Advances in DNA evaluation and the truth that her killer was left-handed have been two bits of proof that prosecutors say level to a former Massachusetts Department of Correction worker within the practically 34-year-old chilly case homicide of 11-year-old Melissa Ann Tremblay.
Marvin C. McClendon Jr., now 74, had been dwelling in Bremen, Alabama, till authorities got here knocking on April 27 and charged him with the September 1988 homicide. He had lengthy been thought of a “person of interest” within the case, authorities say, which was reopened by the cold-case unit of the Essex County District Attorney’s workplace in 2014.
“You imagine a person in your head and what they possibly could look like and who they could be and then you look and you see a frail old man,” Sherry Carignan, an previous good friend of Tremblay’s, mentioned to the media outdoors the courthouse following McClendon’s arraignment at Lawrence District Court Friday.
Prosecutors say McClendon stabbed Tremblay, of Salem, New Hampshire, to demise and left her physique in a south Lawrence railyard, the place her left leg was severed after her demise by a passing prepare.
Why the authorities had fingered McClendon remained a thriller till his arraignment. A not responsible plea was entered on his behalf and he was held with out bail.
A DNA profile of a suspect taken from the lady’s physique was linked to McClendon, prosecutor Jessica Strasnick mentioned. In addition, a van noticed close to the scene of the killing was much like a van that the suspect drove on the time, she mentioned. No motive for the killing was disclosed. Prosecutors additionally mentioned that McClendon being left handed was in keeping with the stabbing.
Tremblay had gone along with her dad and mom to a Lawrence bar, the LaSalle Social Club on Andover Street, the night time of Sept. 11, 1988, and had performed within the surrounding neighborhood whereas the adults have been inside, in line with a story given by Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett saying McClendon’s arrest.
The adults searched throughout for Tremblay, who glided by “Missy,” when she didn’t return and, by 9 p.m., they reported her lacking to Lawrence Police. The subsequent day, Melissa’s physique was discovered within the Boston & Maine Railway Yard close to the nook of South Broadway and Andover Street, a block or so away from the social membership.
The lady’s mom, Janet Tremblay, died in 2015 at age 70, in line with her obituary. But surviving kin had been knowledgeable of the arrest.
“Since her murder in 1988, we have always prayed for justice,” an aunt, uncle and two cousins mentioned in a press release final month.
“My aunt Janet may not have used the best judgment in allowing Missy to play around the neighborhood of the social club, but that is between her and God,” they added. “She loved Missy and never intended any harm to come to her.”
— Herald wire companies contributed to this report
Source: www.bostonherald.com”