NEED TO KNOW

• Karen Read, fresh off her acquittal on murder charges, filed a civil lawsuit accusing local police and her former friends of framing her for her ex-boyfriend John O’Keefe’s death

• Read alleges O’Keefe, a Boston police officer, was killed inside Brian and Nicole Albert’s home during a late-night gathering

• The filing accuses investigators of ignoring evidence, mishandling the case and sending private messages that demeaned and mocked Read

Karen Read — fresh off her acquittal for the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe — has filed a civil lawsuit accusing state police investigators and several former friends of shielding the real killers and pinning the crime on her.

Filed in Bristol County Superior Court, the complaint names eight defendants: former Massachusetts State Police investigator Michael Proctor, Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, Lt. Brian Tully, Brian and Nicole Albert, Jennifer and Matthew McCabe, and ATF agent Brian Higgins. The filing notes that additional entities, including the Massachusetts State Police and the Town of Canton, will be added after statutory requirements are met.

For three-and-a-half years, Read claims she was wrongly accused and subject to persecution stemming from “gross misconduct” by the Massachusetts State Police and those working with them to cover up for the real killers of O’Keefe, who was found dead in a snowbank in January 2022 outside the Alberts’ home, with traumatic injuries to his head.

Read was accused by prosecutors of purposely hitting O’Keefe with her SUV, and was twice tried on murder charges in connection with the incident. Her first trial ended in a hung jury, while the second led to an acquittal on the murder charge in June, Read was convicted only of operating a vehicle under the influence and received a year of probation.

In her lawsuit, filed this week and reviewed by PEOPLE, Read offers a dramatically different account of what happened in the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2022.

According to the filing, O’Keefe “was killed in Defendants Brian and Nicole Albert’s home… in an altercation” during a late-night gathering after a night of heavy drinking. The people inside the home — collectively described as the “House Defendants” — allegedly “concocted a plan immediately after the altercation to avoid culpability and to frame Karen Read.”

Related: Where Is Karen Read Now? What to Know About Her Life After Being Acquitted of Murder

Part of that plan, the complaint claims, involved conducting a Google search for “how long to die in the cold,” moving O’Keefe’s body outside, and placing him on the Alberts’ front lawn “near the road to make it look like Mr. O’Keefe was hit by a vehicle and that he died in the snow without ever coming into the House that night.”

The suit alleges investigators allowed the House Defendants to “direct the investigation away from themselves, and towards Ms. Read,” noting the Alberts are “a prominent family in Canton” and that Proctor — the lead investigator — was “close personal friends” with the family. Brian Albert is a longtime Boston police officer, while Higgins was an ATF agent.

According to the complaint, investigators ignored “obvious and compelling evidence” that pointed away from Read.

O’Keefe’s injuries — including “bruises and lacerations on his face,” “a deep gash to the back of the head,” and “dog bite wounds and scratches” on his arm — were described as consistent with a physical attack, while his body “showed no signs of a vehicular strike.”

The filing also says state police never examined the Alberts’ German Shepherd — “a dog that had a history of attacking other dogs and people” — despite O’Keefe’s documented bite wounds.

The complaint further alleges that Proctor and MSP colleagues never searched the house for nearly a week, did not seize or search phones, conducted only cursory interviews, and allowed would-be witnesses to communicate and coordinate their accounts. It claims Proctor “secretly communicated with the Alberts” through his sister, allegedly passing along confidential information outside investigative channels.

Proctor further wrote that Read had “zero chance [of] skating… she’s f***ed” 16 hours after O’Keefe’s body was found — and before he had entered the Alberts’ home, Read alleges in her complaint.

Read also cites several alleged private messages to accuse Proctor of demeaning and sexualizing her early in the investigation.

In one alleged message, Proctor said he searched Read’s phone “looking for naked pictures” and was disappointed “there were ‘no nudes so far,’” later adding: “Hopefully she kills herself.”

Attorneys for the defendants did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

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