Investigator testified Karen Read said ‘I don’t know how I did it’ about broken SUV taillight. Here’s how it unfolded.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

“So for six days anybody who had access to that room could have handled that clothing in any way they wanted to,” Jackson said.

“That’s correct,” Bukhenik said.

“And that includes former Trooper Michael Proctor,” Jackson said.

“That’s correct,” Bukhenik said.

Jackson asked if he had ever seen a report indicating who may have handled the clothes in any way during the six-day period they were on the butcher paper.

“I have never seen a log like that, no,” Bukhenik said. “We did not create a log to document the documentation.” That would “be redundant really,” he said.

He said he, Proctor, and another trooper conducted a search of the home’s lawn on Feb. 3. He said he participated in additional searches on Feb. 4 and Feb. 10.

Bukhenik reiterated that O’Keefe’s hat, the straw, and some red and clear taillight pieces were found on Feb. 3, followed by another red taillight piece the following day.

The Canton police chief at the time, Ken Berkowitz, and a “couple of detectives” were at the scene on Feb. 4, when Bukhenik “grabbed the item” from them and left.

Berkowitz retired from the force in June 2022 and died in December 2024.

Bukhenik said he has no memory of writing reports on the February searches.

Jackson asked if no reports on those searches were written until November 2023.

“That could be possible, yes,” Bukhenik said.

He said he knew Berkowitz, who was in the Canton police garage at some point when Read’s SUV was processed there.

Bukhenink said he also knew Brian Higgins, the ATF agent who was present at the Fairview afterparty and who swapped flirtatious texts with Read.

Jackson asked if Bukhenik knew Higgins and Berkowitz were friends.

Bukhenik said he didn’t have a memory of being told that.

He said Berkowitz had told him he was driving by the Fairview house on Feb. 4 and had seen “a piece of potential evidence.”

Jackson asked if Bukhenik had asked Berkowitz how he “could possibly see” a piece of red plastic from his car, or why he was driving by the house in the first place, or whether the chief was aware of a potential conflict of interest with his department.

“No,” Bukhenik said repeatedly.

Testimony will resume Friday.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Yuri Bukhenik pointed out what he said was O’Keefe’s orange T-shirt on the hospital floor.

Read lawyer Alan Jackson asked if the shirt appears to be on top of something darker, and Bukhenik said the jeans could “possibly” be under the shirt.

Jackson also asked if Bukhenik saw any scrapes or cuts on a photo showing O’Keefe’s exposed right knee at the hospital.

“Not from this [angle], no,” Bukhenik said.

He also identified a notepad at the hospital that he said belonged either to him or Proctor.

Bukhenik said he and Proctor bagged the clothing items together.

“It was a large paper bag, the size of like a long leaf bag you would get for disposing of your yard waste,” Bukhenik said.

He said the clothing was laid out on butcher paper at the district attorney’s office at some point before 10 p.m. on Jan. 29, 2022.

Jackson asked if he testified previously that the clothes were laid out “at about 10 o’clock,” and Bukhenik said, “based on the context of the question, I may have estimated” that the clothes were put on the paper at that time.

Bukhenik said he then left the office, and he can’t recall if Proctor left with him or stayed behind to do more tasks.

“Who had access to that room where they [the clothes] were laid out on butcher paper” for multiple days until Feb. 4, 2022, Jackson asked.

Bukhenik said anyone with the proper key card authorization had access, including Proctor.

Bukhenik said he didn’t know who ultimately placed the dried clothes in a bag to send to the lab for processing.

“I don’t know who bagged the items,” Bukhenik said.

Jackson asked if the “case officer,” in this case Proctor, would normally be the bagger in such situations.

“Not necessarily,” Bukhenik said.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Following the sidebar, Yuri Bukhenik told Read lawyer Alan Jackson he called the medical examiner’s office on the morning of Jan. 29.

Jackson asked if he said during that call that “there was a possibility” that John O’Keefe had been struck in the face with a glass.

“I don’t recall my words exactly, but that sounds accurate as to what I might have said,” Bukhenik said.

Jackson asked what steps authorities took to see if anyone in the Fairview Road house may have been involved in an altercation. O’Keefe’s body was found on the home’s lawn near the road.

Bukhenik said “the homeowner” and two other witnesses were interviewed, though he never personally went into the residence.

“You didn’t conduct any search of that house,” Jackson said.

“No I did not,” Bukhenik said.

“You did not secure the yard as a crime scene,” Jackson said.

“That’s correct,” Bukhenik said.

“Other than Ms. Read, and before you got to Ms. Read ... you interviewed three people” on Jan. 29, 2022, Jackson said.

Bukhenik said yes: Fairview homeowner Brian Albert and Jennifer and Matt McCabe.

