After Show: The Salem Strangler

20/20

This episode of 20/20 The After Show delves into the decades-long investigation into the 1986 murder of Claire Gravel in Massachusetts. Reti

Key takeaways

Claire Gravel was murdered in 1986 after leaving a local bar following a softball game.
Detective Elaine Gill preserved Claire's tank top, which had been used as the murder weapon.

Main topics

The Salem Strangler case
Touch DNA forensic technology

Notable quotes

I want people to know that they need to trust... trust their gut, trust their instinct.

Conclusion

The episode serves as a testament to the power of forensic innovation

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) One summer evening when she was 20 years Speaker 1 (0:02) old, Speaker 2 (0:03) something terrible happened to Vienna Luke. I can't figure it out, but I do know that it was a violation. Then people started asking questions. Speaker 5 (0:12) What a creep. Who else knows about this? From Speaker 2 (0:15) CBC's Personally, this is Agent Layla. The story of how a victim went undercover. So bring it on. Let's go. Let's get a confession. Available now on CBC Listen. or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, Speaker 1 (0:34) everybody. Welcome to 2020 The After Show. I'm Deborah Roberts. And as always, it's so good to have you with us. We've got a really, really incredible story to bring to you. We're going to take you, as always, deeper inside our 2020 episode. Our most recent one was called The Salem Strangler, and it takes place in a picturesque New England town that has a history, as you might imagine, for some darkness, the Salem Witch Trials. Well, I went to Salem Mass to bring you this report, and it is one that I am still thinking about, about a close-knit family, an Irish Catholic family whose lives were forever changed one summer day. The story revolves around a young woman, 20-year-old college sophomore Claire Gravel. She was one of six children. As I said, in a proud Irish Catholic family known to be fun and feisty and crazy about sports, according to her family. She had just begun her life, really. She had moved away from home to begin college and was on the cusp of living out her dreams. Well, everything seemed to be possible for Claire until one summer night in 1986 when after a softball game, she went out with friends to a popular local bar and everything changed. She was seen leaving the bar around 1 a.m. and never seen alive again. And the next day, sadly, Claire's body was found along the side of a road just a few miles from where she lived. Well, understandably, her family was absolutely shattered with no idea about who or why someone would do such a thing to her. Well, investigator... Elaine Gill was among those first officers on the scene asking the same questions, and she would spend years trying to solve this mysterious murder and hold someone accountable. If you saw our 2020 on Friday night, you met Elaine, and if you didn't, well, you're going to get a chance to meet her now, because what followed was a decades-long search for answers. twists and turns and heartbreak and ultimately a DNA breakthrough, which we're going to talk to her about. Questions that were haunting this family for so long. How did the killer manage to elude police for an unsolved murder for nearly 40 years? Well, Elaine Gill dedicated much of her life to answering these questions, and she is joining us now. Elaine, such a pleasure to meet you. Speaker 2 (2:54) Oh, pleasure to meet you as well. Thank you for having me. Thank you Speaker 1 (2:56) for being with us. And I say meet you to see you again, I should say, because you were already in our 2020 story on Friday night. And you brought such heart and passion, of course, to this story. But I want to start off by talking a little bit about you. I am always so intrigued when I have an opportunity. to meet female detectives, because many of you started during a time where there weren't many of you in law enforcement and you've been in law enforcement now for 40 years. You were commanding the investigative unit in Essex County before you retired. And I'm just really curious about you because at that time you weren't that much older than Claire Gravel when you had, when you started this case. Yeah, that's true. Speaker 2 (3:34) That is true. I came on to the state police in Massachusetts in 1982. And I was 20 years old when I went to the State Police Academy. And so when the homicide happened, when Claire was killed, I had been on the job for about four years and had recently moved into the investigative unit. that would oversee working on homicides in that county. Well, Speaker 1 (3:59) take me back to 1986, because the world was a very different place, of course. You know, technology. We didn't have cell phones. And as I said, there weren't a lot of women in investigative units like this. Was this your very first homicide, or had you worked others before? Speaker 2 (4:13) This was my very first. I had investigated other sudden or unintended deaths. took place in the county while in the unit and investigated other cases as well and assisted in other homicide investigations. But this was the first where I ultimately ended up as the primary investigator. And Speaker 1 (4:29) take me back to you at that moment. So this young woman is found murdered, strangled, disheveled alongside a roadway. She's not much older than you, but of course, you've got to go into work mode. Where did you begin and what emotions do you remember? Speaker 2 (4:44) So when we got the call, our office was in Salem as well, and we got the call, the report of the body found on the highway on 128 and Beverly. When we first arrived at the scene, our objective was obviously to try to figure out how she got to this location. And so we spoke to some individuals that were at the scene who actually found. Claire's body and then made our observations, spent quite a while observing the scene and seeing what we could glean from any evidence there. And ultimately, once we had Claire's body removed to the medical examiner's office, we then wanted to backtrack and figure out how Claire got there in the first place. And through going to her address, we kind of learned about what her activities were. before she was last seen playing softball, was with friends. And so we wanted to track down those friends and see if we could figure out Claire's last movements and what was going on in her life prior to her being Speaker 1 (5:48) killed. Yeah, which was so important and so shocking too in this area when you think about her family. What do you recall about that at the time? Because this was a very close-knit family, as I said. this horrible thing happens and also shakes up the community. Speaker 2 (6:02) Yeah, everybody was devastated when they heard the news. Claire was from a wonderful family. I've had a lot of conversations with their family, and they're just amazing people. And to have to talk about, you know, the loss of a daughter, a sister, an aunt, and then also to talk to her friends who, you know, were out celebrating and just having a good time with Claire, and for them to learn that the person that they loved, that they had fun with, they socialized with, that in one moment that they had seen her and the next moment she was gone and ultimately gone from their lives. Speaker 1 (6:38) And then the investigation goes on and on with no arrest. How frustrating was that for you? Because as time goes on, I mean, literally years go on to the point that now you're thinking about retiring, but still nothing on this case. Speaker 2 (6:51) Yeah, it was really frustrating. I worked with amazing investigators on the case and people from the district attorney's office. And we kept plugging along. Anytime we'd get some new information, we'd try to follow that up, see if it would lead us anywhere. I kept in touch with Claire's mom