Northeast
Karen Read's second trial heads into weekend without full jury seated
Karen Read’s second murder trial is headed into its first weekend without a fully seated jury after the court spent days vetting dozens of candidates, many of whom were already aware of the high-profile case after her first trial in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe ended in a mistrial.
Judge Beverly Cannone cut the parties loose around 4:30 p.m. Friday after four days of jury selection, which began on Tuesday with dozens of potential jurors telling the court they had already heard about the case and formulated opinions.
Ten jurors have been selected out of an expected total of 16, 12 to deliberate and another four alternates. The process resumes Monday morning.
Jury selection is expected to be a crucial aspect of the trial after the first highly publicized event ended with jurors deadlocked and no verdict.
KAREN READ APPEALS DOUBLE JEOPARDY RULING TO US SUPREME COURT
Defendant Karen Read and attorney Alan Jackson review jury questionnaires for the 87 potential jurors in the court jury pool at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass. on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Greg Derr/ Pool The Patriot Ledger)
Read faces murder, hit-and-run and manslaughter charges in connection with O’Keefe’s death.
She was among the people who found him dead on fellow Boston Police Officer Brian Albert’s front lawn on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022. The region had seen a blizzard overnight and an autopsy found head trauma as well as evidence of hypothermia.
PROBE OF TOWN POLICE IN KAREN READ CASE FINDS NO SIGN OF ‘CONSPIRACY TO FRAME’ SLAIN OFFICER’S GIRLFRIEND
Officer John O’Keefe poses for his official headshot. O’Keefe’s girlfriend, Karen Reed, is currently on trial for murder after he was found dead outside of a Massachusetts home in January 2022. (Boston Police Department)
Prosecutors allege Read backed into O’Keefe after a drunken fight and drove home, leaving him to die in the cold.
She denies the charges, has pleaded not guilty, and her defense has pushed the idea that someone else killed him, dragged him outside and left him there – using Read as a scapegoat to cover it up.
GO HERE FOR FULL COVERAGE OF THE 2ND KAREN READ TRIAL
The explosive claim and massive publicity surrounding her first trial – as well as the numerous media interviews she gave in the aftermath – made it so many people in the community and around the country are familiar with the facts of the case.
Karen Read exits Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Dario Alequin for Fox News Digital)
“Jury selection is critical to the outcome of this case, as in almost every case. In this case, the high level of publicity makes it even more challenging,” said Sam Bassett, a defense lawyer in Austin, Texas, who has been following the proceedings. “Each side has its idea of the personality types that will favor their side so it’s a real battle to get the jurors you like.”
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As a result, he expects both sides to take their time with the process.
“The jury selection process in a case like this takes a very long time because you have to carefully exclude jurors who might have a subtle bias or opinion that causes that juror to be undesirable,” he told Fox News Digital.
“I do not think a break for the weekend matters very much. It’s much more important to ensure that the jury selection is thorough.”
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Northeast
Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente identified as Brown University and MIT shooting suspect, found dead
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Authorities have identified the suspect in Saturday’s mass shooting at Brown University, which left two students dead and nine injured during a finals week review session, as the same man believed to have carried out the murder of a renowned nuclear scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology days later.
His name is Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, according to Providence police.
He was found dead Thursday evening, authorities announced at a press briefing Thursday evening, after law enforcement officers in tactical gear were seen outside a storage unit linked to him in Salem, New Hampshire, for hours.
Neves-Valente, 48, was a Portuguese national and studied at Brown from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2001 to study physics, according to Brown President Christina Paxson. But he went on a leave of absence and ultimately withdrew in 2003.
BROWN UNIVERSITY STUDENT MOURNS SLAIN FRIEND ELLA COOK AFTER CAMPUS SHOOTING, CALLS IT A ‘DEVASTATING LOSS’
A split image shows Claudio Neves-Valente, identified as the Brown University gunman, wearing the same jacket as a man identified earlier as a person of interest in the case. (Providence Police Department)
A man with the same name was also terminated from a monitor position at the Instituto Superior Tecnico in Portugal in 2000, school records show. Authorities said they believe he is the same person as the killer.
That’s also the same university attended by the renowned MIT nuclear physics professor Nuno Loureiro, who suffered fatal gunshot wounds Monday at his home in Massachusetts, about 50 miles away from Brown.
Images of Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente are displayed on a projector screen at a news briefing in Providence, Rhode Island. The 48-year-old former student and Portuguese national has been identified as the gunman behind a mass shooting that killed two students and wounded nine Saturday. (Andrea Margolis/Fox News Digital)
Rhode Island authorities said that the investigation was being handled by Massachusetts authorities, who would speak for themselves. Leah B. Foley, the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, later confirmed that Neves-Valente was suspected in Loureiro’s murder too.