“These are the very people that would have a motive to lie if they were somehow involved, right?” Jackson said. “You took these three individuals just at their word, based on the first three interviews, correct?”

”No, not correct," Bukhenik said.

He said “absolutely not” when asked if he thought it was odd that Brian Albert was at the McCabe residence during their initial State Police interviews, hours after O’Keefe’s death.

They were, after all, “cooperating witnesses,” Bukhenik said.

Jackson asked if it’s ever a “possibility” that someone who appears to be a cooperating witness “might well be a suspect who is lying.”

”Yes, that’s a possibility," Bukhenik said.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Yuri Bukhenik read a search warrant affidavit seeking Verizon records for a VIN number connected to Read’s Lexus SUV.

The affidavit was written by Proctor, Bukhenik said.

He looked at a second affidavit for a warrant seeking permission to search Read’s phone, also written by Proctor.

Bukhenik said he hadn’t read that entire affidavit.

“You’re not sure that Michael Proctor didn’t just do the search warrant without your knowledge,” Read lawyer Alan Jackson said.

Bukhenik, after some back and forth in which he noted the copies Jackson gave him weren’t signed, said he didn’t know.

Proctor was forced during the first trial to read out crude and misogynistic texts he sent about Read during the early stages of the probe to friends and coworkers. He was later fired for misconduct.

Bukhenik identified additional warrant applications for Ring security footage from O’Keefe’s home, also authored by Proctor.

Bukhenik also identified a police report referencing a search warrant for the telematics system in Read’s SUV. The report said Proctor sought the warrant.

Bukhenik identified another warrant application for geolocation data, also written by Proctor.

Bukhenik identified a second police report dealing with O’Keefe’s cellphone, indicating the device was “secured” by Proctor.

Bukhenik identified another report referring to Read’s phone being seized, and he said Proctor’s “name is in the report,” as are his own initials.

Another report authored by Bukhenik, he said, indicated he had given Canton police video footage to Proctor at his request. He said another report indicated Proctor had reviewed surveillance footage from a Canton town library.

Bukhenik identified another report authored by Proctor in November 2023.

Jackson asked if the report mentions “certain items of evidence that Trooper Proctor claimed to have recovered on his own” at Fairview on Feb. 11, 2022, including multiple pieces of plastic.

Bukhenik said that was correct.

Another evidence submission form from Proctor, Bukhenik said, indicates that he sent O’Keefe’s clothing and the straw found at the Fairview Road scene to the State Police crime lab for analysis.

“All of those items were submitted by Michael Proctor,” Jackson said.

“That’s who signed the form,” Bukhenik said.

He said the items “would have been in his custody as he’s transporting them” for processing at the lab.

Jackson said “there was a lot more” that Proctor did on the case in addition to what he asked Bukhenik about on cross-examination.

“Yes, there were many more things he was involved in,” Bukhenik said, adding that a number of people worked on the case.

Even as a supervisor, Bukhenik wasn’t privy to everything Proctor was doing, Jackson said.

“No, it’s impossible to know everything somebody was doing,” Bukhenik said.

He said the initial call to State Police was that a man had been found in a snowbank, and “at some point” he learned John O’Keefe was a Boston police officer.

Bukhenik said neither he nor Proctor ever went to the Fairview Road scene on Jan. 29, 2022.

Bukhenik told Jackson that Canton police recused themselves from interviewing people during the investigation to “alleviate any perception” of a conflict or bias, “not that one existed.”

At 10:41 a.m. on Jan. 29, Jackson said, Bukhenik called the medical examiner’s office “to inform them that Mr. O’Keefe ‘was struck in the face with a cocktail glass.’”

Bukhenik said that was “in part” what he told the medical examiner’s office, and the lawyers then went to a sidebar.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Yuri Bukhenik of the State Police told Read lawyer Alan Jackson that investigators “speak for” victims who can no longer speak for themselves.

“We do our best to conduct every investigation with integrity, honor, and to get to the truth,” Bukhenik said.

He said he directly reported to State Police Lieutenant Brian Tully in January 2022.

Jackson asked Bukhenik if he felt the Read case was investigated properly.

“This investigation was conducted professionally, with integrity, and all the evidence collected, all the statements collected, pointed in one direction,” Bukhenik said.

Jackson again asked if Michael Proctor was the lead investigator, and Bukhenik said, “I’m not going to agree with you … just because he was on call, he was assigned the case as a result.”

Proctor was forced during the first trial to read out crude and misogynistic texts he sent about Read during the early stages of the probe to friends and coworkers. He was later fired for misconduct.

Jackson asked if Bukhenik felt Proctor’s involvement in the case “tainted” the probe, and Bukhenik said he did not.

“Honor and integrity by Michael Proctor?” Jackson asked.

