Massachusetts State Police lieutenant who oversaw Karen Read investigation retires

Flint McColgan, Boston Herald on Apr 11, 2026

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BOSTON — The Massachusetts State Police lieutenant who led the Norfolk County investigative unit during the troubled Karen Read investigation has retired from the agency.

Lt. Brian Tully’s retirement was effective at the end of Wednesday, an MSP spokesman told The Boston Herald. A personnel order reviewed by the Herald states that he was “Honorably Discharged by reason of retirement.”

Tully was in charge of the MSP detectives attached to the Norfolk District Attorney’s office when Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe was found dead on the front lawn of a Canton home.

The MSP, which has jurisdiction over homicide investigations, investigated O’Keefe’s death and filed charges against Read, O’Keefe’s girlfriend, for his death. She was later indicted for his murder and went through two criminal trials, eventually leading to her acquittal on all charges other than drunken driving.

During the first trial, Tully and two of his underlings, Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik and Trooper Michael Proctor — who served as the “case officer” of the investigation — took the stand. While Read’s defense attorneys hammered each detective on perceived failures of the investigation, it was Proctor’s testimony that blew up and put each of them under the microscope by the general public and their own agencies.

Proctor admitted on the stand to using “regrettable and unprofessional comments” in talking about Read in texts to friends and co-workers, including calling her “a babe” and a “whack job” and hoping that she kills herself.

Proctor was placed on administrative leave immediately following the first trial and then eventually fired from the MSP. He at first appealed that decision and went through some hearings before dropping his efforts to get his job back.

Bukhenik was reassigned following his own review.

Tully was likewise placed under internal review following the trial that resulted in a finding that he had violated two of the State Police’s rules and regulations in his supervision of Proctor. Tully was removed from the Norfolk detective unit and forfeited six days of accrued leave.

His most recent post was part of the Field Services division, an MSP spokesman told the Herald.

Tully made a total of $218,310 in pay in 2024, the year of Read’s first trial, with $193,670 of that being his base pay, according to state payroll records. Total and base pay fell the following year, to $192,130 and $186,120 respectively, when he no longer led the Norfolk MSP detectives. He had earned just short of $30,000 in pay so far this year.