The case began with a Boston police officer found unconscious in the snow outside a suburban Massachusetts home and three years later jurors visited the site on Friday as they try to determine how he wound up dead.

Jurors’ visit to the house in Canton, Massachusetts, marks the end of the first week in the retrial of Karen Read, a former finance professor accused of hitting then-boyfriend John O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm in January 2022. The 45-year-old is back on trial after a jury in 2024 was unable to agree on whether she was guilty or not.

The case hinges on the question of whether Read hit O’Keefe, 46, in a drunken rage or was framed by a conspiracy of fellow first responders. Among evidence jurors heard in a week of testimony was a string of text messages between Read and O’Keefe that revealed a fraying relationship; recordings of Read admitting to drinking heavily and a blood test establishing she was intoxicated when O’Keefe died; and tearful testimony from the victim’s mother.

Experts weighing in on the case have said that although jurors have already heard some powerful testimony, much of it is only set up for elaborate arguments down the road. 

“They all add up… They have to call those types of witnesses and at some point you’ll have a complete picture,” said David Ring, a high-powered Los Angeles attorney known for bringing a civil suit on behalf of a Harvey Weinstein victim whose criminal case against the movie mogul resulted in a 16-year prison sentence. “As opposed to the first trial which was sort of meandering and boring, the prosecution in this second trial is doing a very good job of telling the story.”

Interest in the case has swept the country since then, spurring an array of true crime podcasts, movies, television shows and a host of supporters for both Read and O’Keefe. Presiding Judge Beverly Cannone barred supporters from demonstrating within 200 feet of the courthouse.

The trial is expected to last up to eight weeks.

Here’s what to know from the first full week of testimony.

Why jurors visited the scene where it happened, what else happened Friday

Jurors took a trip from the courthouse in Dedham, Massachusetts, on Friday to visit the house in Canton where O’Keefe was found dead.

Judge Cannone said the goal was to better understand evidence being discussed in the case which centers heavily around the state in which O’Keefe was discovered and how Read reacted. Jurors are expected to let their observations inform how they ultimately deliberate on the case.

Details lawyers for both sides wanted jurors to pay attention to included Read’s Lexus SUV at the site, a flag pole and fire hydrant.

“We’ll be asking you to take a good look at that Lexus. To stand next to it. To size it up. To take it in,” said Read’s attorney David Yannetti.

On Friday, jurors also heard from physician pathologist Garrey Faller who testified about the test of Read’s blood for alcohol on Jan. 29, 2022, the morning O’Keefe was found dead. The test showed a blood alcohol content of 0.093% blood alcohol content by volume, above the legal limit of 0.08%.

Read’s attorneys say her anemia may have influenced the result of the alcohol test.

Tears and texts: What else happened this week?

Witnesses in the case so far have included O’Keefe’s mother, two of his close friends, a firefighter who was on the scene the morning he was found and a restaurant manager who provided surveillance footage to investigators of Read and O’Keefe out drinking the night before he died.

Peggy O’Keefe’s tearful testimony revealed little about her son’s death but experts say she was a key witness in the prosecution’s strategy of humanizing O’Keefe while pointing out Read’s character flaws.

Text messages sent in the hours leading up to O’Keefe’s death read aloud to the court by a Massachusetts state trooper show the couple were at a strained point in their relationship.

“Tell me if you’re interested in someone else, can’t think of any other reason you are like this,” Read wrote at one point. O’Keefe replied: “Things haven’t been great between us for a while. Ever consider that?”

Read’s attorneys are aiming to impeach the prosecution’s witnesses by pointing out inconsistencies in their testimony between what they told the grand jury, what they said at the witness stand in 2024 and what they are saying in the ongoing trial, according to legal experts.

What to look for next?

The first week of testimony in Read’s retrial has been fraught, with multiple witnesses tearing up on the stand as they detail under oath the couple’s relationship and what might have happened between them.

But experts say there is still much more to come.

Among evidence jurors can expect is testimony related to Michael Proctor, a Massachusetts state trooper who was the lead investigator in the original case against Read but was ultimately suspended for sending the woman inappropriate texts in the course of the investigation and for working on the case with a Canton police officer whose brother owned the house where O’Keefe was found, even after the Canton Police Department had recused itself from the case. 

“He’s going to score a lot of points down the road,” Ring said of Read’s lawyer. “The defense is going to have their day as well.”

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