John O’Keefe tragically passed away after falling backward and hitting his head on frozen ground, as revealed by Yale-educated brain surgeon Dr. Aizik Wolf during Karen Read’s murder trial. The accused, Read, allegedly struck her then-boyfriend, O’Keefe, with her 2021 Lexus SUV on January 29, 2022, in Canton, Massachusetts, before abandoning him in a blizzard, approximately 20 miles south of Boston.
The head trauma and skull fractures sustained by O’Keefe, combined with the cold weather-induced hypothermia, did not result in immediate death, according to Dr. Wolf, drawing from his experience treating similar injuries in Minneapolis. The impact of falling backward caused the fatal injury, leading to a fracture in O’Keefe’s skull and the subsequent development of “raccoon eyes,” a common sign of blunt-force trauma. Dr. Wolf emphasized that the brain swelling would have ultimately caused O’Keefe’s demise within 24 to 48 hours under normal circumstances.
In the January nor’easter, O’Keefe’s body temperature plummeted, with paramedics discovering him at 6 a.m. with a temperature of only 80 degrees, indicative of severe hypothermia. Dr. Wolf’s expertise in handling such cases shed light on the severity of O’Keefe’s injuries and the possible timeline leading to his tragic death. The ongoing courtroom drama surrounding Karen Read’s involvement in O’Keefe’s demise raises questions about the events leading up to the fatal incident and the subsequent legal implications for the accused woman.
