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James Gravel

James Gravel

James "Jim" Gravel is the brother of Claire Gravel, a Salem State student murdered in 1986, who spoke about the case on ABC's 20/20 episode "The Salem Strangler."

Sep 26, 2026

20/20

20/20

The Salem Strangler

Sep 26 · 1h 27m

5:44
What do you remember about that day?
5:45
Um, that day, in the morning, um, the phone rang, and I picked up the extension phone at the same time my mother picked up the phone upstairs, and it was National Braille, Braille Press saying- Did Claire go home this weekend? Because she did not arrive at work.
6:05
And my mother's like, "No, she didn't come home this weekend."

5 MINS LATER

11:36
So it often has some specific meaning to the perpetrator.
11:42
There was a knock at the door, and it was the chief of police and a detective, and they asked me to step out, out of the room, to which I did.
11:51
I went to the back stoop outside, and I heard my mother scream.
11:57
And at that time, that time I ran in, and-

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