The Herald looked into the 2023 calendar year pay of Canton town employees who testified at the Karen Read murder trial.
You can search the entire town payroll here. Here is what we found.
Base Pay: $99,008.76
OT: $5,895.75
Other: $12,064.89
Total: $116,969.40
The first emergency responder to the scene at 34 Fairview a little after 6 on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022. Dashcam footage from Saraf’s cruiser played in court showed Karen Read frantically pacing after he arrived at the lawn during the snowstorm.
“She kept saying, ‘This is all my fault. This is my fault. I did this.’ She was very hysterical,” Saraf said
Base: $84,561.94
OT: $48,882.87
Details: $23,861.62
Other: $10,278.8
Total: $167,585.30
The second person to respond to the scene, testified to largely the same encounter that morning as Saraf, though without having heard Read saying anything to take responsibility.
Base: $74,384.23
OT: $22,650.95
Other: $7,307.63
Total: $104,342.81
Nuttall told investigators he heard Read say, “I hit him” repeatedly while pacing around her boyfriend’s body as it was stiff and cold in the heavy snow in the front yard of 34 Fairview Road.
Base: $78,295.43
OT: $41,241.23
Other: $12,962.87
Total: $132,499.53
The lead paramedic at the scene, recalled Read telling him “I hit him, I hit him; oh my God, I hit him,” as he questioned her for basic information.
Base: $67,892.75
OT: $7,877.63
Other: $4,500.08
Total: $80,270.46
Testified that he heard Read screaming, “He’s dead. He’s (expletive) dead!” … The least experienced paramedic at the scene, having received his training within two months of the call.
Base: $82,626.32
OT: $6,419.51
Other: $11,878.72
Total: $100,924.55
Walsh said he saw two women at the scene when he pulled up and that one of them, who he identified as Read, was “screaming and crying” and repeatedly asking, “Is he alive?”
Base: $77,227.39
OT: $3,624.69
Details: $595.80
Other $7,755.73
Total: $89,203.61
Testified that she heard Read say, “I hit him” … Defense questioned her relationship with Caitlin Albert, the daughter of Nicole and Brian Albert, who owned the home where O’Keefe would be killed and the family central to the defense’s theory of a coverup.
Base: $96,315.35
OT: $7,610.72
Other: 9,592.44
Total: $113,518.51
Responded to the first call as well as a second to bring Read in for a psychiatric evaluation. He said, “She was obviously experiencing a lot of emotions” as “she kept repeating ‘Is he dead? Is he dead?’”
Base: $77,083.16
OT: 10,718.37
Details: $1,390.20
Other $8,415.04
Total: $97,606.77
On the second 911 call, testified Read kept referring to O’Keefe as “her husband” while in hysterics. He said that he thought Read’s statements and actions were “within the normal grieving process.”
Base: $77,035.16
OT: $9,505.70
Details: $264.80
Other $7,699.96
Total: $94,505.62
Testified Read was cooperative with paramedics and that she told him that she hadn’t had any drugs or alcohol in the immediate time period.
Base: $153,101.27
OT: $52,938.54
Details: $100,972.16
Other $15,377.08
Total: $322,389.05
Senior officer on the scene after O’Keefe had already been transported to the hospital, oversaw scene operations including securing the site, collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses. Used a leaf blower to gently remove snow from the area other officers told him O’Keefe’s body had been, collected six samples of presumed blood from the area in red Solo cups and located a shattered piece of a drinking glass. He testified he saw “none” of the broken tail light pieces.
Base: $103,055.86
OT: $34,789.00
Details: $58,250.59
Other: $9,692.17
Total: $205,787.62
Supervised the Canton PD’s overnight patrol that night and was specifically assigned to the dispatch center. He was the third cop on the scene and testified Read was making suicidal statements there.
Base: $153,101.26
OT: $15,901.29
Details: $63,862.30
Other $14,196.01
Total: $247,060.86
Testified he arrived on the scene at around 6:30 a.m. when O’Keefe was already in the ambulance. He called in MSP, since they have jurisdiction over “unattended deaths” and homicides. Interviewed the 34 Fairview Road owners Brian and Nicole Albert as well as Jennifer McCabe — Brian Albert’s sister-in-law and who, along with Kerry Roberts, accompanied Read to look for O’Keefe that morning — inside the home. The interviews were not recorded.
Base: $159,480.73
OT: $27,539.72
Details: $41,525.27
Other $20,965.20
Total: $249,510.92
Testified that he went to the O’Keefe home at 1 Meadows Ave. the morning of Jan. 29, 2022 to check on the kids, but they were already gone.
Base: $142,712.67
Other: $9,162.92
Total: $151,875.59
Identified the town’s “plow plan” for the snowstorm that spanned Jan. 28 and 29, 2022. … Testified he spoke with MSP Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator on the case, via phone days later
Base: $123,733.59
Other: $1,999.92
Total: $125,733.51
Testified that the town provided municipal surveillance footage to MSP during the agency’s investigation into O’Keefe’s death.
Base: $68,299.66
OT: $7,297.16
Other: $1,547.11
Total: $77,143.93
Testified he saw a Ford Edge parked outside 34 Fairview Road when he was doing his second pass of the road at around 3:15 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. This suggests someone else could have killed O’Keefe.