Karen Read trial: Here's a list of podcasts, movies, shows on the death of John O'Keefe
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John O'Keefe's family files wrongful death lawsuit against Karen Read
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Boston police officer John O'Keefe accuses Karen Read of knowingly hitting O'Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die.
Scripps News
The case of Karen Read captivated the nation during her first trial last year, where she was accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, in 2022.
After a hung jury was declared in July 2024, Read's case will head back to court this week for her second trial.
Read has been vocal in denying the charges against her in a slew of media interviews, including a recently released docuseries on Investigation Discovery.
As eyes shift back to this case, here's a list of shows, articles and podcasts you can catch up on everything that has happened so far.
Karen Read case: Catch up with 'A Body in the Snow' documentary
A multi-part docuseries following Read's first trial, "A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read," was released by Investigation Discovery earlier this month.
It offers a comprehensive look at the case from Read herself, who is interviewed throughout the series.
"Doing this film is my testimony," she said in the trailer. "I want to say what happened exactly as it happened."
"A Body in the Snow" is available to stream free for Max subscribers.
More: New Karen Read doc shows behind-the-scenes first trial. How to watch 'A Body in the Snow'
'Dateline,' '20/20' episodes on death of John O'Keefe
NBC's "Dateline" and ABC's "20/20" have also covered the case.
In October 2024, "Dateline" released "The Night of the Nor'easter," an episode featuring interviews with Read, her attorneys and even a member of the extended O'Keefe family. It is available to stream on Peacock.
The month before that, "20/20" aired its episode "Karen Read: The Perfect Storm," including interviews with many people close to the case, like Read and several members of the O'Keefe family. It is available to stream on ABC or Hulu.
More: 'Night of the Nor easter': How to watch Dateline's episode featuring Karen Read interview
Other TV interviews on Karen Read case
Local Boston television stations have also added their fair share of coverage to the case.
Boston 25 News released a two-part extended interview with Karen Read last month, which is available to watch on YouTube.
On the other side of the case, John O'Keefe's brother Paul O'Keefe spoke out in interviews with CBS Boston and WCVB last year.
The wife and sister of Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, broke their silence in an interview with WCVB earlier this month.
Read about the Karen Read case: Vanity Fair, Patriot Ledger articles
The Read case has been recounted in print as well.
She gave an extensive, two-part interview to Vanity Fair last year.
The Patriot Ledger is also continuing to cover the trial. The latest stories can be found below.
Podcasts to listen to about Karen Read case
The popular true-crime podcast "Crime Junkie" just released an episode about the O'Keefe case, which is available to listen to on its website or podcast streaming platforms. "Crime Junkie" will also be covering the second trial on YouTube.
The "13th Juror" podcast also covered the case in its series, "Conspiracy in Canton," which can be streamed on YouTube.
NBC10 Boston also has a daily podcast that follows the case — "Canton Confidential" is available to stream online.
Melina Khan is a trending reporter for the USA TODAY Network - New England, which serves more than a dozen affiliated publications across New England. She can be reached at MKhan@gannett.com.
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Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
On trial: Who is Donna Adelson, matriarch of family implicated in Dan Markel murder?
The quest for justice for an acclaimed Florida State University law professor and the trial of Donna Adelson is set to begin once again in a Florida capital city courtroom. More than ten years ago, two hired Miami killers fatally shot Dan Markel in his Tallahassee garage. The contract killing came after an acrimonious divorce and a court ruling that his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, couldn't relocate from Tallahassee with their children to be with the rest of her family in South Florida. So far, Markel's former brother-in-law, Charlie Adelson, Adelson's former girlfriend Katherine Magbanua, and the two men Adelson hired have all been sentenced to prison in connection with the murder-for-hire plot. The complicated, sensational case, which The Tallahassee Democrat has chronicled from the beginning, involved lengthy investigations by Tallahassee police and the FBI, a confession, wiretaps, recorded conversations, four trials, features on Dateline and 20/20, and was the subject of a popular true-crime podcast. The matriarch of the prominent South Florida family implicated in the conspiracy will be back in the spotlight Aug. 19 after her 2024 trial was derailed. In September of that year, on the first day of jury selection, Adelson's lead attorney, Dan Rashbaum of Miami, abruptly withdrew – a move that upended the trial before it could begin. All three of her attorneys exited or were removed after Charlie Adelson, who is appealing his conviction, announced he would not waive any conflicts of interest involving Rashbaum's representation of him during his trial last year and