On the first day of the Brian Walshe murder trial, three investigators who were involved in the Karen Read case have already been mentioned, including former Massachusetts State trooper Michael Proctor.

Walshe is on trial for allegedly killing his wife Ana in January of 2023. He pleaded guilty last month to lying to police and mishandling a body, but his murder trial started Monday.

Cohasset Police Sgt. Harrison Schmidt took the stand for the prosecution following opening statements and mentioned that Proctor and two other State Police officers Sgt. David DiCicco and Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik were all involved in the case.

Schmidt said they went with him to visit the Walshe house the day after Ana was reported missing. DiCicco could be heard in a taped interview of Walshe played in the courtroom, the second time Schmidt had interviewed the defendant. DiCicco and Proctor also attended another interview with Walshe and Walshe’s lawyer and could be heard on another recording also played by the prosecutors.

The officers and other state troopers became involved in the case after Schmidt asked the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office for assistance. State Police detectives lead homicide investigations in every municipality in Massachusetts, except for Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and Pittsfield.

Proctor, Bukhenik, and DiCicco also investigated the death of Read’s boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe in January 2022, and all came under fire for inappropriate behavior during the investigation.

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Former trooper Proctor was fired for sending inappropriate text messages about the case to friends and other officers, including Bukhenik and DiCicco.

Bukhenik lost five days of leave for not properly supervising Proctor, who was his subordinate during the Read investigation. This summer, he was also removed from his position at the
Norfolk DA’s office. As of July, he was working in a temporary position at the MSP Framingham headquarters in the Division of Standards and Training.

DiCicco was also on some of the text threads where Proctor made inappropriate comments, and in response to news that Read’s team was accusing someone else of killing O’Keefe, he texted, “Oh, [bleep] her.”

Read was acquitted of murder charges but now faces a wrongful death suit from the O’Keefe family.