Northeast
Karen Read defense floats theory that ‘jealous’ Brian Higgins fought John O’Keefe before death
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Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe’s 2022 death could have been the result of a violent love triangle involving an ATF agent and his girlfriend, suspected killer Karen Read, who began texting each other just weeks before he was last seen alive, her defense posited on Monday inside a courtroom in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Read, 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 end of her Lexus SUV and drove off, incapacitating him and leaving him to die during a blizzard.
Read has pleaded not guilty and denied striking O’Keefe at all through her attorneys.
“You were just asked about your opinion whether or not there was a motive that you found for Brian Higgins to want to murder John O’Keefe,” defense attorney Alan Jackson asked Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik of the Massachusetts State Police. “I’m asking you a different question. Did you, in your mind, in your opinion, after having read those texts, find a motive for Brian Higgins, perhaps want to confront John O’Keefe because of jealousy?”
KAREN READ TRIAL REVEALS FLIRTY TEXT MESSAGES WITH ATF AGENT BEHIND BOYFRIEND’S BACK
Judge Beverly J. Cannone listens to the testimony of Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik of the Massachusetts State Police during the murder retrial of Karen Read in Norfolk Superior Court, May 12, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Pat Greenhouse/Boston Globe via AP/Pool)
“If you’re asking for my opinion, my opinion is that he wouldn’t need to confront Mr. O’Keefe,” Bukhenik said. “Mr. O’Keefe was not the one pursuing Mr. Higgins. It was your client that was pursuing Mr. Higgins.”
On Friday, Jackson had Bukhenik read through a lengthy string of texts between Read and Higgins exchanged in the weeks before O’Keefe’s death, where they flirted, invited one another over, discussed a kiss outside O’Keefe’s house and frequently brought up heavy drinking.
Read began the conversation, and Higgins’ response was to ask how she got his number and why she was reaching out to him. Read stopped responding a few days before O’Keefe’s death. Higgins, Read and O’Keefe were all present at the Waterfall Bar and Grille on Jan. 28, 2022, and Jackson asked Bukhenik whether surveillance video showed Higgins being aggressive toward O’Keefe.
STATE TROOPER POINTS TO POSSIBLE WEAPON IN JOHN O’KEEFE DEATH – AND IT’S NOT KAREN READ’S CAR
Karen Read’s attorney, Alan Jackson during Read’s trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald via AP/Pool)
That same night, Higgins sent two unanswered texts to Read.
“After weeks of communicating with Miss Read in a romantic manner, and then … seeing her walk in the door with John O’Keefe and sending the text message, ‘Umm. Well,’ after having been intoxicated, do you see that, detective, as an investigator, as a reasonable, objective investigator, as a possible scenario for Brian Higgins to be jealous about John O’Keefe?”
“There’s a possibility there, but I didn’t see it,” Bukhenik said.
“Did you explore that possibility?” Jackson said.
KAREN READ’S GOOGLE TIMELINE DERAILED AGAIN AS 2ND EXPERT DISPUTES DEFENSE CLAIMS
A video frame shows murder victim John O’Keefe, top center, at the Waterfall Bar and Grille in Canton, Mass., on Jan 29, 2022. The video was shown as evidence during the Karen Read murder trial on May 9, 2025. (Mark Stockwell/Sun Chronicle via AP/Pool)
Bukhenik testified that he did not but said he relied on the “totality of the investigation,” which led to charges against Read.
Bukhenik returned to the stand for his third day of testimony and spent hours answering questions. His testimony concluded at the end of the day and Judge Beverly Cannone told him he would not have to return on Tuesday.
Under re-direct examination from special prosecutor Hank Brennan, Bukhenik testified that green marks on the back of O’Keefe’s jeans looked like grass stains that he surmised had been sustained when O’Keefe fell to the ground after being struck.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Alan Jackson asked if grass stains could come from someone being dragged.
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Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik holds up pants worn by John O’Keefe during testimony in the trial of Karen Read on May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa/Pool)
“My common sense dictates that it was not a drag mark because it would have linear characterizations, and it would be both buttocks that are engaged in contact with the ground while being dragged,” Bukhenik said.
Earlier in the day, Bukhenik read text messages from former state Trooper Michael Proctor, who has since been fired over his off-duty behavior during the initial investigation.
During questioning by Jackson, Bukhenik confirmed that Proctor called Read “retarded,” said he hated her other defense attorney, David Yannetti, and wrote about searching her phone for nude selfies.
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John O’Keefe (Boston Police Department)
Jackson also played video that appears to show Brian Higgins at the Canton Police Department headquarters about an hour after prosecutors say O’Keefe died.
