Melissa Tremblay's family says "justice needs to be served" after mistrial in 1988 murder case
LAWRENCE - The family of a girl murdered in Massachusetts back in 1988 wants a retrial in the case after a jury deadlocked on a verdict for the man charged with killing her.
Melissa Ann Tremblay was 11 years old when she was found dead at a train yard in Lawrence in September 1988, a day after she went missing from outside a social club where she had gone with her mother and her mother's boyfriend. Police said she had been stabbed and run over by a train. The case went cold for more than 30 years until Marvin McClendon, who used to live in Chelmsford, was arrested in Alabama in 2022.
The judge declared a mistrial last week after the jury deadlocked. The Essex County District Attorney's office said they plan on retrying McClendon but a retrial date hasn't been announced yet.
"While we would have preferred a guilty verdict we thank God that it wasn't not guilty and that this isn't the end. The last month has been a very long one and we would like to thank all those that have been there to support us," Tremblay's family in a statement Friday.
Tremblay's family said "justice needs to be served."
"He has had 35 years that he has gone unpunished, walking free for 33 of those years. He has lived his life with his family, including his children and step children but yet my aunt spent the rest of her life without her child and our family has been missing a part of us for 35 years. Missy would be 46 years old and probably have a family of her own if he hadn't taken her life," the family said. "We might have got a mistrial but in our hearts we know the right man was on trial and we look forward to seeing him finally punished."
Tremblay's family thanked the Essex County DA and the police officers and detectives who worked on the case, as well as the jurors.
"We know at least some of them believed he was guilty and the fact they fought so hard, deliberating through Christmas means so much to us."