Kevin O'Hara - Direct

MR. O'HARA: I do.

MR. O'HARA: Good afternoon.

MR. O'HARA: My name is Kevin O'Hara. O-H-A-R-A.

MR. O'HARA: I'm a lieutenant with the Massachusetts State Police.

MR. O'HARA: 23 years.

MR. O'HARA: I was assigned as a trooper, a patrol trooper, working out of several barracks across the state.

MR. O'HARA: Yes, I did. We went to a six-month academy in New Braintree.

MR. O'HARA: I was on patrol for 17 years until I became a sergeant in 2018. So 16 years, became a sergeant, then a lieutenant.

MR. O'HARA: Yes, continued training throughout the years, additional training. Eventually I wound up joining a search and rescue team. Went to search and rescue training.

MR. O'HARA: I'm the team commander for the State Police Special Emergency Response Team, which is known as SERT. I am also the search and rescue coordinator for the state of Massachusetts. As a team, we conduct monthly trainings, at least twice a month, where our team will come together and train. We've been to trainings all across the country to meet national training standards.

MR. O'HARA: So for SERT, we have three main mission types. We will do lost and missing person searches. We will do evidence searches, and then we also do crowd control and security at large-scale events such as the Boston Marathon, the July 4th celebration. We get assigned to Gillette Stadium for all the events down there as well.

MR. O'HARA: Yes, we get a certification through NASAR, which is a national search and rescue organization, and NUSAR, which is a New England-based search and rescue group. We train in several different types of techniques to improve our search techniques, including man tracking, probability of detection, and critical separation, which is how we'll line up as we're searching certain areas. We've also gone, as I stated before, to national trainings where we now really use a lot of statistical-based searching in our searches. We'll use live tracking maps now. So we've really advanced the way we search for missing persons.

MR. O'HARA: We'll start off with a set normal way — we'll deploy. More than likely we'll start with a canine searching high-probability areas, trying to get people out as quickly as possible, and then eventually it may turn into a line search or a grid search.

MR. O'HARA: That's correct, sir.

MR. O'HARA: Just one.

MR. O'HARA: It's not at our request. We'll receive requests either internally through other members of our department or externally from outside agencies.

MR. O'HARA: Most of the time I'll receive — excuse me — what I call a courtesy notification. I'll get a call from someone that I know on the department or a local police department asking, giving me the particulars of the case and if we'd be available and what I think about our response. If we are available, if we're not already on another mission, we'll then start the approval request process, which I have to send up through my chain of command. I have to send that up to a captain, which then will go to a major who's in charge of the special operations, and then he may have the final say. It may even go higher to the lieutenant colonel of field services. If the request is internal through another member of our department, it also has to go up their specific chain of command as well.

MR. O'HARA: Sometimes getting an external request sometimes goes faster because there's not that second chain of command to go through.

MR. O'HARA: At that time — excuse me, sir — we had one full-time member, 55 total members on the team.

MR. O'HARA: Yes. It's an additional duty. They have a primary assignment either at a barracks or some other assignment throughout the state.

MR. O'HARA: That would be determined by myself and the captain from special operations.

MR. O'HARA: Yes, 55 total. Correct, sir.

MR. O'HARA: Currently 69. We did have 71. We've had a few members leave the team recently.

MR. O'HARA: I'm sorry. That's full — total members. We have currently five full-time members. So we increased on both ends.

MR. O'HARA: That's correct. We try to split east-west the best we can geographically just so we have as quick a response time as possible. We'll break it down further into the northeast part of the state, the southeast, central, west, but the main breakdown for us is east-west, basically using 495 as our boundary.

MR. O'HARA: When I was the only full-time member, probably 99% of the missions I would go to. Now we have a few other supervisors on the team. I have a full-time executive officer who's also a lieutenant, but my role hasn't changed too much. Still 90 to 95% of the missions.

MR. O'HARA: Yes. I received a call from Lieutenant Tully.