Higgins was seen on surveillance video among a group of people at the Waterfall Bar and Grille along with Read and O’Keefe on Jan. 28. He also went to an after-party at 34 Fairview Road, a home owned by another Boston cop, Brian Albert.
O’Keefe was discovered dead outside the following morning.
Multiple witnesses have testified that they heard Read repeatedly saying, “I hit him,” the morning Read and two former friends found O’Keefe dead under a mound of snow on Albert’s lawn.
Karen Read sits with her defense team during her trial, May 8, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Charles Krupa/AP Pool)
After sending jurors to lunch Monday, Cannone held a quick voir dire hearing and ultimately said she would not allow Jackson to question Bukhenik about what he knew about the relationship between Proctor and relatives of Albert, including one of his brothers, Chris, who was also at the Waterfall on Jan. 28.
Read could face up to life in prison if convicted of the top charge, second-degree murder. She is also accused of manslaughter and leaving the scene of a deadly accident.
Police have not accused Higgins of a crime, and prosecutors say Read is the only suspect in O’Keefe’s death.
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Thousands of students across New York State this week were unable to finish annual standardized tests after a technological issue disrupted the computer-based exams for the second consecutive year.
Students in grades three through eight from Buffalo to New York City encountered error messages on Wednesday when they tried to log in to their math or English language arts exams, which do not affect students’ ability to advance to the next grade. While some could sign in and complete the tests, others were kicked offline, frustrating students, teachers and parents.
For the past three years, New York State has been transitioning to digital exams, with this spring marking the first time that every student in those grades had to take them on a computer. So when students encountered issues on Wednesday, there were no paper exams available as a backup.
The developer of the state test, NWEA, an educational testing and research group, said it had worked overnight to identify the source of the disruption, which was identified as a problem with a server, and repaired it before school started on Thursday.
After problems emerged a year ago, the company pledged that it would not happen again. The New York State Education Department has awarded $116 million in contracts to NWEA to develop the untimed, federally required assessments.
The repairs this week came too late for many New York City students who were taking the math portion of the state assessment. Education officials in the city had advised principals on Wednesday not to reschedule the math test for the next day out of concern that the system could remain offline.
But some schools resumed the math exams on Thursday after the outage had been resolved, said Dominique Ellison, spokeswoman for the Department of Education. The remaining schools will administer the test in the coming days.
“I know this issue has been challenging and frustrating for schools, students and families who have been working hard in preparation for these exams,” Kamar Samuels, the schools chancellor, said on Wednesday night at a meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy, an oversight group.
It was unclear how many students in New York State had to scrap the exams, but the disruption appeared to be widespread. JP O’Hare, a spokesman for the New York State Education Department, said that 116,000 students had taken the tests on Wednesday without problems.
It was also unclear how many students were scheduled to take the exams on Wednesday because school districts have a window of several weeks in April and May in which they can administer the tests. There are about a million third-through-eighth-grade students in the state.
On Wednesday, Buffalo Public Schools stopped all math exams for students, while more than 1,600 students at Zeta Charter Schools in New York City had to give up on their English language arts assessments.
“The current system is failing, creating unnecessary challenges for students, teachers and administrators,” Emily Kim, the chief executive of the charter school network, said. “Our students deserve a testing experience reflecting the same level of preparation, care and accountability we ask of them.”
Those must be some extra sticky fingers.
The Boston Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying a man they say robbed a South End candy shop at knife point.
The man, captured on surveillance video, entered Madeleine’s Candy Shop at 47 Clarendon St. just before 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. He then walked up to an employee while holding “what appeared to be a knife,” according to a BPD statement, and demanded cash. He fled with an undisclosed amount of money.
Police describe the man as a white or light-skinned Hispanic man wearing a maroon sweatshirt, a gray wool cap, gray sweatpants, and a black mask.
Police ask that anyone who recognizes the man or who has information on the theft to contact detectives at (617) 343-5619 or to provide information anonymously through the CrimeStoppers tip line by calling 1-800-494-TIPS (8477), texting the word “TIP” to CRIME (27463), or through the online portal at Police.Boston.gov/CrimeStoppers/.
FBI recovers stolen 17th century Italian urn
Boston FBI agents recovered and returned a 17th century urn stolen from an Italian church.
“It’s incredibly exciting when the FBI can recover a piece of history that carries such deep emotional and cultural significance,” said Ted Docks, the special agent in charge of the Boston FBI. “After all, this reliquary urn is a tangible link to intense religious devotion and a connection to the generations who lived and prayed with it.
It represents the intersection of faith, history, and art – elements that are invaluable to the people of Italy and to humanity as a whole,” he continued. “This case highlights the power of international cooperation and our collective commitment to safeguard the world’s cultural treasures, no matter where they may be.”