“The investigation was conducted with honor and integrity, and all the evidence pointed in one direction,” Bukhenik said. “The investigation was handled with integrity by Michael Proctor.”

Bukhenik said Proctor “managed the case” and was involved with collecting evidence, conducting interviews, and signing warrant affidavits.

“He had a role that was more significant than others,” Bukhenik said, adding that he didn’t believe Proctor had a “major role.”

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Yuri Bukhenik told Read attorney Alan Jackson that State Police investigator Michael Proctor was “assigned as the case officer” for the Read matter.

“I wouldn’t call it a leadership role,” Bukhenik said. “It’s more of a facilitator” between the district attorney’s office and State Police troopers.

He said case officers are “responsible” for writing search warrant affidavits, but suggestions can also come from supervisors or prosecutors.

“Did the team in this case ... have a leader?” Jackson asked.

“The case officer for the investigation was Michael Proctor,” Bukhenik said.

He said part of his role as a supervisor is to ensure cases are properly investigated.

Jackson asked if supervisors seek to ensure “the array of suspects” is accurate during a probe.

“We follow the evidence in every investigation and that evidence determines who the suspect, person of interest, or ultimately the defendant is,” Bukhenik said.

He said that “if there was a question of integrity, those individuals would not be part of an investigation.”

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Bukhenik returned to the stand following the lunchbreak.

He took jurors through surveillance footage from the Waterfall, where O’Keefe and Read went from McCarthy’s.

The video footage showed the couple entering the bar and greeting friends.

The group does a shot around 11:45 p.m., and O’Keefe is seen leaving the bar at 12:10 a.m. He’s wearing the clothes later recovered at the hospital, as well as the hat later found at the crime scene, Bukhenik said.

“In his right hand he’s holding” a cocktail glass, Bukhenik said.

He used a laser pointer to emphasize the drinking straw shooting out of the glass in a zoomed in photo.

Bukhenik said authorities in 2024 acquired additional Ring video from O’Keefe’s home.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Yuri Bukhenik of the State Police also identified still photos of surveillance images taken from two Canton bars, McCarthy’s and the Waterfall, on the night of Jan. 28, 2022.

Bukhenik then led jurors through a PowerPoint presentation tracking Read’s activity at the bars, punctuated by video excerpts.

Video footage at one point showed Read entering McCarthy’s and approaching John O’Keefe, who places his arm around her.

She received her first drink from the bar at 9:10 p.m., per the footage.

Read was handed a second drink “while she finished the first one” at 9:27 p.m., Bukehnik said. She was “handed a shot” at 9:32 p.m., pouring it into her second cocktail.

The video footage continued playing, showing Read involved in what appeared to be an animated, cordial conversation with O’Keefe and two others.

At one point in the footage, Bukhenik noted, O’Keefe retrieves his phone from his pocket and then puts it back.

He also pointed out the moment where Read picks up her second cocktail glass with the shot added and “consumes it.”

Another shot was later added to a cocktail for “drink number four” to Read at McCarthy’s in less than 40 minutes, Bukhenik said.

He said O’Keefe again looks at his phone and then “puts it in his back pocket.”

At one point at McCarthy’s, “the defendant is showing Mr. O’Keefe the middle finger” Bukhenik said, though the moment appeared light and the conversation continued uninterrupted.

Shortly after 10:08 p.m., Bukhenik said, Read received another cocktail, her fifth drink at McCarthy’s.

By 10:34 p.m., Read had consumed five beverages, he said. Three minutes later, she poured another shot into her drink, Bukhenik said.

Read and O’Keefe left McCarthy’s for the Waterfall shortly before 10:55 p.m., the footage shows.

Read picked up a cocktail glass and “the two walk out” of the bar without that glass “being deposited anywhere,” Bukhenik said.

He said seven drinks had been served to Read by 10:53 p.m. at McCarthy’s, but Cannone sustained a defense objection and struck that remark.

It’s difficult to tell in the footage whether Read finished all the cocktails that Bukhenik described.

The lawyers came to a sidebar before Judge Beverly Cannone called a lunch break at 1:10 p.m. Testimony resumes around 2 p.m.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Yuri Bukhenik said he also voluntarily provided his DNA sample as part of the probe.

“It’s not common” but not without precedent during investigations, he said.

Asked if he’s still working with Michael Proctor, a former State Police investigator, on the probe, Bukhenink said “no I am not.”

He said he has both a work and personal cellphone, and troopers sometimes communicate with each other on work devices.

Bukhenik said he was included on a text chain that included Proctor and others in 2022 during the investigation.

He said he was working at Logan Airport when he first received the texts.

“I acknowledged the text,” Bukhenik said. “I did not respond with verbiage.”

He said he didn’t look at the entire text chain, which came through on his Apple Watch.

