ESSEX COUNTY, Mass. (WHNT) — An Alabama man accused of killing an 11-year-old girl in Massachusetts in 1988 is expected to be arraigned on the murder charge on Thursday, July 7.
According to the Essex County District Attorney’s office, Marvin C. “Skip” McClendon, Jr., 74, of Bremen, Alabama will face an arraignment hearing in the Salem Superior Court at 12:30 p.m. EST.
McClendon was indicted for the murder on June 15 by an Essex County Grand Jury. On May 13, he pleaded not guilty at an arraignment hearing.
McClendon was arrested on April 26, 2022, on a fugitive-from-justice warrant at his home in Cullman County, Alabama.
(Cullman County Sheriff’s Office)
DNA evidence linked McClendon, a former Massachusetts Department of Corrections Officer, to the 1988 murder of Melissa Ann Tremblay, known as “Missy” to her family.
Missy’s body was found lying on nearby train tracks just one day after her mother had reported her missing. She had been stabbed multiple times; her left leg had been amputated by a train car after she died.
(Essex County District Attorney’s Office)
A van that had been seen in the area was similar to a van that McClendon drove at the time, prosecutors said. He had also lived near the area around the time Missy was murdered and attended a church there. No motive for the killing was disclosed.
McClendon, Blodgett said, had been a “person of interest” in the case for a period of time, telling media in a press conference shortly after his arrest that they “believe we have the right person.”
McClendon remains held without bail.
