National news program to probe trial that captivated the state. What 20/20 is discussing

Even people who say they aren't following her case have an opinion on Karen Read, whether about her demeanor, her near cult-like following of supporters or, most importantly, whether she backed into and killed her boyfriend with her SUV after an evening of heavy drinking and arguments outside a friend's home on a dark and wintry January night two years ago.

In an hour-long segment titled "Karen Read; The Perfect Storm" beginning at 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 6, ABC's 20/20 will tackle the confusion, controversy and conspiracy theories that have arisen from a case that seemed simple at first and is now anything but.

Read, a 44-year-old Mansfield resident and former financial analyst and adjunct professor at Bentley College, was charged with second-degree murder after O'Keefe's body was found in the driveway outside the Canton home of a fellow Boston police officer during a snowstorm Jan. 29, 2022. Prosecutors say Read was drunk and angry when she purposely hit him.

Read's trial began on April 16 of this year. A mistrial was declared July 1 in the case following several days of deliberations in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham in late June, when the jurors told Judge Beverly Cannone they could not reach a unanimous consensus on key parts of the charges against her and said an irreparable divide existed over whether the prosecution had proven its case against her.

The Norfolk County District Attorney's office said it would retry the case soon after the mistrial was declared. Read's lawyers said they had received information from several jurors that the entire jury had agreed that Read was not guilty on the second-degree murder charge. Because of that, the defense asked Judge Cannone to not retry the case on the same murder charge, as it would constitute a case of double jeopardy. Cannone disagreed and set Read's new trial date for Jan. 27, 2025, just two days shy of the three-year anniversary of the case.

Over the course of the investigation and lead up to the trial, Aiden Kearney, a Holden-based blogger also known as "Turtleboy," developed a theory that O'Keefe entered the Canton home after Read dropped him off, and it was in there that O'Keefe was severely beaten and possibly even mauled by the family's dog at the time before being left outside to die in the cold in order to direct suspicion for his death at Read.

Kearney, himself is now part of the story, as he faces several charges of witness intimidation in his efforts to find information about the case to support his theory, which quickly gained traction with supporters in what is now referred to as the "Free Karen Read"movement.

His reporting, however, did reveal investigative improprieties among both the Canton and Massachusetts State Police stemming largely from their relationship with members of the Albert family, which owned the Canton home where at the time of O'Keefe's death (It has since been sold).

Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in Read's case, was reassigned after he was forced to read unprofessional text messages in court that he had sent about Read.

The 20/20 trailer

In a two-minute 20/20 trailer airing on TV and social media teasing Friday's show, several clips are included of Read supporters dressed in pink – Read's favorite color – declaring her innocence and sticking to what they say is the real truth of what happened to O'Keefe.

"I think she's been framed," one pink-clad supporter says in footage taken from outside the courthouse. "I won't rest until she gets free."

The trailer also shows people who believe Read did exactly what she was charged with doing and deserves neither sympathy as someone wrongly accused or reverence as a martyr being sacrificed in the name of injustice.

"Who cheers for someone accused of murdering a police officer?" one commentator in the segment says before the camera cuts to footage of counter protests from people who believe she is guilty and that John O'Keefe, who signs refer to as "J.J.O." should be the focus of the trial.

"Her attitude is smug," another person interviewed for the segment said. "She is the happiest murder defendant in America."

20/20 segment includes Karen Read sit-down interview and inside look as she prepared for trial

The bulk of the segment, as shown in the trailer, shows Read preparing for the trial. Footage includes her putting on makeup and explaining why she felt it was important to be presentable as possible in the court room.

"I'm confident I'm doing everything I can, and that includes looking professional for court," she says, pulling out a jacket she just got back from the tailor after having the sleeves shortened. "It's a pet peeve of my mother's to see people with sleeves that are too long."

She is also asked several direct questions by interviewer Matt Gutman, including whether she was mad at O'Keefe the night of his death (she admits she was) and why she thinks the people she's accusing of the cover-up would do that to her.

"Because he's dead," she said.

'Lost in this whole circus'

As with the protestors outside the court in memory of John O'Keefe, the segment includes interviews with the Braintree native's loved ones,.

"He was lost in this whole circus, and I think none of us want him to be lost," one woman says of O'Keefe. "I think this is saddest part of this whole situation.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: ABC's 20/20 will air segment on Sept. 6 looking at Karen Read trial