Karen Read trial: Defense to cross-examine Brian Albert, owner of home where John O’Keefe was found

The third week of testimony in the Karen Read trial gets underway Monday.

The defense will cross-examine the man who owns the home where John O’Keefe’s body was found.

Read is charged with second-degree murder in the 2022 death of O’Keefe, her boyfriend. He was found in the snow outside retired Boston Police Officer Brian Albert’s home in Canton. Prosecutors say Read hit O’Keefe with her SUV, while Read says she has been framed in a wide-ranging coverup, claiming the Albert family — which includes a Canton police officer and current selectman — and the state’s lead investigator, a family friend, put the blame on Read.

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Read has pleaded not guilty and is free on bond.

Brian and Nicole Albert took the stand on Friday. They have been the subject of intense public speculation for months — while prosecutors say Read killed her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, on their lawn on Fairview Road during a snowstorm in January 2022, Read’s lawyers have claimed there was a coverup, one that may have involved at least Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer.

Their testimony came as the second week of trial proceedings in Norfolk Superior Court, in Dedham, wrapped up. But before they took the stand, Judge Beverly Cannone ruled that the controversial blogger Aidan Kearney, known as “Turtleboy,” wouldn’t be allowed in the courtroom for their testimony or that of eight other witnesses he’s accused of intimidating.

Julie Albert returned to the stand Friday morning. She was out with Read and O’Keefe the night before O’Keefe was found dead on her brother-in-law Brian Albert’s front lawn. Brian Albert and his wife Nicole Albert also testified Friday.

Here’s a recap of what happened Friday:

Retired Boston Police Officer Brian Albert testifies

Just before 2:30 p.m. Friday, just after his wife finished testifying, Brian Albert took the stand. He said he was in New York on Friday, Jan. 28, 2022, for a funeral of a New York City police officer who had been killed in the line of duty, and drove back to Canton that night.

He spoke about arriving back to town, stopping at the Waterfall Bar & Grill following a conversation with his wife Nicole. He said his brother Chris, his wife, and several other friends, including Jennifer and Matthew McCabe were already there when he arrived. He said O’Keefe and Read arrived later.

Over the course of the evening, Albert said he hung out with O’Keefe and had several conversations.

He described the atmosphere at the bar as being fun.

“Everybody was in a great mood. People were getting along. It was friends and family. It just seemed like a great night.”

Albert said he and his wife Nicole and their daughter Caitlin were among the first people in their group to leave the bar, along with his friend, Brian Higgins.

Upon leaving the bar, he returned home, where his wife had invited members of the group to join them, as they were celebrating their son’s 23rd birthday.

Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally again showed surveillance video from the Waterfall, which has been shown to numerous witnesses throughout the second week of the trial.

Testimony from Brian and Nicole Albert, who own the home where Boston police officer John O’Keefe was found dead outside, gripped attentions today, but not before the judge ruled on whether blogger “Turtleboy” would be allowed in the courtroom. 

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Lally’s questions turned to what Albert remembered from when he got home: letting their dog, Chloe, out into the backyard before bringing her upstairs, and a relaxed party for his son, Brian Jr.

“We were wishing Brian a happy birthday and everything was going great,” he said.

He said he may have taken Higgins upstairs for a few minutes to show him pictures of his other son, John, who, like Higgins, is a Marine, Albert recalled.

Higgins remembered leaving the party around 1:30 a.m., around which time Albert went upstairs to watch TV and decompress from a long day.

“I think I popped back down at one point, just to see how long people were gonna be there,” he said, noting that a group was still there, including his daughter and Jennifer and Matthew McCabe, among others.

Asked if he was aware of O’Keefe or Read coming over, Albert said, “John O’Keefe and Karen Read never entered my house.”

His wife came upstairs around 2 a.m. to watch TV and hang out, Albert said, with Chloe there as well. He was awoken by his sister-in-law bursting into the room saying “something to the effect of, ‘John is dead.'”

She told the Alberts there were police downstairs, whom he went down to speak with. The first officer there was an officer named Michael Lank, who has testified previously in the Karen Read trial, followed by an other officer. Albert said he welcomed them inside.

Later, he called Higgins — “I think it was important for him to know what was going on and what had happened — and Higgins came over, as did Julie Albert, who has a regular tradition of dropping birthday treats off.

He didn’t go outside after O’Keefe’s body was found, saying, “There was a snowstorm at that point. They were trying to conduct an investigation and I didn’t want to interfere with it or have anything to do with it.”

Later that day, he spoke to state police troopers at his sister-in-law’s house, several hours after O’Keefe’s body was found. He said he went there because his sister-in-law, whom he’s known since she was six or seven years old, was distraught and wanted to be there for her, Albert said.

The troopers — Michael Proctor, who would become the lead investigator on the case, and Yuri Bukhenik — separately interviewed all three at the McCabes’ house, Albert recalled.

