Crime
A man who was previously serving a sentence for attempted murder has been found guilty of killing the college student in 1986.
Claire Gravel was murdered June 30, 1986 by John Carey. Handout/Essex County District Attorney’s Office
Forty years after a man murdered a Salem State University student, a jury has found him guilty, according to prosecutors.
John Carey, 66, of Gloucester, was convicted of first degree murder Tuesday in Essex County Superior Court for the killing of Claire Gravel, the Essex County District Attorney’s Office said in a press release. Carey was indicted on the murder charge in 2022.
Gravel was a 20-year-old sophomore student from North Andover who worked at National Braille Press, according to the DA’s office. Carey strangled her to death in June 1986, which jurors noted in their verdict as “extreme atrocity and cruelty.”
Investigators found that Gravel was out with friends the night of June 29 and that a friend dropped her off at her apartment in the early hours of June 30. Later that day, her body was found on the side of Route 128 in Beverly.
At the time of Carey’s indictment, prosecutors explained that a new lead in the case had developed in 2012, and evidence recovered from Gravel’s clothing helped tremendously. During Carey’s trial, another “investigative break” was said to come from testing showing samples of his DNA on a black tank top used to strangle Gravel.
“What he left behind was his genetic blueprint on the murder weapon,” Deputy First Assistant District Attorney Kim Faitella told jurors during Monday’s closing arguments.
Gravel’s father, brothers, and other family members attended Carey’s trial, the DA’s office said. Her brother, James Gravel of Manchester, N.H. remembered her on the witness stand as “a fun, feisty, and friendly young woman.”
When Carey was indicted, he was serving a prison term for an unrelated attempted murder conviction from 2008. Prosecutors noted that Carey had previously been a person of interest in connection with Gravel’s murder.
Carey faces life in prison without parole for Gravel’s murder, according to prosecutors. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 26.
“The family of Claire Gravel has waited 40 long years for justice,” District Attorney Paul Tucker said in the release. “The prosecutors here today, together with our partners in law enforcement, never gave up on Claire’s case and today we are pleased that at least the family has some answers – some closure.”
Carey’s attorney, Mark Booker, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
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