LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) — A jury on Monday begun deliberating in the case of an Alabama man accused of the beating and stabbing death of an 11-year-old New Hampshire girl more than 35 years ago.
Prosecutors and the defense attorney for Marvin “Skip” McClendon Jr. made their closing arguments Monday in a case that hinges in part on whether the jury believes DNA found under Melissa Ann Tremblay’s fingernails came from McClendon.
This is the second murder trial for McClendon, after a judge last year declared a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury.
The body of the Salem, New Hampshire, girl was found in a Lawrence, Massachusetts, trainyard on Sept. 12, 1988, a day after she was reported missing. She had been stabbed in the neck.
The victim had accompanied her mother and her mother’s boyfriend to a Lawrence social club not far from the railyard and went outside to play while the adults stayed inside, authorities said last year. She was reported missing later that night.
The girl’s mother, Janet Tremblay, died in 2015 at age 70, according to her obituary. But surviving relatives have been attending court to observe the latest trial.