Proctor High School Friend Group Chat

About

Central defense exhibit offered to argue investigator bias and misconduct. In cross-examination, Proctor acknowledged sharing case details and the victim's identity with high-school friends about 16 hours into the investigation, confirmed a message stating that serious charges would be brought against Read, and acknowledged responding, "hopefully she kills herself," about Read. He denied writing that the case would be made "cut and dry" and later characterized the statement about Read as a figure of speech. The defense argued that these disclosures and messages compromised the integrity of the investigation; that investigation-wide conclusion is an advocacy position, not an adjudicated fact.

A multi-person text message chain between Trooper Michael Proctor and approximately eight childhood friends, spanning late January to August 2022 and totaling roughly 38,777 messages. The segment relevant to the investigation contains messages from the night of January 29, 2022 onward in which Proctor shared case details, victim identity, and early conclusions about the defendant. A specific message expressed a wish that the defendant would kill herself.