Lally turned to the house on Fairview Road, asking Albert to confirm that they first discussed moving two or three months before O’Keefe’s body was found.

“It was post-COVID, the housing market seemed really good and my brother Chris had sold his house,” Albert said, noting his brother put him in touch with his realtor.

Asked if selling the house had anything to do with the incident in January 2022, Albert said, “Absolutely not.”

Nicole Albert testifies

Nicole Albert, the wife of Boston Police Officer Brian Albert, took the stand around 11:15 a.m. Nicole and Brian Albert lived in the Fairview Road home where O’Keefe’s body was found until they moved to Norwood recently.

Lally asked Nicole Albert about the date of Friday, Jan. 28, 2022, the day before her son Brian Albert Jr.’s birthday.

Because it was supposed to snow on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022, the family had talked about having a small birthday gathering for family and friends on Friday night.

Albert also testified about the gathering with friends and family at the Waterfall.

She said her husband Brian was driving back to New York at the time, and she urged him to join the group at the Waterfall, which he did shortly after 10 p.m. She said shortly after 11 p.m., O’Keefe and Read arrived.

Albert also testified about how a group of friends and family members gathered at her family’s house on Fairview Road after leaving the Waterfall. She said her daughter Caitlin was the last person to leave the gathering, around 2 a.m.

At that point, Nicole Albert said she was the only one still awake. Her son and husband had already gone to sleep.

Albert testified that the didn’t hear or see anything unusual outside her house at any point that night.

A short time later, after cleaning up the house, she said she went to sleep around 2:30 a.m. She said her husband was still awake, lying in bed and watching television.

Between 6 and 6:30 the next morning, she said her sister Jennifer McCabe “came bursting into my bedroom.”

“She’s saying, ‘He’s out in the snow, we found him out in the snow, we don’t know if he’s OK,'” Julie Albert said.

“My immediate thought was just that I thought something had happened to one of my children, something had happened to one of her children. I couldn’t imagine what she was doing in my bedroom at this time in the morning.”

“She was hysterical,” Albert said.

Albert said McCabe eventually told her that O’Keefe had been found outside on their lawn, and that investigators wanted to speak with her and her husband.

Lally also showed Nicole Albert photos of the exterior of her Fairview Road home from January of 2022. And he discussed the Alberts’ dog, Chloe.

Nicole Albert said the dog had been up in their bedroom but Brian Albert let her out to go to the bathroom soon after arriving home. The backyard was fenced in, she said.

After that, she said Brian Albert brought the dog back upstairs.

Nicole Albert also testified that she and her husband moved from Canton to Norwood in April of 2023.

“We had always planned to move,” she said. “The kids were starting to get older, we were looking to possibly downsize.”

She said the decision to sell the home had nothing to do with O’Keefe’s death.

During cross examination, defense attorney Elizabeth Little asked Nicole Albert if she observed any sort of tension between O’Keefe and Read at the Waterfall on the night before O’Keefe was found dead. Albert said she did not. She also said she saw no evidence that Read was under the influence of alcohol.

Albert also testified that she saw her husband and his friend Higgins “fooling around” at the Waterfall that night, which Little described as “practice fighting.” She also confirmed under questioning that her husband does have training as a boxer.

Little also got Albert to testify that her dog, Chloe, on one instance injured two women who were trying to break up a fight with another dog.

Albert also said that four months after O’Keefe’s death, the family rehomed their dog, which they had owned for six years.

Little also pressed Albert on an earlier police interview where she said her daughter, Caitlin Albert, left her house at 12:15 a.m. and not 2 a.m. on the morning O’Keefe was found dead.

“I don’t believe I said that,” Albert said, indicating that the police investigator might have gotten things misconstrued in her notes.

Albert also testified about a Feb. 3, 2022, conversation with Massachusetts State Police Michael Proctor. Little pressed her on several pieces of information she left out during that interview, including some of the key people who were at her house on the night before O’Keefe died, including her nephew Colin Albert.

“I didn’t mention Colin because I didn’t consider him as part of the group that we were hanging out with at the Waterfall because he left as soon as I walked in,” Albert said. “I didn’t even think of him.”

Asked by Little about the first thing she remembers waking up to on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, Albert said, “My sister bombing into my bedroom” between 6 and 6:30 a.m. She said she didn’t see any flashing lights or hear any sirens that night, noting that her blinds were closed.

Little pointed out that surveillance footage shows it was actually closer to 6:45 a.m. The defense attorney then referenced two phone calls from Jennifer McCabe to Albert at 6:07 a.m. and 6:08 a.m. that records show were answered.

“I never answered any phone calls from my sister that morning,” Albert said. “She may have placed those phone calls to me, but I never answered them… I never spoke to her that morning.”