A one-time girlfriend of Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe shared her thoughts on the case against Karen Read in an interview with NBC's Dateline.
Lindsay Higgins says she dated O'Keefe for about six months.
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"He was just such a gentleman, you know, walked me home," she told Dateline. "Just really, really kind."
She first learned of his death while she was in Florida, she said.
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"My phone was ringing nonstop, my texts were going off, and I looked at my phone, and one of my friends was like, 'Did you hear about John O'Keefe? He died,'" Higgins recalled.
Read was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in the death of O'Keefe, who was find outside a house in Canton, Massachusetts, in January of 2022. Prosecutors say she hit him with her SUV after a night of drinking, while her defense team argued she was framed as part of a conspiracy.
Higgins believes Read is innocent.
"Nothing was adding up," she said. "I was watching every news story, I was seeing what was going on online, and the stories coming out, and I was like, 'I don't think she hit him. It doesn't make any sense to me.'"
Read's trial this summer ended with a hung jury. A retrial is scheduled for January. Massachusetts' highest court is considering her appeal to dismiss the charges of murder and leaving the scene.
Higgins says she started attending hearings with Read after contacting her on Facebook.
"I said, you know, 'Hi, Karen. I don't know if you know me or not, but I used to date John, and I think I dated him right before you, and I just want to say that I don't think you did it, and I support you,'" Higgins said. "And she wrote me back. Ever since then, we just became closer and closer."
