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00:00So this used to be where I kept my exams I was grading and stacks of papers for students
00:10and now it's my defend my life little bench.
00:16This was Alan, Liza, a PI and me taking a tour and reenacting my path of travel that
00:24I had taken on January 29th.
00:30John was killed on January 29th, 2022.
00:35He's on the side of the road in a blizzard.
00:38I don't know how we ended up there.
00:40I mean, yeah, we argued that day and then I left him very angry voicemails, but none
00:44of this makes sense.
00:48I don't think anyone with any logic would think I killed John on purpose by hitting
00:54him with my passenger side taillight, what in the head on another cop's lawn and then
00:59go home, sleep it off and then look for him the next day.
01:03I mean, what kind of criminal mastermind am I?
01:06Not a very good one.
01:18Let's drill down on this for just 10 seconds.
01:28What is our thought bubble in terms of the taillight material, the glass, the plastic,
01:33the shirt, the shirt, the jeans, the belt, the shoes, the underwear, the hat, whatever
01:37none of those items on a single piece of taillight or any of John O'Keefe's clothing was booked
01:43into evidence until March 14th, 2022, right?
01:47Or were they for a month and a half?
01:48I think the defense's biggest challenge in this case is probably some of the physical
01:53evidence, but the prosecution faces many challenges with that evidence.
01:59The fact that it was snowing probably had a huge impact on evidence collection, on how
02:05they responded to the scene and the fact that at the very beginning when EMTs arrived and
02:11when Canton police arrived, it wasn't initially thought to be a homicide.
02:17I'm doing my best to try to prevent some sort of a scene down here, but it's brutal, you
02:22know, with the weather.
02:23The scene outside 34 Fairview Road in Canton at around 6 a.m. was a little chaotic.
02:31The initial search was conducted by the Canton PD because the Massachusetts State Police
02:36couldn't get there very quickly.
02:39And they are the agency that's ultimately responsible for investigating these types
02:43of crimes.
02:46Did you see officers use any equipment to clear some of the snow in that area?
02:52Yes, sir.
02:53What did you see?
02:54There was a leaf blower.
02:55I was removing the snow layer by layer and right here you can see it exposing the cocktail
03:03glass.
03:04You're going to see red spots appear as I remove it layer by layer.
03:09Now the only thing that they're able to find that morning are small pieces of glass that
03:16appear to be from a cocktail glass from the night prior, as well as blood from the scene.
03:24The drinking glass was secured into an evidence bag and the blood drops were secured into
03:34six solo cups.
03:38Solo cups.
03:40Solo cups.
03:41Solo cups that typically you'd put keg beer in.
03:43The red solo cups, astonished faces from the jurors.
03:47They were shocked.
03:49The investigation in this case was absolutely terrible.
03:54The local police force was ill-equipped to preserve the crime scene and to investigate
03:59a possible homicide.
04:05What is that?
04:06Those are the plastic cups with the coagulated blood.
04:08Can you read what's on that bag?
04:11Stop and shop.
04:12Okay.
04:13That does not look like an evidence bag, does it, sir?
04:16No.
04:17Some of the things they did that looked bad to people were actually cops trying to do
04:21the best that they could under the circumstances of a blizzard, but they had to act because
04:25this evidence was perishable.
04:28Did you ever see anybody put up any crime scene tape at all?
04:32I don't recall that.
04:34Who, if anyone, did you speak with inside the home that morning?
04:40Brian Albert and Nicole Albert.
04:42Now, Brian Albert, is that someone that you knew public to January 29, 2020?
04:49Yes.
04:50We heard that Michael Lank went into that house for the purpose of, you know, continuing
04:58the investigation into this case.
05:02First of all, he has connections to that family.
05:05Why was he the one to go in to speak to them?
05:08Why didn't he separate everybody out?
05:10And as you sit here, you have no idea, when you were not in their presence, you have no
05:15idea what the occupants of that house were discussing.
05:20I have no idea what they were doing.
05:24You almost hear Alan Jackson asking questions of what would be a perfect police investigation.
05:33I don't think a blizzard was necessarily a perfect environment.
05:39Local police do not have jurisdiction over homicide cases.
05:43And early that morning, Sergeant Lank, I believe, of the Canton PD, made the call to the Massachusetts
05:50State Police to say, I think we've got a homicide on our hands.
