Crime

Police investigating after dead turtle left outside home of Turtleboy blogger’s parents

The same day Karen Read’s trial ended in a hung jury, someone left a grisly surprise for Turtleboy blogger Aidan Kearney’s parents.

By Abby Patkin

July 2, 2024

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The media frenzy surrounding Karen Read’s murder trial was locked in on Monday’s mistrial declaration and the subsequent announcement that the lead Massachusetts State Police investigator on the case had been relieved of his duties. 

In a more bizarre subplot, however, Aidan Kearney — the controversial “Turtleboy” blogger who rose to national prominence covering Read’s case — reported that someone tied a dead turtle to a banister outside his parents’ home in Worcester Monday. 

“This morning someone left a large murdered turtle hanging from a railing at my parents house. It had a hole through its head,” Kearney wrote on X. “Worcester Police are investigating.”

He included two graphic photos of the animal, shown hanging from a makeshift noose, “for educational purposes only.”

A spokesperson for the Worcester Police Department confirmed the incident of “harassment/animal cruelty.” 

“It was forwarded to the detective bureau for further investigation,” the spokesperson said. 

Kearney has attracted tens of thousands of followers as the de facto leader of the “Free Karen Read” movement, taking up the defense team’s claim that Read was framed in the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. (Prosecutors maintain Read intentionally backed her SUV into O’Keefe outside a home in Canton in 2022.)

Kearney’s coverage of the case spans hundreds of blogs, livestream videos, and social media comments. Somewhere along the way, however, the blogger became part of the story himself. 

He was arrested last October for allegedly intimidating several witnesses in Read’s case, including State Police Trooper Michael Proctor — the embattled investigator who came under fire for his vulgar texts about Read. Kearney has long maintained his coverage of the case is protected under the First Amendment. 

He was jailed for 60 days after being charged with witness intimidation following a separate dispute with an ex-girlfriend in December. Kearney also has a third pending criminal case for allegedly violating a restraining order the woman brought against him.

Tuesday was business as usual for Kearney, who continued to share trial commentary across his various platforms — dead turtle notwithstanding.