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Karen Read case: Alberts, McCabes, and Higgins crowdfund legal expenses as civil case heats up
“Silence is no longer an option. It is time to stand up. Financial support is needed to defend the truth.”
Accused of framing Karen Read for murder and now gearing up for a lengthy court battle, several witnesses from the high-profile case are appealing to the public for help clearing their names.
“We stayed silent, trusting the justice system to correct the record and protect the witnesses who cooperated in good faith. It hasn’t,” says a new GiveSendGo campaign fundraising on behalf of the Albert, McCabe, and Higgins families.
The campaign — which had raised more than $42,000 as of Monday afternoon — has a stated purpose of funding legal representation, challenging “false allegations in a court of law,” and protecting the families from ongoing harassment.
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Read named Brian and Nicole Albert, Jennifer and Matthew McCabe, and Brian Higgins in a new Bristol County lawsuit last week, alleging they “concocted a plan” to frame her for murdering her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. The complaint also names three current and former Massachusetts State Police investigators who worked on the case: Detective Lt. Brian Tully, Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, and ex-Trooper Michael Proctor.
More on Karen Read:
Read was acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges this June after prosecutors alleged she drunkenly backed her SUV into O’Keefe while dropping him off at the Alberts’ home for an afterparty early on Jan. 29, 2022. Higgins and the McCabes also attended the gathering, and Read alleges her then-boyfriend was actually killed “in an altercation during [the] late-night house party … after a night of heavy drinking.”
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Read’s criminal defense team previously alleged Higgins had motive to harm O’Keefe after Higgins exchanged flirty texts with Read, who then “ghosted” him shortly before her boyfriend died.
Rather than call 911, Read claims the afterparty guests moved O’Keefe’s body outside to make it appear as though he were struck by a car. He was found unresponsive on the Alberts’ front lawn hours later.
Though ultimately convicted only of a drunk driving misdemeanor, Read still faces an ongoing wrongful death lawsuit from O’Keefe’s family. Her team launched its own fundraiser to help cover legal expenses for her civil case, raising more than $3,500 as of Monday afternoon. An earlier campaign for her criminal defense raised more than $1.1 million from nearly 14,000 donors.
Her lawsuit last week came soon after the Alberts, McCabes, and Higgins threatened to sue Read and Turtleboy blogger Aidan Kearney — one of her most vocal champions — for defamation over the conspiracy claims. Kearney faces a number of witness intimidation charges in connection with his coverage of the case, and authorities previously accused Read of leaking non-public information to the blogger.
The GiveSendGo campaign alleges Read’s criminal case laid the groundwork for a new “playbook” of sorts: “weaponize social media, unleash online trolls, pollute the jury pool, tear apart a community and use character assassination and harassment to intimidate witnesses and rewrite reality.”
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The families contend they’ve cooperated fully with state and federal investigators, answered every question, and told the truth “every single time.”
“Not one of us ever invoked the Fifth Amendment—because we have nothing to hide,” the witnesses said, adding that they’ve faced “years of harassment, intimidation, and online defamation” and thousands of dollars in legal bills nonetheless.
According to the GiveSendGo, any excess funds will go toward supporting “other witnesses and victims facing similar attacks” — a goal echoed in a separate website dedicated to their cause, defendingthetruth.org. Online records indicate the domain was registered in late October, weeks before the Alberts, McCabes, and Higgins openly denounced Read’s coverup claims as “a vile work of fiction.”
“Silence is no longer an option. It is time to stand up. Financial support is needed to defend the truth,” the website states. “With continued support, justice will be served, not only for these families, but for John O’Keefe, whose memory deserves nothing less than the truth.”
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