Mistrial called in case of former Mass. corrections officer
Charged in 1988 slaying of girl in Lawrence
An Essex County jury deadlocked on the sixth day of deliberations and a mistrial was declared in the case against a former state corrections officer accused of murdering an 11year-old girl from Salem, N.H. who disappeared while waiting for her mother outside of a Lawrence bar 35 years ago, court records show.
Melissa Ann “Missy” Tremblay’s stabbed and mangled body was discovered on Sept. 12, 1988, in the old Boston & Maine Railway Yard several blocks from the bar. She was left on a railroad track and was run over by a freight train.
Marvin “Skip” McClendon Jr., 76, was arrested in April 2022 at his home in Alabama after a DNA sample from Tremblay’s body was linked to him. Investigators also determined from the child’s neck wound that her killer was likely left-handed — and McClendon is left-handed. He was charged as a fugitive from justice and returned to Massachusetts.
McClendon lived in Chelmsford in 1988 but had several ties to Lawrence, working carpentry jobs in the area and attending services at a local Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Globe reported last year.
McClendon’s 17-day murder trial in Essex Superior Court in Salem began in early December with the jury hearing opening statements on Dec. 7 and closing arguments on Dec. 19, court records show.
Jurors deliberated for nearly 30 hours over six days before telling the judge they had “deadlocked,” or reached an impasse, on Wednesday morning, records show. Judge Jeffrey Karp declared a mistrial and discharged the jury.
It was unclear if prosecutors would move to retry the case. Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker’s office could not be reached for comment.
A trial assignment conference, where dates are assigned and judges selected, is scheduled for Jan. 30, court records show.
McClendon’s lawyer, C. Henry Fasoldt, said in an email: “We appreciate the jury’s diligent and thoughtful deliberations. We look forward to trying the case again.”
McClendon wasn’t working as a corrections officer at the time of the murder but worked three separate stints with the Department of Correction between 1970 and 2002, for a total of about 20 years in state government.
Missy and her mother, Janet Tremblay, lived in Salem, N.H., at the time of the murder.
It wasn’t uncommon for the sixth-grader to pass time outside the La Salle Social Club while her mother visited the bar with her boyfriend, according to a previous Globe story. The girl was frequently seen waiting in a car, or on the front steps, or at the nearby corner market. Sometimes she played with the neighborhood kids, as she did on the last day she was seen alive.
A neighbor who lived next door to the bar told reporters at the time that Tremblay often played with her children and that they had been breaking bottles on the afternoon Tremblay disappeared. Tremblay was last seen by a railroad employee and pizza delivery driver, prosecutors said.
Janet Tremblay died in 2015 at age 70. She was never a suspect. According to her obituary posted to the website of the Goundrey & Dewhirst Funeral Home in Salem, N.H., Tremblay was “a loving mother to her adopted daughter Melissa Ann Tremblay.”
After McClendon’s arrest was first announced, Tremblay’s family released a statement saying they have always held Missy in their hearts and prayed for justice.
“We have never stopped thinking of Missy,” cousin Daneille Root said. “My aunt Janet [Melissa’s mother] may not have used the best judgment in allowing Missy to play around the neighborhood of the social club, but that is between her and God. She loved Missy and never intended any harm to come to her.”
Root also thanked investigators for their tireless work on the case, as well as those who’ve offered well wishes to her family.