He said he responded with a “thumbs up emoji” indicating “that I had read” the message. Bukhenik said he was supervising Proctor at the time, and that State Police issued “two sustained findings” against him as a result of an internal review.

Bukhenik’s two sustained findings included one for failing to adequately supervise Proctor and a second related to accuracy of his performance reviews, he said.

Bukhenik said he lost five vacation days as punishment.

Proctor was fired for the messages, which included statements that Read was a “whack job” and “retarded” while also poking fun at her medical condition while using a vulgar term for women to describe her.

“No nudes so far,” Bukhenik said, reading one of Proctor’s texts joking about his search of Read’s phone.“I hate that man; I truly hate him,” Proctor also wrote about one of Read’s attorneys. Bukhenik read that message aloud for the jury.

He said he also reviewed Ring security footage at John O’Keefe’s home. Prosecutor Hank Brennan played video that appeared to show O’Keefe’s niece entering Read’s SUV in O’Keefe’s driveway on the afternoon of Jan. 28, as well as footage that appeared to show O’Keefe and Read entering the home later that evening.

Bukhenik said Read’s phone connected to O’Keefe’s home WiFi at 12:36 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, but “there was no Ring video for that timeframe.”

Brennan also played Ring video footage of Read slowly backing her SUV in a straight line until it appears to make contact with another car parked in O’Keefe’s driveway at 5:07 a.m. on Jan. 29.

Bukhenik said there was additional video of Read, Kerry Roberts, and Jennifer McCabe entering the home soon after, but no video of them leaving to drive to Fairview Road, where O’Keefe’s body was found.

More Ring video was played of Read and her father entering O’Keefe’s house around noon on Jan. 29, followed by video of Read’s brother using his gloved hand to clear snow from the rear window and windshield of her SUV at 12:35 p.m.

Additional video showed Read and her brother clearing off the SUV, and another woman approaching her brother and handing him something.

Bukhenik also identified a photo of Read’s SUV at the Canton police garage that showed the vehicle missing a piece of the right taillight.

He said the photo was “100 percent consistent” with how the light appeared when he first saw the vehicle at Read’s parents house in Dighton.

Another Ring video clip of Read pulling out of O’Keefe’s driveway around 5:07 a.m. on Jan. 29 showed the taillight “showing white and missing the red taillight cover,” Bukhenik said.

That image was captured after her SUV appeared to make contact with the other car.

Still photos were placed on the monitor for jurors, as was another still photo of the SUV missing its red taillight cover later that morning in O’Keefe’s driveway.

“The large red lens is missing in every single image that I saw” from the timeframe before the SUV arrived at the Canton police garage, Bukhenik said.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Yuri Bukhenik said he also voluntarily provided his DNA sample as part of the probe.

“It’s not common” but not without precedent during investigations, he said.

Asked if he’s still working with Michael Proctor, a former State Police investigator, on the probe, Bukhenink said “no I am not.”

He said he has both a work and personal cellphone, and troopers sometimes communicate with each other on work devices.

Bukhenik said he was included on a text chain that included Proctor and others in 2022 during the investigation.

He said he was working at Logan Airport when he first received the texts.

“I acknowledged the text,” Bukhenik said. “I did not respond with verbiage.”

He said he didn’t look at the entire text chain, which came through on his Apple Watch.

He said he responded with a “thumbs up emoji” indicating “that I had read” the message. Bukhenik said he was supervising Proctor at the time, and that State Police issued “two sustained findings” against him as a result of an internal review.

Bukhenik’s two sustained findings included one for failing to adequately supervise Proctor and a second related to accuracy of his performance reviews, he said.

Bukhenik said he lost five vacation days as punishment.

Proctor was fired for the messages, which included statements that Read was a “whack job” and “retarded” while also poking fun at her medical condition while using a vulgar term for women to describe her.

“No nudes so far,” Bukhenik said, reading one of Proctor’s texts joking about his search of Read’s phone.

“I hate that man; I truly hate him,” Proctor also wrote about one of Read’s attorneys. Bukhenik read that message aloud for the jury.

He said he also reviewed Ring security footage at John O’Keefe’s home. Prosecutor Hank Brennan played video that appeared to show O’Keefe’s niece entering Read’s SUV in O’Keefe’s driveway on the afternoon of Jan. 28, as well as footage that appeared to show O’Keefe and Read entering the home later that evening.

Bukhenik said Read’s phone connected to O’Keefe’s home WiFi at 12:36 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, but “there was no Ring video for that timeframe.”

Brennan also played Ring video footage of Read slowly backing her SUV in a straight line until it appears to make contact with another car parked in O’Keefe’s driveway at 5:07 a.m. on Jan. 29.

Bukhenik said there was additional video of Read, Kerry Roberts, and Jennifer McCabe entering the home soon after, but no video of them leaving to drive to Fairview Road, where O’Keefe’s body was found.