05:54I'm not sure if I mentioned, yeah, he's a Boston police officer also.
05:59Total again, control.
06:04I received the call approximately 6.44 in the morning or so.
06:09I asked for further details and advised them that I was not on call, but I would call the
06:16on-call trooper.
06:18So I called Trooper Proctor and advised them to contact Canton Police.
06:22Detective Lank from Canton Police Department informed me that a male party had been transported
06:27to Good Samaritan Hospital.
06:30Trooper Michael Proctor is the primary investigator of the case.
06:36In the defense's version of this case, Proctor is a dark, shadowy figure whose fingers are
06:44in every bad aspect of the investigation.
06:49Sergeant Buchanek and I traveled to Good Samaritan Hospital.
06:53We went through the clothing.
06:54We collected each item.
06:57We also identified the fact that there was only one sneaker.
07:01Only one piece of footwear revealed the potential of a vehicle strike.
07:08Once they realized that he was missing his shoe, that became a key sign to them that
07:12this is what they were dealing with, was a hit and run, because one of the most telling
07:16signs of a pedestrian vehicle accident is getting knocked out of one or both of your
07:20shoes.
07:21So after Good Samaritan Hospital, Sergeant Buchanek and I traveled to the residence of
07:29Miss Reed's parents' home.
07:31As we walked up to the driveway in front of the garage, we observed a large Lexus black
07:37and color SUV.
07:39I observed a damaged rear right taillight fixture on the vehicle.
07:48We were directed by Mr. Reed to the living room where the defendant was seated on the
07:52couch.
07:54She was asked if she saw Mr. O'Keefe walk into the home at 34 Fairview, and she stated
07:59she did not.
08:01She stated that she made a three-point turn after dropping him off and left.
08:08She was asked how she found out about the damage to her vehicle, to which she stated,
08:13quote, I don't know, it happened last night, end quote.
08:18Once the interview was terminated, I advised Miss Reed that her phone was going to be seized
08:26as evidence, and her vehicle was going to be seized as evidence as well.
08:32We followed the tow truck from the address in Dighton to the Camp Police Department.
08:39We're secured in the Sally Port Bay.
08:44One of the strongest pieces of evidence for the prosecution, I think, is when the Massachusetts
08:48State Police SERT team did its initial search.
08:53SERT is the primary search and rescue team for the state police.
08:56We conduct loss, missing person searches, evidence searches.
09:02The SERT team, I think they arrived after 5 p.m.
09:05It was already dark again, and they did a, you know, shoulder-to-shoulder search of a
09:10section of the yard.
09:12The supervisor informed us that the victim, in this case, was struck by a vehicle.
09:16He believed there would be broken pieces of taillight in the area.
09:20He also stated the victim was missing his sneaker.
09:23So he asked us to search for both of those items.
09:27I found multiple pieces of red and clear taillight.
09:32So this piece of taillight was picked up by one of the team members' shovels, and as they
09:36overturned it, you can see the taillight came up as they were searching through the area.
09:41This is kind of the markings of the shovel itself.
09:49We found a sneaker.
09:51The sneaker was completely buried.
09:52It wasn't until we started digging through the snow that we found the sneaker.
09:56I think we had found one piece of taillight prior to the sneaker, and then after we found
10:01the sneaker, we found a few more additional pieces of taillight.
10:08They found a number of pieces of taillight there from Karen Reed's Lexus.
10:14They also found microscopic pieces of taillight, you know, small tiny fragments in John's clothing.
10:23There was apparent dirt debris, many black, gray, blue, and orange apparent fibers, several
10:28pieces of red apparent plastic, several apparent hairs, one piece of green material, and one
10:33piece of clear apparent plastic.
10:37Karen Reed had a car that had a damaged or cracked taillight.
10:42Pieces of that taillight were found at 34 Fairview.
10:45Pieces of that taillight were found embedded in the clothing of John O'Keefe.
10:51It really, from a forensic perspective, was a strong case for the prosecution.
11:04I knew that morning that my taillight was broken, but I have no memory of a 200-pound
11:11man hitting my car in any way, and my memory is not as sharp when I drink as it is when
11:17I don't, but I don't black out.
11:20I don't wake up and say, I can't remember anything from the night before.
