John O'Keefe, the victim in the Karen Read trial, was a veteran officer and devoted father figure

This photo undated photo released by the Boston Police Department shows officer John O'Keefe. (Boston Police Department via AP)

CANTON, Mass. (AP) — John O’Keefe’ s title was Boston police officer, but to those who loved him, he was Johnny, J-J or affectionately, the Godfather. His girlfriend once called him “the patron saint of Canton.”

That girlfriend, Karen Read, is now on trial, accused of killing O’Keefe in a case that has attracted national attention and called into question the integrity of a wide swath of Massachusetts' law enforcement community and even some of O'Keefe's friends.

Born and raised in suburban Braintree, O’Keefe graduated from Northeastern University and earned a master’s in criminal justice from the University of Massachusetts. He was 46 at the time of his death, and had been a Boston police officer for 16 years.

Flags, flowers and remembrances flank the headstone of John O'Keefe, a Boston police officer, at Blue Hill Cemetery, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Braintree, Mass. A jury is deliberating the fate of O'Keefe's girlfriend, Karen Read, who is charged with second-degree murder in O'Keefe's death. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

For much of that time, O’Keefe also had been raising his niece and nephew in Canton after his sister and her husband died just months apart. He also lost his best friend, fellow Boston Officer Pat Rogers, to suicide. Rogers’ girlfriend was pregnant at the time, and O’Keefe quickly stepped up to support her as well, acting as godfather to her son.

“He was the first person in my delivery room after I gave birth,” Laura Sullivan testified during the trial, describing O’Keefe as a “constant” presence in her son’s life.

Other witnesses described O’Keefe’s devotion to his niece and nephew, who called him J-J and were just 6 and 3 when he became their guardian. O’Keefe’s younger brother, Paul, was the first witness called by the prosecution. Asked to name his siblings, he struggled to stay composed when naming his late sister and “my brother John.” Everyone called him Johnny, he said, “especially if you were family.”

Karen Read gets a long hug from her dad William before the jury breaks for lunch at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Wednesday June 26, 2024. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Paul O'Keefe said he had planned to see his brother the day before he died, but they canceled because of a coming snowstorm. Their last communication was in a group text with family members. John O’Keefe was excited, he said, because their niece had been accepted to a private high school.

The Associated Press