The second expert on smartphone forensics testified Wednesday at Karen Reading Trial that Jennifer McCabe's Google search cryogenic search occurred when John O'Keefe's body was found, not before, as defense lawyers said.
Jessica Hyde testified that she could scientifically say McCabe
The defense claims the search took place at 2:27 a.m. – hours before Read's Read, McCabe and Kerry Roberts found that O'Keefe died in the snow at 34 Fairview Road – was incorrect. The earlier timestamps are not connected to the search, but are actually assigned to the time McCabe opens the browser tab on his phone.
The testimony supported early testimony by Ian Whiffin, a digital forensic expert at Cellebrite, which allowed some of the software and hardware researchers used to find information about phones and other devices.
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Karen Read met with attorney Alan Jackson during a murder trial in the Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts on May 7, 2025. (Greg Derr/Patriot Ledger via AP/Pool)
Hyde testifies using specific terms – “HEX Editor”, “Hash Value” and database files, involving technical details on how to extract, save and interpret telephone data. She testified that even inexperienced analysts have a hard time understanding things.
Philadelphia area defense attorney David Gelman has been hearing the case, questioning the prosecution’s decision to have expert witnesses take a position in the capacity of such technical testimony to the court for lunch break.
“For experts, you want them to make sense for 5-year-olds,” he told Fox News Digital. “They failed today. Adding that it was a very boring topic and I bet the jurors were thinking about what to order for lunch.”
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John O'Keefe (Boston Police Department)
After lunch, defense attorney Robert Alessi handled the cross-examination, proposed the same technical terms, and grilled her testimony about her first trial at Read, which he did not attend.
Last year's trial ended in a deadlock, leading to the state's introduction of special prosecutor Hank Brennan to retry the case.
Without a jury, Alessi asked the court to allow reference to the recent Maryland case, saying he showed Hyde was an unreliable witness. Judge Beverly gunner supported Brennan’s team and said he could not bring the judge’s decision in that case, but she said he was free to cross-examine the method she used to propose the discovery.
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Witness Jessica Hyde, a digital forensic data analyst, talked about Jennifer McCabe's cell phone data during Karen's May 7, 2025 reading murder trial. (Greg Derr/Patriot Ledger via AP/Pool)
Under cross-examination, she testified that O'Keeffe's phone call did not align with the established “best practice” after police recovered from the scene.
Gellman said she had a wife with Alessi and often used the same technical terms as the direct review of juries alienating them.
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“Judges don't want to sit down for a few days,” he said. “They want to get into the meat and potatoes.”
Red pleaded not guilty to murder, murder and the charge of escaping the scene. If convicted of the highest charge, she could face life in jail.
Massachusetts prosecutors claimed she supported the Lexus SUV and fatally attacked O'Keeffe before driving away after drinking in Canton, a Boston suburb.
Attorney Robert Alessi speaks at the Karen Read murder trial on May 7, 2025. (Greg Derr/Patriot Ledger via AP/Pool)
Through her defense attorney, she completely denied him.
Jennifer McCabe at Karen Read
In Wednesday's lawsuit, Massachusetts State Police Connor Keefe presided over the stance, discussing how he gathered evidence in the case, including phone calls from McCabe and Roberts, as well as taunts from the crime scene and O'Keefe's sneakers.
Once, he opened a bag of evidence in front of the jury, which contained three pieces of broken plastic instead of the expected two.
Massachusetts State Police Connor Keefe presents taillight fragments as evidence during the May 7, 2025 murder trial of Karen Read. (Greg Derr/Patriot Ledger via AP/Pool)
“Do you know if another piece in the bag is broken?” Brennan asked. “Do you know how that got there?”
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“I didn't,” Keefe said.
Brennan asked the fragments to be moved into the evidence, but after opposing in Red's defense, the court directed Keefe to place the third piece in a separate bag of evidence.
from Fox True Crime Center
Karen Read listened to lawyers Robert Alessi and Hank Brennan right and left during the murder trial on May 7, 2025. (Greg Derr/Patriot Ledger via AP/Pool)
But Keefe's testimony helped prosecutors establish a solid timeline of when and where police found the taillight fragments: O'Keefe and Read met that night on Snow Street, 34 Fairview Road.
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Testimony is expected to resume soon after 9 a.m. Thursday.
