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Jury begins deliberating in trial of Alabama man accused of murdering 11-year-old girl in 1988

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Jury begins deliberating in trial of Alabama man accused of murdering 11-year-old girl in 1988


A jury on Monday begun deliberating in the case of an Alabama man accused of the beating and stabbing death of an 11-year-old New Hampshire girl more than 35 years ago.

Prosecutors and the defense attorney for Marvin “Skip” McClendon Jr. made their closing arguments Monday in a case that hinges in part on whether the jury believes DNA found under Melissa Ann Tremblay’s fingernails came from McClendon.

This is the second murder trial for McClendon, after a judge last year declared a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury.

The body of the Salem, New Hampshire, girl was found in a Lawrence, Massachusetts, trainyard on Sept. 12, 1988, a day after she was reported missing. She had been stabbed in the neck.

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The victim had accompanied her mother and her mother’s boyfriend to a Lawrence social club not far from the railyard and went outside to play while the adults stayed inside, authorities said last year. She was reported missing later that night.

The girl’s mother, Janet Tremblay, died in 2015 at age 70, according to her obituary. But surviving relatives have been attending court to observe the latest trial.

After initially ruling out several suspects including two drug addicts early on, authorities turned their attention to McClendon.

He was arrested at his Alabama home in 2022 based in part on DNA evidence.

Essex County Assistant District Attorney Jessica Strasnick told the jury that comments McClendon made during his arrest showed he knew details of the crime and that he was “fixated on the fact that she was beaten, ladies and gentlemen, because he knew that she wasn’t just stabbed that day, that was she was beaten.”

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A left-handed person like McClendon stabbed Tremblay, Strasnick said. She told jurors that the carpenter and former Massachusetts corrections officer was familiar with Lawrence, having frequented bars and strip clubs in the city. He also lived less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) away at the time of the killing.

“He assumed he had gotten away with it after 33 years,” Strasnick said.

“He assumed that if he left her beaten and stabbed body against the wheel of a railroad train, it would look like she got run over,” she said. “He assumed they wouldn’t investigate. He assumed that he would stay under the radar.”

Strasnick told the jury that the DNA evidence taken from under Tremblay’s fingernails excludes 99.8% of the male population.

“This 11-year-old girl used the last energy she had to fight for her life by scratching him and clawing him,” Strasnick said. “Because of that, she was able to get his DNA under her fingernails … That’s why, after all these years, his past finally caught up with him.”

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But McClendon’s lawyer, Henry Fasoldt said there is no proof the DNA came from under Tremblay’s fingernails or was from McClendon. “Their initial assumption that the DNA came from the murderer is a bad assumption,” he said after the court hearing.

Fasoldt also said evidence shows that a right-handed person, rather than a left-handed person, could have stabbed Tremblay. He also argued that McClendon had “no meaningful connection” to Lawrence — other than that he lived 16 miles (25 kilometers) away in Chelmsford. He moved to Alabama in 2002 to a plot of land his family owned.

“I’m concerned. He is 77 years old and in poor health and he has to go through this again,” he said. “I don’t believe he did it.”



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Indiana Fever take Alabama Jessica Timmons in third round of WNBA draft

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Indiana Fever take Alabama Jessica Timmons in third round of WNBA draft


Tennessee Volunteers forward Alyssa Latham (33) fouls Alabama Crimson Tide guard Jessica Timmons (23)Thursday, March 5, 2026, during the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament second round game at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. Alabama Crimson Tide won 76-64.

(Alex Martin/Greenville News, Alex Martin/Greenville News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)



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Alabama transfer guard reportedly announces commitment decision

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Alabama transfer guard reportedly announces commitment decision


Former Alabama guard Jalil Bethea has officially committed to Pittsburgh, per Rivals’ Joe Tipton.

Bethea struggled to make a consistent impact throughout his one and only season at Alabama. The former Miami transfer averaged 3.9 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.5 assists this past season, as Bethea could potentially play a much larger role throughout his time at Pitt next year. Bethea averaged just eight minutes per game this season as well, as the former Crimson Tide guard will now turn his full attention towards a fresh start with the Panthers. 

Bethea was ranked as the No. 3 shooting guard and the No. 7 overall player from the class of 2024, per the 247Sports Composite rankings. He was listed as the No. 1 overall player out of Pennsylvania as well, as a return to his home state could undoubtedly be exactly what Bethea needs to turn his career around during the 2026-27 campaign. 

Following the commitment of Bethea, Aiden Sherrell and Taylor Bol Bowen are the lone Alabama players in the portal who have yet to announce a transfer decision.

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Lawrence County crash kills mother and 2 children, injures 2

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Lawrence County crash kills mother and 2 children, injures 2