his mother. Donna Adelson has since hired two local attorneys: A former prosecutor turned judge and a well-known local lawyer to represent her. Here's what we know. Who is Donna Adelson? Donna Sue Adelson, 74, is married to Dr. Harvey Adelson, retired dentist and founder of the Adelson Institute for Aesthetics and Implant Dentistry in Tamarac, Florida. She has three children, Charlie, Wendi and Rob, a physician who has been estranged from the family for years. One week after Charlie Adelson was found guilty last year, Donna and Harvey Adelson were stopped at Miami International Airport before they could board a one-way flight to Vietnam, a non-extradition country. Donna Adelson was arrested and indicted on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in the 2014 killing, citing jailhouse calls she made to Charlie after his sentencing saying she was putting her financial affairs in order and planning to leave, either through self-harm or by getting out of the country. Adelson has pleaded not guilty. Adelson is the second member of her family and the fifth person to be charged in connection to the Dan Markel contract killing. What happened to Dan Markel? Daniel Eric Markel, 41 at the time of his death, was a Canadian-born Florida State law professor, author and prominent legal scholar. He was married to fellow FSU professor Wendi Adelson and they had two young sons, but they separated in 2012 and battled through an extremely acrimonious and bitter divorce in 2013. Markel pulled into his garage in Tallahassee after running errands on July 18, 2014, when two men approached him and shot him twice in the head. He died the next day. How it all began: FSU law professor dies in shooting Over nearly 10 years of investigations, wiretapping, and testimony, prosecutors have said Markel's killing was the result of a murder-for-hire plot involving Donna Adelson, her son Charlie (a periodontist at the family business), Charlie's girlfriend at the time Katherine Magbanua, and the hitmen, Latin Kings gang leader Luis Rivera and Sigfredo Garcia, who is also the father of Magbanua's children. Why was Dan Markel murdered? For the shooters, cash. Rivera testified that he and Garcia were paid $100,000 in a murder-for-hire plot. They received the money in stacks of stapled hundred dollar bills the next day and they split it with Katherine Magbanua, who Rivera said set up the deal. In Charlie Adelson's trial, prosecutors said Markel's murder 'stemmed from the desperate desire of the Adelson family' for Wendi and the two sons to have the freedom to move to South Florida to be near her family. In 2012, while Markel was away, Adelson had moved out of their house with the children and most of the couple's possessions and left divorce papers on the bed, according to court filings. Markel won 50/50 custody and an order prohibiting Adelson from moving them away in the divorce, and the two parents battled in court for months over every detail of their children's lives. In 2014, Markel filed motions claiming Adelson had misrepresented her financial assets and had taken a 2-caret ring belonging to Markel's great-aunt, a Holocaust survivor. He also filed a motion to prevent the children's grandmother Donna from having unsupervised time with them after hearing she was making disparaging remarks about him to the children. How many people have been found guilty in the Dan Markel murder? To date, four people have been found guilty in the conspiracy. Rivera, who was already doing time on an unrelated charge, took a deal and received a 19-year sentence. Garcia, who Rivera said pulled the trigger, was sentenced to life in prison in 2019, as was Magbanua in her 2022 trial. Charlie Adelson was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in 2023. Luis Rivera: Rivera pled guilty in 2016 to second-degree murder in exchange for a 19-year sentence to run concurrently with a federal sentence on an unrelated case for his statements and cooperation with prosecutors. In 2019 he testified that he was with Garcia when Markel was murdered. Sigfredo Garcia: In October 2019, Sigfredo Garcia was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Katherine Magbanua: After her potential conviction as part of Garcia's trial was ruled a mistrial, Magbanua was tried again in 2022 and was found guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder. She is currently serving life in prison. Charlie Adelson: A 12-person jury deliberated for three hours in November 2023 and found Adelson guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation to commit murder. He was sentenced to life in prison. Donna Adelson: A week after Charlie Adelson was found guilty, his parents Donna and Harvey were stopped in Miami International Airport trying to board a flight with one-way tickets to Vietnam, a country that does not have an extradition agreement with the U.S. What was Donna Adelson charged with? Donna Adelson was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in Markel's murder, the same charges her son Charlie was found guilty of by a jury in just three hours. What is the evidence against Donna Adelson? Much of the likely evidence has appeared in the previous trials. The Tallahassee Police Department suggested that Donna Adelson was a prime suspect in the Markel murder back in 2016 when TPD initially presented probable cause affidavits to the State Attorney's Office. At the time, State Attorney Willie Meggs dismissed them as speculation. Investigations over the next nine years revealed: Prosecutors said Donna and Harvey Adelson