Kerry Roberts

“Karen did point it out at one point in the driveway, she said, my taillight, look at my taillight. And I looked at it and I said, you told me you don’t remember anything from last night. She said, do you think I hit him? Do you think I hit it? I said, no, I don’t think you hit him. I think you probably hit something but let’s just go in the house and look for him.”

Roberts recounted Read’s reported concern about the damaged taillight and her own response during the search.

“Jen said, my sister’s house is right up here, and all of a sudden Karen said, there he is, there he is. Let me the “F” out of this car and she started kicking the door.”

Roberts described the moment Read said she saw O’Keefe on Fairview Road.

“Karen was laying on top of him and I told her to get off him because I was going to do CPR and I said, Jen, you need to call 911 and I started CPR on his chest, compressions, and then Karen was giving him mouth-to-mouth.”

Roberts gave a firsthand account of the group’s initial response after finding O’Keefe.

“At one point Karen grabbed the front of my jacket and screamed in my face, are they working on him? Is he alive?”

Roberts described Read’s conduct while paramedics were treating O’Keefe.

“Um, Karen called and — the first thing she said was, "Kerry, Kerry, Kerry, John's dead." And then she hung up.”

Roberts described the first early-morning call she received from Read.

“Um, Jen said, "My sister's house is right up here." And I said, "Okay." And as we approached the house, Karen from the back seat is now screaming, "There he is. There he is. Let me the f*** out of this car." And she's now kicking the back door to get out.”

Roberts described the reaction she attributed to Read as the group approached Fairview.

Roberts testified that Karen Read called at 5:00 a.m., said John O'Keefe was dead, and later said she thought he had been hit by a plow and did not remember the prior night.

Roberts testified that, as they approached the house on Fairview, Read screamed that O'Keefe was there, got out of the car, and ran toward a mound of snow; Roberts said she had not seen anyone from the car.

“Karen pointed it out and said, 'Look, my tail light.' She said, 'Do you think I hit him?' And I said, 'No, I don't think you hit him. What are you talking about? Let's just go find him.'”

Establishes Read drew attention to her own tail light damage and repeatedly asked whether she hit O'Keefe before the body was found.

“She was running around and saying, 'Did I hit him? Did I hit him? Is he dead? Is he dead?'”

Read's repeated statements at the scene, a central piece of prosecution evidence regarding consciousness of guilt.

“When they lifted him up, there was grass underneath him and I could see his phone. So I went over and picked up the phone and the two baby blankets that were left on the ground.”

Grass beneath O'Keefe's body — no snow accumulation under him — bears on how long he was in that position relative to the storm.

“Karen was saying, 'I left him at a party.' And Mrs. O'Keefe said, 'And you just left him?'”

Read's statement to the O'Keefe family about leaving John at a party, establishing her account of the evening's events.

“Yes, we were putting together the events of what had happened.”

Roberts confirms she and McCabe collaboratively constructed a timeline before her second police interview, establishing the coordination pattern.

“She called to wish me good luck today.”

Demonstrates ongoing contact between Roberts and McCabe up to and including the morning of Roberts's testimony.

“I did not hear her ask that. I was told she was asked that.”

Roberts admits she never personally heard Karen Read ask McCabe to Google hypothermia, contradicting her sworn grand jury testimony.

“Nobody told me to say it. I knew it happened at that time, which is why I said it.”

Roberts's explanation for testifying to something she never witnessed — she relied on the timeline she created with McCabe rather than her own memory.

“I didn't know at what time it was done.”

Roberts explained that she did not know when it was done when asked what she meant by 'at one point.' That redirect explanation is distinct from the prior grand-jury question, later read by Jackson, asking what Read said to McCabe 'that you heard.'

“When she first called, she said, 'John's dead. Kerry, Kerry.' And hung up.”

Independent recollection of Read's first call, untainted by McCabe's influence — establishing Read's earliest statement about O'Keefe's death.

“She said, 'John, I think he got hit by a plow. He did not come home last night. He would never not have come home. I wasn't supposed to stay in Canton. And Kaye was here. He would never leave Kaye by herself.'”

Read's second call — the 'hit by a plow' statement is critical prosecution evidence of Read's early consciousness of guilt or knowledge of events.

“I didn't think it had anything to do with John. I didn't want to point fingers at anybody.”

Explains why Roberts didn't immediately tell others about the tail light damage — reframes the delay as protective instinct rather than concealment.

“Technically.”

Roberts's hedged admission that her sworn testimony was false

“I did.”

Roberts answers 'I did' when Jackson asks whether she lied; she immediately says it was not intentional and maintains that she misunderstood the question.

“I don't recall.”

Roberts says she does not recall in response to Jackson's questions about the 'how long' phrase.