MELISSA TREMBLAY: Man arrested in 1988 killing of 11-year-old girl from Salem, New Hampshire

melissa-tremblay-0124-1651255208.jpg


You may remember this case:

www.foxnews.com

Former Massachusetts corrections officer arrested for 1988 slaying of 11-year-old girl

A 74-year-old man was arrested this week for the 1988 murder of an 11-year-old girl in Massachusetts.
www.foxnews.com www.foxnews.com

Melissa Ann Tremblay disappeared in Lawrence, Massachusetts, at the age of 11 on a Sunday evening in 1988 and was found the next day after being stabbed to death and hit by a train.

More than three decades later, her alleged killer was arrested in Alabama and will be returned to Massachusetts to face justice. Marvin McClendon, Jr., a 74-year-old retired Massachusetts Department of Corrections officer, was taken into custody by the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office and will be arraigned in an Alabama court later this week.

Tremblay went with her mother to LaSalle Social Club in Lawrence on September 11, 1988.

"While her mother and mother’s boyfriend remained inside the club, Melissa played in the adjacent neighborhoods and was last seen by a railroad employee and pizza delivery driver during the late afternoon hours," Blodgett said.

Tremblay's mother and her mother's boyfriend searched the area before reporting her missing to police that evening around 9:00 p.m.

Law enforcement located her body in a railway yard a couple of blocks from the social club the next day and an autopsy determined that she had been stabbed to death.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Click to expand...
GrandmaBear said:
Glad the wheels of justice are starting to turn for Melissa. Do you know is he actually planning to go to trial and plead not guilty in this?
Click to expand...
Good luck with that. It's good because he will get tagged harder than if he had a judge just decide his sentence. But anything is too good for this guy, Except death. Which he won't get. But he will die in prison at least. But after walking around free 30+ yrs.
 
whdh.com

Man charged in 1988 murder of 11-year-old in Lawrence to appear in court

LAWRENCE, MASS. (WHDH) - A former Chelmsford man who is charged with the 1988 murder of an 11-year-old girl in Lawrence is due back in...
whdh.com whdh.com

BY 7 NEWS WHDH
FEBRUARY 21, 2023

LAWRENCE, MASS. (WHDH) - A former Chelmsford man who is charged with the 1988 murder of an 11-year-old girl in Lawrence is due back in court Tuesday for a status hearing.

<snip>
In court Tuesday, officials will discuss McClendon’s appointed council and evidence that may appear at trial.
 
www.eagletribune.com

Judge orders freeze of accused murderer's Alabama home, land during indigency debate

SALEM, Mass. — A Superior Court judge ordered accused child murderer Marvin “Skip” McClendon not to mortgage or transfer ownership of his Alabama home, which sits on 11 acres.
www.eagletribune.com www.eagletribune.com

SALEM, Mass. — A Superior Court judge ordered accused child murderer Marvin “Skip” McClendon not to mortgage or transfer ownership of his Alabama home, which sits on 11 acres.

The order was handed down by Judge Thomas Dreschler Tuesday as discussion continues about whether McClendon, 75, should pay, at least in part, for his defense attorney as the case moves to trial.

<snip>
The next court date for McClendon is scheduled for March 31.

Meanwhile, McClendon remains held without bail at Middleton Jail.

<snip>
Also, to date, there has not been a ruling on a motion by Fasoldt to dismiss the case.

In the motion, Fasoldt said DNA evidence collected in the case is “not sufficient” to support the first degree murder charge against McClendon.

He said prosecutors failed to show the DNA belonged to McClendon, instead of other male relatives, and that his client is a “factually innocent person.”

But prosecutors, conversely, said McClendon’s DNA matched samples taken from underneath Tremblay’s fingernails.
 
www.eagletribune.com

December trial date scheduled in Lawrence child murder case

SALEM, Mass. — An Alabama man charged with 1988 murder of a young girl in Lawrence could go to trial before the end of the year.
www.eagletribune.com www.eagletribune.com

SALEM, Mass. — An Alabama man charged with 1988 murder of a young girl in Lawrence could go to trial before the end of the year.

A Dec. 4 trial date was scheduled Tuesday in Salem Superior Court for Marvin "Skip" McClendon, 75, who is charged with the Sept. 11, 1988 murder of Melissa "Ann" Tremblay, 11, in Lawrence.
 
Mel70 said:
It's about dam time!!!!
Click to expand...
No sh*t. I came in and see I actually hadn't seen posts it looked like since like February to now so had a few posts to catch up with.

