Disgraced Karen Read investigator Michael Proctor drops bid to get job back

DEDHAM, Mass. — Disgraced Karen Read investigator Michael Proctor, who was fired by the Massachusetts State Police earlier this year for conduct related to the high-profile murder case, is no longer seeking to get his job back.

Civil Service Commission paperwork dated Oct. 18, 2025, and signed by Proctor, indicates he has dropped his bid to get reinstated as a trooper. Proctor’s attorney, Daniel Moynihan, also confirmed the decision to Boston 25’s Ted Daniel.

“This notice confirms the withdrawal of my appeal,” the one page document read. “I exercise my right to sign this form on my own free will.”

The Civil Service Commission had been reviewing Proctor’s appeal, which challenged the disciplinary actions taken against him. He was scheduled to return in front of a Commission panel for three hearings this week but those have been cancelled.

Proctor’s withdrawal of his appeal comes one day after the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office filed a “Notice of Discoverable Information” from Proctor’s personal phone in the Brian Walshe case, Daniel reported.

Lawyers in several murder cases that Proctor worked have been seeking to learn what he might have texted about their clients following his messages about Read going public.

Proctor’s termination from the state police came months after he came under fire for a series of disparaging texts he sent about Read, which he read aloud in court during witness testimony at her first trial. Proctor admitted on the stand that the texts were “unprofessional.”

He called Read things like a “whack job” and other derogatory words. He also talked about her medical issues and wrote, “No nudes so far,” while going through her phone.

During Civil Service hearings in August, Massachusetts State Police lawyer Stephen Carley described Proctor’s conduct as “Juvenile. Sexist. Disgusting.” Moynihan argued that the department’s decision to fire Proctor was rushed and pre-determined.

The state police have maintained that Proctor’s actions including drinking on the job, sharing confidential case information, and creating a perception of bias, were grounds for termination.

In a sit-down interview this past summer with Boston 25’s Gene Lavanchy, Massachusetts State Police Colonel Geoffrey Noble acknowledged Proctor’s right to appeal the disciplinary action taken against him, while making clear he believes the department acted appropriately.

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Proctor was assigned to investigate the death of Read’s Boston police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe. He was relieved of his duty without pay in summer 2024 after a mistrial was declared in Read’s first murder trial, and his last day with the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office followed soon thereafter.

“Michael Proctor‘s sudden withdrawal of his appeal wasn’t an act of humility – it was self-preservation. He learned investigators have recovered text messages from his private phone dating back years, and he wanted no part of what those text messages would reveal. He didn’t accept accountability – it hunted him down. And as Col. Noble has admitted, the years-long corruption is systemic," Read’s attorney Alan Jackson said in a statement.

Read was acquitted of murder and manslaughter in O’Keefe’s death in June. Proctor wasn’t called to testify in the second trial.

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