Karen Read, a 'convenient outsider' accused of killing her Boston police boyfriend

CANTON, Mass. (AP) — The woman accused of ramming her luxury SUV into her boyfriend and callously leaving him on the ground before a snowstorm had dated the future Boston police officer briefly in her 20s. They reconnected during the pandemic.

Her father described her as a resilient woman who battled through health problems and has her family's support.

Long before she was charged with murder in the death of John O’Keefe, Karen Read had a successful career as a financial analyst and adjunct professor at Bentley College. Now 44, she grew up in Blacksburg, Virginia, and in Taunton, Massachusetts. She attended Coyle & Cassidy, a now-closed private Roman Catholic school, and earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in finance at Bentley, a private university in Waltham.

When she reconnected with O'Keefe, he had moved to suburban Canton to take care of his niece and nephew after their parents died. She told ABC News before the trial that she admired him for stepping up for his family, and she helped with the kids, staying over frequently.

But their relationship soured. The niece and nephew testified about their verbal fights. And what should have been a fun-filled trip to Aruba in December 2021 was marred by animosity with angry words and an accusation of cheating.

Prosecutors suggested O'Keefe was looking for a way out before their last night bar-hopping together. And moments after she allegedly reversed her SUV into him on the front lawn of another officer's house on Jan. 29, 2022, she left him a voicemail that was replayed for the jurors, saying, “John, I (expletive) hate you.”

Read, whose defense said she was framed as “a convenient outsider” to protect a circle of law enforcers, has been supported by friends and family including William Read, a former dean at Bentley who put up $50,000 bail for his daughter. He sits behind her each day in the courtroom, and said they have faith in her innocence.

She has battled adversity before, undergoing multiple surgeries for Crohn’s disease before being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and her father told the Boston Globe, “Karen will never break down and she will never lose her resolve.”

Karen Read gets a long hug from her dad William before the jury breaks for lunch at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Wednesday June 26, 2024. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

This photo undated photo released by the Boston Police Department shows officer John O'Keefe. (Boston Police Department via AP)

Karen Read, center, departs Norfolk Superior Court, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in Dedham, Mass.(AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Supporters of Karen Read display signs near Norfolk Superior Court, Tuesday, June 25, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read is on trial, accused of killing her boyfriend Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, in 2022. The jury began deliberations in the trial Tuesday. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)

Karen Read, center, arrives at Norfolk Superior Court, while walking near defense attorney David Yannetti, right, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read is on trial, accused of killing her boyfriend Boston police Officer John O'Keefe, in 2022. The jury began deliberations in the trial Tuesday. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Karen Read, left, stands in a doorway near defense attorney David Yannetti, center, as they depart Norfolk Superior Court, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read is on trial, accused of killing her boyfriend Boston police Officer John O'Keefe, in 2022. The jury began deliberations in the trial Tuesday. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Karen Read arrives at Norfolk Superior Court, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read is on trial, accused of killing her boyfriend Boston police officer John O'Keefe, in 2022. The jury began deliberations in the trial Tuesday. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Karen Read arrives at Norfolk Superior Court, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read is on trial, accused of killing her boyfriend Boston police Officer John O'Keefe, in 2022. The jury began deliberations in the trial Tuesday. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea launched at least one short-range ballistic missile off its east coast Monday, South Korea’s military said, a day after the North vowed “offensive and overwhelming” responses to a new U.S. military drill with South Korea and Japan.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from North Korea's southeastern town of Jangyon at 5:05 a.m. It said an additional, unidentified ballistic missile launch trajectory was detected 10 minutes later, a suggestion that North Korea might have performed two missile launches.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korea’s military has boosted its surveillance posture and is closely exchanging related information with the United States and Japan.

The launch came two days after South Korea, the U.S. and Japan ended their new multidomain trilateral drills in the region. In recent years, the three countries have been expanding their trilateral security partnership to better cope with North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats and China’s increasing assertiveness in the region.

The “Freedom Edge” drill was meant to increase the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The three-day drill involved a U.S. aircraft carrier as well as destroyers, fighter jets and helicopters from the three countries.

On Sunday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a lengthy statement strongly denouncing the “Freedom Edge” drill, calling it an Asian version of NATO. It said the drill openly destroyed the security environment on the Korean Peninsula and contained a U.S. intention to lay siege to China and exert pressure on Russia.

The statement said North Korea will “firmly defend the sovereignty, security and interests of the state and peace in the region through offensive and overwhelming countermeasures.”

Monday’s launch was the North’s first weapons firing in five days. On Wednesday, North Korea launched what it called a multiwarhead missile in the first known launch of a developmental, advanced weapon meant to defeat U.S. and South Korean missile defenses. North Korea said the launch was successful, but South Korea dismissed the North’s claim as deception to cover up a failed launch.

In recent weeks, North Korea has also floated numerous trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea in what it has described as a tit-for-tat response to South Korean activists sending political leaflets via their own balloons. South Korea responded by briefly resuming its anti-Pyongyang frontline propaganda broadcasts for the first time in years.

In mid-June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin struck a deal vowing mutual defense assistance if either is attacked. Observers say the pact could embolden Kim to launch more provocations at South Korea. The U.S., South Korea and others believe Pyongyang has been supplying conventional weapons to Russia for its war against Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance.

Meanwhile, North Korea opened a key ruling party meeting Friday to determine what it called “important, immediate issues” related to works to further enhance Korean-style socialism. On the meeting’s second day, North Korea's leader spoke about “some deviations obstructing” efforts to improve the country's economic status and unspecified important tasks for resolving immediate policy issues, North Korea’s state media reported Sunday.

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, a U.S. fighter jet takes off from USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier during the Freedom Edge exercise by the U.S., Japanese and South Korea at East Sea on Friday, June 28, 2024. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Rashan Jefferson/The U.S. Navy via AP)

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, a U.S. fighter jet prepares to take off from USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier during the Freedom Edge exercise by the U.S., Japanese and South Korea at East Sea on Friday, June 28, 2024. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Rashan Jefferson/The U.S. Navy via AP)

FILE - The Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is anchored in Busan, South Korea, on June 22, 2024. The newly-inaugurated Freedom Edge exercise is wrapping up in the East China Sea, having brought together Japanese, South Korean and American naval assets for multi-domain maneuvers for the first time.(Song Kyung-Seok/Pool Photo via AP, File)