Northeast
Karen Read loses double jeopardy appeal in Boston cop slaying case, will receive new trial
The Massachusetts woman accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend in a snowy collision has lost her Massachusetts Supreme Court appeal seeking to have her case tossed on the grounds of double jeopardy after a chaotic murder trial ended in a hung jury.
Karen Read, 45, is expected to go on trial for the second time as previously scheduled in April on charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly accident.
Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe died from blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia during a January snowstorm in Canton, Massachusetts, about 15 miles outside Beantown. Prosecutors say Read hit him with her SUV and fled the scene after a drunken fight. She claimed it was an elaborate cover-up and that she had left before he suffered any injuries. Jurors couldn’t reach an agreement on which side to believe.
After a lower court denied her motion to dismiss following the mistrial, she appealed to the state’s highest court, which handed down a decision Tuesday rejecting her argument that jurors only deadlocked on one of the three charges. She wanted the remaining two thrown out.
WATCH KAREN READ: KILLER OR CONVENIENT OUTSIDER?
Karen Read departs Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts on Friday, August 9, 2024. Read, who was accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend with a vehicle in January 2022, was back in court Friday for a hearing discussing her defense team’s motion to dismiss. (Patriot Pics/Backgrid for Fox News Digital)
“The jury clearly stated during deliberations that they had not reached a unanimous verdict on any of the charges and could not do so,” Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice Serge Georges Jr. wrote in the court’s 35-page decision.
Jurors told the judge in a series of notes that they were “deeply divided” over Read’s guilt of murder and other charges and could not reach an agreement.
“Only after being discharged did some individual jurors communicate a different supposed outcome, contradicting their prior notes,” Georges wrote.
KAREN READ MISTRIAL PUTS COPS IN TOUGH SPOT, OPENS DOOR FOR ACCUSED KILLER OF BOYFRIEND OFFICER TO WALK FREE
Because the jurors broke their silence only after the trial, it was too late, the court ruled.
“Such posttrial disclosures cannot retroactively alter the trial’s outcome — either to acquit or to convict,” Georges wrote. “Accordingly, we affirm the trial judge’s denial of the motion to dismiss and the defendant’s request for a posttrial juror inquiry.”
Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe poses for his official portrait. O’Keefe’s girlfriend, Karen Reed, will have a second murder trial after the first ended with a hung jury following his death in January 2022. (Boston Police Department)
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Read’s new trial is expected to be led by a special assistant prosecutor, Hank Brennan, who once represented the mobster James “Whitey” Bulger and has already begun trying to obtain unpublished records from Massachusetts reporters who have interviewed Read.
Read the court’s decision
WATCH: DASHCAM FROM THE NIGHT JOHN O’KEEFE WAS FOUND DEAD
“I don’t see how that was going to fly, because it was a mistrial, she wasn’t found guilty or not guilty,” said Paul Mauro, a former NYPD inspector and attorney. “Double jeopardy applies when you have a verdict. It’s in the Constitution.”
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“This is settled law,” he added. “This is not double jeopardy, I agree with the court. Let’s get to a new trial and resolve this.”
The new trial is scheduled to begin on April 1.
She is also facing a wrongful death lawsuit from O’Keefe’s family.
Read, in a recent round of interviews, argued that she was framed by the real killers, whom she believes are other members of law enforcement O’Keefe got into a fight with after she dropped him off at the home of fellow Boston Police Officer Brian Albert. O’Keefe was found dead in the snow on Albert’s front lawn.
Karen Read waits as her legal team meets at the side bar during Reid’s trial in Norfolk Superior Court, Friday, June 14, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read, 44, is accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor’easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)
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Testimony from Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, one of the key investigators, severely hurt prosecutors in court.
Jurors were seen shaking their heads in court as Read’s defense team read some of his text messages.
In them, he called Read a “wack job,” a “babe … with no a–” and a “c—.” He wrote that he wished she would kill herself and joked about looking for nude selfies while searching her phone.
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Boston, MA
2 men arrested after armed home invasion with shots fired in Saugus, police say
Gunshots were fired in a daytime armed home invasion in Saugus, Massachusetts, on Sunday, police say, and the two suspects are in custody.
No one was hurt in the shooting on Oakwood Avenue about noon, Saugus police said. Two Boston men, Derek Matarazzo and Timothy Gregory, are facing felony charges including home invasion after their arrest shortly after the 911 calls came in.
The calls reported two men in masks, dressed in black, armed with guns, breaking into a house, police said. They didn’t share what led to the gunfire or how the men were tracked down, saying only that the department wasn’t speculating on their motivation.
Matarazzo and Gregory are believed to be the only people directly involved in the home invasion, police said, and it’s believed to be an isolated incident, so there’s no danger to the public.
Neighbors who spoke with NBC10 Boston say they are shaken up by what occurred, describing a shootout right outside their homes in the middle of the day.
