Another case, from a 1998 murder, ended in acquittal after the key witness recounted on the stand how Keeler helped him clear up some pending charges, and offered to use his influence to obtain a green card — contradicting Keeler’s claim under oath that he gave no assistance or promises to the witness.
But a detective’s name is built on closing cases, not on what happens to those cases later. That, along with Keeler’s reputation for hard work — he is consistently among the top overtime-earners in the department — moved him to the top of the pile. By the late ’90s he was supervising the late-night squad — which put him in charge of hundreds of violent-crime scenes every year. The department’s confidence in the self-described “Mr. Homicide” gave Keeler nearly free rein over dozens of homicide investigations.
In fact, in March 2001 the department picked Keeler to be the main subject for the ABC News documentary Boston 24/7 — a decision that would prove ill-fated. During the film, Keeler celebrates his apparent solving of a brutal murder: the beheading of William Leyden. Keeler pinned the gruesome act on Leyden’s brother, John. Three years later, Leyden was exonerated when serial killer Eugene McCollum confessed — and Keeler verified his guilt by finding the head in the exact spot, in a Florida playground, where McCollum said he buried it.
Leyden’s exoneration in early 2004 proved to be the first in a torrent of Keeler embarrassments. That April, Kyle Bryant was acquitted of the 1999 murder of his pregnant 14-year-old girlfriend, with jurors telling the local media that the recording of Keeler’s heavy-handed interrogation played a key role in their verdict. In November, jury members again blamed Keeler’s investigation, after they acquitted James Bush for the murder of three-year-old Malik Andrade-Percival. One juror told the Herald that Keeler “messed this entire case up.”
In that same case, the defense attorney forced Keeler to admit to making false statements in an affidavit seeking search warrants — which some consider even more damaging to his credibility in future trials.
In December 2004, a jury acquitted one of the two men accused of killing 10-year-old Trina Persad in 2002. The judge stopped the trial while the jury was still deliberating on the other defendant, Joseph Cousin, due to allegations that jurors had lied on their forms. It was yet another high-profile murder case Keeler appeared to solve that later unraveled in court.
Moved to the side
In addition to the headline-grabbing acquittals, still other issues haunted Keeler.
In September 2002, Keeler shot a murder suspect in the head in the middle of a busy street. The shooting was ruled justified, and the man was later convicted of murder. But it raised questions about his judgment. Keeler was also rebuked for a December 2003 incident in which he ignored a suspect’s request for an attorney while questioning him in his hospital bed.
Over the years, Keeler has become the subject of several lawsuits. While investigating the murder of Jose Deveiga, two officers under Keeler’s command pulled an innocent man from his home, in his underwear and bound in handcuffs, with television cameras rolling. The man, Carlos Pineda, is suing Keeler and the officers. Attorney Stephen Hrones sued Keeler in 2003 for slander. Keeler won a dismissal of that suit, but was a key player in another lawsuit, in which homicide detectives — particularly Keeler — were accused of abusing the court-overtime system. The officer who claimed he was fired for blowing the whistle on that abuse won his lawsuit against the BPD earlier this year.