11:23So there's no part of me that thinks I hit John.
11:25I know I didn't hit John.
11:28And then we got the ring videos in Discovery, and there it was on camera, and I knew immediately
11:36this is what I need to prove my innocence.
11:42This is actually a ring video from John's house.
11:45This is 507.
11:48I'm backing up, and there's his car.
11:52Right there, you see his back wheel move forward and then rock back.
11:59It was only when I looked at the ring videos after I was indicted that I could see clearly
12:04I bumped the back of John's car.
12:07The portion of this video in the still shot presented identifies a missing, damaged, rear
12:14right taillight exposing the white light coming from the right side of that taillight.
12:19I'm going to ask you, sir, if you'll pay close attention to what's been zoomed.
12:25Sergeant, were you able to see that video okay?
12:27Yes, I did.
12:28What did you notice about the rear wheel of the Traverse?
12:31Based on the motion in the shot with the snow falling, it appears that there is movement.
12:41I'm not sure what that movement is.
12:44I'm not sure what that movement is.
12:46I'm not sure what that movement is.
12:48Based on the motion in the shot with the snow falling, it appears that there is movement.
12:54The video of Karen Reed backing out of John O'Keefe's garage and tapping his car,
13:02I think is clear evidence that she could have cracked her taillight then.
13:11There's a debate. Did she really hit the car, or did the tire move?
13:15Did it crack the taillight?
13:17Police say, yeah, we went and looked at that car.
13:20There was really no damage, and there was no taillight pieces on the ground at John's house.
13:27So if she cracked her taillight, wouldn't there be at least a piece or two found?
13:32They said that they didn't find any.
13:35There are some people who think that Karen intentionally backed into John's car
13:41to create this other plausible theory for her taillight.
13:46If you believe the defense's version of events,
13:49Karen cracks her taillight at 5.07 a.m. when she backs out of the driveway.
13:53At some point, the theory is that taillight is messed with by investigators,
13:58and those pieces are then placed at 34 Fairview before the CERT team finds them that evening.
14:05It all contributes to this theory, which I think is correct, that those pieces of taillight were planted.
14:13The broken taillight created an opportunity that we believe they took advantage of,
14:19that the evidence was manipulated and Karen was framed.
14:24At any point in time, either before or after the leaf blower was taken out by Lieutenant Gallagher,
14:31did you see 45 pieces of bright red, black, and clear plastic pieces scattered all over the scene?
14:40I did not.
14:41Did you find even, or see, even one piece of broken plastic?
14:47I did not.
14:48It's very suspicious, is it not?
14:51In the first search that the Canton police officers conducted,
14:55they used a leaf blower to clear the snow, and they found no pieces of taillight?
15:02And then you have a second search by the CERT team after they have the car.
15:07Now they're saying there's taillight pieces at the scene.
15:10Karen's car was seized from her parents' house in Dighton at 4.12 p.m.
15:17It was taken to the Canton police department,
15:19which is only minutes from Brian Albert's residence, the crime scene,
15:23to sit there with a police department where Brian Albert's brother works.
15:28His brother, Kevin, is a detective with the Canton police department.
15:32The CERT team, by their log, is at the crime scene at 5.
15:37They've got shovels and spotlights and a whole team, and they're all in a line,
15:41and they don't find anything from 5 to 5.45.
15:46Then at 5.46, the first photo we have is of a bright red piece of taillight
15:52on top of a pile of snow.
15:54And then in the next 15 minutes, they find John's black shoe,
15:59and they find anywhere between two and six more pieces of taillight in 15 minutes.
16:06And then 20 minutes later, they're gone. They're done.
16:10There definitely is a small window
16:14where someone could have planted taillight evidence on the lawn of Fairview.
16:20All it would take is for one rogue to just walk a few feet away from the others.
16:25It's windy. It's dark. It's freezing.
16:27And just drop it and say,
16:29Guys, guys, we got something over here. That's all it takes.
16:34And over the course of the next about two and a half weeks,
16:38the lead investigator, Michael Proctor, went back out to the crime scene
16:42and found 46 more pieces of bright red shards of taillight.
16:49It is weird, right, that all these times, days later,
16:54these pieces of taillight are just showing up, you know, in the yard,
16:58but the snow plays such a big role in the evidence collection.