I like the one (older post) where the judge ordered him to NOT transfer ownership of his home and acreage etc.! More cases need THIS. Of course it isn't the same as a husband who kills a wife and assumes her/their assets and for some reason they can't seem to stop that but in this one, it is an issue it sounded as to whether HE himself should be paying an attorney. Summer's post #29.

Let's get this show on the road, as you said in another one, he has had ENOUGH years of freedom. This man isn't young, he will die before they try him and never spend a day in iPRISON at the rate of our system these days
 
GrandmaBear said:
No sh*t. I came in and see I actually hadn't seen posts it looked like since like February to now so had a few posts to catch up with.

I like the one (older post) where the judge ordered him to NOT transfer ownership of his home and acreage etc.! More cases need THIS. Of course it isn't the same as a husband who kills a wife and assumes her/their assets and for some reason they can't seem to stop that but in this one, it is an issue it sounded as to whether HE himself should be paying an attorney. Summer's post #29.

Let's get this show on the road, as you said in another one, he has had ENOUGH years of freedom. This man isn't young, he will die before they try him and never spend a day in iPRISON at the rate of our system these days
Click to expand...

He's been in jail since they arrested him.
 
Cousin Dupree said:
He's been in jail since they arrested him.
Click to expand...
Enough years of freedom as in 30. This is a 1988 crime emu! Also jail isn't prison nor is it a sentence of guilty for a family. He well could die without ever being found guilty or tried and never do a day in prison. I don't find that to be justice for MURDER of an 11 year old child and yes, I call that basically freedom throughout his life after committing such a crime and finally a stint in jail where he may well die as I just said without ever a conviction or a day in prison. I don't call that justice. Do you think he should be out on bail or something? This also was a random attack and a brutal one. Just because he's old now doesn't mean he didn't do as he did and is some sympathetic character. I'm sure he probably meant to come clean though and just didn't have a telephone or a car to drive to a police department to confess in the last 30 plus years. Sarcasm intended. Yes, free LONG ENOUGH.
 

Sunday, December 3, 2023
By Jill Harmacinski jharmacinski@eagletribune.com

SALEM, Mass. — Jurors are expected to hear from the original case detectives and visit the neighborhood and rail yard where Melissa Ann Tremblay, 11, was last seen and found murdered as the trial in a 35-year-old Lawrence cold case starts this week.

Tremblay, a sixth-grader from Salem, New Hampshire, was stabbed, beaten and killed in Lawrence near the LaSalle Social Club on Sept. 11, 1988.

Tremblay was known to play in the adjacent neighborhoods while her mother and her mother’s boyfriend frequented the social club. She was last seen alive by a railroad employee and a pizza delivery driver, authorities said.

Tremblay’s mother has since died. However, the girl does have surviving relatives and childhood friends living in the area. She was attending the Haigh School in Salem, N.H., at the time of her murder.

The case remained cold for 34 years until the April 27, 2022, arrest of Marvin “Skip” McClendon, an elderly man living in Bremen, Alabama, who decades earlier worked in the Lawrence area as a handyman. Prosecutor Jessica Strasnick said McClendon, who is charged with first-degree murder, was an “angry, violent drunk” who frequented strip clubs and had “relations” with women in the back of his van.

Strasnick said DNA found underneath Tremblay’s fingernails links McClendon to the girl’s murder.

She said McClendon “voluntarily provided” a DNA sample to investigators when he was initially interviewed by Massachusetts State Police Lt. Peter Sherber in Alabama in 2021.

But McClendon’s defense attorney, Henry Fasoldt, told The Eagle-Tribune “it wasn’t him” and that prosecutors don’t have evidence that puts his client at the scene of the crime.

Fasoldt said he plans to introduce evidence of other possible suspects at the trial and show the DNA evidence comes from a generic profile, he said.

Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Karp, who will preside over the trial, asked the attorneys during a final pretrial court hearing this past week if they had any issue with him describing the matter as a “cold case” to the pool of potential jurors.


Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter @EagleTribJill.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=

More at link. Local paper has a paywall. ~Summer
 
Summer_Breeze said:

Sunday, December 3, 2023
By Jill Harmacinski jharmacinski@eagletribune.com

SALEM, Mass. — Jurors are expected to hear from the original case detectives and visit the neighborhood and rail yard where Melissa Ann Tremblay, 11, was last seen and found murdered as the trial in a 35-year-old Lawrence cold case starts this week.