More Ring video was played of Read and her father entering O’Keefe’s house around noon on Jan. 29, followed by video of Read’s brother using his gloved hand to clear snow from the rear window and windshield of her SUV at 12:35 p.m.

Additional video showed Read and her brother clearing off the SUV, and another woman approaching her brother and handing him something.

Bukhenik also identified a photo of Read’s SUV at the Canton police garage that showed the vehicle missing a piece of the right taillight.

He said the photo was “100 percent consistent” with how the light appeared when he first saw the vehicle at Read’s parents house in Dighton.

Another Ring video clip of Read pulling out of O’Keefe’s driveway around 5:07 a.m. on Jan. 29 showed the taillight “showing white and missing the red taillight cover,” Bukhenik said.

That image was captured after her SUV appeared to make contact with the other car.

Still photos were placed on the monitor for jurors, as was another still photo of the SUV missing its red taillight cover later that morning in O’Keefe’s driveway.“

The large red lens is missing in every single image that I saw” from the timeframe before the SUV arrived at the Canton police garage, Bukhenik said.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Yuri Bukhenik said he also voluntarily provided his DNA sample as part of the probe.

“It’s not common” but not without precedent during investigations, he said.

Asked if he’s still working with Michael Proctor, a former State Police investigator, on the probe, Bukhenink said “no I am not.”

He said he has both a work and personal cellphone, and troopers sometimes communicate with each other on work devices.

Bukhenik said he was included on a text chain that included Proctor and others in 2022 during the investigation.

He said he was working at Logan Airport when he first received the texts.

“I acknowledged the text,” Bukhenik said. “I did not respond with verbiage.

”He said he didn’t look at the entire text chain, which came through on his Apple Watch.

He said he responded with a “thumbs up emoji” indicating “that I had read” the message. Bukhenik said he was supervising Proctor at the time, and that State Police issued “two sustained findings” against him as a result of an internal review.

Bukhenik’s two sustained findings included one for failing to adequately supervise Proctor and a second related to accuracy of his performance reviews, he said.

Bukhenik said he lost five vacation days as punishment.

Proctor was fired for the messages, which included statements that Read was a “whack job” and “retarded” while also poking fun at her medical condition while using a vulgar term for women to describe her.“No nudes so far,” Bukhenik said, reading one of Proctor’s texts joking about his search of Read’s phone.

“I hate that man; I truly hate him,” Proctor also wrote about one of Read’s attorneys. Bukhenik read that message aloud for the jury.

He said he also reviewed Ring security footage at John O’Keefe’s home. Prosecutor Hank Brennan played video that appeared to show O’Keefe’s niece entering Read’s SUV in O’Keefe’s driveway on the afternoon of Jan. 28, as well as footage that appeared to show O’Keefe and Read entering the home later that evening.

Bukhenik said Read’s phone connected to O’Keefe’s home WiFi at 12:36 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, but “there was no Ring video for that timeframe.”

Brennan also played Ring video footage of Read slowly backing her SUV in a straight line until it appears to make contact with another car parked in O’Keefe’s driveway at 5:07 a.m. on Jan. 29.

Bukhenik said there was additional video of Read, Kerry Roberts, and Jennifer McCabe entering the home soon after, but no video of them leaving to drive to Fairview Road, where O’Keefe’s body was found.

More Ring video was played of Read and her father entering O’Keefe’s house around noon on Jan. 29, followed by video of Read’s brother using his gloved hand to clear snow from the rear window and windshield of her SUV at 12:35 p.m.

Additional video showed Read and her brother clearing off the SUV, and another woman approaching her brother and handing him something.

Bukhenik also identified a photo of Read’s SUV at the Canton police garage that showed the vehicle missing a piece of the right taillight.

He said the photo was “100 percent consistent” with how the light appeared when he first saw the vehicle at Read’s parents house in Dighton.

Another Ring video clip of Read pulling out of O’Keefe’s driveway around 5:07 a.m. on Jan. 29 showed the taillight “showing white and missing the red taillight cover,” Bukhenik said.

That image was captured after her SUV appeared to make contact with the other car.

Still photos were placed on the monitor for jurors, as was another still photo of the SUV missing its red taillight cover later that morning in O’Keefe’s driveway.

“The large red lens is missing in every single image that I saw” from the timeframe before the SUV arrived at the Canton police garage, Bukhenik said.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Yuri Bukhenik of the State Police also identified a photo of the straw found on the concrete near the berm on Fairview.

“That is exactly where it was found and recovered from,” about 15 to 20 feet from the fire hydrant, Bukhenik said.

He said troopers had learned John O’Keefe was wearing a black baseball hat on the night he died, so they wanted to find that as well.

Bukhenik said the troopers recovered a black “thin blue line” hat, which he held up for jurors, from the scene on Feb. 3.

