Professor Was Accused of Hitting Cop Boyfriend with Car, Leaving Him to Die. Does New Evidence Exonerate Her?

Defense attorneys for the Massachusetts college professor accused of leaving her police officer boyfriend to die in the snow after fatally striking him with her car says newly acquired cell phone evidence will clear her of his murder.

Karen Read has been charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter and leaving the scene of a collision in the January 2022 death of her off-duty Boston Police Officer boyfriend John O'Keefe outside a Canton, Mass., home.

She's pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Leading up to his death, the couple of two years reportedly spent the night drinking and bar hopping with friends before Read, 43, dropped O'Keefe, 46, off at the home of a fellow off-duty police officer for an after-party, PEOPLE previously reported.

Prosecutors say as O'Keefe exited the vehicle, Read allegedly proceeded to make a three-point turn during a winter storm, striking her boyfriend in the process before driving off.

After O'Keefe failed to return home hours later, Read allegedly went looking for him, before finding his body in a snowbank outside the home where she allegedly left him.

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Now, Read's defense attorney David Yanetti says "bombshell exculpatory information" withheld by the state exonerates her and implicates others in the death of O'Keefe.

Yanetti claims that the evidence shows someone inside the fellow police officer's home was searching on their phone "'Ho[w] long to die in cold,'" according to a news release.

"This evidence unequivocally exonerates Karen, because it establishes that individuals who were in the house… that night were aware that John was dying in the snow before Karen even knew he was missing," the release continues.

According to the defense, that person allegedly "deleted from [the] phone [the] incriminating Google search from 2:27 a.m., deleted multiple phone calls" with others in the house before their phone was turned over to authorities.

In court documents obtained by PEOPLE, the defense claims "photographs of O'Keefe suggest that he was beaten severely and left for dead, having sustained blunt force injuries to both sides of his face as well as to the back of his head."

"In addition to suffering numerous defensive wounds on his hands consistent with a brutal fight, O'Keefe also suffered a cluster of deep scratches and puncture wounds to his right upper arm and forearm," the documents read. "These injuries to O'Keefe's right arm are consistent with bite marks and/or claw marks from an animal, more specifically a dog."

"While prosecutors are ethically constrained in the statements that can be made outside the courtroom, the Norfolk District Attorney's Office is in receipt of the motion filed this week and it is our expectation to have a detailed response to the court May 3 that refutes the assertions in that motion," The Norfolk District Attorney's Office said in a statement to PEOPLE.

Read's next court hearing is scheduled for May 3.