Karen Learn’s Lexus has been repaired and is headed to public sale, years after she drove it on the night time of John O’Keefe’s demise and police impounded the automobile.
“The battery was dead,” JB Auto Care mechanic Invoice Brusard advised the Herald. “It had some rodents residing in it. The dashboard was all aside, and it was messy.
“Obviously, the taillight was missing,” he added. “So we got it detailed, cleaned, removed the rat’s nest out of there — a mouse nest, whatever it was — put a new battery in it, changed the oil, put the taillight in it, and everything came out great.”
Police seized the Lexus on Jan. 29, 2022, the morning after Learn’s boyfriend O’Keefe was discovered lifeless outdoors a Canton house.
Learn was introduced up on costs of second-degree homicide and manslaughter associated to accusations she had hit O’Keefe along with her automotive. Finally after two trials, Learn was acquitted of all costs however for driving underneath the affect.
Her automotive, a Lexus SUV, was central to the police’s case, with a give attention to a contentious damaged taillight.
Brusard, who runs JB Auto Care in Weymouth and did the work free of charge, stated he was answering automotive questions on the Howie Carr Present months in the past when the host requested if he’d be serious about fixing the automobile if it received launched.
A pair days later, Brusard stated, Learn’s lawyer received in contact.
“He goes, ‘Hey, I want to take you up on that offer, if you can take her vehicle,’ ” stated Brusard. “I’m like, ‘Sure, have it towed down.’ ”
After the 2 high-profile court docket circumstances, Learn and her lawyer determined to not have her preserve driving the automotive, Brusard stated. As a substitute they may ship it to public sale by the Howie Carr Present in January, with all of the proceeds going to Learn.
Brusard stated he wished to assist out after listening to in regards to the former defendant’s state of affairs.
“She sold a home to pay for legal fees,” stated Brusard. “She’s lost her job, her career, is living at a parent’s house, so she hasn’t worked in a few years. I wanted to help.”
The restore work took a pair weeks, the mechanic stated, involving placing again collectively the dashboard solely dismantled by investigators.
“They took the radio apart because it had GPS chips in it,” stated Brusard. “So we reinstalled that, but the radio does not work. That’s kind of a big deal on those vehicles.”
The dashboard work was “pretty challenging,” Brusard stated, noting that it was solely in items. Changing the radio in a automotive like that might value round $15,000, the mechanic estimated.
Brusard stated he wasn’t conversant in how property was dealt with by the police after a state of affairs like Learn’s, however thought, “Shouldn’t they be on the hook for this?”
“And the answer is no,” Brusard stated, having appeared up the method. … “They will accuse you of a criminal offense, kick within the fallacious door, after which tear your own home aside. And say, ‘Oh, sorry, wrong house.’
