Alleged killer waives rendition
Staties were waiting in Alabama to take suspect into custody
The man authorities suspect of killing an 11-year-old girl in Lawrence nearly 34 years ago will be returning to Massachusetts to face the murder charge.
Marvin “Skip” McClendon Jr., 74 — a former employee of the Massachusetts Department of Correction — was arrested in his current hometown of Bremen, Ala., on Tuesday and charged as a fugitive from justice for a warrant issued in the Sept. 12, 1988, murder of Melissa Ann Tremblay. On Thursday, he waived a rendition hearing ahead of a planned appearance at court in Cullman County, Ala.
“We never forgot about Melissa, nor did we give up on holding her killer accountable,” Essex County DA Jonathan Blodgett said at a Wednesday press conference in Salem, N.H., to announce the arrest. “We continue to review old cases, hoping that new techniques and a fresh look will result in a breakthrough. We are mindful that victims’ family members continue to want answers. They’re not forgotten. We will pursue those responsible and seek to hold them accountable for however long it takes.”
Massachusetts State Police, working with the Essex County District Attorney’s office, were standing by in Alabama to take McClendon into custody should he waive rendition, as he did.
This development means that he’ll most likely appear in Lawrence District Court by next week, according to
Carrie Kimball, spokeswoman for the Essex DA’s office.
The facts of what led to his arrest were thin at the press conference. Further details, Blodgett said, will have to wait until McClendon’s arraignment in Massachusetts.
On Sept. 11, 1988, Melissa’s mother and her mother’s boyfriend were visiting the LaSalle Social Club on Andover Street in Lawrence
as Melissa played in the surrounding neighborhoods, Blodgett said. The adults searched for her when she didn’t return and, by 9 p.m., they reported her missing to Lawrence Police. A railroad employee and a pizza delivery driver were the last witnesses to see her alive.
The next day, Melissa’s body was found in the Boston & Maine Railway Yard near the corner of South Broadway and Andover Street, a block or so away from the social club. She been stabbed to death and her left leg had been severed by a train after her death.
McClendon was living in Chelmsford and working as a carpenter in Lawrence at the time he allegedly murdered the girl. It was a job he took between three separate stints working for the Department of Correction from 1970 until he retired in 2002 after about 20 total years on the job, according to the DA’s office.
Investigators who reopened the cold case in 2014 found that McClendon had many ties to the Lawrence community and was a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Salem Street.