Ring camera video from a nearby home shows the aftermath, as neighbors say you can see the homeowner running into the middle of the street with a phone pressed to his ear, desperately flagging down police — after the chaos.
A neighbor tells us his family first heard what sounded like a pop — something they thought could’ve been a lawn mower backfiring, until they realized it was gunfire. That neighbor says one of his daughters then saw a man carrying a safe — dropping it in their front yard — while shots were being fired.
“I saw somebody come out of the house shooting and then we all hit the deck, because you didn’t want a stray bullet to ricochet off something and come through the window or anything like that,” George Benn said.
“I saw the shots. I saw a man go down. I thought he was going to be dead but apparently he just flipped on that hill,” Tom Bushee said.
The investigation is ongoing.
Pittsburg, PA
Emotional 2026 Pittsburgh Marathon saw multiple new records set
This year’s Pittsburgh Marathon is one for the record books. More than 52,000 runners crossed the finish line, with more than 300,000 spectators cheering them on.
“We’re welcoming people from around the world,” P3R CEO Troy Schooley said. “This event has turned into an international event for our city. We’re going to show it off today. The runners will run through 14 neighborhoods. We have 33 different countries represented today and all 50 states.”
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Mohammed El Youssfi claimed the men’s division of the Pittsburgh Half Marathon, crossing the finish line and immediately wrapping himself in the Moroccan flag.
“This is my first time in Pittsburgh, but the special moment for me today is the people here cheering me on,” El Youssfi said. “That helped me to win the race.”
Emotions ran high for Pittsburgh’s very own Will Loevner. The Winchester Thurston graduate has run the Pittsburgh Marathon multiple times, finishing as the runner-up in 2024 and fifth in 2025. But in 2026, he took home top honors, crossing the finish line first at 2:14.
“I’ve now won the Philadelphia marathon, the Cleveland marathon twice,” Loevner said. “To win Pittsburgh, I feel like it was the trifecta and the most special one for me. I mean, being in the hometown, nothing even compares.”
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Buze Diriba Kejela is 2026’s women’s Pittsburgh Half Marathon champion, setting a course record for women and crossing the finish line at 1:08:39.
“I’m happy to set the course record. I like it,” she said.
Before the runners crossed the start line, the handcyclists got a head start. Marshall Tempest of Monroeville came out on top in the Pittsburgh Marathon Handcycle Division, finishing at 1:40:16.
“I’ve done 13 Pittsburgh marathons, and this is my 5th time winning it, in a row,” he said. “It feels good. It was a rough one, but I was determined to get that 5th one.”
“I love running,” said Will Henry Lawrence, who ran the half-marathon. “I love being able to have breath in my lungs and let my feet hit the pavement. I had a stroke six years ago, and so I give all glory to God for being able to get out and exercise.”
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Tickets for the 2027 Pittsburgh Marathon are on sale for 48 hours, starting at 3 p.m. on May 3, 2026. You can register at thepittsburghmarathon.com
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Connecticut
Scammers use AI images of injured pets to target owners, Blumenthal warns Connecticut residents
In a new and rapidly expanding scam, swindlers are using images generated by artificial intelligence to tap the wallets of desperate and heartbroken owners of lost pets.
In a press conference on Friday, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, warned state residents about a fraud that is becoming “more and more rampant.”
Scammers manipulate photos of lost pets posted by owners on social media to make it appear the animal has been hurt, according to media reports from around the nation.
In Florida and Texas, for example, scammers have told owners of missing dogs that their pets were hit by cars, with an accompanying image of a dog that looks like theirs on a veterinarian’s operating table, WESH 2, a Hearst TV station affiliate in Florida, reported recently. The scammer then demands payment for the surgery.
An urgent demand for money is a red flag, Blumenthal said, along with the claim that a lost pet has been hurt and images of an injured pet. The Federal Trade Commission, as the nation’s consumer protection agency, should issue a formal warning about the scam, the senator said.
Numerous reports of lost pet scams have surfaced recently, Popular Science reported in March, describing a few common scenarios, including the one in which the owner is sent an image of what appears to be their injured pet at a veterinary hospital and another, in which the owner is sent images of what appears to be their pet at a shelter, about to be euthanized. But, the article states, these images are false.
Other types of lost pet scams involve an offer of fake pet-finding services, according to the Better Business Bureau.
“You may receive a message from someone on social media about drone technology and search parties that can help you find your pet,” the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization reported. “The person will ask you for payment up front and will likely ask you to send it through a peer-to-peer payment app. Before paying for services, always search for the business on BBB.org or check BBB Scam Tracker.”
All types of cyber-scams have been proliferating in the nation, according to the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report. Since the agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center was launched about 25 years ago, complaints have surged, the FBI reported, with a current average of about 3,000 complaints each day.
In 2025, losses reported to the center continued to climb, surpassing $20 billion, the FBI reported. Investment-related fraud once again made up the largest part of the losses, followed by business email compromises and tech support scams, the agency reported.
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