How Karen Read's case captivated media, conspiracy theorists and true crime enthusiasts

A Norfolk Superior Court judge declared a mistrial Monday in the Karen Read murder case after a deadlocked jury failed to reach a verdict.

In the trial that garnered widespread media attention, prosecutors alleged that on a January night in 2022, the Mansfield woman deliberately backed up her SUV and struck her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, as she dropped him off at a party in Canton.

Karen Read's defense team argued she was framed, and that O'Keefe was killed in a beating by others. Crowds of her supporters camped outside the Dedham courthouse over the nine weeks the case was presented and deliberated.

Former Boston Globe columnist Joanna Weiss, now the director of media training at Northeastern University, watched the trial closely and joins WBUR's All Things Considered to discuss how the case morphed into a spectacle.