Lawrence County crash kills mother and 2 children, injures 2

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TEACH OTHERS THESE SAME SKILLS. IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY OUT AT REGIONS FIELD, THE SKIES ARE BLUE. IT LOOKS LIKE THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE OUT THERE ON THE FIELD, AND JUST A GREAT DAY TO SOAK UP THE SUN 84 DEGREES RIGHT NOW IN BIRMINGHAM AND ACROSS THE MAP. WE ARE IN THE MID TO LOW 80S FROM 84 IN WINFIELD JASPER ALABASTER. SAME THING IN PELL CITY AND ANNISTON. THE WARMEST SPOT ON THE MAP 85 THE COOLER SPOT IN THE MAP UP IN COLEMAN AT 82 AND 82 DEGREES UP THERE IN ALBERTVILLE TOO. RADAR IS DRY. HAS BEEN FOR THE PAST 6 TO 7 DAYS, AND THE REST OF THIS EVENING WILL REMAIN DRY. WILL DROP TO THE 80S LOW 80S BY 7:00, MID 70S BY 9:00, AND THEN OVERNIGHT WILL DROP TO THE 60S AND WILL WAKE UP TOMORROW MORNING IN THE MID TO UPPER 50S. SO MAYBE A LITTLE BIT CHILLY FOR SOME, BUT OTHERWISE WARM AND WARMER THAN WE SHOULD BE FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR, NOT ONLY IN THE MORNING, BUT IN THE AFTERNOON. TOMORROW TOO. WE’RE BACK IN THE MID 80S, SIMILAR TO WHAT WE WERE TODAY, WITH JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE HUMIDITY. NOW WE HAVE NOT SEEN THAT MUCH RAINFALL SO FAR THIS ENTIRE MONTH. THIS IS MONTH TO DATE. AS YOU CAN SEE, TODAY IS THE 12TH. WE HAVE UP TO 11. AND ANYWHERE YOU SEE THAT ORANGE COLOR, THAT’S WHERE WE’VE SEEN NO RAIN. THE BEST RAINFALL WE GOT WAS LAST WEEKEND, MAINLY ON SATURDAY WITH JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. NOW THIS IS JUST FOR BIRMINGHAM AND IT REPRESENTS A DROUGHT. AND THAT’S NOT JUST THE CASE FOR BIRMINGHAM. IT’S THE CASE FOR MOST OF ALABAMA. THIS RED AND THE DARK RED COLORS REPRESENT ANYWHERE BETWEEN ONE AND UP TO THREE, IF NOT FOUR INCHES OF A 30 DAY RAINFALL DEFICIT, MEANING WE NEED MORE RAIN THAN WE’VE GOTTEN IN THE PAST 30 DAYS. AND THAT LACK OF RAIN PULLING A LOT OF MOISTURE OUT OF THE GROUND DUE TO THAT DROUGHT IS WHY THERE’S A RED FLAG WARNING IN PLACE FOR BOTH NORTH AND PARTS OF CENTRAL ALABAMA. FROM FLORENCE ALL THE WAY DOWN LINEVILLE CLAY COUNTY, TALLADEGA. SHELBY. JEFFERSON. JEFFERSON WALKER ALL THE WAY UP TO MARION COUNTY’S. JUST MEANS THAT THERE IS A HIGHER FIRE DANGER. SO DON’T BE BURNING ANYTHING OUTSIDE TODAY, EVEN THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS, BECAUSE FIRE RISK IS HIGH AS THE DROUGHT CONTINUES. HERE’S A FORECAST MODEL SHOWING WHERE WE COULD SEE THE MOST RAINFALL OVER THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS. AND AS YOU CAN SEE, ALABAMA, GEORGIA, FLORIDA, NOT MUCH. NORTHWEST ALABAMA COULD SEE A TRACE OF SHOWERS AS THESE TINY ISOLATED SHOWERS POP UP MONDAY EVENING ACROSS MARION FRANKLIN LAUDERDALE COUNTY BUT EVEN THAT CLEARS OUT AS EARLY AS 10 P.M. MONDAY NIGHT. AND OVERALL, IT’S NOT A WHOLE LOT. BUT HERE’S THAT SEVEN DAY FORECAST. HIGH STICK AROUND IN THE 80S AS HIGH AS 89 FRIDAY AFTERNOON. A FEW CHANCES FOR ISOLATED SHOWERS THURSDAY THAT RETURNS SATURDAY A

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Lawrence County crash kills mother and 2 children, injures 2

Updated: 7:42 PM CDT Apr 12, 2026

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Video above: Weather forecastThree people died and two were injured, including children, in a northern Alabama car crash Saturday, according to our news partner WAFF.The Lawrence County coroner told WAFF that a vehicle driven by Ashley Hagood, 33, was hit on the side by a truck near Highway 157 and Highway 24 in Moulton.Hagood and her four children — Bryant Ballew, 13; twins Bryleigh and Brynleigh Pledger, 7; and Bentley Pledger, 10 — were inside the car at the time of the crash. Ballew and Bryleigh died at the scene, while Hagood was taken to a hospital, where she later died.Bentley and Brynleigh were taken to a hospital in Birmingham. According to WAFF, Bentley was taken off a ventilator Sunday afternoon. Brynleigh is recovering from surgery and dealing with brain swelling and bleeding, which doctors anticipated and hope the surgery will alleviate. Brynleigh also reportedly suffered seizures Saturday night.The crash remains under investigation, according to WAFF.

Video above: Weather forecast

Three people died and two were injured, including children, in a northern Alabama car crash Saturday, according to our news partner WAFF.

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The Lawrence County coroner told WAFF that a vehicle driven by Ashley Hagood, 33, was hit on the side by a truck near Highway 157 and Highway 24 in Moulton.

Hagood and her four children — Bryant Ballew, 13; twins Bryleigh and Brynleigh Pledger, 7; and Bentley Pledger, 10 — were inside the car at the time of the crash. Ballew and Bryleigh died at the scene, while Hagood was taken to a hospital, where she later died.

Bentley and Brynleigh were taken to a hospital in Birmingham. According to WAFF, Bentley was taken off a ventilator Sunday afternoon. Brynleigh is recovering from surgery and dealing with brain swelling and bleeding, which doctors anticipated and hope the surgery will alleviate. Brynleigh also reportedly suffered seizures Saturday night.

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The crash remains under investigation, according to WAFF.



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