Karen Read spotted taking out the trash days after dramatic acquittal

FIRST ON FOX: From courtroom drama to curbside calm.

Fresh off her gripping murder acquittal, Karen Read was spotted easing back into everyday life on Friday, hauling trash like any regular American.

In the first images of Read since her second trial, Digital exclusively captured the 45-year-old wheeling a garbage bin outside her Boston hotel.

Dressed in a white short-sleeve top, black leggings and flat black shoes, Read was seen plucking boxes from the bin and tossing them into a large dumpster.

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With her hair loose and blowing in the wind, Read showed little emotion as she carried out the mundane chore — and then returned to the hotel carrying her cell phone in her right hand. 

It came just two days after she was acquitted in the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, 46.

Jurors found Read not guilty of second-degree murder, the top charge, but guilty of a lesser offense of operating a vehicle under the influence with a blood-alcohol level of .08% or greater.

The trial saw more than 30 days of testimony and four days of deliberation. Read was also found not guilty of drunken driving manslaughter and fleeing the scene of a deadly accident. Her first trial on the same charges ended without a verdict last year when jurors deadlocked.

Karen Read places boxes in a dumpster outside her hotel in Boston, Mass., Friday, June 20, 2025. Read was found not guilty of the murder of boyfriend John O’Keefe on Wednesday. (Richard Beetham for Digital)

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Cheers from her supporters, who had been waiting for an update across the street from the courthouse, could be heard inside the courtroom. 

For Read’s second trial, the commonwealth appointed a special prosecutor, high-powered defense attorney Hank Brennan, and Read added New York defense attorney Robert Alessi to a team that included Los Angeles’ Alan Jackson and Boston’s David Yannetti.

O’Keefe’s body was discovered face-up in the snow outside the Canton, Massachusetts, home of Brian Albert, a fellow officer, on Jan. 29, 2022.

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His body was bruised and unresponsive with head trauma and signs of hypothermia.

The defense argued O’Keefe was attacked inside the house, and his death was potentially covered up by law enforcement people inside the party.

The prosecution argued that Read intentionally or recklessly struck O’Keefe with her SUV and left him for dead outside in a snowstorm and then tried to cover it up.

Karen Read and her lawyer, Alan Jackson, exit Norfolk County Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., on Wednesday, June 18, 2025. Read was found to be not guilty of the murder of her boyfriend, John O’Keefe. (Richard Beetham for Digital)

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Jack Lu, a retired Massachusetts judge and Boston College law professor, called the outcome “a stunning victory for the defense” that he said would also help Read in a civil lawsuit against her from O’Keefe’s family.

The investigation of Read’s case led to investigations into the investigators, an audit of the Canton Police Department and the firing of a state police homicide detective.

’ Michael Ruiz and Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.