The hat, he said, was photographed where it was found “flattened and frozen to the ground” under about a foot and a half of snow.

Bukhenik said troopers did not search the entire front lawn on Feb. 3, when snow was still on the ground.

He said he directed troopers in his unit to “go by the scene every day as the temperatures rose” to look for more evidence.

On Feb. 4, he said, he got a call from a Canton police official as he was headed back to the scene.

A larger piece of red taillight “had revealed itself” on that day and “was collected,” Bukhenik said.

He retrieved that bigger piece and held it up for the jury.

Bukhenik said the item was photographed at the scene by Canton police.

He identified the photo and said the taillight piece was recovered “further to the right on the right bank of the snow that was melting on the lawn.”

Bukhenik said he went back to the scene with another trooper on Feb. 10, 2022.

Asked if that other trooper was Michael Proctor, Bukhenik said “it might have been” after first saying he couldn’t recall who accompanied him.

He identified additional items found at the scene that day, including six pieces of “clear and red and black items,” holding some up for jurors.

Those items were not photographed when they were recovered, he said.

Bukhenik said the troopers decided there was no need to have crime scene personnel return again to photograph the scene, which they had visited repeatedly. He said the items found on Feb. 10 were discovered in the same general area as the others.

He identified 14 additional pieces of glass found that day and showed jurors some of them.

“There are a number of glass pieces taped and labeled for identification at the lab and mechanically pieced together to form this one piece in my right hand,” Bukhenik said.

He said “very little to no snow” remained on the ground during the Feb. 10 search.

Bukhenik said he also obtained footage from the two bars Read and O’Keefe went to as well as O’Keefe’s Ring security footage from his home.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Following the sidebar, Yuri Bukhenik of the State Police said he decided to go to the Fairview Road scene to look for John O’Keefe’s hat, and there were plans to begin writing up search warrant applications as well.

Bukhenik said he and other troopers visited the Fairview scene for the first time on Feb. 3, 2022, after weather conditions improved.

One of the troopers took pictures, he said.

“We brought snow shovels, garden shovels” and looked for evidence, Bukhenik said, focusing on “the lawn portion of the property in the vicinity of the flagpole, the fire hydrant, and along the edge of the asphalt.”

He said an asphalt berm separated the street and the yard.

Bukhenik said the troopers recovered additional evidence on that day, including more pieces of plastic.

“The process would have been documenting each item that was located with photographs” before the items were bagged, Bukhenik said.

He later identified photos of the items recovered on Feb. 3, 2022.

Bukhenik said the items were sent to a State Police lab.

Each piece of evidence was “marked individually” at the lab, he said.

Bukhenik later retrieved some of the plastic pieces and held them up for the jury.

“These two are taped together,” he said as he held up one pair, adding that that was done at the lab.

Bukhenik said every item was photographed where it was found on Feb. 3, 2022.

He identified a photo of one piece of plastic that he said was in the general vicinity between the flagpole and fire hydrant on the Fairview Road lawn.

He said “yes it is,” when prosecutor Hank Brennan asked if that particular piece was discovered “on top of that leaf” on the ground.

Bukhenik identified additional photos of plastic pieces that he said were found in the same general area.

He said the troopers spent 45 minutes to an hour at the scene on Feb. 3, 2022.

Bukhenik said troopers also found a black plastic drinking straw on the street “close to the paved berm” by the lawn.

He pulled the straw out of an evidence bag and held it up for jurors.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

After a morning break, Yuri Bukhenik identified John O’Keefe’s Nike sneaker that was retrieved at the hospital and held it aloft for jurors.

He said O’Keefe’s T-shirt has been placed in a transparent plastic sheet.

He then displayed the shirt in the plastic apparatus.Later, Bukhenik displayed O’Keefe’s sweatshirt for jurors, also in a clear sheet.

The lawyers then came to a sidebar.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

State Police Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik said he and investigator Michael Proctor followed the tow truck back to the Canton police station.

He said he learned State Police Lt. Brian Tully had overseen a search at the crime scene “for the missing shoe.”

Bukhenik said they brought the SUV to the Canton police station because the department had a heated garage.

“We needed to preserve the vehicle as best we could,” Bukhenik said. “The vehicle was impacted with snow that accumulated and also from traveling on the highways.”

He said authorities had to photograph the vehicle, process it for fingerprints, take swabs for DNA, process the SUV’s infotainment system, and other tasks.

Asked if an unheated garage would obstruct that process, Bukhenik said, “yes.”

He said the Lexus was unloaded at the Canton police garage at 5:35 p.m.

Bukhenik said he never touched the SUV in the garage, and he never saw Proctor touch it.

The troopers remained in the garage until around 5:51 p.m. on Jan. 29, Bukhenik said.

