Suspect linked to 1988 killing of 6th grader through DNA – Boston.com

LocalMarvin C. McClendon Jr. stands in the prisoner's dock during his arraignment in Lawrence District Court, Friday, May 13, 2022, in Lawrence, Mass. McClendon Jr., a 74-year-old Alabama man, was held without bail after a not guilty plea to a charge of murder in connection with the 1988 killing of 11-year-old Melissa Ann Tremblay. Tim Jean/The Eagle-Tribune via AP, Pool

By Associated Press

LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) A 74-year-old Alabama man was linked to the 1988 killing of an 11-year-old girl in Massachusetts through DNA evidence, a prosecutor said at the suspects arraignment on Friday.

Marvin C. McClendon Jr. was held without bail after a not guilty plea to a murder charge in connection with the death of Melissa Ann Tremblay was entered on his behalf in Lawrence District Court.

Tremblay, of Salem, New Hampshire, was found in a Lawrence trainyard on Sept. 12, 1988, the day after she was reported missing. She had been stabbed and her body had been run over by a train, authorities said.

The cold case unit at the Essex district attorneys office has been working on the case since 2014, and McClendon has long been considered a person of interest, authorities said.

A DNA profile of a suspect taken from the girls body was linked to McClendon, prosecutor Jessica Strasnick said in court Friday. In addition, a van spotted near the scene of the killing was similar to a van that the suspect drove at the time, she said. No motive for the killing was disclosed.

McClendon, a former Massachusetts corrections officer, was arrested at his home in Bremen, Alabama, last month.

A telephone message seeking comment was left with McClendons attorney.

The victim had accompanied her mother and her mothers boyfriend to a Lawrence social club not far from the railyard and went outside to play while the adults stayed inside, authorities said at a news conference last month. She was reported missing later that night. Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Salem, New Hampshire, are just a few miles apart.

McClendon, a former employee of the Massachusetts prisons department, lived not far from Lawrence in Chelmsford and was doing carpentry work at the time of the killing, authorities said. He worked and attended church in Lawrence.

The girls mother, Janet Tremblay, died in 2015 at age 70, according to her obituary.

Her surviving family members thanked law enforcement officials Saturday for making an arrest more than three decades later.

They said they appreciated that police never gave up on the case, adding they look forward to seeing justice finally served.

We never thought that after 33 1/2 years we would finally see someone arrested and facing a judge, the family said in a statement provided by Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgetts office. The fact that technology has advanced and they were able to follow DNA evidence to find this man has brought us great joy.

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Suspect linked to 1988 killing of 6th grader through DNA - Boston.com