DNA cited as factor that led to break in 1988 cold case homicide; suspect arraigned in Lawrence
May 13—LAWRENCE — DNA taken from Marvin C. "Skip" McClendon Jr. and his family members linked him to the death of Melissa Ann "Missy" Tremblay, an 11-year-old Salem, N.H., girl found slain in a Lawrence, Mass., train yard in September 1988, law enforcement officials said Friday.
McClendon, 74, was arrested April 26 in Bremen, Alabama, and extradited to Massachusetts. He was arraigned on a first-degree murder charge late Friday morning in Lawrence District Court, He is being held without bail.
McClendon was linked to the 33-year-old homicide after a DNA profile was created in 2014 using evidence taken from Tremblay's body, said prosecutor Jessica Strasnick.
DNA samples of males in McClendon's family were tested as a result, she said.
Also, McClendon drove a van similar to one seen in the area prior to Tremblay's killing. He also shared details of the crime when interviewed by investigators, Strasnick said. Those details were not made public.
Investigators, collaborating with the FBI, also determined Tremblay's killer was left-handed. McClendon is left-handed, she said.
During the brief arraignment, McClendon's defense attorney, Charles Henry Fasoldt, pointed to the DNA testing saying it was "equally plausible" the DNA of "another male McClendon" could have been found on Tremblay.
Wearing a plaid shirt and beige slacks, McClendon stood in the courtroom's prisoner dock. His expression never changed during the arraignment.
Extra court officers and Lawrence police officers were brought into the courtroom for additional security during the arraignment.
It was unclear if any of McClendon's relatives were present. Several of Tremblay's friends and family attended.
In Alabama, Cullman County Sheriff Department officers assisted Massachusetts investigators with the arrest. McClendon was held at the Cullman County detention center until he was returned to Massachusetts for Friday's arraignment.
A 1965 graduate of Tewksbury High School and an Air Force veteran, McClendon worked in the past as a state corrections officer and a carpenter.
He was living in Chelmsford and affiliated with a Seventh Day Adventist Church in Lawrence when Tremblay was killed, officials said at a press conference last week.
A sixth-grader at the Lancaster School in Salem, Tremblay was found dead on the railroad tracks at the Boston & Maine freight terminal near Andover Street and South Broadway in Lawrence on Sept. 12, 1988.
Reported missing the previous day, she had been stabbed to death and run over post mortem by a freight car.
The girl was known to play in the adjacent neighborhoods while her mother and her mother's boyfriend frequented an area social club. She was last seen alive by a railroad employee and pizza delivery driver.
Tremblay's mother has since died. However, the girl does having surviving relatives living in the area.
