What was supposed to be a night of fun and drinks and hunkering down with friends before a blizzard turns into a tragedy. Officer John O'Keefe is mysteriously dead after being found outside during the blizzard.

John O'Keefe, a 16-year veteran of the Department, was killed this past weekend during that powerful New Easter.

It's not clear how he died.

His body discovered outside the canton home of a fellow officer.

It was always Johnny's dream to become a Boston police officer.

While other people were trying to figure out where they belonged in the world, he knew he wanted to be a cop.

His grandfather was a cop. It was in his DNA.

There was never an ounce of fear with that job from him. We grew up in Braintree, which is middle class, a Boston suburb, a heavy Irish, heavy Italian, and Johnny was both.

Johnny is the middle child of three. His sister, Kristen, is just 22 months older and his brother Paul, several years younger.

They were your prototypical middle class, Braintree family. Always a lot of stuff going on at the house. His mother is an unbelievable cook, mainly Italian. His dad is a very solid, consistent, funny guy.

The O'Keefe is one branch of this very large family tree. What were they like?

Incredible family. Any given Sunday, they would call my parents up and say, We're bringing up a bucket of chicken, and we're coming over to use your pool. And it was great. They were great.

Johnny and I grew up on the same street. We were in Little League together, elementary school all the way through high school, and with the proms and homecoming together. And he was in my wedding party.

I met Johnny in college. The very first day of school, we I met and best friends ever since.

They both shared a love for their Boston sports teams, the New England Patriots, and of course, the Red Sox.

Grand pointing to Olson. Opening day was a religious day for him. He went every year, every year. That was just one of his favorite days.

I dated Johnny early 2000s, then stayed friends for over 20 years. We were just important in each other's lives, always. He was just a natural, caring, protector person.

When John becomes an uncle, he becomes this protector to his niece's nephew as well.

He slid right into that cool uncle role. Uncle Johnny was always there, whether it was sporting events or first communions or just family gatherings. They were a large part of who he was.

But in 2013, the O'Keefe family gets devastating news when John's older sister, Kristin, is diagnosed with cancer.

Kristin was diagnosed with a very aggressive brain tumor.

Johnny was there day one. He took her to all of her treatments. He was unbelievable, making sure that the kids were taken care of.

It was just a little over five months from the time that it was diagnosed. Just till Kristen passed.

That was a huge loss.

When she passed, he lost a part of himself.

Johnny immediately decided that he was going to move in with Kristen's husband, Steve, to help him and do a my two dads thing, he called it. Then, unfortunately, and almost unbelievably, Steve passed away almost exactly two months after Kristen did.

Johnny's niece was six, and Johnny's nephew was three. It wasn't even a question. Johnny was going to step in and raise those kids.

He was about to become a single parent overnight.

In a very short amount of time, John loses his sister, his brother-in-law. He takes in their kids. How was he able to handle all of this?

He had a big support system between family and a lot of people in Kent helped him out.

And emotionally, how did he do?

I guess he just knew he had to.

His life didn't stop. He was always doing something. Kids came first.

By 2020, John is a single dad, a cop, raising two kids in the middle of a global pandemic. And that's when he reconnects with someone from his past, Karen Reid, who he briefly dated many years earlier. How did you meet John O'Keefe?

I met John in 2004, February, at his sister's 30th birthday party.

And so what drew you to him? What did you like about him?

I thought he was handsome and he was sweet. I was 24, so that was about the criteria at the time. It just came and went and didn't speak to him again. Not intentionally, just wasn't serious.

But now, more than 15 years later, Karen is living in the Boston area with a career as a financial analyst and an adjunct professor teaching finance. She sees a message from John on Facebook.

When I saw his picture, it was with several young children, and then it triggered my memory that his sister and his sister's husband had passed away. And he told me, Yeah, I have the kids now. I thought that was amazing. And he said, They're nine and twelve. Three days later, he came over and I cooked, and it was very natural.

How serious did things get, that second round?

Pretty serious. Very fast. The second week, he said, You want to come meet the crew? Meet his niece and nephew? I was happy to go.

Was there talk of marriage?

No. No.

Did you want that?

I would have considered it strongly for John, but it's not ever been something that I've aspired in two. We are expecting as much as 18 to 24 inches of snow and 40 to 50 miles per hour winds.

I think everyone knows that whatever you're going to do that weekend is going to get canceled. A snow emergency has been declared.

A lot of people take that opportunity. I'll go out tonight. It's tomorrow. Everybody's going to be shut down.

City officials say this would be a blockbuster event.

John makes plans to meet with a friend on the main drag in Canten, just about a mile from his house. His nephew is at a sleepover that night, and his teenage niece is at home.

Early in the evening, John O'Keefe goes out with a buddy down to C. F. Mccarthy's, and Karen decides to meet him there. Now, John didn't drive there. John got a ride from his friend, so he was telling Karen that he was going to need a ride.

I ended up leaving my house to join John in Canten at 8:30.

So you met him for drinks? Yeah. How did the night go?

It was fine. I walked in, He was with three other fellows. I got there a little after 9:00, and he gave me a hug.

They stayed at C. F. Mccarthy's for a while and then decide to go meet some more friends over at the Waterfall Bar & Grill, which is just across the street and down. It's a two-minute walk.

So who was there when you got there?

There was a table of people right away.

At the table are members of a couple of families who have deep ties to the town, the Albert's and McCabe's. We've got Chris Albert, Albert, who used to live down the street from John, also at the table, Brian Albert, Chris's brother, who, like John, is a Boston police officer. He's actually the leader of an elite squad tasked with catching dangerous criminals. He even helped solve the infamous Boston Strangler case.

We said hi to a bunch of people. We stayed there for about 90 minutes.

There's videos, so you can see what's happening. It looks like a typical night. People are snuggling up around a bar. They're drinking, they're goof around a little bit.

Karen said she'd only met Brian Albert once before, but she said she felt like John really wanted to make good impressions on the Albert's.

Brian Albert, whose home is about five minutes away, invites everyone over for an after-party. Now, there's already a party with some young adults taking place at his house because it's Brian Jr's birthday, so they all gather up and head out.

Also heading out with the group is Brian Albert's wife, Nicole, and her sister, Jennifer McCabe, who John had known for years. And there was Brian Higgins, an ATF agent who was also friends with the Albert's.

Shortly after midnight, security cameras showed John walk out of the waterfall bar and into the snowy night. John has a cocktail glass in his hand. Seconds later, the two get into Karen's black SUV, and they drive away. A mere eight hours later, John O'Keefe will be dead.