LAWRENCE, MASS. (WHDH) - A second trial is underway for the man accused of killing an 11-year-old girl in Lawrence back in 1988, as his first trial ended in a mistrial.
The retrial of Marvin “Skip” McClendon Jr. began in a Lawrence courtroom Tuesday morning. His first trial ended last year with a hung jury.
McClendon, a former Massachusetts corrections officer, was arrested in Alabama in 2022 and charged with first-degree murder in the death of 11-year-old Melissa Ann Tremblay, of Salem, N.H.
Tremblay’s body was discovered in a Lawrence rail yard in 1988. The case went unsolved for decades until DNA evidence linked McClendon to the homicide, prosecutors said.
During opening statements, prosecutors played police bodycam footage of McClendon in his robe speaking to detectives in Alabama prior to his arrest. In the video, he spoke about details he claimed he had heard about the murder case.
“Some of the things that he described had actually never been published,” prosecutor Jessica Strasnick said in court.
She suggested evidence will prove McClendon is the killer.
“The evidence you have will show you that he was, in fact, in that railroad on Sept. 11, 1988,” Strasnick said.
McClendon’s defense attorneys said the wrong person was charged with the crime.
“We are here because the government decided to charge Skip McClendon, but they don’t decide what the facts are,” said defense attorney Henry Fasoldt.
One of the first witnesses to take the stand was Tremblay’s cousin, who recalled learning from her parents that she was dead.
“My parents had told us that Missy had gone missing the night before and that she had passed away,” her cousin said, her voice breaking.
When asked outside the courthouse if there was any doubt in her mind about who killed her cousin, she immediately said that there wasn’t.
“No. I wholeheartedly believe it was Marvin McClendon,” she said.
Testimony is expected to resume Wednesday morning. The retrial is slated to last about two weeks.
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