Karen Read said John O'Keefe messaged her on Facebook to reconnect after going their separate ways after their first relationship.
As the jury continues their deliberations Thursday in Karen Read's murder trial, more details have been released surrounding the relationship between Read and her police officer boyfriend she is accused of killing.
Read first dated John O'Keefe after college.
"Work took her everywhere briefly and they sort of went their separate ways as people do in their twenties," Sean Cotter of the Boston Globe tells Inside Edition.
Last August, Read told "Nightline" that she and O'Keefe reconnected during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"He had reached out to me on Facebook. He said, 'Hey, blast from the past. How's things,'" Read said.
At the time, O'Keefe was caring for his niece and nephew who were left orphans after the deaths of their parents from brain cancer and a heart attack.
"I would call him he was like the 'Patron Saint of Canton,'" Read said. "You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone that didn't care for John," Read said.
Read and her supporters claim she is being framed by police who are protecting one of their own. Her attorneys claim O'Keefe was killed at a party at another police officer's house.
Read suffers from Crohn's disease that caused temporary blindness and underwent 10 abdominal surgeries. She also suffers from a brain tumor and multiple sclerosis.
"[Read supporters] say that Karen Read could be themselves or anybody else. They feel an everyday person is being framed," CourtTV's Matt Johnson tells Inside Edition.
