Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
I'm Kristen Sevey. This is Murder, She Told.
Though Andrea was only in second grade, she could tell that something was wrong when her teacher Mrs. Wilson stepped back into the classroom. Her eyes were wet. Her face was red. Andrea had seen her through the window of the classroom door talking to another adult. They spoke in hushed tones and wore somber faces. When she returned, her entire demeanor transformed.
Andrea's classmates stiffened and quieted. Mrs. Wilson straightened her clothes, clasped her hands tightly, and spoke. Andrea couldn't believe the words she was hearing. Her good friend, a sixth-grade girl who was like a big sister to her, was dead. She started to cry. She later went to the cafeteria with the rest of the students from Lancaster Elementary, where the adults explained the tragedy that had befallen their young student, Melissa Tremblay.
She wasn't just dead. She had been murdered. Friends shared stories of Melissa. They held hands and grieved together, singing the charity pop ballad, "That's What Friends Are For." The day prior, Detective Thomas Murphy with a Lawrence, Massachusetts, PD got a call over the radio from his boss while he was sitting at the public library. Details were scant, but it sounded urgent. He told him to get over to the railroad yard to speak with a man.
Detective Murphy hurried to his cruiser and crossed the Merrimack River, driving the two miles quickly to Southern Lawrence, arriving at the intersection of Andover Street and the B&M Railroad. There was a big rail yard there, as many as eight lines abreast at its widest, where empty boxcars would often sit. He had no idea what he was walking into. He parked his cruiser and got out into the cool air of late summer.
It was Monday, September 12th, 1988, and the high that day was 71 degrees. It was a perfect afternoon, around 4:30 p.m. He could see some people gathered near tracks in the distance. Two trains sitting next to each other on parallel tracks concealed from view the gruesome discovery that a B&M rail worker had made while making a routine walk of the area.
11-year-old Melissa Ann Tremblay was laying face down on the tracks. Her left leg was severed by the train near her hip. Her dark brown hair was matted. Her hands were caked with dry mud. She was fully clothed and wore high-top sneakers and a white shirt with black and gray stars. There were other wounds to her head and torso, including a gaping incision in her lower neck.
It wasn't immediately clear if she had died from a train strike or if her body was placed there in an attempt to conceal something else. It hit home for Detective Murphy, who had a daughter around the same age. He couldn't imagine losing her. He set up a perimeter and more cops started to arrive. He learned that there was a girl that had been reported missing the previous evening that matched the victim's description. It was likely her.
About 60 feet away from the location of Melissa's body, Detective Murphy found a small denim purse that contained coins, a candy wrapper, a bank slip from an institution in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, sparkle makeup, and an ID for the Boys and Girls Club. Police later described the secondary location as showing, quote, "...evidence of a struggle. Murder was looking more likely."
If it were an accident, why wouldn't her purse be with her? It's not clear who, but one of the Lawrence police detectives had the grim task of contacting Melissa's next of kin, her desperate mother, Janet Tremblay. The day prior, on Sunday, September 11th, 1988, Janet and Melissa had driven 20 minutes from their home in Salem, New Hampshire to a haunt in Lawrence, Massachusetts called the LaSalle Social Club.
Though it had a fancy name, it was really just a dark bar in a dance club in a nondescript building in the center of Lawrence. Janet met up with her boyfriend Ronald at the bar. She'd been hanging out at the bar regularly, and her daughter often came with her. As usual, Melissa was given free rein to wander the streets of downtown Lawrence.
The bar was in a bustling and loud part of town. The main streets, like Andover, had strip malls and businesses. The side streets were dense with apartment houses and parked cars. There was a major intersection of one of the B&M rail lines and Andover Street just a block away. The empty box cars that sat in the staging areas brought some problems. People who used drugs and the unhoused lived in them. The tracks were a seedy place.
