Police announce breakthrough in 1986 cold case

Suspect is currently being held on other charges

A 63-year-old man has been charged with murder over the 1986 death of a 20-year-old college student, Claire Gravel, in Massachusetts.

Announcing the charges against John Carey on Wednesday, Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said Mr Carey would face one count of first-degree murder in the death of Gravel, who was a student at Salem State College when she was strangled to death.

The North Andover student was last seen alive in the early hours of 29 June 1986, when Essex County authorities say Gravel was dropped off at her apartment on Loring Avenue in Salem.

Gravel, who had been visiting Major Magleashes’ Pub on Washington Street with friends hours earlier, was found in a wooded area by three workmen on the northbound side of Route 128 in Beverly.

A medical examiner determined that she had been strangled to death, a news release said, and the case went unsolved for almost 40 years before recent success with the investigation.

“For 36 years, Claire Gravel’s family and friends have had nothing but questions about her death,” Mr Blodgett said of the four-decades long cold case. “Today, we are able to give them some of the answers.”

Dozens of witnesses and persons-of-interest had been interviewed by police during the time since Gravel’s murder, with no successful leads emerging until 2012.

Multiple agencies including assistant district attorneys, state police detectives and Salem and Beverly Police worked on the new lead for another decade, which Mr Blodgett said allowed the identification and arrest of Mr Carey.

“Evidence recovered from Claire’s clothing was instrumental in solving the case,” he added.

Mr Carey, who is currently being held at MCI Concord for a 2008 conviction, has not entered any plea in relation to the charges and it was unclear if he had a lawyer.

According to CBS News, police are still searching for a motive.