Photo: WBZ NewsRadio Archive
BARNSTABLE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) – Four witnesses who testified in the trials against Karen Read have now filed a lawsuit against her and Aiden Kearney, the blogger known as “Turtleboy.”
Jennifer McCabe, Brian Albert, Colin Albert, and Brian Higgins are plaintiffs all named in the suit that was filed Thursday in Barnstable Superior Court.
Read faced two trials in the death of her Boston Police Officer boyfriend John O’Keefe. The first, ended in a mistrial, the second she was found not guilty of killing O’Keefe. O’Keefe was found unresponsive in the snow in the early morning hours of January 20, 2022 after a night out.
While Read tried to clear her own name in the years following his death, she and Kearney have pointed at other people at the party that night as potential suspects in the case.
According to a joint statement released by the witnesses, they want to hold Read accountable for the harassment that they endured the last four years.
“For years, we have done the right thing by assisting authorities in the hope that John’s family would find justice and peace. As a result, we and our families have been subjected to relentless false accusations, harassment, and intimidation based on a deliberate campaign of lies,” Jennifer McCabe, Brian Albert, Colin Albert, and Brian Higgins said in a joint statement.
The complaint goes into detail about how each of these witnesses claim they were publicly and mercilessly harassed in person and online. Some of them say they moved from their homes to feel safe again.
“These lies have torn our community apart and caused immense suffering. We are bringing this lawsuit to hold the defendants accountable for what they have done to us, the O’Keefe family, and our community. In doing so, we hope to protect future witnesses from experiencing the devastation and cruelty that we have endured,” the group said.
Read is already facing a lawsuit in the aftermath of her criminal trial. The O’Keefe family is suing her for wrongful death. as they do believe that Read lead to his death that night.
The complaint further goes into why they are also naming blogger Aiden Kearney in the suit, as claiming he has profited off the constant discourse around the case.
The court paperwork says that “Kearney has estimated his monthly income to be $45,000-$50,000, which he attributes to his defamatory discussions of the Read case.”