But that didn't stop local children from playing on them. Melissa had gotten to know some of them. A resident of the area, Lisa, later recalled that Melissa stopped by her home that afternoon looking to play with her four children. But she sent her away because they were grounded.
When reflecting on how she met Melissa, Lisa said that one day the kids had brought her home to play. Melissa, she said, would come over about once a week to help look after the younger children and play with the older ones. Since they were unavailable, Melissa found some of her other friends, Mary Ann's kids. But around 1.30 p.m., they got in trouble for breaking bottles outside.
Marianne said that Melissa would often go to a nearby convenience store with her daughter, help sweep up, and earn a candy bar or something else to eat. But not this day. Marianne told her that she should go back to her mother. The bartender at LaSalle Social Club made Melissa some popcorn. She told him that she'd be right back, but she never returned. It was common for Melissa to sleep in her mom's car, and that's what they figured she had done.
A railroad employee named Bruce said that he remembered her hanging around the rail yard that afternoon around 3 p.m. He told her to leave because it was dangerous, and he said that she left. Around 4 p.m., her mom started to worry because she hadn't returned. They started looking around, checking the railroad tracks, but they couldn't find her.
At 5:30 p.m., a couple of people saw Melissa speaking to a man in a tan van at the nearby intersection of Andover and Parker. They recalled that the van had a lot of rust. They described the man as unkempt and big, with a dark complexion and dark hair. He had heavy facial hair growth, but not a full beard, and appeared to be in his mid-thirties.
As the clock at the bar counted the passing minutes, Janet grew more and more concerned. At 9 p.m., she called the police and filed a missing persons report. Though we have no report of what Janet did that night, she was surely distraught and searched for Melissa at all her usual spots. Her friend later said that she didn't sleep all night.
At 8 a.m. the next morning, Mary Ann, who had seen Melissa the previous afternoon, teamed up with Janet to look for her. Mary Ann later said, We looked in empty cabooses. We called the police, the hospital, her school, her friends. We did everything, even if it seemed stupid.
They Xeroxed a photo of Melissa and distributed the pic to the neighborhoods surrounding the LaSalle Social Club. Mary Ann considered the possibility that Melissa had run away, but then dismissed it, saying, "It wasn't in her character. She was afraid to be alone. She was afraid of the dark." At 5 p.m., they had their answer. There were cops arriving in droves. Word spread quickly. Her daughter had been found.
And then, the grieving began. Melissa Ann Tremblay, who went by Missy, was born on March 1, 1977, in Lawrence, Massachusetts. About a month later, she was adopted by Janet and Robert Tremblay. She grew up in Salem, New Hampshire, a city in the southeast corner of the state that sits right up next to the Massachusetts border.
Running right through the city is I-93, a major artery that connects Manchester, New Hampshire with Lawrence, Massachusetts. It's mostly comprised of small neighborhoods and a main drag on which there are big box retail stores and a big shopping mall, the Mall at Rockingham Park.
Melissa was keen on fashion and pocketbooks as a kiddo, so I can imagine her walking the halls of the big mall. She liked Madonna and New Kids on the Block, who had just released their self-titled album in 1986 when Melissa was 9 years old. She liked to sing and was part of the school chorus.
Also in 1986, Melissa's adoptive parents, Janet and Robert, got a divorce. Melissa stayed with her mom. Melissa's final home, 56 High Avenue, sat right next to the highway on the southern end of Salem. The neighborhood is filled with modest houses, grassy front yards, and plenty of white siding, a New England staple.
In the fall of 1988, she became a sixth grader at Lancaster Elementary School, which was about a three and a half mile drive away. And she attended Sunday school at Pleasant Street United Methodist, which was just around the corner from her school.
Melissa was 11 years old, 5 feet tall and weighed about 111 pounds. She was fair-skinned with a warm pink-toned complexion. Her round face had some childhood pudge. She had a charming gap in her front teeth and bangs that drew a line just above her eyebrows. In some photos, her hair was parted down the center with feathered wings that framed her face. In other photos, her hair was teased, crimped and curled in a dark brown mullet.
