BARNSTABLE, Mass. (Court TV) — Four key witnesses in Karen Read‘s criminal trials have now filed a lawsuit accusing Read and her most prominent supporter of defamation.
Karen Read appears in court for a hearing in a civil lawsuit filed against her by the O’Keefe family on Sept. 22, 2025. (Court TV)
Read, 46, was acquitted of charges that she murdered her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, following two criminal trials. The first trial, in 2024, ended with a mistrial when the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on the charges. A second jury found her guilty solely of operating a vehicle under the influence and cleared her of all other charges.
Prosecutors had said that Read was drunk in January 2022 when she hit O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV and then left him to die in the snow outside of a friend’s home on Fairview Road in Canton, Massachusetts. Read maintained her innocence and her defense accused the group of police officers inside that home on Fairview of killing the victim and then conspiring to frame her. Among the witnesses who testified at the trials were Brian Albert, who owned the home at the time; his nephew, Colin Albert; Brian Albert’s sister-in-law, Jennifer McCabe; and Brian Higgins, a friend of the group. Higgins had also been exchanging suggestive texts with Read and shared a kiss with her in the weeks leading up to O’Keefe’s death.
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Now, those four witnesses have filed a lawsuit against Karen Read and a Canton-based blogger whom they accuse of defamation. “This case arises from a multi-year conspiracy,” the complaint, filed Thursday, reads. “Through a coordinated scheme, [the Defendants] sought to protect and enrich themselves by defaming, harassing, and tormenting the Plaintiffs.”
Blogger Aiden Kearney, known as Turtleboy, rose to prominence in the months leading up to Read’s first criminal trial. Kearney was a vocal supporter of Read and faces charges of witness intimidation because of his advocacy on her behalf.
When O’Keefe was killed, the lawsuit says, “Kearney’s occupation was that of an aspiring internet personality with limited reach in the greater Boston area.” But by early April of 2022, the lawsuit claims he had linked up with Read in an attempt to build his brand using her case. Since that first post in 2023, Kearney has posted 545 parts to his “Canton Coverup” series focused on Read’s case. And that focus, the plaintiffs claim, has come at their expense.
The lawsuit claims that Read’s attorneys intentionally filed an unredacted version of the police report in the case, which included the plaintiffs’ private addresses, cellphone numbers and Social Security numbers. After Read allegedly sent Kearney a copy of the filing, he is accused of publicly posting images from it that included the unredacted information. Minutes after the broadcast, including the sensitive information, Read’s attorney is alleged to have sent Kearney a message saying, “That was priceless, dude. GREAT f—ing show, really enjoyed the turtle reporting.”
Kearney pushed a narrative in many of his posts that centered on Read’s defense theory that the group inside the home on Fairview Road killed O’Keefe. A text that Read allegedly sent to Kearney in September 2023 said, “Look what you’ve done to their reputations!! And to MY jury pool!” Another text Read sent immediately following one of Kearney’s broadcasts said, “Amaze ball sauce!!!!!” and “Thank you soooo much.”
The lawsuit claims that Read and Kearney have done “incalculable harm” to the plaintiffs, “subjecting them to a daily tidal wave of hatred, harassment and intimidation.” Further, it says that Higgins’ job was impacted because he had been working as a federal law enforcement agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, “with covert ‘under cover’ responsibilities.”
Neither Read nor Kearney has filed any formal response to the lawsuit.
