John Carey Convicted for 1986 Strangulation Death of Salem Student Claire Gravel

A jury in Essex County Superior Court convicted 66-year-old John Carey of first-degree murder for the strangulation death of 20-year-old Claire E. Gravel, closing a case detectives had pursued since 1986. The verdict was returned in court on March 3, 2026, after prosecutors told jurors new DNA testing linked Carey’s genetic profile to a black tank top the Commonwealth says was used to strangle Gravel.

Prosecutors told the court that Gravel was killed on June 29, 1986, and that her body was found the next day in a wooded area off Route 128 north in Beverly. The Essex County District Attorney’s Office credited the investigative break to DNA testing that produced samples matching Carey on the tank top; Deputy First Assistant District Attorney Kim Faitella told jurors, “What he left behind was his genetic blueprint on the murder weapon.”

The trial took place in Lawrence before Hon. Jeffrey T. Karp, with Faitella representing the Commonwealth and Mark Booker defending Carey. Defense attorneys urged jurors to acquit, arguing the 1986 investigation was incomplete, records were missing and witness statements changed over time; Booker told jurors they “should find Mr. Carey not guilty.” The jury also found the killing involved “extreme atrocity and cruelty,” a phrasing reported from the verdict that carries weight in Massachusetts aggravation findings.

Carey was indicted in August 2022 in connection with Gravel’s death while already serving a roughly 20-year sentence for a separate choking or attempted murder incident in Hamilton. Reporting differs on whether that prior conviction occurred in 2007 or 2008, but outlets consistently note Carey was imprisoned on charges including attempted murder, home invasion and assault and battery when investigators moved to charge him in the Gravel case. If the court imposes the statutory penalty for first-degree murder in Massachusetts, Carey faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Family members and prosecutors framed the conviction as long-awaited closure. District Attorney Paul F. Tucker said, “The family of Claire Gravel has waited 40 long years for justice,” and added that prosecutors and law enforcement “never gave up on Claire’s case” and were “pleased that at least the family has some answers – some closure.” At trial Claire’s brother testified about her life, telling the court he remembered her as a “fun, feisty and friendly young woman.” Gravel graduated from North Andover High School in 1983, was a Salem State student at the time of her death and worked at the National Braille Press.

Carey is scheduled to be formally sentenced on March 26, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. in Essex County Superior Court in Lawrence. With the jury’s first-degree verdict and the stated DNA link to the tank top, prosecutors have secured a conviction in a case that remained unsolved for nearly four decades.