The upcoming episode of the 33rd season of Dateline, one of the most coveted true crime shows all around, is set to cover the 2022 murder of John O'Keefe, a police officer with the Boston Police Department. He was found dead outside a colleague's house after a night of intense partying. He died from blunt force trauma and hypothermia, as per the official analysis.
The case remains one of the biggest mysteries in recent years, and we are yet to arrive at any justice despite the police having a concrete lead in Karen Read, the veteran police officer's girlfriend, with whom he was out that night. However, there are still complexities to this case that make it harder to decipher right away.
Ahead of the latest episode of Dateline season 33, titled Night of the Nor'easter, here's a breakdown of who John O'Keefe was and what happened to him.
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Who is John O'Keefe, and what happened to him?
John J. O’Keefe, III, also known to friends as J.J., was born on December 8, 1975, and raised in Braintree, Massachusetts. A part of a large household, John grew up with a passion for law and criminal justice. After graduating from Braintree High School, he went to the University of Massachusetts Lowell or UMass Lowell and earned a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice.
He went on to serve in Boston's police force for 16 years, doing a commendable job. In 2013, he lost his sister and brother-in-law, which prompted him to move to Canton in 2014 to raise his sister's children. He also reconnected with his college flame, Karen Read, and the two began dating.
However, his relationship with Karen Read, who was an equity analyst by profession, soon began developing cracks, as was evident to the people close to them. After a particular trip to Aruba in late 2021, it seemed the couple were on the brink of something tragic. And tragedy came soon enough.
In the midnight hours of January 29, 2022, after an eventful night of bar hopping, John O'Keefe never made it back home. As Karen went to search for her boyfriend, with whom she went out bar hopping, she found him unresponsive outside the home of Brian Albert, a fellow officer at whose house the group had crashed after their adventure.
John O'Keefe was found with blunt force trauma and glass shards around him. Moreover, Karen Read's car's taillight was also broken, and she was heavily intoxicated that night when she had driven back home after dropping off John.
Authorities alleged that Karen Read hit John with the car while backing up and left him to die in the snowstorm that hit the city that night, which killed John O'Keefe.
With this as the only piece of evidence in John's murder, the police arrested Karen Read and charged her with second-degree murder. However, she got out on bail, and her first trial ended with a hung jury.
It means that so far, no one has been punished for the veteran police officer's death. Meanwhile, Karen's defense team continues to maintain that she's being framed by fellow police officers, as John possibly died inside Albert's house and was later dropped outside.
The upcoming episode of Dateline on NBC will cover this case in more detail.
