Inside the lure of alleged murderer Karen Read

DEDHAM, Mass. — The murder trial of Karen Read in Massachusetts has galvanized a disconcerting cult, with hordes of pink-clad supporters gathering outside the courthouse every day to defend the accused murderer as the victim of a corrupt frame-up .

Hundreds of Read's supporters eagerly awaited the jury's verdict in the case Friday – the fourth day of deliberations at the Norfolk County Superior Courthouse in Dedham, Massachusetts.

The 44-year-old is charged with second-degree murder for allegedly mowing down her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, with her Lexus SUV as she dropped him off at a Canton, Massachusetts, home where his cop buddies were partying on January 29, 2022.

Prosecutors say Read, a former lecturer at Bentley University, then left, leaving O'Keefe to die outside as a snowstorm was about to hit.

Read's lawyers at the trial – which was broadcast live during the two-month proceedings – argued that she was the victim of a massive police cover-up and that O'Keefe had in fact died after getting into an altercation with fellow officers.

The possibility that Read was framed appears to have fascinated the public, who have had uninterrupted access to what is happening in the courtroom through a video feed of the trial and also through online sleuths, including controversial blogger “Turtleboy.”

Meanwhile, Nick Rocco, 29, told the Post he led a Facebook group of 50,000 people who helped raise $250,000 for Read's legal defense.

“We put up billboards in Foxborough,” Rocco said. “We have mobile trucks here that drive around the field.”

Rocco said the group had hired lawyers to help them gain better access to the trial after being pushed behind a “buffer zone” around the courthouse.

“It takes away our freedom of speech,” Rocco said. “But we stand back. We are law-abiding citizens. We have no problem here.”

Rocco, a married father, said the case interests him and others because it shows that anyone can become a victim of a cover-up and that if it happens, it can be nearly impossible to fight a government agency.

“How are you going to fight them?” Rocco said. “They have the guns, they have the power, they have the money to do whatever they want. If they want you, they’ll adapt it like they did Karen Read.”

Rocco insisted that the movement supporting Read was not political.

“Because when someone is framed, it doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat, Republican or independent,” he said. “It means zero … and what matters here is getting Karen Read free and getting justice for John O’Keefe.”

TD Floras, 62, who drove about an hour from Nashua, New Hampshire, echoed Rocco's sentiment that it was the injustice and the specter of a frame-up that drew her into this case.

“I think she opposes corruption, that’s why people support her,” Floras said.

“Why do I care?” ” Floras said. “Because Karen Read can be anyone. I'm sure a lot of people are probably in prison and are innocent because of investigations that weren't done properly…but they didn't have the means or the notoriety to fight like she did. »

Floras said she became interested in the case by watching daily live broadcasts of the trial, which allowed her to learn so much about the case that she knew the specific exhibit number of the piece of evidence that, in her opinion, killed the prosecution's case in her eyes.

“To me, Exhibit 19 is where the prosecution lost me months ago,” Floras said. “When I saw the picture of John O'Keefe's arm, I couldn't reconcile their version of what happened.”

Read's attorneys said O'Keefe's injuries, including an alleged dog bite to his arm, could not have come from an impact from a 7,000-pound SUV traveling at about 26 miles per hour.

Rather, the injuries indicate that O'Keefe suffered head trauma in a physical fight, his lawyers say, adding that the alleged bite came from Albert's dog.

Another Read fan, Elaine Casamassima, 55, of Sandwich, Mass., said she used 75 hours of vacation time from work to show up at Read's trial.

“I want to support someone I believe in, who is not guilty,” Casamassima said.

Casamassima, like Rocco and many others, first learned of the case from the blog “Turtleboy,” run by Aidan Kearney and which promotes the defense theory that Read is a Bing creation.

Kearney criticized witnesses in the case for allegedly conspiring against Read and was even arrested in October for allegedly “harassing, threatening and intimidating” witnesses and investigators through text messages.

While the vast majority of those outside the courthouse were Read supporters, a handful of people who believe she is guilty also showed up Friday and were met with hostility, with one pro-Read activist hurling an expletive and another giving their opponents the finger.

Lindsey Gaetani, who showed up with a sign that read “Karen Read Killed a Man!”, said she thought everyone who rallied for Read had too much time on their hands and was easily influenced.

“People are lonely, bored and have nothing better to do,” Gaetani explains. “They want to feel like they’re part of something and they don’t care what it represents. »

“They hurt the victim's family. They hurt the witnesses in this case, they also hurt the victim's memory,” she added. “This is not activism, this is terrorism!”

One witness in the trial, Allison McCabe, cried on the witness stand as she spoke about the harassment another witness in the case, Colin Albert, suffered from people online.

Kate Peter, another counter-protester, also has a skeptical view of Read's support: “This is the result of a multi-million dollar social media PR machine. It's the same reason people care who Lady Gaga is at this point. They made her a star.”

As Read walked toward the courthouse Friday, one of his supporters shouted “Stay strong!”

“Always,” Read replied, placing his hand on his heart.

When the Post asked Read's father, William Read, what he thought of the support his daughter was receiving, he said it was “gratifying” and “overwhelming.”

Read was released on bail, but faces life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder. The jury will continue its deliberations on Monday.