Day 14 of Commonwealth v Karen Read concluded yesterday and we still have no idea how Officer John O'Keefe was killed. Or even that he actually was murdered. No lead investigator to walk us through all the steps of said investigation. No medical examiner to describe his injuries and tell us the cause and manner of death. No autormobile expert to decipher black box and/or infotainment data. We did hear from a women that works in the small forensics department of UC Davis school of veterinary medicine who conducted an examination of two swabs taken from O'Keefe's clothing. She concluded that, while no dog DNA was discovered, pig DNA was. This witness had to testify out of order due to her availablity. We have no idea which item of clothing or exactly where it was swabbed. Hell, we don't even reallly know just why it was swabbed. I can hazard a guess - a futile attempt to prove Karen's defense wrong. And that's what this entire prosecution seems to be. Rather than focusing on providing evidence of Karen's alleged guilt, they seem to be playing defense.
After the four Alberts, Chris & Julie and Nicole & Brian, we heard from the birthday boy himself, Brian Albert Jr. As well as the friends who attended his little get together. Some left before midnight and the rest were driven home by Nicole Albert's sister and her husband. I honestly cannot remember their testimony, I think they just sat around the dining room table, drinking beer, listening to music. A couple mentioned they danced. I believe they were trotted through the court to establish a timeline for the arrival and departure of Colin Albert, the son of Chris & Julie Albert. Except for one notable exception: Julie Nagel.
According to her testimony, Julie Nagel contacted her brother to come and pick her up somewhere around midnight, just after the first set of guests left. As Julie was watching for his arrival, she saw Karen's SUV arrive and stop at the end of the driveway, then pull forward either once or twice until it arrived at the other side of the front yard, by the flag pole that John O'Keefe would later be found under. Julie claims when she went out to inform her brother that she changed her mind, she wanted to stay longer, Karen was gone. It was upon leaving at about 1:45 am that she saw a "black blob" on the lawn from her place behind the driver's seat, the side furthest away from said lawn, that she claimed was approximately 5' - 6' long. The front and back seat passengers had their heads turned toward the driver's side so nobody else saw this "blob."
Julie's brother, Ryan Nagel, also testified about seeing Karen's car as did the driver of that vehicle and the back seat passenger, Ryan's then girlfriend. All three said that Karen's car was still there when they left, refuting Julie's testimony, and that they had to pull around it to leave. And none of them saw a Jeep Wrangler with a plow on the front that should've been parked near the mailbox, near the driveway. Which would've been between this vehicle and Karen's SUV. I don't know why this is important but this disappearing/reappearing Jeep is rather fascinating to me.
I shold add that everybody in the truck Ryan arrived and left in saw Karen in her vehicle but did not see John. Although one of them saw two people when they first pulled up, but only Karen when they left. I believe all of this occurred around the time or just after (?) Colin Albert allegedly left. Speaking of, we heard from Ali McCabe, who ostensibly picked Colin up and drove him home, arriving back to her own home by 12:30 am. Defense Atty. David Yanetti asked her about some Life 260 data that had her driving around for about an hour after. Ali was adament that, while she seems to have spent all evening traveling around Canton, rescuing a puppy for a bit of that time, she was tucked into bed by 12:30.
Colin Albert claims he was dropped off then picked up at 12:10 am by his BFF Ali that night. He just wanted to stop in to wish Brian Jr. a happy 23rd birthday. Oddly Ali, who is also a cousin of Brian Jr., had no inclination to do the same. Poor Brian Jr.'s birthday seems to only be brought up to justify his parents going out to the bar without him (yes, that makes no sense) as well as why his aunt & uncle, Jennifer & Matt McCabe later (after the all important 12:10 am time) came over after they, too, celebrated at the bar. Oh, and why Julie Albert tried to sneak some Dunkin' Donuts into Brian Jr.'s car the next morning (maybe with coffee).
Little side note, it seems Brian Jr. was supposed to meet his family at the bar but he has anxiety and wasn't feeling up to it. I know Aunty Jen and Uncle Matt went to drown their sorrows after their daughter, Ali's, team lost a high school basketball game. In my family we prioritize the birthday boy or girl, letting them chose when/where/how to celebrate, so I'm left befuddled at how all these people behaved.
Another note: Brian & Nicole Albert's house has a front door as well as a side door leading to a breezeway between the house and garage. Everybody but Colin clomped up and down the sidewalk and stairs to the front door for this little shindig while he said he left via the side entrance. I wonder how his Uncle Brian & Aunt Nicole somehow bumped into him. Given that 12:10 am time, it seems they should've missed each other, like ships passing in the night, given that the entrances are on each side of the kitchen/dining area. Maybe that's just me, though.
