Jury Finds Salem Man Guilty Of Killing Estranged Wife

SALEM, MA — A Salem man who walked into the Salem Police Station in the middle of the night in 2016 to say he had killed his estranged wife was found guilty of first degree murder Thursday by a Salem Superior Court jury. Douglas Steeves Jr. was scheduled to be sentenced at 2:30 p.m. Thursday for the murder of Carmela Saunders Steeves, 48, his wife of 28 years, on Aug. 2, 2016.

Judge James Lang sentenced Steeves to life in prison without parole.

"Carmela Saunders was a mother and a grandmother whose life was needlessly, selfishly, and cruelly cut short by this defendant," Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said. "While this verdict and sentence provide justice to her family and friends, nothing we do can alleviate their grief and loss."

The couple had started dating when Carmela Steeves was 14. According to court documents, Douglas Steeves had been staying with a friend in Peabody after his estranged wife got a restraining order against him. But Carmela Steeves allowed him to return to their Chandler Street apartment in Salem after the friend told him to leave and he had "nowhere to go." The couple began arguing after Douglas Steeves received a call from a man warning him to "stay away from his girl."

Douglas Steeves strangled Carmela Steeves after she scratched his face, then left her body on a bed, covered by a blanket, according to a police report. Around 3:44 a.m. he turned himself into Salem police. Defense attorneys have signaled his mental state at the time of the murder may factor into their defense. They have been granted two delays to the start of the trial, once last year then again in January.

In the year leading up to the murder, Carmela Steeves twice filed for divorce. The first complaint was dismissed after the couple reconciled, and the second filining in February 2016 was still pending when Carmela Steevs was killed. She also received two restraining orders against Douglas Steeves, one of which was still in effect at the time of the murder.

"I will take care of you," he said, according to an affidavit signed by Carmela Steeves when she filed for the restraining order in May 2016. "I don't care what happens to be [sic], but I will get you."

Carmela Steeves had received the first restraining order in 1994, after Douglas Steeves tried to strangle her.