17:03When I saw one of the pictures of where some of the snow had been removed by a shovel,
17:10I was like, wow, there was quite a bit of snow there.
17:13And it gets cold in Massachusetts in the winter,
17:16and it did take some time for the snow to melt.
17:19We believe it's not just a sloppy investigation.
17:22There's active planting of evidence.
17:25Why? Because inside that house, there's a Boston police officer, Brian Albert.
17:30And Proctor knows this family and has known them for decades.
17:35The entire policing culture there is deeply, deeply connected to each other.
17:45And we believe that leads to the, let's look the other way.
17:50Let's call in a favor. Let's do a solid for a buddy.
17:55At any point in time when you were present with this vehicle in the Sallieport Garage,
18:01this evening of January 29, 2022, did either yourself or did you observe or Proctor touch or manipulate
18:09in any way the right rear passenger side area of that vehicle?
18:13No, we did not.
18:15Sergeant Mechanic and I never touched any part of that vehicle.
18:19The Sallieport video was a huge moment.
18:22The state shows this Sallieport video inside Canton Police,
18:26where you think you're looking at the passenger side of Karen Reed's car.
18:30Then when it comes time for cross-examination, they point out, and you realize, that video is backwards.
18:37Take a close look at the trunk of that vehicle.
18:40Is it the word police?
18:43Yes, I believe I can read that, yes.
18:45And it's backward, correct?
18:47It is mirrored, correct.
18:48That's a good indication that this is an inverted video, right?
18:51It appears that way, yes.
18:53I'd like you to pay attention to the right rear of this car.
18:56And I know we're completely back, but it's the far corner of the car.
19:01Do you see a person's head there?
19:03It appears as if someone's still there.
19:06There's a period of time where you see Michael Proctor's hat over the top of the car in the corner that you can't see,
19:14which is the corner where the broken taillight is.
19:17So the defense is hinting, what could he have been doing in that period of time by that taillight?
19:23Again, we can't see on camera what is happening.
19:27Part of Bukinic's testimony was, I think, designed to establish that Proctor and he never really had any access
19:35to the right rear taillight, and it ended up blowing up in their face.
19:40Because once we inverted the video and showed it to the jurors,
19:43oh my goodness, you should have heard the collective jaw drop in the courtroom.
19:48The evidence shows a pretty interesting pattern and an availability.
19:54There's an obvious access to certain pieces of evidence.
19:58It's impossible to know exactly who planted what, who decided to manipulate exactly what,
20:03but we have a pretty good idea.
20:06Oftentimes, a defense attorney's strategy is to throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.
20:10The defense's job is to get their client a not guilty verdict, however they can.
20:17They've taken that defense really to the extreme, and I just wonder if witness after witness after witness gets up
20:26and the jury isn't finding any substance to the defense, if it could backfire.
20:36Let's just go to the phones. Let's go to Justin.
20:38The more evidence we see, I believe it is a cover-up.
20:42The defense started to push their new narrative, and it has not been accurate information.
20:48They were so drunk after a night of drinking, which is so pathetic,
20:53but I have such a strong opinion that I could never be on the jury.
20:57I've woken up with anxiety and nerves and, what are the headlines, every day.
21:02It's just so frustrating because I've been someone who's always enjoyed speaking up for myself.
21:07Everyone who knows me knows I'm outspoken, and I like being there.
21:13I like being in control, and now I'm at the most important part of my life,
21:18my family's lives, my friends' lives, and I can't defend myself.
21:23I have to sit there on my hands and try to not have emotion.
21:27With these jurors on one side, John's family here, and the cameras wherever the hell they are,
21:33and I know so much that I want to say, and I want to scream, like,
21:37you little shit, who do you think you're fooling? You're a fucking liar.
21:41And I want to scream at that judge, like, is this a game?
21:49When the cameras are on us, they're coming in exceedingly close.
21:54We've got like 20 messages.
21:56There are people that are literally online lip-reading you.
21:59I'm just telling you, that's not nothing. We don't want people knowing what the hell we're saying.
22:03When you're on trial and the cameras are on you for the entire eight-hour day,
22:08they rarely move off of your face.
22:10And Karen says, an honest question, how do you want me to look?
22:15If she's too stoic, then she's uncaring.
22:18If she smiles, then she's not taking it seriously enough.