[Well, dang, I completely forgot about Caitlin Albert and her boyfriend, Tristan. The two were at the bar with her parents, Brian & Nicole. Tristan went home before midnight while Caitlin stayed and hitched a ride back to the family home. She saw Colin in the foyer area inside the main front door for just a few minutes before he left. So, which door did he actually leave from? Inquiring minds wanna know.
Tristan doesn't remember much and has no idea what time anybody did anything, including himself. Nobdy seems to think it odd that the poor man, who was slated to plow snow, was awoken after only maybe a few hours of sleep to come and pick his girlfriend up. Yes, it seems that Caitlin was gonna stay over but changed her mind for some reason.]
Defense atty. Alan Jackson brought some fire in the cross examination of Colin, showing him as a young thug rather than the choir boy appearence he portrayed on the stand. I'm guessing the delicate little cross necklaces worn by a few of the female witnesses wasn't to his tast. Colin's knuckles seem to be regularly busted which he claims are from catching himself by his right knuckles while slipping on the ice and later by hitting a heavy bag. He also likes to make threatening videos while drunk to post on social media. I guess it's a good thing he no longer has any social media, huh? He, like many witnesses before him, has a selectively terrible memory. His favorite word seems to be "nope," much like how David Yanetti described lead investigator Trooper Procter texting to a friend on whether or not the homeowners lawn, whose body Ofc. John O'Keefe's body was found on, would get in trouble. The same person we've yet to hear from, the one who's the subject of an internal investigation. But I digress.
I believe the next person on the stand was Matthew McCabe who works in IT but comes off as a used car salesman (to me, anyway). He and his wife, Jennifer, are the only two besides Brian & Nicole Albert, the homeowners, that talked about the aforementioned Jeep with a plow. This man spent an inordinate amount of time looking out the windows &/or the main front door, witnessing Karen's SUV parked in 3 different places along the front curb. He did not see a black blob when he left but he did see "weird wavy" tire tracks in the road in what others described as a "dusting" of snow. He's quite the chatterbox which I think is why I get "used car salesman" vibes from him. I guess he was peering out the window(s)/front door because his wife is the one who was directing Karen and John to the house. He didn't see John get out of the car so definitely didn't see him come into the house. While Jen drove from the bar to the house, he was the one who drove home, dropping off two of Brian Jr.'s friends. He did not see or hear about a "black blob." He saw absolutely nothing on the lawn when he left.
He claims he was awoken the next morning at about 5 am by screaming coming from his wife's phone. I do not know if it was on speaker or not. My impression is that it wasn't, but I could be wrong. It was apparently Karen who was screaming, which she seemed to do a lot of that fateful morning. She screamed Jen's name, she screamed she had a broken tail light, she screamed about John and how she hit him. Then Karen drove to their house and screamed the same on the front lawn. He expressed concern about his wife driving in car with a broken tail light in the snow (but driving drunk is A-OK) and stayed home with the kids they left alone the night before (oops, is my petty showing?).
Mattie likes to report to his bro-in-law, Brian Albert, about police presence around his house. Brian's that is. This was brought to light by David Yanetti's cross, where he went through some family group text messages that also included their wives. His muttered "what the hell" and "oh my god" indicates that Mattie was not happy that these texts were discovered. It is rumored that the feds provided them via their own investigation. Was Mattie not informed that this info was made available? Or even that it was a possibility? Did Adam Lally not prepare his witnesses? If not, why not? I wonder what else the feds provided? I guess we shall see.
Aside from the causal racism, why is Mattie wanting to take pics of troopers conducting what one would futily hope is an investigation? But more daming is the following:
Mattie is referring to Kerrie Roberts in the top three, someone we've yet to hear from in trial. She's the person who drove Karen Read and Mattie's wife, Jen McCabe, to 34 Fairview the morning Ofc. John O'Keefe was found laying on the ground. Looks like Mattie is somehow listening in on an interview? Interesting. But what's even more interesting is the bottom three. "Tell them the guy never went in the house." Tell who? And why would this need to be told? If he didn't go in, he didn't go in. If he did but you don't want to admit it, I guess you'd have to go around telling people he didn't. Again, just me?
The last witness to take the stand on Friday, May 17 2023, was Mattie's wife and Nicole Albert's sister, Jennifer McCabe. She told quite the tale but I'm gonna save it for the next article, after she gets crossed by Alan Jackson. I'm quite looking forward to it. What a tangled web she tried to weave and I think Jackson will destroy it but we shall see.
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