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Brian Tully previously commanded the Massachusetts State Police detective unit assigned to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Brian Tully, the Massachusetts State Police lieutenant who oversaw the controversial murder investigation in Karen Read’s case, has retired. 

Tully’s retirement went into effect at the close of business April 8, a State Police spokesperson confirmed. His most recent post was in the agency’s field services division. 

Previously, Tully commanded the State Police detective unit assigned to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office. The team of troopers was responsible for investigating the deaths of Sandra Birchmore and Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe — Read’s boyfriend — in two unrelated but high-profile cases. 

Birchmore, a pregnant 23-year-old, was found dead in her Canton apartment in 2021, and federal prosecutors allege a former Stoughton police detective groomed her for years before purportedly killing her and staging her death to look like a suicide. 

The following year, O’Keefe turned up mortally wounded outside a fellow Boston officer’s home in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022. While authorities accused Read of drunkenly backing her SUV into O’Keefe and leaving him to die, jurors in her 2025 retrial acquitted her of murder and manslaughter charges. She was convicted only of a drunk driving misdemeanor. 

Tully, who testified during Read’s earlier mistrial in 2024, was one of several law enforcement officials who faced scrutiny or discipline following their involvement in the case. 

Much of the controversy centered on ex-Trooper Michael Proctor, who led the investigation into O’Keefe’s death and admitted to sending vulgar texts about Read to family, friends, and coworkers. State Police later fired Proctor in light of his conduct during the case and docked one of his supervisors, Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, five vacation days for failing to reprimand him. 

Tully likewise forfeited six vacation days after an internal State Police probe found he failed to supervise troopers involved in the “inappropriate” texts. State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble also transferred Tully out of the Norfolk DA’s office. 

Read has since named Tully as a defendant in her federal civil lawsuit, which accuses several witnesses and investigators of “concocting” a plan to frame her for killing O’Keefe. Tully is claiming qualified immunity, which typically shields police from civil liability for doing their duty. 

The case remains pending.