CNN — 

A key witness in the retrial of Karen Read returned to the stand Wednesday for a second day of testimony, as she recounts the hours leading up to the death of Read’s boyfriend John O’Keefe – and the moment the off-duty Boston police officer’s body was found lying in the snow.

Jennifer McCabe, a self-described “typical” small-town mother to four daughters, is a central figure – to both the prosecution and the defense – in the case against Read, who is accused of striking O’Keefe with her vehicle and leaving him to die outside a Canton, Massachusetts, home in January 2022.

McCabe was present for nearly every key moment the night of O’Keefe’s death: first, the gathering of family and friends at a local bar ahead of a snowstorm; then, the after party at McCabe’s sister’s home; and finally, the search for O’Keefe early the following morning, when his body was found on her sister’s lawn.

For prosecutors, McCabe offers a firsthand account of these events, and a window into Read’s “hysterical” behavior that morning. But defense attorneys are sure to use McCabe on cross-examination to raise the specter of wrongdoing by individuals within her sister’s home at 34 Fairview Road.

Read’s defense claims she is the victim of a vast cover-up, and they have accused off-duty law enforcement officers inside the home of killing O’Keefe and framing Read. Her first trial ended with a deadlocked jury. She has again pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death.

No one other than Read has been charged in O’Keefe’s death. Indeed, McCabe testified Tuesday that O’Keefe never entered the home, though she saw what she believed to be Read’s SUV parked outside. When McCabe texted O’Keefe to ask whether he and Read were coming inside, he never responded, she said.

“He never texted me again.”

The Commonwealth called McCabe to the stand Tuesday, having her testify to the events of January 28, 2022, as a looming storm dashed her usual weekend plans: ferrying her four athlete girls from one game to the next.

That evening, McCabe and her husband met McCabe’s sister, Nicole Albert, and other friends and family at The Waterfall Bar and Grille in Canton. More people joined in as the night went on, including McCabe’s brother-in-law and a friend of his.

O’Keefe and Read arrived around 11 p.m., McCabe said, and she was happy to see them. O’Keefe was a “very good friend” who had taken custody of his niece and nephew after the deaths of his sister and brother-in-law. O’Keefe’s niece often came over to McCabe’s home for sleepovers, McCabe said.

Around midnight, the group began to migrate to the Albert home at 34 Fairview Road, McCabe said. She spoke with O’Keefe twice by phone as he sought directions there.

The mood at the house was celebratory; it was her nephew’s birthday, McCabe said. People were listening to music and sharing inside jokes, and McCabe continued to expect O’Keefe and Read’s arrival. At several points, she glanced out the home’s glass front door and saw a dark SUV she believed to belong to Read parked outside. The vehicle moved locations several times, she said.

McCabe texted O’Keefe, but he never responded, she said. Soon, the vehicle was gone.

Eventually, the party dispersed, and McCabe and her husband went home around 1:30 a.m., she said. She stayed up for a little bit, McCabe said, using her iPhone to make several Google searches related to her daughters’ sports teams.

Just before 5 a.m., McCabe was woken by a phone call from O’Keefe’s niece. When she picked up the phone, McCabe said, she could hear Read screaming in the background. Read said she and O’Keefe had gotten into a fight, and that she left him at The Waterfall and he never came home.

“She was hysterical,” McCabe said. She told Read that she had seen her vehicle outside her sister’s home hours earlier, McCabe said.

“And then she told me she didn’t remember being there,” McCabe said, “and then she went on to say – she started saying, ‘Could I have hit him? Did I hit him?’” The defendant also told McCabe that she had cracked her taillight, McCabe said.

Around 5:30 a.m., Read arrived at McCabe’s home, she said. At the same time, another woman, Kerry Roberts – who McCabe only vaguely knew – also arrived. While Read wanted to go to the home on Fairview Road, the three women instead went to O’Keefe’s home to look for him.

McCabe remembered that she took off her shoes before entering the home, because O’Keefe would be upset if they tracked snow inside. But Read did not take her shoes off, McCabe said. “I thought it was strange.”

When they didn’t find O’Keefe, the group then decided to take Roberts’ car to look for O’Keefe. In the driveway, Roberts pointed out Read’s broken taillight, concerned someone would catch their coat on it.

On the way to the house, Read was “continuously screaming,” McCabe said, describing her behavior as a “bit erratic.” The weather by this time is getting worse, with poor visibility because of the snow, McCabe said.

As they pulled up to 34 Fairview, Read began screaming something like, “There he is, let me out,” McCabe said. She could see nothing but snow, and when Read got out of the vehicle, Roberts called her “crazy,” McCabe testified. Both women got out of the car, McCabe said.

As McCabe walked up to a flagpole in the yard, she said she saw Roberts removing the snow from O’Keefe’s face.

“I was frozen. I was shocked,” McCabe said. “I couldn’t believe that was him just lying there.”

She called 911, she said. “But I think I knew in that moment that John… that John, you know, was dead.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.