Family Speaks Out Following Arrest in 1988 Murder of Girl

LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) — The household of a New Hampshire lady killed in Massachusetts in 1988 are thanking legislation enforcement officers for making an arrest greater than three many years later.

The surviving household of Melissa Ann Tremblay on Saturday mentioned they appreciated that police by no means gave up on the case and that they stay up for seeing “justice lastly served.”

“We by no means thought that after 33 1/2 years we’d lastly see somebody arrested and dealing with a decide,” the household mentioned in a press release offered by Essex County District Legal professional Jonathan Blodgett’s workplace. “The truth that expertise has superior they usually had been capable of observe DNA proof to seek out this man has introduced us nice pleasure.”

Marvin C. McClendon Jr., a retired Massachusetts corrections officer, was ordered held with out bail on Friday following his extradition from Alabama, the place he lives.

The 74-year-old Bremen resident pleaded not responsible in Lawrence District Court docket. He is been charged with fatally stabbing Tremblay in September 1988.

The 11-year-old from Salem, New Hampshire had been enjoying exterior in Lawrence whereas her mom, who died in 2015, was inside an area social membership. Her physique was present in a close-by railway yard the next day.

Prosecutors mentioned in court docket Friday that the state crime lab generated a DNA profile from Tremblay’s physique and was capable of hyperlink it to McClendon.

McClendon’s legal professionals have steered it’s attainable the DNA belongs to a different member of the McClendon household.

However prosecutors on Friday argued that almost all of his household stay in Alabama and have by no means been to Massachusetts.

Additionally they the previous corrections officer, who retired in 2002, had been dwelling not far in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and labored and attended church in Lawrence on the time of the killing.

McClendon was arrested final month. He is due again in court docket June 17.

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