Selection for the jury that will preside over the murder trial in a New Hampshire girl's killing in 1988 was set to get underway Monday in a Massachusetts court room.
Marvin "Skip" McClendon Jr., a former Massachusetts corrections officer from Alabama, was arrested last year after investigators identified him as the man who killed Melissa Ann Tremblay in a Lawrence, Massachusetts, railyard. He's pleaded not guilty.
Melissa Ann's body was found Sept. 12, 1988, a day after the girl from Salem, New Hampshire, was reported missing.
Her family released a statement shortly after he faced a murder charge for the first time in May 2022, expressing their relief that there was an update in the case, and frustration that some of the family are no longer alive to see justice served.
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Melissa Ann had accompanied her mother and her mother’s boyfriend to the LaSalle Social Club in Lawrence, not far from the railyard, and went outside to play while the adults stayed inside, authorities have said. She was last seen by a railroad employee and a pizza delivery driver during the late afternoon hours.
McClendon was arrested at his home in Bremen, Alabama, and was returned to Massachusetts to face the murder charge after waiving his right to a local court appearance.
McClendon is a retired Massachusetts Department of Corrections employee, who worked for the department on three separate occasions from 1970 to 2002. Officials weren't previously sure if he was working for the agency at the time of the killing.
He lived in Chelmsford and was doing carpentry work at the time of the killing. He had multiple ties to Lawrence, which is close to Salem, New Hampshire. He worked in the city and frequented numerous establishments there, including the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Salem Street.
Prosecutors have said that DNA evidence found in 2014 on Melissa Ann led investigators to McClendon's family, and they obtained DNA samples from some, including Marvin. He was the only left-handed family member, and the wound that killed the girl was found to have been delivered by a left-handed person.
He also had ties to Lawrence and a van that looked like one that witnesses saw Melissa Ann near on the day she disappeared, according to prosecutors.
A list of evidence submitted in discovery included DNA analysis reports, crime scene photos and reports, interviews and more.
Opening statements in the McClendon's trial are expected to be made Thursday in Salem Superior Court.
