Karen Read trial: Experts testify about Jennifer McCabe's Google searches, Read's vehicle data (2024)

Crime

Jessica Hyde, a digital forensics examiner, told jurors McCabe's now-infamous "hos long to die in cold" search wasn't made at 2:27 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022. Then, Trooper Joseph Paul, a State Police crash analyst, testified data from Read's SUV appeared to be "consistent with a pedestrian strike."

By Abby Patkin

updated on June 14, 2024

On the stand Friday:

• Trooper Joseph Paul, Massachusetts State Police
• Jessica Hyde, Bridgeport, N.Y.

4 p.m. update: Data from Karen Read’s SUV appeared to be ‘consistent with a pedestrian strike,’ State Police crash analyst explains

Some of the data captured by Karen Read’s Lexus SUV appeared to be “consistent with a pedestrian strike,” a Massachusetts State Police crash analyst testified Friday.

State Police Trooper Joseph Paul said Read’s SUV had a broken taillight, scratches, pieces of glass on the bumper, and a dent about 48 to 50 inches off the ground when he inspected the vehicle at the Canton Police Department on Feb. 1, 2022.

Paul said he tested the car’s forward and reverse braking and reverse acceleration in the police station parking lot. He noted that the parking lot had an asphalt surface akin to Fairview Road, and the road conditions were similarly wet between his tests and the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.

Paul testified that he found the brake pedal firm, and Read’s car was “fairly easy to keep control of.”

He explained how a car’s airbag control module (ACM) can tell investigators certain details about the vehicle’s speed, braking, and steering wheel movements. Investigators weren’t able to recover any data from the ACM on Read’s vehicle, Paul said, though he noted that outcome is not uncommon for pedestrian crashes.

The module, he explained, is “looking for a sudden change of velocity, anything like a collision,” to determine whether airbags or seatbelt tightening might be necessary.

“Most motor vehicle crashes, if it was a car-on-car crash, there will be a high change of velocity,” Paul said. “So that’s usually kind of what it’s looking for. Pedestrian crashes, there’s not going to be much change of velocity to the vehicle.”

He also noted that it’s not uncommon for pedestrians to “lose essentially any sort of loose clothing” after they’ve been struck by a vehicle, including shoes, belts, and hats. Several witnesses have previously testified about finding John O’Keefe’s baseball cap and one of his sneakers in the snow outside 34 Fairview Road.

In addition to the airbag control module, Paul said Read’s Lexus was also equipped with a software called “Techstream,” which in part monitors driving behavior. When the system is triggered by certain events — including sudden stops — the “vehicle control history” will capture data such as speed, braking, steering wheel movement, and engine revolutions per minute, Paul explained.

The software logged a number of these triggers as Paul tested Read’s SUV outside the Canton police station, when the car’s mileage was around 12,665 miles. But prosecutor Adam Lally pointed specifically to two triggering events logged 36 miles earlier, when the odometer read 12,629 miles.

Paul explained that he used Google Maps to estimate the distance Read’s SUV traveled between several locations the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, including O’Keefe’s home, Jennifer McCabe’s house, and Read’s parents’ home in Dighton. In all, he said the total distance would have ranged between 36.1 miles to 38.8 miles.

The two triggers Lally highlighted occurred about eight minutes apart. In the first event, Paul said the data indicated the car was “slowing down and making a U-turn.” In the second, the data showed the vehicle moving forward slightly, shifting to reverse, and accelerating up to 24.2 mph, he noted. The speed then dropped to 23.6 mph half a second later as the steering wheel jostled slightly.

“There’s a point in there where it appears to be consistent with a pedestrian strike,” Paul testified.

He asserted that O’Keefe’s blunt force injuries and abrasions were consistent with a pedestrian collision, specifically noting “the lacerations on the arm from the taillight, the dent with the scratches where his hand could be.” He said the injury to the back of O’Keefe’s head could have come from striking the ground.

According to Paul, the angle of the collision would have pushed O’Keefe off to the side, meaning he would not have been run over.