He said Proctor was “with me” when he left the garage and entered the police station dispatch area, before moving to a conference room.

Bukhenik said he and Proctor met with Tully and other troopers in the room to discuss the evidence up to that point.

“The plan was to take shovels and rakes and other gardening equipment and go back to” Fairview “to excavate for additional evidence,” Bukhenik said.

During the meeting, he said, “it was realized that Mr. O’Keefe was wearing a black baseball cap” that remained missing.

He said the heavy snowfall “hindered” the investigation of the crime scene.

Bukhenik said he didn’t recall the specifics of what he was told during the meeting about the general area that had been searched on Fairview Road.

He said he also listened to audio recordings of statements made by Read to various media outlets.

Bukhenik said John O’Keefe’s clothes, while bagged, were in his vehicle and were later brought back to the DA’s office in Canton around 8 p.m. on Jan. 29, 2022.

The clothes were brought to a temporary evidence processing area, he said.

Bukhenik said he laid out the clothes on butcher paper to dry the items, with Proctor assisting.

“That moisture if trapped could develop mold” and compromise any DNA evidence, he said.

It took “several days” for the clothing to dry, and it stayed on the butcher paper that entire time, Bukhenik said.

He said there were times when no one was watching the clothes, but they were placed in a secure area that not everyone in the office could access.

He said the clothing left out to dry included a gray sweatshirt, orange T-shirt, jeans, a belt, and boxer shorts.

Bukhenik then donned latex gloves and removed the jeans from a sealed evidence bag, displaying them for jurors.

The jeans were cut and had what appeared to be a light brownish stain on a back pocket.

Bukhenik also removed the Nike shoe recovered from the Fairview scene from a separate evidence bag.

Judge Beverly Cannone called a morning recess around 10:30 a.m. Testimony resumes around 11 a.m.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

State Police investigator Yuri Bukhenik testified that Read said she was willing to talk but “didn’t want to go into too many details.”

He said Read indicated she “was drinking vodka sodas” at McCarthy’s bar before they moved to a second bar, the Waterfall.

Read said “she didn’t think so” when asked if she had brought a beverage with her into the Waterfall, Bukhenik said.

She said she “did not” see John O’Keefe go into the Fairview home when she dropped him off there, Bukhenik testified.

Asked about the broken taillight, Read replied, “I don’t know how I did it last night,” he said.

Read said she made a three-point turn on Fairview Road when she left, Bukhenik said, and she also said she saw no injuries on O’Keefe.

She said O’Keefe had bumped his head two nights earlier and asked her about it, Bukhenik said. Read did not say when O’Keefe had asked her about bumping his head, Bukhenik said.

He said Read was advised her SUV was being seized “and her cell phone was also seized.”

Troopers had no warrant at the time, Bukhenik said. He said troopers sometimes seize items to prevent alteration without a warrant, and they are secured until one can be obtained.

Read gave troopers her key fob, and the SUV was loaded onto a tow truck around 4:15 p.m., he said.

He said he did not manipulate Read’s phone.

Asked if he saw Proctor manipulate the device in any way, Bukenhik said, “I don’t recall seeing that, no.”

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

After viewing John O’Keefe’s body, troopers visited “the defendant,” Yuri Bukhenik said.

He said investigators learned she had gone to her parents’ Dighton home, so they traveled there as well.

“With the missing shoe, her stating that, ‘did I hit him’ and along that line of statements, I was interested in the vehicle that she was operating that night,” Bukhenik said.

It took about an hour to get from the Brockton hospital to Dighton because of the snowy weather, Bukhenik said.

He said Proctor was with him “the entire day,” including during the Dighton visit.

Bukhenik said they got to the Dighton residence around 3 p.m., and while they were en route, Proctor received a call from Jennifer McCabe who “provided information.”

McCabe was with Read when she found John O’Keefe’s body in the snow.

“We wanted to look at the rear right taillight” after McCabe’s call, Bukhenik said. “We were looking for a large, black Lexus SUV.”

He said Read had provided “her parents’ address to us.”

On the way there, State Police Troopers contacted Dighton police to request their assistance with contacting a tow company and with helping at the scene during the SUV seizure, he said.

Read’s parents’ driveway wasn’t plowed at the time, and Read’s SUV was parked in it, Bukhenik said.

The SUV was “covered with snow” at the time, he said.

When Dighton police arrived, Bukhenik said, he and Proctor exited their vehicle and walked up the driveway.

“There was a large piece of red taillight cover missing from the vehicle,” Bukhenik said. “I told Michael [Proctor] to get close ... I just saw the damage.”

He said neither he nor Proctor touched the damaged taillight.

“A hundred percent,” Bukhenik said when asked how certain he was that the taillight was damaged.

