Overview
- John Carey, 66, was sentenced Thursday in Essex County Superior Court to life without parole after a March 3 first-degree murder conviction.
- Investigators tied him to the killing when a DNA profile taken in 2008 for an attempted strangulation matched DNA on Claire Gravel’s tank top through the CODIS database, prompting a 2022 indictment while he was held at MCI Concord.
- Gravel, a 20-year-old Salem State student from North Andover, was last seen after visiting a Salem pub on June 29, 1986, and workers found her strangled in woods off Route 128 in Beverly the next day.
- Gravel’s father and five siblings delivered victim-impact statements, with sister Denise Foley describing years of nightmares and brother Jim saying their sister would be proud of the outcome.
- Carey’s attorney said he will appeal, and the case also gets automatic review by Massachusetts’ highest court as the defense has criticized missing records and shifting witness accounts from the 1986 investigation.