SALEM, Mass. — Law enforcement officials on Wednesday announced a murder indictment in connection with an investigation into the death of a 20-year-old North Andover woman who was found dead in the woods in Beverly.
An Essex County grand jury has indicted John Carey, 63, on a charge of murder in the strangulation death of Claire Gravel in 1986, Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett said during a news conference.
Gravel’s body was discovered in the woods on the northbound side of Route 128 in Beverly on June 30, 1986. In the hours before she was murdered, Gravel played softball, and then went to Major Magleashes’ bar with her teammates on Washington Street in Salem.
Blodgett said investigators followed up on dozens of tips over the last 36 years and that “evidence secured from Claire’s clothing was instrumental” in returning the murder indictment.
“Assistant district attorneys, state police detectives assigned to the Essex DA’s office, and Salem and Beverly police worked diligently to bring about the result we have today,” Blodgett said.
Carey is currently serving a prison term at NCI Concord for a 2008 conviction, according to Blodgett. He’ll be arraigned on one count of first-degree murder in Salem Superior Court at a later date.
Gravel would have turned 57 earlier this month.
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