LAWRENCE — Retired State Police Detective Lt. Elaine Gill identified for jurors the wallet, checkbook, family photos, makeup, library card, sunglasses and more found in a bag near Claire Gravel’s body in a wooded area off the highway in Beverly.
On June 30, 1986, Gill was among the first to respond when Gravel, 20, a Salem State College student, was found strangled to death 50 feet off Route 128.
Gravel, who was part of a large North Andover family, was last seen two days earlier, during a gathering with friends at Major Magleashe’s Pub in Salem, after a softball game.
John Carey, 67, formerly of Gloucester and Hamilton, is now on trial for Gravel’s murder nearly 40 years after the crime. Carey grew up in Gloucester and graduated from Gloucester High School in 1977.
Prosecutors say Carey strangled the young woman to death with her tank top for sexual gratification.
The DNA match did not occur until after Carey was convicted in a 2007 strangulation, attempted murder case and was serving a state prison sentence. He was indicted and arraigned on the murder charge in 2022.
In 1986, Gill had been a state trooper for four years and was assigned to the Essex County District Attorney’s office as an investigator. Retired from MSP since 2009, Gill is now the deputy chief of police at Merrimack College in North Andover.
In Lawrence Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon, answering questions posed by Assistant District Attorney Kim Faitella, Gill recalled responding to the crime scene on the northbound side of Route 128 before the Grapevine Road exit.
Repeatedly referring to “Claire,” Gill described how the young woman’s body was found on the ground. She was wearing shorts and the two tops she had on were pulled up exposing her breasts. There was a watch on her left wrist, rings on various fingers and she was barefoot. Marks and bruising were found pn her body. There was blood on leaves surrounding her, Gill explained.
A single white women’s sandal, a Michelob beer bottle and a green canvas bag were found nearby. Gill identified more than two dozen items in the bag that were kept for decades as evidence.
She explained how Brian Windsor, a then-state police photographer, took photos at the crime scene and also later at Gravel’s autopsy, which Gill attended.
Jurors on Thursday are scheduled to go on a “view” to Salem and Beverly to see different sites associated with the trial. Gill is set to continue her testimony during the trial that’s expected to stretch into at least next week.
Also testifying Wednesday were two of Gravel’s friends who were the last to see her alive on June 28, 1986.
Kathy (Bryson) Bowden-Coulter was with Gravel, and other friends, at Major Magleashe’s that night. She described Gravel as “bright, beautiful, caring and sociable”
“She was just a love. She loved life, loved her family,” Bowden-Coulter said. Gravel dreamed of a marriage similar to her parents and spoke of having six to 10 children, she said.
Bowden-Coulter recalled Gravel speaking with a man at the bar before she left that night.
James Kefalas, a retired Salem State College police officer, said he dropped Gravel off near her apartment that night. In 1986, he played on two local softball teams and had stopped by Magleashe’s to see friends. Gravel, earlier in the evening, asked if he could drive her home.
Kefalas recalled dropping Gravel near her apartment, and her walking on the nearby sidewalk. But he didn’t see her go inside, he said.
Due to that experience, he waits and watches people get inside their homes when he drops them off.
“I watch everyone go to the door and lock the door of they can,” Kefalas said.
Carey has been held at Middleton Jail awaiting the trial.
Staff Writer Jill Harmacinski may be contacted at jharmacinski@gloucestertimes.com. Follow her on Twitter/X @EagleTribJill and on Threads at jillyharma.