The letters confirm that a federal investigation into the murder case against Karen Read was still active as recently as last August.
Multiple witnesses in the
murder case were called before a federal grand jury last spring as authorities probed the state’s investigation, a move Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey labeled a “highly unusual and possibly abusive exercise of power.”
Morrissey’s complaint was included in a May 18 message to the U.S. Department of Justice, one of several letters between the DA’s office and federal authorities unsealed Monday in Norfolk Superior Court, where Read will stand trial in March.
The Mansfield woman is accused of backing her SUV into her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, and leaving him to die outside a home in Canton following a night out with friends in January 2022. Her defense team has pointed the finger at fellow afterparty guests, offering up a theory that O’Keefe was beaten inside the home and attacked by the family’s dog.
Amid reports of a federal investigation into the Read case, prosecutors previously filed a motion to seal several letters between Morrissey’s office and federal officials. Read’s lawyers pushed for the communication to be made public, and prosecutors later withdrew their motion.