22:22All right, so I won't look at you and say anything.
22:24We've got to take it easy. We're not saying anything.
22:27I also don't want to look bitchy or, like, when I'm consternating or I'm frustrated in court,
22:32then I look bitchy.
22:34Don't show emotion. Don't arch your back. Don't cross your legs.
22:37Don't take a drink of water.
22:38Don't get pissed at me. I'm just the messenger woman.
22:41The jurors are the only viewers that matter.
22:44And they can see through fake.
22:46Don't be fake. Just be yourself.
22:50Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye.
22:52All parties having anything to do...
22:54I think there's two versions of Karen Reed inside the courtroom.
22:57There's the version when the jury's present and the version when they're not.
23:01And when the jury is not present,
23:03Karen Reed is often looking back and talking to her family,
23:07who's sitting right behind her, laughing, making small talk with her attorneys.
23:12But when the jury is there, she is often very stoic,
23:16lips pursed to a degree, looking straightforward at the witness.
23:19Before the jury comes in, she's posing for pictures with Yannetti and Jackson
23:24and these spectators who get to come in,
23:27and those are getting posted all over social media.
23:29It was really quite unprofessional, the way they all carried on.
23:34A lot of giggling. A lot of fun.
23:37Yes.
23:38Well, John's family has to watch that.
23:43There is a claustrophobic feel in that room.
23:45The defendant is maybe four or five feet away from us,
23:49so it was impossible to not notice Karen's demeanor.
23:55In between witnesses, during witness testimony,
23:58she would look over and mumble something to her counsel,
24:02and then she'd smile or laugh or turn around to her parents and roll her eyes.
24:07Excuse me? This is funny, Ms. Reed?
24:10All right, we're done.
24:12I'm sure the O'Keeffe's hate every minute of this.
24:15I'm sure they hate every time I turn around,
24:17but it does not bother me sitting that close to John's family.
24:22I've done nothing wrong.
24:25Despite very brutal evidence provided, where jurors were crying,
24:31there was not a single hint of emotion.
24:34There was not a single hint of emotion from Karen.
24:39Not a single moment did she show a modicum of sadness or a loss.
24:48And that is telling to me.
24:56Let's get to it.
24:58The one affirmative bit of information that they're going to try to get through
25:01is John never came to the house.
25:03The next set of witnesses.
25:04Yeah, the next theme is John never came to the house.
25:07At the house, at 34 Fairview that night,
25:09you have Brian and Nicole Albert, the homeowners,
25:13their daughter, Caitlin Albert, Brian Albert Jr.,
25:16and some of his friends that he had over for his birthday that night.
25:19And then there's Jen McCabe, who's Nicole Albert's sister,
25:22and her husband, Matt McCabe,
25:24and Brian Higgins, the ATF agent, who is a friend of Brian Albert's.
25:29At any point in time, did John O'Keefe ever come inside the house?
25:33No. No, they never came into my home.
25:36John never came into my house that night.
25:39There were all of those people at the house that night,
25:41and every single one said definitively,
25:44I know John O'Keefe never came in the house.
25:46No.
25:48There may be witnesses in the house who didn't see John go in the house.
25:51He would have just walked right in, and if he met Brian Higgins,
25:55if he met Brian Albert, and they said,
25:57Hey, come on in. Come on in, John.
25:59Come on downstairs. Let me show you something.
26:01Who upstairs would have seen that?
26:03There's a radio playing. There's music playing.
26:05You're drinking. You're half drunk. You're all drunk.
26:07You don't know if he came in the house or not.
26:09Common sense dictates that John O'Keefe did not go into that house.
26:14When Karen Reed arrived back at the scene
26:17sometime after 6 o'clock in the morning,
26:20if she really had seen John O'Keefe go into that house,
26:25like she now claims,
26:27she would have been saying what happened to him.
26:30He went in that house.
26:32Who did this to him?
26:35Ms. McCabe, you left the location about 1.45.
26:39Is that right?
26:40Yes.
26:41Where was the body?
26:43I have no idea.
26:46I'm assuming the body was on the front lawn.
26:52There was no body, was there?
26:54I never saw a body.
26:57I wish I had.
26:58So all these people leave the house that night
27:00and nobody sees John's body on the front lawn
27:03off to the left of the property.