Paul further testified that “everything seemed to be working properly” when he tested the backup camera on Read’s SUV. In addition to visual cues on the car’s infotainment screen, he noted the backup camera emits a beeping sound that speeds up as the car reverses toward another object.

To further test visibility, Paul said he placed a “punching bag dummy” behind the vehicle at the rear passenger side. He said the dummy was visible in the backup camera and side mirrors if placed about five feet away, but was blocked by the back of the car when placed directly next to the vehicle.

He also noted that Read’s SUV has an anti-lock braking system, meaning it wouldn’t leave visible tire marks on the pavement and there would be no screeching tires if the driver suddenly braked.

After Judge Beverly Cannone dismissed jurors for the day, Paul remained on the stand for questioning about Ring surveillance camera footage from O’Keefe’s driveway. Jurors have already seen the video, which shows Read’s SUV backing out of O’Keefe’s garage shortly after 5 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022. The defense has suggested the video shows Read reversing into O’Keefe’s car, which was parked in the driveway.

Paul opined that Read would need to be going faster in order to damage her taillight on O’Keefe’s car.

Cannone has not ruled on whether Paul will be allowed to testify on the Ring footage. She said she will review the evidence over the weekend. Read’s trial resumes Monday morning.

1 p.m. update: State Police crash analyst walks jurors through crime scene

Massachusetts State Police Trooper Joseph Paul is assigned to the agency’s Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section. He said he was asked to map out the scene at 34 Fairview Road, test Read’s SUV, and examine its airbag control module — the unit that controls the car’s airbags and seatbelt pretensioners.

Paul testified that he examined Read’s car at the Canton Police Department and visited 34 Fairview Road on Feb. 1, 2022.

He walked jurors through several photos of the roadway near 34 Fairview Road, noting that the posted speed limit is 30 mph. Each travel lane is about 12 feet wide, and the entire street is about 27 feet wide, Paul said.

Paul also identified an aerial diagram of the crime scene, pointing out where O’Keefe was found and where investigators found a broken drinking glass, one of the victim’s sneakers, and several pieces of red and clear plastic.

Judge Beverly Cannone called for a lunch break in the middle of Paul’s testimony.

12:25 p.m. update: Jennifer McCabe’s ‘hos long to die in cold’ search not made at 2:27 a.m., digital forensics expert says

Jennifer McCabe’s hotly disputed Google search for “hos long to die in cold” was not made at 2:27 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, as Karen Read’s lawyers have claimed, according to a digital forensics examiner.

Jessica Hyde said authorities contacted her in May 2023 to review McCabe’s Google searches from the morning John O’Keefe died.

Read’s lawyers have alleged McCabe made the now-infamous “hos long” search hours before O’Keefe was found unresponsive in the snow. However, McCabe previously testified that she only made the search after she, Read, and another woman found O’Keefe’s body around 6 a.m.

Hyde testified that she used several different forensics tools to parse through the data from McCabe’s phone.

“That is very, very typical for me to process with multiple tools to ensure that I’m getting the most complete interpretations from forensics tools,” she explained. “Of course, you go beyond that with your analysis, but it’s absolutely pertinent to do that.”

Hyde explained that the tools “will often flag certain data as ‘recovered,’ and sometimes there is confusion between what ‘recovery’ and ‘deletion’ means.” She added: “The tools are sometimes misinterpreted that that statement of ‘recovery’ means ‘deletion.’”

McCabe’s “hos long to die in cold” search had been marked as “recovered,” she said, and some of the data pulled from the phone did, in fact, indicate a 2:27 a.m. timestamp.

“But what’s very special to know about this timestamp is that that is not the time, necessarily, of this search,” Hyde cautioned. Noting an earlier search related to youth sports, Hyde said the timestamp could indicate when the tab was first opened. McCabe testified that she Googled a basketball team her daughter had been invited to join after she returned home sometime after 2 a.m. on the 29th.

The last item opened in the tab was McCabe’s “hos long” search, Hyde said.

“We cannot tell by this particular artifact what time that search occurred,” she explained. “It is a high likelihood that that tab was opened at this time, because there was another search that occurred at 2:27 in the morning.”

