Aidan Kearney, who writes the “Turtleboy” blog and advocates for accused murderer Karen Read, was charged with witness intimidation on Oct. 11, 2023. During an arraignment, a judge ordered him not to have any contact with the witnesses he’s accused of intimidating. (WFXT/YouTube)
The murder case of Karen Read took another twist this week as authorities confiscated two of her cellphones to see if she had been involved in a controversial blogger’s alleged witness intimidation.
Special prosecutor Ken Mello told several media outlets the phones were seized as part of the investigation into Aidan Kearney, who writes the Turtleboy blog and has fervently defended Read, who is accused of running over her Boston police officer husband, John O’Keefe, and leaving him for dead in the middle of a snowstorm in January 2022.
When Mello was asked if prosecutors suspect Read has been involved in the witness intimidation, he responded: “It’s part of our investigation,” Boston.com reported.
Meanwhile, Kearney again landed in hot water after he allegedly shoved an ex-girlfriend who also is a witness in the Read case. He’s facing assault and battery and intimidation of a witness charges.
After his initial arrest in October, a grand jury last month indicted Kearney on eight counts of witness intimidation, three counts of conspiracy to intimidate witnesses, and five counts of picketing a witness. Kearney appeared to be covering the case on his own accord but cops seizing Read’s phones suggest prosecutors believe that they two may have been in cahoots together. Read is charged with second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a crash while causing death.
John O’Keefe and Karen Read. (Images via BPD portrait and WBZ-TV screengrab, respectively.)
Authorities allege Read and O’Keefe, 46, were out for a night of drinking when they went to the home of a fellow police officer. Amid a blizzard, Read is accused of running O’Keefe over after she dropped him off at the home. He was found unresponsive hours later and rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Kearney has argued in blog posts and YouTube videos that Read is innocent and the people inside the police officer’s home are responsible for his death with law enforcement officials covering it up, a theory also peddled by Read’s defense team. He says the people whom police describe as witnesses are actually suspects.
In the course of his coverage of the case, Kearney has reportedly organized 100-car caravans to drive by the homes of witnesses with him on a loudspeaker calling them “cop killers” and has told people to call a restaurant owned by one of the witnesses and order food but not pay for it. Kearney also showed up to a high school sporting event of one of the witnesses’ children. He wrote of the incident on his blog, saying he got kicked out because he kept calling the witness a cop killer.
Morro said Kearney began covering the case in April 2023. But Kearney’s coverage has gone well beyond what a typical reporter would do while covering a story, Morro alleged. For instance, in a video posted to YouTube titled “Turtleboy Returns to Canton: Door Knocking, Grilling Public Officials & Cops Called On Me,” Kearney relayed a message to witnesses involved in the case.
“This is not my last trip to Canton, I will be back. Get used to this. These people think I’m f—— around. These people haven’t seen the last of me,” Kearney said, according to Morro.
Kearney also helped raise funds for “Free Karen Read” billboards outside Gillette Stadium, where the New England Patriots play. He wrote that “half the population of Norfolk County,” where the case is being tried, has never heard of the case before, but the billboards would help change that.
“Essentially, judge, it’s an admission that he’s seeking to taint the jury pool in this case,” Morro said in court.
Morro also said that Kearney divulged the cellphone number of the Massachusetts State Police trooper investigating the case.
But Kearney’s attorneys said in court he is a reporter covering a story and is protected under the First Amendment.
Section 13B of Chapter 268 of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts law addresses witness intimidation. It qualifies witness intimidation as “anyone who willfully threatens, attempts or causes physical, emotional or economic injury or property damage” to someone testifying in a case.
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