27:05The driveway was on the furthest right side of the house
27:09as you're facing the house.
27:11And that driveway is where everyone parked that night.
27:15John O'Keefe's body was found on the furthest left side of the house.
27:20It was dark.
27:21It's late at night and freezing.
27:24People want to get in their cars.
27:26I would say you could be sober as a jaybird in those conditions
27:31and not have any reason to look over there.
27:35If John didn't come in the house, then he must have been,
27:38by definition, he must have been laying in the yard
27:40having been hit by a car,
27:42which is why eight months after the fact,
27:44Julie Nagel comes to the prosecution's rescue.
27:47Julie Nagel was at the house for Ryan Jr.'s birthday that night.
27:51At some point, you went home that night?
27:53Yes.
27:54Matt McCabe and Jennifer did offer to drive me home.
27:57And what time was that?
27:58I would say, give or take, like 145.
28:02And so when you left, what, if anything, did you observe?
28:06I did notice something out of the ordinary,
28:09like a black blob in the ground by the flagpole.
28:18Can you describe how big an object it was that you saw?
28:22Um, I'd probably say, like, five or six feet, like, long.
28:32She wasn't interviewed at any time close to the event.
28:35Eight months later, Michael Proctor goes out and has a sit-down,
28:39unrecorded sit-down, with Julie Nagel, and she says,
28:42well, hang on a second, I saw an object.
28:45You did not think it was a body, correct?
28:48At the time, no.
28:50No further questions.
28:54Earlier that night, Julie Nagel's brother, Ryan Nagel,
28:58drives to 34 Fairview at exactly the same time Karen Reed does.
29:03He's supposed to pick his sister up from this party.
29:05She had texted him saying, I need a ride home.
29:07Julie comes out, talks to him for a few minutes.
29:12As that's happening, they observed Karen's vehicle pull forward and stop.
29:17At any point in time, did you observe anybody exit the vehicle
29:20or be outside of the vehicle or anything like that?
29:22No, sir, no, I did not.
29:24And did you see anybody go from the vehicle to the house?
29:27No, sir.
29:28Julie goes back into the residence, decides not to go home with her brother,
29:32who had just driven all the way there to pick her up,
29:34and Ryan slowly drives past Karen's car.
29:37Ryan remembers seeing a woman sitting in the front seat of the car
29:41with her hands at 10 and 2, staring forward.
29:44And you saw one person?
29:46That's all I saw at the time, yes.
29:47Female with long hair, is that right?
29:49Correct.
29:50And you did not see anybody else inside that SUV?
29:53No, not to my acknowledgement.
29:55There was no commotion outside.
29:57He doesn't remember hearing any arguing.
29:59Doesn't remember seeing John leave,
30:01but he also doesn't remember seeing John in the vehicle.
30:04So where could he have been but in the house?
30:07You are all set, Mr. Nagel. Thank you very much.
30:10Appreciate it.
30:16This is such a huge day tomorrow.
30:20So huge.
30:22When Brian Albert walks into that courtroom.
30:24I can't wait.
30:25He's the kingpin.
30:26He's the John at the Ponderosa.
30:29Brian Albert is a Boston police officer.
30:33He's the person that was sort of in charge, if you will,
30:38of that family and that crew, everybody that was out that night.
30:42He's the big guy on the block.
30:45Basically, I'm establishing him as the brains
30:49behind knowing if...
30:51If anyone's going to know how to cover up a crime,
30:53it's Brian Albert.
30:55I couldn't have said it better myself.
30:56Yeah, exactly.
31:03Mr. Albert, where were you at 6.03
31:05on the morning of January 29, 2022?
31:07I was sleeping in my room.
31:09You're aware that there were three women on your lawn at one point?
31:13Just only after the fact.
31:15And at least one of those women was screaming
31:17to the top of her lungs at 6.03?
31:20No.
31:21And your explanation is that you and Nicole
31:25slept through the entirety of that commotion on your front lawn.
31:30Yes.
31:31It was a blizzard, so you had the storm windows down
31:35and you had howling wind outside
31:37that would have absorbed a lot of the sound outside.
31:40You can hear in the dash cam video, that wind is howling.
31:45So to me, it didn't end up being a mystery
31:47why the Alberts didn't wake up.
31:49To be clear, you are a trained first responder.