“This evening at approximately 9 p.m., federal agents breached a storage locker in Salem, New Hampshire, in search of Claudio Neves-Valente, a Portuguese national we believed shot and killed two Brown University students and an MIT professor in Brookline, Massachusetts,” she told reporters in a separate news briefing. “Federal agents found Neves-Valente dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
The Brown shooting happened around 4 p.m. Saturday at a finals week study session at the Barus and Holley Building on the eastern edge of campus. A motive remains unclear, and the investigation is ongoing, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told reporters.
A split image showing multiple still frames from the surveillance video taken near Brown University of a person of interest before and after a school shooting Saturday. (FBI Boston)
The building has long hosted physics and engineering classes, according to Paxson.
“I think it’s safe to assume that this man, when he was a student, spent a great deal of time in that building for classes and other activities as a Ph.D. student in physics,” Paxson said. “He has no current active affiliation with the university or campus presence.”
BROWN UNIVERSITY SHOOTING PROBE FACES HURDLES AFTER CAMPUS EMPTIES OUT AS WITNESSES SCATTER: FORMER FBI AGENT
Interior view of Barus and Holley Room 166 on the campus of Brown University in Providence, R.I. On Saturday, Dec. 13, around 4p.m., a masked man with a gun entered a review session in Barus & Holley Room 166 for ECON 0110: “Principles of Economics,” shouted something indiscernible and opened fire. (Kenna Lee/The Brown Daily Herald)
Detectives initially questioned a person of interest at a hotel outside town but ruled him out as a suspect, according to authorities.
Police spent days canvassing the neighborhood for surveillance video, which turned up images of a person of interest — a masked, stocky figure who stood around 5 feet, 8 inches tall and walked with an odd gait.
Susan Constantine, a body language expert, said one key marker is how the person of interest’s right leg bows inward while his toe points outward as he walks.
Then they shared images of a second person who they said may have information about the person they were seeking and asked for the public’s help identifying both of them.
Six of the surviving victims remained hospitalized as of Thursday afternoon in stable condition.
Members of the FBI Evidence Response Team search for evidence near the campus of Brown University, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)
The two killed were identified as Ella Cook of Alabama and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov of Virginia.
The surrounding community spent days waiting for answers, with residents on edge after the school sent students home early in the wake of the shooting.
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Fox News’ Michael Dorgan, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
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Boston, MA
Indiana hosts Boston, aims to stop home losing streak
Boston Celtics (18-11, third in the Eastern Conference) vs. Indiana Pacers (6-24, 14th in the Eastern Conference)
Indianapolis; Friday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Indiana aims to end its three-game home slide with a win against Boston.
The Pacers have gone 4-14 against Eastern Conference teams. Indiana is 5-12 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents and averages 13.1 turnovers per game.
The Celtics are 14-8 in conference games. Boston ranks sixth in the NBA with 12.6 offensive rebounds per game led by Neemias Queta averaging 3.1.
The Pacers are shooting 42.9% from the field this season, 1.6 percentage points lower than the 44.5% the Celtics allow to opponents. The Celtics average 15.6 made 3-pointers per game this season, 4.1 more made shots on average than the 11.5 per game the Pacers allow.
The teams play for the second time this season. The Celtics won the last meeting 103-95 on Dec. 23. Jaylen Brown scored 31 points to help lead the Celtics to the win.
TOP PERFORMERS: Pascal Siakam is averaging 23.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists for the Pacers. T.J. McConnell is averaging 16.0 points over the last 10 games.
Payton Pritchard is shooting 43.9% and averaging 16.8 points for the Celtics. Derrick White is averaging 3.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Pacers: 2-8, averaging 108.0 points, 40.7 rebounds, 22.7 assists, 7.2 steals and 5.4 blocks per game while shooting 44.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 115.9 points per game.
Celtics: 8-2, averaging 118.3 points, 43.5 rebounds, 22.7 assists, 8.1 steals and 5.3 blocks per game while shooting 49.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 108.6 points.
INJURIES: Pacers: Obi Toppin: out (foot), Ben Sheppard: day to day (calf), Isaiah Jackson: day to day (head), Aaron Nesmith: out (knee), Tyrese Haliburton: out for season (achilles).
Celtics: Jayson Tatum: out (achilles), Jordan Walsh: day to day (illness).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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