MR. O'HARA: Again, that was what I would classify as a courtesy notification to see if we were available, if he thought we could get a response on that date. I told him we would be able to respond. I asked him if he had started the approval — the request for approval up his chain of command, which he hadn't at that time. He stated he would start on that, and then I contacted my captain after getting off the phone with him to start the approval process through my chain of command.

MR. O'HARA: He called me at 2:32 p.m.

MR. O'HARA: So I told Lieutenant Tully that we had received snow that day. I told him most of the members, including myself, may not have shoveled out their driveway. I told them at best case scenario it would be an hour-plus response time depending on how long it would take people to shovel out their driveway. So at 2:53, I contacted one of the west team members, a sergeant from the west team, to have him send out an alert to our full team just to build an availability list to see who was available. So at 2:53, that got sent out to the entire team.

MR. O'HARA: Yes. Sergeant Simpson was able to put that list together.

MR. O'HARA: At 3:48, we sent out an alert for the deactivation of our team, including which members, notifying the team which members would actually be responding. I had just finished shoveling my driveway. By the time I changed into my uniform, got all my equipment together, I left my house at 4:13 p.m.

MR. O'HARA: Assigned cruiser, sir.

MR. O'HARA: Yes, there is.

MR. O'HARA: Each cruiser has an automated vehicle locator or GPS system. It tracks everywhere you go, marking every time you stop.

MR. O'HARA: Yes it did.

MR. O'HARA: Yes. I knew we'd be conducting an evidence search.

MR. O'HARA: Yes. I spoke to Lieutenant Tully just to get an idea of the area we'd be searching. I determined how many members we would need to respond to that search, which at that time I figured we would need eight members to respond. Normally, as the team leader, I'll function more of an incident command role behind the team, documenting some of our efforts. So we dispatched eight members to the scene. Unfortunately, due to the snow, one of my members was not able to respond. So we only had seven members officially arrive on scene, including myself, which changed the dynamics a little bit of our search, but nothing major.

MR. O'HARA: Well, like I stated, normally I would stay behind the line of searchers, documenting what they do, more of a command role, but because we're one member short, I wound up participating in the search, more hands-on than maybe normal.

MR. O'HARA: Yes, I did, sir.

MR. O'HARA: Still snowing.

MR. O'HARA: Very cold. Visibility — it was windy, but no real issues for us to see as we were working.

MR. O'HARA: Yes. Once I spoke to Lieutenant Tully, we wanted to focus on a specific area to search.

MR. O'HARA: 4:56 p.m.

MR. O'HARA: Just prior to my arrival, one member arrived at 4:54 p.m.

MR. O'HARA: It was Trooper Jason Beausoleil.

MR. O'HARA: Yes, there were.

MR. O'HARA: No, we did not.

MR. O'HARA: Yes I do, sir.

MR. O'HARA: Yes, I do, sir.

MR. O'HARA: Trooper Blake Bearden arrived at 5:21 p.m. Sergeant Charles Luis arrived at 5:24 p.m. Sergeant Michael O'Brien arrived at 5:24 p.m. Trooper Scott Viscardi arrived at 5:34 p.m. and Sergeant Anthony Carrier arrived at 5:41 p.m.

MR. O'HARA: No I did not.

MR. O'HARA: Yes, I did.

MR. O'HARA: No, we did not.

MR. O'HARA: Yes, sir.

MR. O'HARA: There was a flagpole in front of the residence. There was also a fire hydrant in front of the residence.

MR. O'HARA: I made the final markings of the distance we wanted to search, but we were guided by Lieutenant Tully's information he was able to provide for me.

MR. O'HARA: He informed me that there was a vehicle involved in the incident. He told me where that vehicle had been parked. So we wanted to make sure we started prior to where that vehicle was parked, which was almost adjacent to the front door of the house. If you were to look at the house at 34 Fairview Road, you'd say there were two front doors: a main front door and then a secondary front door closer to the garage — whether that's a mud room or a den. So he stated the vehicle was parked almost directly across from the main front door, which, again, looking at the house, is the left front door. So we marked off that as our starting location and we wanted to search down to the fire hydrant.