Tremblay, a sixth-grader from Salem, New Hampshire, was stabbed, beaten and killed in Lawrence near the LaSalle Social Club on Sept. 11, 1988.

Tremblay was known to play in the adjacent neighborhoods while her mother and her mother’s boyfriend frequented the social club. She was last seen alive by a railroad employee and a pizza delivery driver, authorities said.

Tremblay’s mother has since died. However, the girl does have surviving relatives and childhood friends living in the area. She was attending the Haigh School in Salem, N.H., at the time of her murder.

The case remained cold for 34 years until the April 27, 2022, arrest of Marvin “Skip” McClendon, an elderly man living in Bremen, Alabama, who decades earlier worked in the Lawrence area as a handyman. Prosecutor Jessica Strasnick said McClendon, who is charged with first-degree murder, was an “angry, violent drunk” who frequented strip clubs and had “relations” with women in the back of his van.

Strasnick said DNA found underneath Tremblay’s fingernails links McClendon to the girl’s murder.

She said McClendon “voluntarily provided” a DNA sample to investigators when he was initially interviewed by Massachusetts State Police Lt. Peter Sherber in Alabama in 2021.

But McClendon’s defense attorney, Henry Fasoldt, told The Eagle-Tribune “it wasn’t him” and that prosecutors don’t have evidence that puts his client at the scene of the crime.

Fasoldt said he plans to introduce evidence of other possible suspects at the trial and show the DNA evidence comes from a generic profile, he said.

Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Karp, who will preside over the trial, asked the attorneys during a final pretrial court hearing this past week if they had any issue with him describing the matter as a “cold case” to the pool of potential jurors.


Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter @EagleTribJill.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=

More at link. Local paper has a paywall. ~Summer
Click to expand...
I don't think this one is a man being framed.

They had no outcry or reason to have to come up with a suspect in this old cold one, 99 percent of the nation is probably even unaware of it. The framing thing is said to emu.

They have DNA despite what the defense will attempt regarding it.

He is 75. They will dress him and portray him as some sympathetic old man who couldn't hurt a flea.

Sounds like a real winner, an angry drunk bedding strippers or women in the back of his van.

OH he owned a van. Not surprised. 1988.

I am happy and impressed they solved the cold case of this child and that the perp is not dead yet AND they are going to try it and no deal has been made. Unbelievable he is going through with a trial as he, if a decent bone in his body, has had 30+ years of freedom and to face what he did. But of course he didn't. He never came forward and he is not confessing now. He's bad news.

The older you get I'd think the more you'd want to come clean for God if you believe in Him. Of course who is to say this man does. I'd just think you'd worry more about your eternity or where you might end up instead and gain more caring as you get older of others and your own guilt as well especially if you murdered a CHILD. I don't know why I think such types should think like that because clearly they don't, there really is no understanding murderers imo. The only ones I can HALF get it with are those that lost their temper, heat of passion kind of thing with someone they care about who didn't necessary intend to kill but a fall or hit ended up with the person dead. Which is still not okay and STILL guilty but just saying it is a bit easier to try to comprehend. Most murderers it is impossible for most of us to understand why the heck they cross that line or believe they sure can if they want to. And a child?

THIS one begs the question of is she the only victim of his? Did he one night out of the blue kill one child and never kill another soul? I'd kind of doubt it. Never before or never after? So what was so wrong or different about that night or her if she is his only victim...? Was she a target for him and it wasn't random? Been watching her? Etc.

I mean I could see this being a serial killer type although there are no other victims thus far as to DNA matches but then maybe they have some law like NYs where they can't run it yet.

Something I don't think has been pointed out that I just realized too is Melissa fought. She solved this by her fight with DNA of his under her nails. RIP Melissa Tremblay, they've got him and a conviction is coming shortly. They have him because of YOUR fight for your life.

I wonder if they will put him in an ill fitting wrinkled suit hunched over in a wheelchair as they did with Robert Durst. All a show and a game Makes me sick.

I know innocent until proven guilty. But short of a miracle, imo they have her killer. They wouldn't have charged such an old even unknown or low interest case in this nation nowadays without solid evidence imo. This man is not being framed. All jmo.

He isn't young. He should come clean. But of course he won't. And I seriously doubt this is his only serious crime he has gotten away with. Until NOW.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)

Forum statistics

Threads
3,083
Messages
257,665
Members
1,020
Latest member
Lucia
Back
Top Bottom