74-year-old Alabama man charged with murder in 1988 cold case investigation
CULLMAN, Ala. April 28 2022 Investigators with a north Alabama sheriff’s office arrested a 74-year-old man in connection to a cold case murder investigation beginning over 30 years ago.
WAFF reported that on Tuesday, Marvin McClendon, 74, was arrested by the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office and charged with a murder that he allegedly committed in 1988 in Essex County, Massachusetts.
According to the Essex County District Attorney, McClendon is suspected of murdering 11-year-old Melissa Anne Tremblay in September 1988.
“I want to thank everyone involved in this investigation from beginning to end,” Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said. “Their tireless pursuit of justice for Melissa has brought us to this moment. We never forgot about Melissa, nor did we give up on holding her killer accountable.”
According to the release from the district attorney, Melissa was last seen playing in the neighborhoods of Lawrence, Massachusetts, while her mother and her mother’s boyfriend were at a nearby social club on Sept. 11, 1988.
After searching for her to no avail, her mother reported her missing to the police.
Her body was later found in the old Boston & Maine Railway Yard. She had been stabbed to death.
The release stated that since then countless witnesses, suspects and persons of interest have been interviewed in connection to Melissa’s death.
Evidence recovered from her body was instrumental to solving the case.
McClendon lived in nearby Chelmsford, Massachusetts, at the time of Melissa’s death and had known connections to Lawrence, according to the release.
At this time, McClendon is being held in the Cullman County Detention Center until he can be extradited to Massachusetts.
WAFF
