Jurors in Karen Read trial shown blood samples in Solo cups, paper bag

Photographs were shown Monday during the murder trial of Karen Read, the Mansfield woman charged in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe, of how police collected blood at the scene where O’Keefe’s body was found on Jan. 29, 2022, in Canton.

Snow with red drops was put into Solo cups and then into a brown Stop & Shop paper bag before being brought to the Canton police station, according to testimony from Lt. Paul Gallagher of Canton Police.

Jurors were shown pictures taken inside the Canton Police Department of the reddish snow inside six Solo cups as the evidence was being transferred to Massachusetts State Police investigators on Feb. 1, 2022.

Read, 44, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of O’Keefe who was found on the snow-covered front lawn of 34 Fairview Road in Canton just before sunrise on Jan. 29, 2022.

O’Keefe’s body was found cold to the touch the morning of a snowstorm at about 6:10 a.m.

— Read more: 4 takeaways from Karen Read trial: texts, taillight damage and first witnesses

Gallagher testified Monday morning about processing the scene on the morning O’Keefe was found and how Canton police decided to use a leaf blower in the area where O’Keefe’s body lay after first responders rushed him to the hospital.

The leaf blower revealed pieces of broken glass and darker red spots that police thought might be blood, Gallagher said.

No pieces of taillight or a missing shoe belonging to O’Keefe were initially recovered, Gallagher said. Norfolk prosecutors in court filings have stated that pieces of taillight were later found at the scene by Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor.

The red Solo cups were collected from a neighbor’s house and six samples were placed into six cups, Gallagher said.

Alan Jackson, Read’s defense attorney, asked whether the cups or the brown paper bag they were placed in were sterile, and Gallagher said he agreed they were not.

“Do you think it’s standard practice for a police department to borrow red Solo cups from a neighbor to gather evidence?” Jackson asked.

Norfolk prosecutor Adam Lally objected, but presiding Judge Beverly Cannone allowed Gallagher to answer.

“Of course not,” Gallagher said. “Nothing about this scene was standard.”

— Read more: Canton police officers questioned by Karen Read’s lawyers during trial

During cross-examination, Jackson raised questions about whether the investigation sought to search for evidence within the home of 34 Fairview Road, which belonged to another Boston police officer named Brian Albert, related to the case.

“There was no conflict of interest, I said an appearance of conflict of interest,” Gallagher said when Jackson asked about the relationship between the Albert family and the Canton Police Department. “I honestly believe we could have investigated this case.”

Jackson asked whether Canton police ever attempted to search the home for any evidence related to the investigation, and Gallagher said that police did not ask for consent to search the home nor did they believe there was probable cause to seek a search warrant.

Gallagher said that although there were three to four people inside 34 Fairview Road when he returned with Canton police Sgt. Michael Lank at 9 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, they only interviewed one person, Jennifer McCabe.

McCabe was one of the two women who accompanied Read on Jan. 29, 2022, to 34 Fairview Road and found O’Keefe’s body.

Canton Police Sgt. Sean Goode, a member of the department for the past 17 years, took the stand after Gallagher Monday morning before the court took a lunch break.

The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks.

Opening statements began April 29 when Yannetti told jurors Read had been “framed” and revealed text messages from lead investigator Proctor.

Read’s defense team in court has said other people are responsible for O’Keefe’s killing and the presiding judge has allowed them to pursue a third-party culprit defense at trial — but did not allow them to present it during opening statements.

— Read more: Karen Read’s ‘I hit him’ statements come under questioning during murder trial

Defense attorneys said previously that three men in the Canton house on the night of O’Keefe’s death had “a motive and the means to attack” him.

Read pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence, and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash causing death.

Her attorneys claim other people are responsible for O’Keefe’s death and that alleged conflicts of interest have compromised the case.