The reliquary urn, which authorities say is a significant piece of Italian history and is registered with the Historical Artistic Heritage Items of the Italian Episcopal Conference, was stolen sometime in August 2022 from the church of San Michele Arcangelo di Cangiano.
The piece turned up in the hands of an antiques dealer in the American Northeast on Feb. 11, 2026. The dealer, who purchased it at some point from an Italian dealer, voluntarily relinquished the urn to the FBI, who gave it back to the Italian Ministry of Culture.
Boston-based FBI agents worked with the agency’s art crime team, its attaché in Rome and with the Italian Carabinieri, a paramilitary national police agency. The FBI’s art crime division was launched in 2004 and has recovered more than 20,000 items valued at more than $1 billion, according to the agency.
A reliquary is a medieval holder of a relic, according to Bowdoin College’s art history department, an item that “belonged to a saint … or, in many cases, the relics were believed to be body parts of a saint, truly powerful objects in the eyes of many medieval Christians.”
2 teens arrested for Haverhill mill fire
Two teens have been arrested on suspicion of setting fire to a Haverhill mill building earlier this week.
Firefighters responded to the mill at 14 Stevens St. at around 2:45 a.m. Tuesday after callers reported heavy smoke and flames. Firefighters arrived to “intense fire conditions that required a coordinated, multi-alarm response,” according to the Haverhill Police Department.
Crews worked the scene all day and were still fighting hot spots at least as late as 11:22 that night, when the firefighter union made its own post on the efforts.
The building was determined the next day to be a total loss, according to a statement issued by Mayor Melinda Barrett, Fire Chief Christopher Cesati, and city Building Inspector Thomas Bridgewater.
“Due to the intensity of the fire, the resulting heat severely compromised the structural steel supporting the four-story building,” the update stated. An independent structural engineer “determined that the building sustained a critical loss of structural integrity and will require full demolition.
That same day, Haverhill PD announced the arrest of 18-year-old city resident Isabella Sargent, who they charged with arson of a structure and conspiracy to commit arson.
On Thursday, police announced they had also arrested a second teen, this one a 17-year-old juvenile, on charges of arson and related offenses.
Police report that there were no civilian injuries related to the fire and that the incident remains under investigation.
The police ask that anyone with any information contact them by calling 978-373-1212 ext.1551.
Police search for Roxbury shooters
Boston police are looking for three males they say are responsible for shooting two other males on Kendall Street in Roxbury last month.
Police responded to 3 Kendall St. in Roxbury a little after 7 p.m. on March 29. There they found two male victims suffering from gunshot wounds. Both were treated at local hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries.
One suspect fled toward the parking lot behind that address while the other two fled toward where Kendall Street intersects with Shawmut Avenue.
Police on Wednesday released a surveillance still of the suspects and ask that if anyone recognizes them or has any information regarding the shooting to contact detectives at (617) 343-5619 or through the CrimeStoppers tip line. Crimestoppers information is detailed at the bottom of the first Crime Briefs entry.
More than 50,000 people will run in one of the Pittsburgh Marathon events this weekend. It’s capped off by the marquee event of the marathon itself.
Call it a runner’s high or insanity; the marathon takes just about everything a person can muster up physically and mentally. That’s why supporters line the course, especially the tough miles down the stretch.
“It gives you a boost. It gives you a little bit of that rush to keep going, knowing that people are standing out there in sometimes not great conditions cheering you on,” said Ali Ewig with Dancing Gnome Running Club, which will be cheering around mile 23.
Running clubs, which are recent additions to the cheering sections, along with neighborhood groups like the Bloomfield Citizens Council and the Highland Park Community Council, which have been cheering for decades, all do their part. It can feel more like a block party with the vibes the groups give off as they help every runner get back Downtown.
“It’s a blast to finally be able to celebrate a sport that a lot of people do by themselves en masse together with everyone,” Dan Lampmann of Yinz Run Club said. His group will have a cheer section near PNC Park and on the South Side.
Arguably one of the toughest stretches can be crossing the Birmingham Bridge and climbing up the hill to get into Oakland. It can be a real gut check time for runners. So, Scottie Brown, dressed as Spiderman, will run up the hill with people to keep them going.
“I just run with them, encourage them, bring light to their day as they are halfway through the race, hitting that tough hill,” Brown said over Zoom.
And whether they are a yinzer running through town or someone from the other side of the world, there is pride in cheering people through the city’s neighborhoods.
“I think that we all have a lot of pride in cheering on these people that are maybe for the first time or maybe for the 50th time running this monumental personal goal for themselves,” Jessica Bowser Acrie of the Highland Park Community Council said. Her team will be set up around mile 20.
Sunday morning promises to be another marathon with miles of cheers.
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