She loved earrings, and in her yearbook photos, she was glammed up, looking like a young pageant girl. Melissa was diagnosed as hyperactive and was having behavioral problems at school. Her principal, Robert Schuette, said, "Melissa was an energetic girl who eagerly sought the attention of people around her. She expressed herself freely and was honest and outgoing. She had a lot of friends."
The Friday before she was killed, she spoke to Robert at school. He recalled, "She came in to show me her artwork. It was a sock with sewn-on decorations and a drawstring. You can use it to keep change," she said.
Her schoolmate and close friend, Andrea Ganley, later said, "She touched a lot of lives. Everyone in school knew Missy. She was bubbly, she was fun, she was tough. She had cool hair, cool clothes. I basically looked up to her. I thought she was just beautiful. Perfect." Andrea was just seven years old when Melissa was killed.
Others described Melissa as complex, sweet, difficult, boisterous, and charismatic. She was full of imagination. In addition to her outsized role at the elementary school, she also had a big presence at the local chapter of the Boys and Girls Club of America, which at the time was known as the Salem Boys Club. They changed their name two years later in 1990, but I'll refer to it by its modern name.
Melissa was at the Boys and Girls Club often, sometimes five nights a week, from the end of the school day until closing time. In fact, her mom, Janet, sometimes failed to arrange transportation for her daughter, and staff would have to track her down to help coordinate logistics of getting Melissa home.
In addition to that organization, she was also involved with the Haverhill chapter of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, as The Little, since she was seven years old. Her big sister was Virginia, and she was even listed in Melissa's obituary. They must have been close. Melissa's mother, Janet, was born in 1945. She had adopted Melissa as a baby when she was 32 years old, and at the time of Melissa's death, Janet was 43.
Friends said that she was great about sending out greeting cards for all occasions, which made them feel remembered and loved. She always had a joke or two, including some that might make you blush. She was crafty, enjoying crocheting and painting ceramics. She also made sure to decorate for all the holidays. She worked at BJ's and the school system as a bus driver, and also worked for defense contractors Raytheon and Sanders Associates in Nashua.
Melissa's father, Robert, who was 12 years Janet's senior, hadn't seen his daughter for over a year prior to her death. They split when she was nine, and he had little involvement in her life following the divorce. But he did attend Melissa's funeral.
On the Friday following the discovery of the body, September 16, 1988, mourners gathered to lay Melissa to rest. Seventy-five people, including a dozen classmates and her sixth-grade teacher, gathered on Main Street in Salem. The Eagle Tribune, a Lawrence publication, reported that Janet sat next to her sister and wept during the one-hour service, nearly falling as her casket was placed in the hearse.
Given the fact that Melissa's body was mangled by the train and subject to an autopsy, it was likely a closed casket ceremony. She was later cremated and buried in Pine Grove Cemetery on the other end of Main Street in Salem, where her mother's family had plots. Donations were requested for the Salem Boys and Girls Club and for the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. A tree was to be planted at Lancaster Elementary in Melissa's memory.
When asked by the Eagle Tribune how the investigation was going, Lawrence Detective Lieutenant Joseph St. Germain said from headquarters, We have nothing. We're still talking to people and checking out every lead we receive. I'm sending my Aunt Tina money directly to her bank account in the Philippines with Western Union. She's the self-proclaimed bingo queen of Manila, and I know better to interrupt her on bingo night, even to pick up cash. Hey!
Sending money direct to her bank account is super fast, and Aunt Tina gets more time to be the bingo queen. Western Union, send money in-store directly to their bank accounts in the Philippines. Services offered by Western Union Financial Services, Inc., NMLS number 906983, or Western Union International Services, LLC, NMLS number 906985. Licensed as money transmitters by the New York State Department of Financial Services. See terms for details. The day after Melissa's body was discovered, on Tuesday, September 13th, an autopsy was done at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester.
