Michael Proctor, the disgraced lead investigator into John O'Keefe's death, broke his silence on the Karen Read murder case following the verdict in her second trial.
Proctor was fired from the Massachusetts State Police before Read's retrial after an internal investigation sparked by unprofessional comments about Read he made in texts. The messages became a major point of contention for the defense's case in both trials.
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WATCH HEREIn an interview with "Dateline," Proctor said the allegations of a law enforcement coverup made by the defense and the implication that he framed Read are "a ridiculous accusation."
"There's not one piece of evidence or fact to support that, because it did not happen. I would never do something like that."
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SIGN UP He denied both framing Read and cracking the taillight of her SUV.
He also said that he wants people to know that the text messages that led to his downfall do not represent him as a whole, or his investigation.
"Those text messages, as juvenile as they are, it's not me as a person. I vented after being involved in an investigation of a police officer and used words that I regret," Proctor said.
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Proctor's wife Elizabeth stood by him as he made the comments. In her own interview for the episode, she said her husband was "incredibly remorseful" for what he said in the messages, and that the picture of him painted in coverage of the case is not who he is to his family or at work.
Proctor doesn't believe he should have been fired and continues to fight to get his job back. When asked what he would say to those who don't believe he deserves it, he had this to say:
“I would say, what’s in your phone? What’s in your private phone, your personal phone, private conversations? Have you ever had a moment a poor lapse of judgment when you’re just airing something out on your personal phone?”
Dateline also spoke with Beth, a member of O'Keefe's extended family, after the verdict was reached about the case. She says the family believes Read is guilty and they want her to take accountability.
“The defendant did not fight for justice for Johnny. She and her family have not fought for anything except for Karen Read," Beth told Dateline's Andrea Canning.
Beth described Read's relationship with the family before O'Keefe's death as an amicable one. She got along with his niece and nephew, who he was raising as his own after his sister and brother-and-law passed away. But in the aftermath and amid grief, Beth said things changed.
Beth said it started when Read came over to O'Keefe's home the morning he died.
“I wasn’t there but I do know that she had sat with the kids, for, for you know a short time, and then she and her father went upstairs to the bedroom, gathered a bunch of her belongings and the Karen walked out the door with her father and her brother," Beth said. "She just left, never said goodbye.”
Beth said Read had been in the kids' lives for two years at this point, and they found her behavior that day surprising. Read has said when she went the house, she did not feel welcomed.
Watch more of the interview on a special two-hour "Dateline" episode on the Karen Read retrial, "Center of the Storm," airing Thursday night at 9 p.m./8 p.m. Central.
Proctor didn't speak out publicly during the legal process, but his wife and sister released statements during the third hearing on whether he should remain on the force, saying that Read's lawyers maligned Proctor's character as a distraction from the case.