repeatedly tried to convince Wendi to coerce Markel into allowing her to move their sons to South Florida, with Donna suggesting they offer Markel $1 million to change his mind. Donna suggested that Wendi threaten to enroll the children of the devoutly Jewish Markel in a Catholic school, according to Donna Adelson's arrest affidavit. Markel also filed a motion to prevent Donna from having unsupervised time with the children after hearing about disparaging remarks she was making about him to the children. According to the arrest affidavit, cellular records showed "numerous contacts" between Magbanua, Charlie Adelson and Garcia before and after the killing, and contact between Garcia and a phone registered to Harvey Adelson. Charlie also frequently contacted Donna before and after Markel's death. Wendi Adelson told investigators the day of the murder that her brother had joked it would be cheaper to buy her a TV as a divorce gift than hire a hitman. From roughly 460 miles away, Donna arranged a television repair appointment for Wendi the morning of the homicide. At Charlie Adelson's trial, Magbanua testified that when she went to his home the night of the killing he told her his parents had just left, leaving behind money "that his mom had washed," the affidavit said. She said the money was damp and moldy. After the murder, Magbanua received more than $17,000 in paychecks from the Adelson's practice, handwritten and signed by Donna, from September 2014 to at least April 2016, prosecutors said, on top of her portion of the money for the killing and over $56,000 in cash. She also was sold Charlie Adelson's Lexus, which was registered to Harvey Adelson, for $1,700. In 2016, an undercover agent contacted Donna Adelson with a letter about the murder and demanded $5,000. She contacted Charlie to discuss the threat. In a later call, when Charlie asked what the letter was for, she said, "This TV is probably about five," meaning $5,000, according to the affidavit. After he visited both his parents for a huddled conversation, Charlie took Magbanua to the Dolce Vita restaurant to complain about the would-be blackmailer, what he knew, and what Charlie would do about it. That conversation was recorded and became key evidence in Charlie's trial. One of the things he told Magbanua was, "if they had any evidence we would have already gone to the airport." After the meeting, Charlie called Donna to report that he was handling everything. After another letter and a text were sent to Donna Adelson by investigators, there were multiple calls and meetings between Charlie and his parents. Donna called the undercover agent and denied all knowledge. Another of Charlie Adelson's girlfriends, June Umchinda, told the FBI that after Rivera and Garcia were charged with murder Charlie and Donna Adelson both seemed more stressed, and Donna told her that she felt "Dan Markel was haunting her from the grave," the affidavit said. After Charlie Adelson's guilty verdict, Donna called him in jail several times and told him she was "getting things in order, creating trusts, and making sure her grandchildren are taken care of," the affidavit said. She also discussed plans for suicide and plans to flee to a non-extradition country. On Nov. 7, 2023, Donna and Harvey Adelson booked one-way flights to Vietnam with a stop in Dubai, less than 48 hours before a grand jury was scheduled to meet that might have taken up her case. The U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Vietnam. Who will be taking the stand in the Donna Adelson trial? For the first time, all three Adelson children could take the stand. Wendi Adelson, whom the state considers an uncharged co-conspirator, will return to the stand and testify, under a limited immunity deal, as she has in all the previous trials. She has long denied any involvement or knowledge of the murder conspiracy in sometimes testy exchanges with prosecutors. There are indications that her oldest brother, Rob Adelson, who has been listed before as a state witness, will be called to the stand in his mother's trial. Charlie Adelson, who testified in his own defense last year that he was being extorted by the two killers through his then-girlfriend and that his mom was subsequently the victim of a ruse blackmail operation by the FBI, was transported from a South Dakota prison and booked Friday into the Leon County Detention Facility. He could potentially testify for the defense. It is unknown if Donna Adelson will take the stand in her own defense. Other key witnesses include Pat Sanford, the FBI agent who arrested Donna Adelson, and Oscar Jiminez, the retired FBI agent who posed as a Latin Kings gang buddy of Rivera when he confronted Donna Adelson outside her Miami condo. Have Harvey or Wendi Adelson been charged? Wendi Adelson, who has denied involvement with the murder and testified under immunity at several trials, has not been charged. State Attorney Jack Campbell told the Tallahassee Democrat that the state did not have the evidence to arrest Harvey Adelson, but had enough to arrest Donna Adelson. Her attempted flight overseas sped things up and pushed law enforcement 'to make a decision quickly,' Campbell said. 'That's what forced our hand,' Campbell said. "We started talking to some of our law enforcement partners about the complexities of trying to bring someone back from either Dubai or Vietnam. And that might be a very complicated and lengthy process. So that's why we had to make a decision quickly." The day after the arrest, investigators seized two phones and an iPad from Harvey Adelson. GAVEL-TO-GAVEL COVERAGE: The Tallahassee Democrat will livestream each day of the trial of Donna Adelson from the courthouse in Tallahassee. Watch on and the Tallahassee Democrat's Facebook and YouTube pages. For best viewing experience: Download the Tallahassee Democrat app to watch and receive text alerts on when to watch – from opening arguments to the verdict. Tallahassee Democrat reporter Jeff Burlew contributed to this article. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Who's Donna Adelson? What to know about new trial in Dan Markel murder