31:53Yes.
31:54Yet during that entire event, after you were awakened,
31:57all that chaos on your front lawn,
31:59you never came out of your house
32:01to assist or investigate in any manner whatsoever,
32:04did you, Mr. Albert?
32:05Once I was awakened?
32:07Correct.
32:08No.
32:09I hear from a lot of people,
32:10I hear from a lot of retired police officers,
32:13the fact that Brian Albert did not come out of his house
32:16that morning is a big deal.
32:20Initially when I woke up and I was told what was going on out front,
32:24there was no victim out in front of my house.
32:27So there was no first aid for me to give.
32:30There was nothing I could do.
32:32When he goes outside the house,
32:33they're going to criticize him
32:35for trying to interfere with an investigation.
32:38He stays in the house,
32:39and they tell him he's trying to hide something.
32:42Did an investigator or any forensics team
32:44ever come into your house, ever,
32:46to photograph your entire home?
32:48No. I wish they had.
32:50The lead investigator, Trooper Michael Proctor,
32:53to this day, to my knowledge,
32:55has never walked into that house.
32:57And we believe it's very likely.
32:59What happened to John happened inside that house.
33:05How did he sustain these injuries?
33:07That's one of the problems with their case,
33:09is that they do not have a theory that they can reasonably advance.
33:12Because they didn't pull his arm up, his shirt up, to see his arm.
33:15They had a long-sleeved shirt on.
33:17Dave and I had no idea until we actually saw the photos,
33:19which were not released to us until,
33:21they were taken January 30th and not released to us until May,
33:25sometime in May.
33:27In May of 2022, we got the autopsy photos and the hospital photos,
33:31and I was in Yanetti's office with my dad.
33:34And then we called and gave my mother the download,
33:37and she said, Karen, describe it. What is on his arm?
33:40I said, Mom, they're, like, kind of gouges,
33:44and they're a little jagged.
33:46They're not road rash-looking type of an abrasion.
33:49And she says to me, without seeing them,
33:52she says, Karen, do you think it's from an animal, like a dog?
33:56You owned a dog at the time, correct?
33:58Right.
34:04We had a dog.
34:06It was a German Shepherd named Chloe.
34:08Yes. Mix.
34:10Describe that dog as being not great with strangers. Isn't that true?
34:14I did describe it that way, yes.
34:16We find out after the fact that the Alberts
34:18owned a 70- to 90-pound German Shepherd
34:22that was inside the house that night.
34:24That was a revelation.
34:28Today, I'm going through the notes for Dr. Marie Russell.
34:33She's an ER physician, and she called us up and said,
34:36hey, look, I was reading about this case called Karen Reed,
34:39and there seems to be some controversy
34:41about whether or not some injuries are dog bites.
34:43I have extensive experience in this.
34:45I've actually published articles about dog bites.
34:48Perhaps I could help.
34:51Based on your review of all of those materials,
34:54were you able to confidently come to any conclusions or opinions
34:58about the nature of the injuries suffered by John O'Keefe
35:01specifically as they relate to John O'Keefe's right arm?
35:04Well, they are consistent with a large dog attack.
35:08There's a combination of both what I consider
35:11bite wounds and scratch wounds on the arm.
35:15Can you explain for the jurors
35:17what it is about the injuries that assisted you
35:20in coming to your opinion and conclusion
35:22that this is from an animal attack?
35:25OK, there's several patterns here.
35:28These are superficial wounds,
35:30which are consistent with teeth marks.
35:33And then over down here, closer to the wrist,
35:37we have an unusual pattern of at least four striations
35:42that I believe are caused from the teeth
35:47towards the front of the mouth, near the arch.
35:50It appears that there's an arch pattern here.
35:54Of course, I considered, you know,
35:56what else could have caused these wounds?
35:58So having seen hundreds and hundreds of car accident victims
36:03and people hit by cars, I ruled that out very quickly.
36:07Of course, prosecution tried to block Dr. Russell
36:10from testifying by saying, hey, you just jumped on this.
36:14You contacted the defense saying,
36:16hey, I can come testify for you.
36:18And of course, she's getting paid to testify, right?
36:20There were two experts called to the stand
36:23specifically to talk about dog injuries.