He said Read’s father invited the troopers inside through a garage door, and they saw Read sitting on a couch.

Proctor and Bukhenik both spoke with Read, he said.

“A team approach,” Bukhenik said.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Bukhenik said State Police troopers typically work with local police forces on death investigations.

He said it’s “very common and preferred” for more than one trooper to respond to a crime scene.

Bukhenik said then-Trooper Michael Proctor was on call before 7 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022.

Proctor was later fired after he was forced during the first trial to read crude and misogynistic texts he sent about Read to friends and coworkers during the probe’s early stages.

Bukhenik said he initially received the call around 6:44 a.m. on the 29th.

“I called Michael Proctor and told him to reach out to Canton and follow up on the report of a male in a snowbank,” Bukhenik said.

He said Proctor later told him the man had transferred to an area hospital.

Bukhenik said he arrived at the Canton police station around 9:15 a.m. He said he went there before going to the Fairview Road scene because emergency responders had “already cleared the location.”

He said he wanted a “controlled environment” inside the police station to receive information about the case from other officers and collect any available evidence.

While there, Bukhenik said, troopers were shown items recovered at the scene, including a broken cocktail glass and John O’Keefe’s cell phone, as well as a brown paper bag with six plastic cups containing “what was reported to be blood in the snow.”

Bukhenik said he also learned there was a “loose familial connection” between the Fairview Road home and Canton police; the Fairview homeowner, now-retired Boston police officer Brian Albert Sr., is the brother of Canton police detective Kevin Albert.

Bukhenik said local police chose to recuse themselves from the investigation because of the connection.

He said troopers were also told that Read “was questioning whether she had hit him” at the scene.

Troopers proceeded to the hospital to observe O’Keefe’s injuries, Bukhenik said, after interviewing Brian Albert and Jennifer and Matt McCabe “at the McCabe residence.”

Bukhenik said he saw O’Keefe’s body in the early afternoon at the hospital on Jan. 29, 2022. Driving conditions were “treacherous” en route to the hospital, Bukhenik said.

At the hospital, Bukhenik said, “we spoke with medical personnel who advised us that the defendant had at that point been discharged from the hospital,” while O’Keefe’s body remained in the emergency room available to view.

He said O’Keefe was “covered with a sheet” on a medical bed.

“There was a pile of clothing to the left, at his feet to the left of the bed,” he said. “I observed several injuries on him once I lifted the sheet.”

The injuries were photographed, Bukhenik said.

He said he, Proctor, and a crime scene services worker were present, as well as medical staff.

“I saw pooling of blood underneath his head,” Bukhenik said. “There was seepage of blood into the sheets. There was also swelling, discoloration, a large amount of blood pooling underneath his eyelids. ... There was also a tiny cut, laceration to the eyelid area. Also on the left nostril there was a very small laceration there. Both were not actively bleeding. There were a series of cuts and bruises to the right arm.”

Those cuts were “concentrated on the exterior of the arm,” he said.

“When I saw Mr. O’Keefe, the swelling was in both eyes,” Bukhenik said. “It might not have been exactly symmetrical, but there was swelling, discoloration in both eyelids.”

He said it’s not uncommon for a victim’s clothes to be removed at the hospital. The clothes were in a “soaking-wet state” when authorities placed the items in evidence bags, Bukhenik said.

He said troopers were “missing a sneaker of his. That was very significant to me.”

He said he asked Proctor to call the paramedics and confirm with them that the shoe wasn’t left behind in the ambulance.

“At that point our theory had evolved to a vehicle strike based on the injuries,” Bukhenik said. “And I was suspecting that he was hit out of his shoes.”

He said he believed the shoe would be located where he was found or where he was “struck” by a vehicle. A black Nike sneaker was later found at the crime scene, per prior testimony.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Prosecutors called State Police Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik to the stand on Thursday morning.

He ran through his professional background and told prosecutor Hank Brennan that his family immigrated to the United States from Ukraine when he was a child. He said he attended public schools in Massachusetts and later joined the Marines.

Bukhenik was one of the investigators who worked on the Read case.

Bukhenik told Brennan that his unit in the Norfolk District Attorney’s office has six detectives investigating unattended deaths, including homicides.

He told Brennan his unit handles multiple cases at a time.

By law, State Police attached to the DA’s office are notified of all unattended deaths in the county, he said.

“When we walk into a call we take in all the evidence, so we do not know exactly what we’re going to have as a finding,” Bukhenik said. “We follow the evidence.”

He said troopers never work a death investigation alone.

“It’s always a team effort,” Bukhenik said.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

On Wednesday digital forensic analyst and expert witness Jessica Hyde testified that the contested hypothermia Google search found on Jennifer McCabe’s phone was made at 6:24 a.m. after O’Keefe’s body was found, not hours earlier as Read’s lawyers contend.

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