This booking image provided by the Cullman County, Ala., Sheriff's Office, shows Marvin C. McClendon Jr., 74, of Bremen, Ala., his arrest on Tuesday, April 26, 2022. (Cullman County Sheriff's Office)An Alabama man has been arrested in connection with the 1988 killing of an 11-year-old girl found stabbed to death in a Massachusetts railyard, authorities said Wednesday.Marvin C.
McClendon Jr., 74, faces a murder charge in the death of Melissa Ann Tremblay, of Salem, New Hampshire, Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said at a news conference.He was arrested at his home in Bremen, Alabama, and is being held on a fugitive charge pending a court appearance scheduled for Thursday.
He will be arraigned in Massachusetts at a date to be determined.The district attorney’s office did not know if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf, and the case was not included in Alabama court records."I can’t even express how gratified we are in this office that we are able to pursue justice for any family," Blodgett said. "And it is extremely gratifying that after all these years of never giving up, we believe we have the right suspect."The sixth-grader's body was found in the Lawrence trainyard the day after she was reported missing.Melissa Ann had accompanied her mother and her mother’s boyfriend to a Lawrence social club on Sept.
11, 1988, not far from the railyard, and went outside to play while the adults stayed inside, authorities said.She was reported missing later that night and found the following day.