Karen Learn was allegedly overheard uttering “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him” after discovering her Boston cop boyfriend lifeless within the snow, a key witness testified Wednesday.
The witness, Jennifer McCabe, informed jurors she heard her crazed buddy making the alleged admission to a primary responder sooner or later after they discovered John O’Keefe’s physique on Jan. 29, 2022.
McCabe, who was with Learn on the time and was the one who known as 911, mentioned she interrupted her buddy as a result of “I assumed she was speaking loopy.”
“Karen was hysterical, irrational,” McCabe testified within the Dedham, Massachusetts, courtroom.
“She’s doing numerous screaming, asking ‘is he lifeless, is he lifeless, is he lifeless?’ She simply was form of in all places.”
McCabe returned to the stand underneath cross examination within the sensational homicide trial Wednesday — a day after she testified that her buddy additionally saved asking “Did I hit him?” and “Might I’ve hit him?”
Prosecutors allege Learn, 45, backed into O’Keefe, 46, along with her Lexus SUV after an evening of consuming at a buddy’s dwelling in Canton — after which left him to die as a snowstorm approached.
After receiving a hysterical name from Learn round 5:30 a.m. the morning after, McCabe informed jurors that she, Learn and a 3rd lady, Kerry Roberts, drove collectively to the house in quest of the Boston cop.
McCabe mentioned she instantly known as 911 after Learn noticed her boyfriend and began screaming as she wiped snow from his frozen face.
In the course of the 911 name, which was performed in courtroom Wednesday, Learn may very well be heard making noise within the background as McCabe tried to talk with the dispatcher.
“I don’t know,” McCabe may very well be heard saying when requested how lengthy O’Keefe had been outdoors within the chilly.
“I believe he’s handed away,” she then mentioned, based on the audio.
Requested how she was feeling on the time, McCabe testified: “I used to be in shock.”
“My coronary heart was racing. I used to be attempting to be as useful as I may and get crucial data out as fast as I may to the 911 operators but additionally the scene there with Karen and Kerry was a bit chaotic between the 2 of them, so I used to be simply attempting my greatest to be as calm as I may to get assist there as shortly as I may,” she mentioned.
Doubling down on her prior testimony, McCabe recalled the moments first responders began arriving on scene – noting that Learn was “operating round loopy … simply yelling and screaming.”
At one level, an officer advised Learn sit down in one of many police cruisers to settle down, McCabe mentioned.
McCabe informed jurors she obtained within the automobile, too, to consolation her buddy.
It was then that Learn requested McCabe to Google hypothermia and the way lengthy it takes for somebody to die within the chilly.
At that time, McCabe made the now-infamous net search: “hos lengthy to die in chilly?”
Learn’s attorneys have argued that McCabe’s Google search occurred hours earlier than O’Keefe was found, which may implicate her quite than Learn.
They declare Learn was focused as scapegoat in a regulation enforcement cover-up and have advised that O’Keefe was killed by somebody inside the house the place his girlfriend says she dropped him off.
McCabe additionally testified for 3 days at Learn’s first trial final 12 months, which led to a mistrial.
Learn’s second trial on expenses of second-degree homicide, manslaughter and leaving the scene, started April 22.