MR. O'HARA: No, we were instructed that it was believed that the vehicle may have had a broken tail light. So we were looking for tail light pieces. We also were informed the victim in this incident was missing his shoe. So we were going to be looking for his sneaker as well.

MR. O'HARA: We brought shovels. We also brought push brooms. I brought a couple of garden rakes. And we also were all equipped with headlamps, you know, hiking lamps that you would wear.

MR. O'HARA: Once we began the search, we wound up turning a few of the cruisers around just to put some extra headlights on the scene.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, they were parked on the street just covering the street — not angled towards the yard at all.

MR. O'HARA: Yes, sir.

MR. O'HARA: Just to help us sift through the snow very carefully. We want to be slow and methodical as we went through the area.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, yes, but we went as slow as we could layer by layer as we moved down throughout the snow.

MR. O'HARA: No, sir.

MR. O'HARA: No, eventually we wound up going — again, our searches, we'll call it a grid search, but it's a line search where we're all lined up. Again, talking about critical spacing. If we're searching for a particular item on a search, we may use a replica item to say, okay, how far can each member be away from each other? Because this was such a small search area, our members lined up almost shoulder-to-shoulder. Once we were on a line, we would slowly move forward. Each member taking out snow, sifting — you know, excuse me — small layers, sifting it out at their own feet with a right flank along the curb in front of the house. That snow would eventually get moved out to the street where I was standing. I was the left flank on our line.

MR. O'HARA: I would then re-go through that snow, make sure we didn't miss any items or by accident carry an item that we were looking for over towards the middle of the street. Once I was satisfied there wasn't anything there, I would take that snow and throw it across to the other side of the street.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, yes, I did, sir.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, yes. The plow had come through the area. The plow had not gone curb to curb. So, we had a good 3 to 4 foot embankment coming off each curb. So, at that embankment where the snow had come to, there was higher levels of snow before it dropped down to the normal snow depth that the rest of the area had received.

MR. O'HARA: So again, the plow had probably only done enough distance from maybe two vehicles to safely pass each other, not enough to go all the way to the curb on each side of the street. As we wound up parking — the responding members as they wound up parking, they wound up parking in the snow closer to the curb. And at the end of the night, several of the cruisers were stuck. We had to push them out.

MR. O'HARA: No, there was 3 to 4 feet between the edge from where the plow was to where the curbing in front of the house was located.

MR. O'HARA: No, it did not.

MR. O'HARA: We moved my cruiser and Trooper Beausoleil's cruiser at 5:20. We had started gridding off where we wanted to search, but at 5:20, that's when we moved our cruisers to put the headlights on. That's right. Trooper Bearden and the two sergeants arrived quickly after on scene. So by 5:24 we started — all five of us were lined up shoveling. When the two other members arrived on scene, they just joined in on the line to help us move.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, no, they did not.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, Lieutenant Tully on scene.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, at one point he had several other people with him. Maybe — I believe five throughout that search — maybe five different people including him were on scene.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, at least one, maybe two. I don't — unfortunately I don't recognize every — all 200 members on our department, but there were probably about five total people on scene.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, after we found evidence, it was documented on scene by the detectives.

MR. O'HARA: No. And again, that's maybe a little change in the dynamics. You know, if I had been more in an incident commander role, I probably would have documented time, location. Again, for more — for our internal records — the primary record will always be at the hands of the detectives, but because I was actively searching, the detectives handled all documentation.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, yes, sir, they did.

MR. O'HARA: We started where we were informed the vehicle was parked, which again was almost directly across from the front door of the house, and we began working south towards Chapman Street.

MR. O'HARA: He would notify myself and Lieutenant Tully and we would stop our operation until that was documented by the detectives on scene and collected.

MR. O'HARA: Believe it was 5:45.

MR. O'HARA: Was a piece of tail light.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, yes, sir.

MR. O'HARA: It is a piece of clear lens from a tail light.

MR. O'HARA: It's the same lens, just a little enhanced — a closeup.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, yes, sir.