The police, prior to transporting her body, had placed evidence bags around her extremities and wrapped her body in a clean white sheet. The medical examiner determined that she had been beaten, stabbed twice in her chest and her liver, and her throat had been slashed. She had a fractured skull and a large bruise on her back. The ME didn't believe that she'd been sexually assaulted.
Though she was struck by the train, her left leg severed by the collision. The cause of death was determined to be the stabbing, meaning she was killed prior to the train strike. Police believed that the killer tried to conceal the murder by staging it as a gruesome accident. Essex County District Attorney said, This is a brutal murder. It's brutal because of the circumstances around the scene and the victim's age. No stone will be left unturned.
On the day of the discovery, police had collected footprint evidence and blood. It was all sent to the FBI laboratory in D.C. for analysis. Police interviewed railroad workers and residents near the rail yard. A police sergeant told the press, they're all out on the street, knocking on doors, just beating the bushes. It's kind of tough right now.
Lou DiGlorio was head of security for B&M Railroad in Lawrence, and he told the Eagle Tribune, This is such a dangerous place to be for anyone, especially children. No child should be here.
Public attention shifted to Janet Tremblay. It was rumored that Janet began drinking in the fallout from her divorce from Robert. People wanted to understand how she could have left Melissa alone for so many hours in the streets of Lawrence while she was at the LaSalle Social Club with her boyfriend.
But Janet was nowhere to be found. According to both the Boston Globe and the Eagle Tribune, quote, Mrs. Tremblay, 43 years old, has been in seclusion since the murder, unavailable for comment. Without answers from Janet, people wanted to know what role Child Protective Services had played in keeping Melissa safe.
The assistant director of the Boys and Girls Club in Salem, Jerry Cayo, said, It was well known that Melissa and her mother needed outside assistance and that the little girl was reaching out for help. It was state officials who failed Melissa most because they should have done something to get her out of the situation until her mother got help for herself.
The Division of Children and Youth Services, DCYS, is the name of the Child Protective Service in New Hampshire. It's funded by taxpayers to help, quote, abused, neglected, troubled, and delinquent children.
Officials with DCYS were contacted by the Eagle Tribune, but they clammed up, citing confidentiality requirements and saying, it's very easy to be a Monday morning quarterback and say that if we had done this or that, this thing might not have happened. The Eagle Tribune wasn't satisfied. And through the tenacity of their reporters, they got some answers.
Melissa's case was initiated in April of 1988, five months before her death, because of reports of neglect. She was assigned at least two social workers during that time, the last of which was a woman named Barbara working out of the Salem department. The Eagle Tribune spoke to her school guidance counselor and staff at the Boys and Girls Club, and they described Janet as an absent parent.
A guidance counselor said that Melissa was left home alone a lot at night during the school year, and, quote, the child was unhappy about it.
Staff at the Boys and Girls Club in Salem also reported to DCYS that Melissa was usually the last child to leave the club at night because nobody came to get her. According to the Aquatics Program Director, a worker often had to stay late to be with Melissa past closing time at 9 p.m. until someone came to get her. At DCYS's request, the club kept records of when Melissa was picked up and by who.
Janet and her daughter were doing family counseling with DCYS officials, but some people felt that wasn't enough, including Robert Dombrowski, a foster parent who was also an employee of Health and Human Services in New Hampshire. He said, It's clear to me that the state did little for Melissa. The whole thing turns my stomach. Melissa should have been in a foster home. Social workers knew about Melissa's need for parenting, about
about her need for being cared for properly. By neglecting that, they allowed this to happen. Marian Campbell, who lived in Lawrence and whose children sometimes played with Melissa, said, "'I felt bad for her. She would end up by herself with no place to go while her mother was inside the club.'"
An administrator for DCYS responded to the public pressure with generalities, saying, "If we feel the child is at risk, then we protect the child. A lack of parental guidance is not a severe case of neglect, and it's the most difficult kind of neglect to prove in court."
