses and the entire crime scene are not honest,” Rahmani told Fox News numbers. “The defense lawyer is spending the field with the case, thanks to the worst law enforcement witness I’ve ever seen since Mark Fuhrman of OJ.”
Read the full Report:
As of Thursday afternoon, eight jurors were awarded WCVB-TVlocal station. Before the opening statement begins, there will be 12 current jurors and 4 replacements.
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Danielle Wallace of Fox News contributed to the report.