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Boston Globe
Karen Read seeking dismissal of most counts pending against her in wrongful death lawsuit
Her attorneys stressed that Advertisement Lawyers for the O'Keefe family fired back in a filing opposing the dismissal motion, noting that discovery in the high-profile lawsuit Advertisement The family's emotional distress claims 'require a fact-intensive analysis which is not ripe for deciding at this early stage of the lawsuit and without adequate discovery,' the lawyers said. They added that 'traditional' emotional distress damages are 'expressly disallowed as a component of wrongful death damages,' hence the additional counts. The plaintiffs' attorneys said the O'Keefe family has 'suffered and continues to suffer immense emotional trauma from this wrongful death, which has been further intensified by the unyielding barrage of harassment and ridicule by Read and her supporters targeting the grieving family.' A Norfolk Superior Court jury Prosecutors had alleged that Read backed her Lexus SUV in a drunken rage into a Boston police officer, early on Jan. 29, 2022, after dropping him off outside a Canton home following a night of bar-hopping. Read's criminal attorneys said she was framed and that O'Keefe entered the property, owned at the time by a fellow Boston officer, where he was fatally beaten and possibly mauled by a German Shepherd before his body was planted on the front lawn. The allegations in the lawsuit track with the government's case in the criminal trial, and the O'Keefe family's attorneys said in court papers last week that Read, when she initially returned to O'Keefe's residence in the predawn hours of Jan. 29, 2022, woke up and traumatized his niece, then 14. Advertisement Read woke up O'Keefe's niece 'in a panic stating that something had happened to JJ and that [the niece's] surrogate father was dead,' the plaintiffs' lawyers wrote. In the niece's presence, Read chose not to call 911 but instead called " various acquaintances proclaiming, among other things, that JJ never came home and that he may have been hit by a snowplow,' the plaintiffs said. 'Thereafter, at or about 5 a.m., Read departed JJ's residence leaving [the niece]frightened, traumatized, and alone.' In the dismissal motion, Read's lawyers said the civil complaint includes no allegation that O'Keefe's niece 'directly observed' the alleged collision, nor did she 'observe the Decedent at any point thereafter.' The niece's 'alleged perception of death, as alleged, was based on conversations with the Defendant and there is no precedent for one to claim emotional distress as a bystander merely by learning via conversation that a loved one has been injured or passed away.' The parties are requesting a hearing in Plymouth Superior Court on the motion to dismiss the civil counts, records show. The next hearing currently scheduled in the case is a status conference on Sept. 22, according to court documents. Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report. Travis Andersen can be reached at
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Accomplice of ‘Candy Man' killer breaks silence about chilling role in murders
Elmer Wayne Henley Jr. was a 15-year-old gas station worker when he became an accomplice to the "Candy Man" serial killer. Now 69, Henley is serving a life sentence for his part in helping Texas murderer Dean Corll lure young victims to be tortured and killed during the '70s. Henley is speaking out in a new Investigation Discovery (ID) true-crime documentary, "The Serial Killer's Apprentice." In the film, Henley has candid conversations with renowned forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland, who studied his case. According to the network, this is the first time in decades Henley is speaking out in great detail about the killings. Tylenol Murders Suspect Gave Eerie Final Interview Before Death Ramsland told Fox News Digital she believes Henley is remorseful for the crimes he committed. "When Wayne looks back — and he doesn't like to — he's horrified," said Ramsland. "When we started talking, he would have nightmares. He suffered from PTSD for some time after he first went to prison. He hates that he was a part of this. He hates that this is what his life has come to. He doesn't want to be identified as a person who is a part of a serial murder team, even though he was." Read On The Fox News App "I told the FBI … he's not really a serial killer because he didn't have the motivating drive for me," Ramsland said. "He just participated in it. So, technically, yes, he killed more than two people, but he didn't want to." According to Ramsland, Henley grew up in a broken home in Texas. His grandmother raised him after his abusive father abandoned the family. At 14, he began working at a gas station to support his mother, who was struggling to make ends meet while raising his three younger brothers. Henley skipped school one day to smoke marijuana