Jennifer McCabe

“I saw Kerry wiping the snow off of John’s face and I could not believe that that was John right there.”

McCabe described her immediate reaction upon seeing O’Keefe on Fairview Road.

McCabe described giving John O’Keefe directions to Fairview, seeing a dark SUV outside 34 Fairview, and sending him texts after seeing the vehicle move.

McCabe testified that she received an early-morning call about O’Keefe not coming home, then joined Karen Read and Kerry Roberts in searching for him.

McCabe described the group finding O’Keefe on Fairview Road, calling 911, and attempting aid before first responders arrived.

“I never saw a body.”

McCabe gave a direct answer during questioning about what she observed from the house.

“I’m not sure if it’s in this document but I can tell you today with 100 percent clarity she said, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him on that morning.”

McCabe reaffirmed her present account while being questioned about the absence of that phrasing from prior testimony.

“Incorrect. We never worked together to come up with a story. We have the facts and the everything was a comment about your client.”

McCabe denied the defense suggestion that communications with Kerry Roberts reflected coordinated accounts.

“I don’t remember making any of those calls so my assumption is I put my phone in my back pocket and that was it.”

McCabe explained her claimed lack of memory for repeated calls to O’Keefe’s phone.

“I was not sure if she said what the police officers may have heard. That report is his recollection. My recollection is I told him that she said, “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him” and I told him that he should ask responders if they heard that because it was a great possibility that they heard it, as well.”

McCabe distinguished her memory of what she told Sergeant Lank from the wording recorded in his report.

“I did not delete that search. I never made that search at 2:27. I never would have left John O’Keefe out in the cold to die because he was my friend that I loved.”

McCabe directly denied the defense's allegation concerning the 2:27 a.m. search and expressed her relationship with O’Keefe.

“I was asked what were some of the statements that Ms. Read had made and it was like repeat. Did I hit him. Could I have hit him. Is he dead. Is he dead. Is he dead. Could I have hit him. Did I hit him. I have a cracked taillight and then her, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.”

McCabe recounted the range of statements she said Ms. Read made that morning.

“Because Ms. Read asked me to Google, how long to die from hypothermia. She said, “Google hypothermia, Google how long it takes to die in the cold. She was shaking me, screaming at me to do it.”

McCabe explained her account of why and when the disputed hypothermia search was made.

McCabe testified that her looks outside from 34 Fairview were brief; she did not see anyone outside the vehicle and could not see inside it.

McCabe maintained that the hypothermia search was made after 6:00 a.m. at Ms. Read's request using a Safari tab she had left open, and denied making that search at 2:27 a.m.

“I was upset that we as witnesses were being harassed.”

McCabe stated her reason for being upset amid questioning about public attention to the case.

“I deleted the conversations with my four daughters. At that time Ally was not a witness.”

McCabe directly described deleting the conversations and qualified her understanding of Ally’s status at the time.

“Yes. She would go from sitting back to leaning up in between us, and she would yell Kerri's name three times. Then she would yell my name three times, and then she would yell, could I hit him, did I hit him over and over again.”

McCabe described Read's conduct and repeated statements during the drive to Fairview as the search intensified.

“I was frozen. I was shocked. I couldn't believe that was him just lying there.”

McCabe described her reaction when she recognized O'Keefe near the flagpole.

McCabe described early-morning calls and the search with Read and Kerri Roberts, including Read's repeated questions about whether she could have hit O'Keefe.

“I guess the best way to describe was I was in shock.”

McCabe described her state while making the 911 call.

“She told the first responder, "I hit him. I hit him. I hit him."”

McCabe testified that Read made this reported statement to a first responder.

McCabe testified that Read asked her to search about hypothermia after police arrived and that she could not recall the exact time or what results appeared.

“That's not true. We both know what happened. We don't have to have a story. There is no story; there is what happened and that's it.”

McCabe rejected counsel's suggestion that her call to Roberts was intended to align their accounts.

“I explained that I had forgotten to mention a couple of people that I had reached out to.”

McCabe explained why she recontacted officers after the April 2023 interview.

“I was with my family, my sister, my brother-in-law. It wasn't really a group of us.”

McCabe disputed counsel's characterization of the family gathering as witness coordination.

“And I'm telling you exactly what I saw. It was dark. It was Karen's car there, and in my peripheral vision, I saw lights and then I went back to the table.”

McCabe limited her recollection of the vehicles outside 34 Fairview.

“What I can tell you I'm clear on is that I did go twice, and I saw it -- I saw it straight ahead, I saw it at the flagpole, and a third time further up. I cannot say with certainty with my memory today that I was up at that door every single time. I'm sorry.”

McCabe qualified her present memory of how often she went to the door while describing three SUV positions.

“"I hit him. I hit him. I hit him," is just as fresh today as it was three years ago.”

McCabe emphasized the durability of her recollection of the reported statement during questioning about her earlier testimony.

“It took me hours and in some cases days to remember all the things that Ms. Read had said. My mind, I was in a state of shock, but the minute I remembered she said, "I hit him. I hit him. I hit him," I called Officer Lank.”

McCabe explained why she said she later reported the statement to Officer Lank.

McCabe maintained that she remembered Read saying "I hit him" three times, while acknowledging she could not specifically recall whether she used that wording before the grand jury.

“So the answer is always going to be the same. If you ask me who I spoke to, I'm always going to tell you I spoke to Ms. Read and Julie. I called Julie Albert and I called Tom Beatty. The answers always the same, but the way the question asked may be some of the words that I use maybe different. I don't remember on specific days. I have been questioned many times, but the answers are always going to be the same. The wording may be different.”

McCabe distinguished her claimed consistency about events from uncertainty about her wording in prior testimony.

“Kerry talked to the cops and kept it simple.”

McCabe read one of her January 29 text messages to Nicole Albert after Exhibit 47 was admitted with a limiting instruction.

“My memory is we did drive by 1 Meadows. I know what this piece of paper says. I'm telling you that just -- my memory is we left Meadows and went down Fairview and then went to Michael Lank's, but this paper is saying I stopped at my house first. I don't remember that.”

McCabe contrasted her memory of the route with the location-data printout shown to her.

“I think I was going back and forth to the door. I was texting him. I think I put my phone in my pocket. I think I inadvertently maybe I called him.”

McCabe gave her explanation for the missed calls to O'Keefe.

“It was said. Karen said it. It's that simple.”

McCabe reaffirmed her account that Read asked her to make the hypothermia search.

“I was not worried at all because something happened on the front lawn that had nothing to do with anything inside that house.”

McCabe explained why she did not enter 34 Fairview during the emergency response.

“I was shocked, confused, nervous, scared, anxious. My friend was lying there on the ground. I had no idea what happened. All I wanted to do was get help for John as fast as I could.”

McCabe described her reaction and focus during the emergency response.

“I'm testifying from my own memory.”

McCabe directly answered the prosecution's question about the basis for her testimony after cross-examination addressed prior reports and records.

“Ms. Read asked me to Google it.”

McCabe gave her account of why she made the hypothermia-related search.

McCabe described snow accumulating overnight and said visibility was very difficult when she returned to Fairview the next morning.

“I said I'm going to stop, and I'm going to seek some counsel, yes.”

McCabe acknowledged ending the initial interview in order to seek counsel.