Turning her attention to several searches McCabe made shortly after 6:20 a.m. on the 29th, she offered a possible chronology.

“If I were timelining this based on activity as opposed to timestamps associated, what I see here is the beginning of a user typing a search, Apple making a suggestion of ‘how long to digest food,’ the user does not take that suggestion and rather inputs, ‘How long ti die in ckld,’” Hyde said. “They then make a second search of ‘hos long to die in cold.’ That search winds up being the last search in the tab.”

Hyde also said there was no evidence McCabe had deleted her searches, as the defense has claimed. She clarified that “deleted” data can indicate that a user has closed a browser tab and doesn’t necessarily mean the user has intentionally removed something from their device.

The write-ahead log — an intermediary database storing both new and recently “deleted” data before it is permanently logged — is similar to a warming station at a restaurant that holds dishes that are going out to diners and dishes that have been sent back to the kitchen, she explained. Hyde said the assumption that a search has been deleted based on its existence in a write-ahead log is one of the most common mistakes she sees in her field.

“And it’s really because some of the forensics tools to indicate that the file has been recovered, they put a big X on it,” Hyde said.

During his brief cross-examination, defense attorney David Yannetti asked Hyde whether her analysis ruled out a search at or before 2:27 a.m.

“There is a very unlikely possibility based on the fact that there is no evidence that the search occurred before that time,” she replied, adding, “I can’t rule out something that doesn’t exist.”

9:35 a.m. update: Judge orders courtroom video feed off after juror caught on camera

According to Boston 25 News reporter Ted Daniel, Judge Beverly Cannone has ordered the courtroom pool camera shut off for at least the rest of the morning, because a juror was caught on the livestream feed.

The juror was speaking with Cannone and lawyers from both sides in a sidebar, according to Daniel. Cannone then called a recess and went to her chambers, he reported.

Update: When open court resumed, Judge Beverly Cannone announced that a juror had been excused due to “personal reasons.”

Livestream via NBC10 Boston.

Another week of the Karen Read murder trial is nearly in the books.

Jurors on Thursday heard testimony from several witnesses, including Massachusetts State Police Det. Lt. Brian Tully and DNA analysts with Bode Technology and the State Police Crime Lab.

Prosecutors allege that after a night of drinking, Read, 44, intentionally backed her SUV into Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe — her boyfriend of two years — while dropping him off at a home in Canton. However, lawyers for the Mansfield woman have suggested O’Keefe entered the home for an afterparty and was severely beaten.

Read, they say, was framed.

Tully testified that Read placed 53 calls to O’Keefe from around the time she dropped him off at 34 Fairview Road after midnight on Jan. 29, 2022, to when she found his body outside the home several hours later.

He also told jurors a black SUV matching Read’s could be seen on surveillance footage going past the town library and a nearby temple at about 5:15 a.m. and 5:18 a.m., respectively. However, he noted that Read didn’t arrive at witness Jennifer McCabe’s house to ask for help searching for O’Keefe until 5:35 a.m., meaning she would have had enough time to stop at 34 Fairview Road before reaching McCabe’s house.

Tully testified that investigators had no reason to believe they might find evidence inside 34 Fairview Road, and he told jurors he had concerns about the credibility of a witness who placed a Ford Edge outside the home early on the 29th.

Bode Technology DNA analyst Nicholas Bradford, meanwhile, testified that testing showed “very strong support” for the inclusion of O’Keefe’s DNA in a three-person mixture of DNA found on Read’s taillight.

Another Bode analyst, Tess Chart, testified that a hair found on the back of Read’s SUV was consistent with O’Keefe. She said the lab was also able to rule out “at least 99.895% of the population from being a source of that evidence.”

Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab forensic scientist Andre Porto testified that O’Keefe was a substantially likely contributor to a mix of DNA found on the exterior of a broken drinking glass recovered from the scene. Several witnesses have testified that surveillance footage showed O’Keefe leaving a bar with a glass in hand before Read drove him over to 34 Fairview Road.