MR. O'HARA: I don't know the specific times. I know the first piece was 5:45, but again, I didn't handle the documentation and I have not seen the evidence log.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, we found the sneaker.

MR. O'HARA: Yes, sir.

MR. O'HARA: Sneaker was flush up against the curb and it was inverted, upside down.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, there was snow on and inside the sneaker.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, yes, sir. That's a photograph of the sneaker we recovered.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, it's directly up against the curb.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, it's a close-up picture of the same sneaker we located.

MR. O'HARA: Again, just a closeup, different angle photo of the sneaker we located.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, that's the sneaker we located up against the curb. You can see the snow in the background and that's the flagpole in front of the house. And you can see it's still snowing at this time.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, just a close-up photo of the sneaker we located up against the curb.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, correct, sir.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, not sure, sir. Several inches.

MR. O'HARA: Yes, it is, sir.

MR. O'HARA: I believe in total we located maybe six or seven pieces of tail light.

MR. O'HARA: Yes. Thank you.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, yes I do, sir.

MR. O'HARA: It's a piece of red tail light that we located.

MR. O'HARA: Yes, sir.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, it's the same piece of tail light that we recovered. Just a close-up version. You can see the molding of an overturned shovel. That piece of tail light actually came up as one of our team members was shoveling when he overturned his shovel. The piece of tail light was there. And you can see the actual molding from his shovel.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, that is another piece of tail light that we located uh at ground level.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, yes, sir.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, yes, they are, sir.

MR. O'HARA: I did not, sir. Gave them a glance when our team members told us we found something and then Lieutenant Tully took over documentation. I returned to my place, you know, on our line.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, couple of the pieces were found at ground level touching the asphalt.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, yes, that was another — that photo you showed me was a separate piece of the tail light we located.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, yes, sir.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, piece of tail light at ground level.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, it's a close-up enhanced view of that same piece of tail light. So it's just a different view of the same piece of tail light.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, yes, it is, sir.

MR. O'HARA: At some point during our search, uh, the media arrived on scene, began filming us or taking photos.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, no. There were members with Lieutenant Tully that I believe were not state police members, but I wouldn't know how to characterize what their job description was.

MR. O'HARA: No. Correct. Once we marked off our area, no one came forward of our line. That whole search area was fresh undisturbed snow as we moved through the area and no one moved past our line. Even when Lieutenant Tully and uh the member who works in his unit came to collect the evidence, they didn't move past the point we had — we had searched up to at that time.

MR. O'HARA: We don't want to disturb our scene, but we also don't want to move forward unless we're all moving together, you know, acting in unison.

MR. O'HARA: We didn't go all the way to where I had marked off originally because after we'd found everything that was collected, we had gone approximately 8 to 10 ft without finding any other evidence, uh, Lieutenant Tully and I had a discussion. I think we determined we'd found everything we're going to find that evening and we decided to suspend the search.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, our focus was on the street. We really didn't touch the front yard at all. We started to go over the curb at one point to see if we could search the grass area, but we could not properly definitively say we were searching it. Well, as we started to move the snow, we couldn't really differentiate down to the grass level.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, it was cold, frozen. The ground was frozen, sir.

MR. O'HARA: So when we suspended our search, we'll always do a full team debrief and we'll debrief with the person who requested our search. And at the end of our search, we'll come up with what we call our probability of detection. We'll give a baseline determination of what I think, percentage-wise, whether we would have found what we were looking for. I did provide that to Lieutenant Tully — told him there was a good chance we did not locate everything that evening and we offered to return at a later date or time at his request.

MR. O'HARA: I did not know, sir.

MR. O'HARA: No, we didn't have a photo of the tail light. I was never shown anything, so I wasn't sure how much we were actually looking for.

MR. O'HARA: Uh, approximately 6:15, I believe. I was the last one to leave, which was 6:23 p.m. when I left.

MR. O'HARA: It was about 55 minutes. We started again around 5:20, ending around 6:15.

MR. O'HARA: I have been informed that they did. Yes. But not from my team, but other members of our department.

MR. O'HARA: We did not, sir. No.