In Dedham, during the gripping murder trial of Karen Read, ATF Agent Brian Higgins took the stand, revealing a tangled web of flirty text exchanges and an unexpected kiss with Read, weeks before her boyfriend John O'Keefe's death. Read, 44, of Mansfield, has firmly denied charges of second-degree murder related to the incident on Jan. 29, 2022, when O'Keefe was struck by an SUV and left in a snowstorm outside a residence at 34 Fairview Road in Canton. The prosecution paints a sordid picture of a lover's spat turned deadly, while the defense is pushing an alternate narrative of another person's culpability.
During his testimony, as per WCVB, Higgins recounted the kiss Read gave him, stating it was "Not like a friend," implying the interaction had a romantic undercurrent. Their conversation did not stop at physical encounters, Read's text messages also carried the weight of flirtation. "You're hot," she texted Higgins, a conversation affirmed by the Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally's presentation to the jury.
The texts, stretching several weeks in January 2022, revealed not only a flirtation but also Read's vents about her rocky relationship with O'Keefe. "It is very very complicated," Read mentioned, describing the pressures of living with O'Keefe's niece and nephew, who had moved in after the death of their parents. Read's frustration was palpable, as quoted by Boston.com: "He and I dated when we were kids and then his sister died and everything got f***ed up."
As the lines between friendship, flirtation, and alleged infidelity blurred, Higgins expressed confusion over Read's intentions. "Was the defendant interested in me? Was she at the end of her relationship with John? Was she trying to weaponize me against John and put me in the middle?" Higgins testified. Meanwhile, his cross-examination by defense attorney Alan Jackson painted a different picture, suggesting Higgins harbored a "romantic interest" in Read, which Higgins did not deny, though claiming texts with Read had become sporadic before O'Keefe's death, according to Boston.com.
Higgins' insights extend beyond the suggestive messages, as he also detailed his visit to the Waterfall Bar & Grille with friends – an evening that later converged with the timeline of O'Keefe's demise. After the bar, some in the group migrated to an afterparty, which Read and O'Keefe joined, though Higgins claims he left early and denied seeing the couple at the critical location of 34 Fairview Road. The case continues to unravel with Higgins' testimony, offering the court a glimpse into the complexities of personal relationships mired by tragedy and suspicion.