when he met David Brooks, an older teen who appeared to have plenty of money without a job. "He thought, 'How is that possible? Cut me in on this,'" said Ramsland. "Brooks introduces him to his neighbor, Dean Corll, who then tells him about an arrangement." Follow The Fox True Crime Team On X Corll was a Houston electrical company worker and former candy store owner who was known for handing out sweets to children. When Brooks brought a curious Henley over to Corll's home, the "Candy Man," as known by locals, made an offer. "[He] tells him, 'We pick up boys who are hitchhikers and have no place to go, and we [send] them to California. They become pool boys for some rich family. They make out great, and we get paid for it. It's a way for you to make $200,'" Ramsland explained. "That's a lot of money for a kid, a 15-year-old who's making peanuts at a part-time job at a gas station. And it sounded like nobody was getting hurt. This is Corll's way to reel Wayne in. To Wayne, it just sounded like everybody wins." WATCH: FOX NATION DOCUMENTARY HIGHLIGHTS SERIAL KILLER'S MYSTERIOUS AMAZON REVIEWS Henley told Corll his mother knew where he was, and Ramsland believes that move saved him from being a victim. After earning Corll's trust, Henley, who was eager to make money fast, picked up a young hitchhiker. "Corll kills [the hitchhiker], not in front of [Wayne], but he told him, 'That guy died, and you were a part of that, and now you have to do what I say.' Wayne could have gone to the police, but he thought, 'Who's going to believe me, a kid against an adult? And I don't even know where this body is. I don't even know what he did. I didn't witness it. I can't lead them anywhere.' "Corll also said there was this syndicate of traffickers who were watching all the time," Ramsland added. "If anything happened to them, they would come for Wayne. … He didn't think he had a way out." Between 1970 and 1973, young boys and teens mysteriously vanished across Houston Heights, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children [NCMEC] revealed. Despite growing numbers of missing reports made by parents, the disappearances were often brushed off by police as runaways. No one suspected the horrors the "Candy Man" was committing behind closed doors. "Dean Corll was a sadist," Ramsland said. "He looked for kids to torture. He is one of the worst in terms of what he did. Sometimes he would keep them for two or three days, torturing them. He had this torture board that had holes drilled into it. He would put two kids on the board and have them fight each other. "One time, it had two best friends. He said, 'Whoever wins will survive.' It wasn't true. But having two kids fight with each other to try to save their own lives, that's sadistic. He would torture his victims physically and psychologically. And it endured for a while. Sign Up To Get The True Crime Newsletter "He was a predator," she said. "But he used the face of being a completely normal nice guy, a big brother who was helpful to everyone. He lived a double life that fooled a lot of people." Corll tortured, raped and killed at least 28 boys and young men between the ages of 13 and 20. Many of the bodies were then buried in remote locations. According to NCMEC, Henley and Brooks, who knew some of the victims as friends, were responsible for luring many of Corll's victims into his home under false promises of fun. The outlet noted that Henley later reported to police that Corll paid them $200 for each victim. Henley told Ramsland that after Corll killed his captives, he made him wear their clothing. The reign of terror came to an end in August 1973. GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE True Crime Hub "Wayne brought a girl over with another kid," said Ramsland. "Corll had bound all of them and said he was going to kill them all. Wayne persuaded him to let him go and said he would help. … When Corll laid the gun down and went after the boy, the girl said something to Wayne like, "Aren't you going to do something about this?'" It was Corll who taught Henley how to shoot. And when Corll came charging at him, Henley killed the 33-year-old with his gun. Later that day, a shaken Henley led police to the bodies of the victims. Over three days, investigators found 16 bodies wrapped in plastic or sheets and buried in a mass grave. Most of the bodies were badly decomposed, and their identities were obscured by time and the elements, The Associated Press reported. The outlet noted that the conditions of the bodies showed traces of suffering. Over the years, investigators were able to identify known victims. Henley quickly admitted direct involvement in six of the killings and said he struggled with his actions but feared being killed by Corll. Henley and Brooks received life sentences. Brooks died in 2020 of complications from COVID-19. Ramsland said that, based on her numerous conversations and letters with Henley, she assessed him as both a victim and a perpetrator. It's something that needs to be studied more because "we're going to see more of it," she argued. "I don't put [a person like this] on any level like the victims who were tortured and killed," Ramsland stressed. "By no means is he that kind of victim. But victims come in all varieties, and I don't think you can deny that." Ramsland believes Henley continues to be haunted by his actions. "He wanted to be a minister," she said. "He doesn't know what to think of himself."Original article source: Accomplice of 'Candy Man' killer breaks silence about chilling role in murders