36:26One was a dog DNA expert who was sent two swabs
36:31from the arm of John O'Keefe's clothing,
36:33and that expert tested those for dog DNA.
36:38What were the results of that initial test?
36:40For the canine qPCR testing, we did not see any canine DNA.
36:44There was no dog DNA on that, but there was pig DNA,
36:48which was interesting.
36:50So for both the swabs, we did see pig.
36:53There was absolutely no canine DNA.
36:56Now, as far as the pig is concerned,
36:59what, if anything, could that be from?
37:01It could be from food.
37:02We've seen it come from cooked pork, cooked bacon.
37:06It would depend on where that shirt had been
37:08and what the person had been doing with it.
37:11I have nothing further to add.
37:12All right.
37:13Mr. Jackson.
37:15In that sample, the nuclear DNA sample,
37:19you're not saying that there was no canine DNA there.
37:22You're saying that the testing did not detect it.
37:26In the qPCR nuclear test?
37:28Yes.
37:29You were able to detect the presence of pig DNA, correct?
37:33Correct.
37:34And I think you said on direct examination
37:35that that could come from a number of sources,
37:37including food sources, right?
37:39Correct.
37:40It could come from dog treats.
37:42Pardon me? Yes.
37:43It could come from dog treats.
37:45Dog treats that are pig ears, literally.
37:48Objection.
37:50Allow it.
37:51All right.
37:52I believe so.
37:53We end up with these dueling experts,
37:55and we don't have any dog saliva DNA,
37:58but it doesn't mean there wasn't any dog DNA.
38:01So we have no real evidence or conclusion
38:05that we can take away from the expert's testimony.
38:08I want access to that dog.
38:10I might want to measure his claws.
38:11I might want to measure his teeth.
38:12I might want to have a forensic veterinarian
38:15look at the dog, examine the dog.
38:17And then we find out that the Alberts got rid of the dog.
38:24When did you get rid of her?
38:26So Chloe was rehomed in, I believe, May.
38:29Of 2022.
38:30Of 2022.
38:32Just months after the incident we were discussing.
38:34Well, after she was involved in a dog fight
38:37with another dog out front.
38:38Right, but that's also after the incident
38:41we were discussing.
38:42Yes, May.
38:44The most baffling part of this incredibly baffling case
38:48is how John got the abrasions on his arm.
38:53I can tell you anecdotally,
38:55when you have pedestrian accidents,
38:57no two accidents are the same,
38:59and you have a myriad of different types of injuries,
39:03and they don't all look the same.
39:06The prosecution says Karen Reed struck John O'Keefe
39:09with her car, and he's got scratches,
39:13he's got possible puncture wounds,
39:15but I don't think that there was a, you know,
39:18sealed-tight explanation of what caused these distinctive wounds
39:22on John O'Keefe's arms.
39:30We believe that John O'Keefe
39:33got out of that SUV and walked in the house.
39:36When he walked in the house, he was confronted.
39:38I think they went downstairs to the basement.
39:41Words were exchanged,
39:42Punches flew.
39:43Who threw the first one? Who threw the last one?
39:45I don't know.
39:46Whoever killed him likely didn't intend to kill him.
39:50We believe that they just went too far.
39:53But at some point in time, he was moved out to the front yard.
39:57According to the defense, this conspiracy has expanded.
40:01It includes local police.
40:03It includes EMT paramedics.
40:06It includes people that were at that house.
40:09It includes just a vast network of ordinary people
40:13that live and work in the community of Canton.
40:16To believe the defense's theory would require a belief
40:21that all of these people either murdered John O'Keefe
40:25or became complicit in the cover-up,
40:28and not one of them in two years has broke.
40:33And I think the jury at some point might choose
40:36And I think the jury at some point
40:38just reject the defense outright.
40:41The defense's theory has so many problems.
40:44If you're going to suggest that people in the house
40:47are part of a conspiracy and it was this grand plan,
40:50why would you put Johnny's body still alive, mind you,
40:55on your front lawn?
40:57There are a set of train tracks behind their house.
41:00That's a better place.
41:01You don't have to be a genius criminal to figure that one out.
41:04Or put him actually into the road
41:06where maybe he does get hit by a plow
41:08and he gets chalked up as an accident.
41:10But putting them on your front yard
41:12makes absolutely no sense.
41:14Nothing points to anybody other than Karen.