The household of Melissa Ann Tremblay, an 11-year-old lady discovered stabbed to loss of life at a Lawrence railyard in 1988, says they’re assured justice will lastly be served even after an Essex County choose declared a mistrial in opposition to the alleged killer.
A deadlocked jury triggered the choose to order a retrial within the homicide case in opposition to 76-year-old Alabama man Marvin C. “Skip” McClendon Jr., who has pleaded not responsible.
McClendon, a former Chelmsford resident, was arrested in Alabama final 12 months, many years after Tremblay disappeared. McClendon was linked to the killing via DNA proof, in response to a prosecutor.
“While we would have preferred a guilty verdict we thank God that it wasn’t not guilty and that this isn’t the end,” the household of “Missy” Tremblay wrote in a press release launched Friday, days after the choose ordered a retrial. “The last month has been a very long one and we would like to thank all those that have been there to support us. It truly has taken a village to get us through.”
McClendon’s lawyer Henry Fasoldt stated his shopper appreciated the jury being “deliberate and thoughtful” and appears ahead to attempting the case once more.
“Mr. McClendon maintains his innocence and I believe he’s innocent,” Fasoldt stated.
A spokesperson for the Essex County District Attorney’s workplace stated they plan to retry McClendon.
No new trial date has been set.
Tremblay, of Salem, New Hampshire, was present in a Lawrence trainyard on Sept. 12, 1988, the day after she was reported lacking. She had been stabbed and her physique had been run over by a practice, authorities stated.
The sufferer had accompanied her mom and her mom’s boyfriend to a Lawrence social membership not removed from the railyard and went exterior to play whereas the adults stayed inside, authorities stated final 12 months. She was reported lacking later that night time.
McClendon lived in Chelmsford and was doing carpentry work on the time of the killing, authorities stated. He labored and attended church in Lawrence.
Tremblay’s household thanked the Essex County District Attorney’s Office, detectives assigned to the case through the years and everybody else who’ve offered assist throughout the course of.
“Someone asked why retrial is so important and honestly it is because justice needs to be served! He has had 35 years that he has gone unpunished, walking free for 33 of those years,” a part of the assertion reads. “We might have got a mistrial but in our hearts we know the right man was on trial and we look forward to seeing him finally punished.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”