Jury finds Alabama man not guilty of murdering 11-year-old girl in 1988

BOSTON — A jury on Tuesday found an Alabama man innocent of the murder of an 11-year-old New Hampshire girl more than 35 years ago.

The case came down to whether the jury believed that the DNA found under Melissa Ann Tremblay’s fingernails came from Marvin “Skip” McClendon Jr. After telling a judge Monday they were deadlocked, the jury returned Tuesday and found McClendon not guilty on the sixth day of deliberations.

“Sir. McClendon was greatly relieved by the verdict,” McClendon’s attorney, Henry Fasoldt, told The Associated Press, adding that he would return to Alabama after two and a half years. “We appreciate the jury’s careful and thoughtful deliberations.”

Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker said he was “disappointed with the verdict” but praised the efforts of prosecutors and law enforcement in the case.

“I recognize the work and dedication of the jury during their lengthy deliberations in this case,” Tucker said. “My thoughts are with the family of Melissa Ann Tremblay, who has suffered immensely from the crime that took her life.”

Last year, a judge quashed McClendon’s prosecution after a jury deadlock. The body of the girl from Salem, New Hampshire, was found at a train station in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on September 12, 1988, a day after she was reported missing.

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

The girl’s mother, Janet Tremblay, died in 2015 at the age of 70, according to her obituary. But relatives have come to court to attend the latest trial.

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

He was arrested at his home in Alabama 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 that he knew the details of the crime and that he was “fixated on the fact that she was beaten, ladies and gentlemen, because he knew she wasn’t. She was just stabbed that day, that was her being beaten.”

A left-handed person like McClendon stabbed Tremblay, Strasnick said. She told jurors that the carpenter and former corrections officer from Massachusetts knew Lawrence because he had frequented bars and strip clubs in the city. He also lived less than 20 miles away at the time of the murder.

Strasnick told the jury that the DNA evidence under Tremblay’s fingernails rules out 99.8% of the male population.

But Fasoldt said there was no evidence the DNA came from under Tremblay’s fingernails or belonged to McClendon.

Fasoldt also said there is evidence that a right-hander, rather than a left-hander, could have stabbed Tremblay.

He also argued that McClendon had “no meaningful connection” to Lawrence – other than living 15 miles away in Chelmsford. He moved to Alabama in 2002, to a piece of land his family owned.