In the hours since Karen Read was found not guilty of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe, several key witnesses from both trials have broken their silence on the verdict.

Michael Proctor, the former Massachusetts State Police lead investigator on the case, who testified in the first trial and was later fired for misconduct stemming from the case, spoke out in interviews on ABC’s “20/20” and NBC’s “Dateline” that aired on June 18 and 19, respectively.

A group of O’Keefe’s friends, including Brian and Nicole Albert and Jennifer and Matt McCabe, also shared their thoughts in an interview with ABC News that aired on June 20. The group earlier called the verdict “a devastating miscarriage of justice” in a statement released to USA TODAY.

Both Proctor and the Albert and McCabe families were at the center of the theory presented by Read’s defense team about a possible police cover-up in O’Keefe’s death. They have consistently denied the allegations.

A Massachusetts jury on June 18 found Read not guilty of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death. She was found guilty of operating a vehicle under the influence and sentenced to one year of probation.

Karen Read timeline Key dates in John O’ Keefe murder case

Brian Albert says he ‘would have taken a bullet’ for John O’Keefe

In an interview with ABC News that aired on June 20, Brian Albert, a retired Boston police officer who owned the home where O’Keefe’s body was found on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, said he and his family “did the civic duty” in this case.

“The criminal justice system has let us down at every turn, and yesterday was the final letdown,” he said.

Brian Albert also said the theories that he was involved in O’Keefe’s death are “preposterous and silly.” He responded to lingering questions about why he did not go outside on the morning O’Keefe’s body was found, calling it “ridiculous.”

“I would have taken a bullet for John O’Keefe because he was a fellow cop,” Brian Albert said.

During the interview, Jennifer McCabe, who was with Read when O’Keefe’s body was found, also spoke about the “hos (sic) long to die in cold” Google search she made that became a contentious piece of evidence in both trials.

She has maintained that she made the search because Read asked her to after they found O’Keefe’s body, while the defense alleged she made the search hours before he was found.

“Doesn’t matter how much I say about it, people will not believe it,” she said.

Michael Proctor says crude texts ‘don’t define me as a person’

Proctor’s personal text messages, many of which expressed crude comments about Read, came under scrutiny during the first trial. He was later fired for misconduct stemming from the case and broke his silence in a series of interviews after Read’s verdict was announced, after he was not invited to take the stand in her second trial.

He said in an interview with ABC News that he developed negative feelings toward Read “as the case went on.”

“When you have a fellow police officer around my age, two kids of his own, it generates emotion,” he said. “And I expressed those emotions in a negative way, which I shouldn’t’ve.”

Proctor added, “They are what they are, they don’t define me as a person.”

In an interview on NBC’s “Dateline,” Proctor laughed at the theory that he was involved in a possible cover-up.

“I laugh because it’s such a ridiculous accusation,” he said. “There’s not one piece of evidence or fact to support that.”

Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at melina.khan@usatoday.com.