SALEM — Police have solved the 1990 murder of a 26-year-old wheelchair-bound man stabbed to death inside his home, but say the man who carried out the killing is deceased.

Police announced that Mark Craig — who died at a Concord halfway house in 2004 — is responsible for the murder of John Pond Sr., whose body was found inside his Arthur Street apartment on the morning of Sept. 19, 1990.

Pond's family members had long suspected Craig was the killer — and so did police — but investigators say it took a combination of new technology and a grand jury investigation secretly convened last summer to bring a conclusion to the 22-year-old case.

In 1990, investigators cut out a section of flooring from Pond's apartment. They also collected blood droplets and bloody shoe prints that years later aided police with identifying Craig as the killer.

A DNA analysis that began in 2009 concluded Craig was alone at the scene of the killing — contrary to his claims that he had not been to Pond's home in months.

“At the time, he denied ever being there,” Salem Deputy Police Chief Shawn Patten said on Monday. “In 2009, we were able to take that blood splatter and show without a doubt that he was at the scene and that his blood was co-mingled with the victim's blood.”

A grand jury investigation was called last summer to bring forth witnesses who were reluctant to give statements.

That testimony gave investigators some of the final evidence needed to wrap up the case, Patten said.

Physical evidence and witness testimony was enough for the Attorney General's Office to conclude that it would file murder charges against Craig if he were alive today, Patten said.

The Pond case was reopened three years ago by then-Detective Sgt. James Chase, who began reviewing Salem's unsolved murders when the state announced it was starting a Cold Case Unit.

Chase knew little about the investigation when he started, and had no idea that proving a deceased man was the only perpetrator would take years to accomplish.

“As a younger officer, I had always heard that the John Pond case came close to getting solved,” said Chase, now a captain of the patrol division.

After reviewing the case file, one of his first phone calls was to retired Salem detective Paul Marchand.

Chase credits Marchand with asking the Medical Examiner's Office in 2004 to save a vial of Craig's blood when he died so it could be used as evidence.

Marchand had become a detective just 3 1/2 weeks before Pond was killed.

He said on Monday there are many Salem detectives whose initial work played a key role in getting the case solved. Then-Detective Sgt. Dennis O'Brien used a circular saw to cut up the bloodied flooring that was seized as evidence, Marchand said.

Detectives Phil Smith Sr., Mark Cavanaugh, George Winchell, Kevin Swift, Roger Beaudet and Fred Rheault were among the initial team who interviewed witnesses, collected evidence and tried to piece together what happened to Pond inside his home.

Pond became a victim of Craig's apparent rage, police said. Craig had dated a woman who was also romantically involved with Pond's brother, according to investigators.

The woman had rekindled a relationship with Pond's brother, Michael, setting off Craig to go looking for him on the night of the murder, investigators said. Craig wound up at the home of John Pond at 9 Arthur St. instead.

A witness later told police he remembered a man answering the door at Pond's home and got a sense that something was wrong; however, he did not report it to police.

Chase said that Craig had a cut on his hand from a bar fight in Lawrence, Mass., just days before the murder.

Investigators believe Craig bled from that wound during a struggle with Pond. A witness who treated the wound after the bar fight said it looked different after the murder, Chase said. Marchand said Craig had been arrested by Salem police numerous times for smaller offenses and developed a reputation for being hot-headed and violent.

Chase and Marchand said it was rewarding to close a case that has remained open in Salem for so many years. They met with Pond's family on Friday to tell them about the case being solved.

Marchand said hearing the news awoke painful memories for Pond's family because he had a criminal history. He became wheelchair-bound after being shot by a Lawrence, Mass., police officer in 1984. Marchand and Chase said they hope that pain is short-lived and that they brought the family some solace.

“They know John wasn't perfect,” Marchand said. “But he was loved by his family and John loved his family very much. He didn't deserve what happened to him.”

jkimble@newstote.com