In these situations, we are obligated to try and change the parent's behavior and apply reasonable effort to maintain the child in the home by working with the family. We don't have the power to force a parent to pay attention to their child." Police continued to ask for help from the public. They were stuck.
The clue that they focused in on was the description of the vehicle Melissa was last seen at, a tan van with significant body rust. She was sitting in a surface parking lot at a strip mall at the corner of Parker and Andover streets, just a block from where her body was ultimately discovered. Investigators speculated that the perpetrator was a, quote, crazy person or a drifter. And that's where the case sat, dormant for 11 years.
On Friday, March 10, 2000, Lawrence PD announced a possible suspect, a man named Tommy Lynn Sells. He certainly fit the profile. A couple months prior, he was charged in Texas with capital murder for the killing of a 13-year-old girl and attempted murder for the vicious attack on a 10-year-old girl. He slit both of their throats, just like Melissa.
In the 80s and 90s, he often hung around rail yards and hopped trains. Sound familiar? Lawrence detective John McDonald learned about Tommy Lynn Sells from the popular national TV news show Good Morning America, and he was struck by similarities to Melissa's case.
Tommy was a drifter and a carnival worker who had confessed to 13 murders in seven states since he was arrested in January, including Arkansas, California, and Arizona. He claimed to have used different weapons: guns, knives, an ice pick, and a shovel. The Texas Rangers believed him, saying he knows details about the crime scenes that have never been reported, and for whatever reason he's cooperating.
Since his arrest, he said he had found God and spent his days talking with the chaplain. But he didn't quite fit the profile of the man seen at the tan van. That man was described as being in his mid-30s, but Tommy was born in 1965, making him just 23 in 1988. Turns out, Tommy wasn't our man. He was later cleared of Melissa's murder. In 2014, he was put to death by lethal injection for his other crimes.
One year later, in November of 2015, Janet Tremblay died at the age of 70 of natural causes. She was suffering from a long-term respiratory illness called COPD at a hospital in Massachusetts just over the border from Salem, New Hampshire.
She, too, was cremated by Goundry Funeral Home and buried at Pine Grove Cemetery right by her daughter. She died without seeing justice done in Melissa's case. But police had something cooking. I'm just not sure if she was aware of it.
In 2014, 26 years after Melissa's murder, the Essex County District Attorney's Office took another crucial look at the case. From her fingernail clippings, they were able to develop a DNA profile. The forensic genealogy company Identifinders worked with the genetic information to come up with a possible last name of McClendon. The cops were unable to provide a full SNP profile, the most helpful kind, so the information she was working with was limited.
While the cops were searching for suspects with that last name, Melissa's young friend, Andrea Ganley, decided to make some noise about her case. Andrea, who was 35 in 2017, launched a social media campaign for justice for Melissa. She was still haunted by the cloak of darkness that it threw over the school. She tried to locate Melissa's biological parents and other adoptive family members, but lamented, "...it spent 28 years."
Nobody is fighting for her. If it's going to just be me, let it just be me. That same year, Melissa would have turned 40 years old if she were still alive. Andrea, who is now a mother herself, could imagine the pain of losing a child more keenly than ever.
In 2021, seven years after the McClendon name surfaced, investigators began interviewing people in a key family, the family of Marvin Carlton McClendon Jr. Marvin also went by Skip. Lawrence PD spoke to Marvin for the first time on March 15, 2021. Sometime also in 21, Marvin voluntarily provided his DNA to the police.
A year after that discussion, Massachusetts State Police interviewed Marvin again. He was living in Alabama. He denied that he had anything to do with Melissa's death. He also minimized any connection he might have to Lawrence, Massachusetts, and suggested that his brother Timothy might be the McClendon that the police were looking for.
On the afternoon of April 26, 2022, Marvin was arrested at his home in Bremen, Alabama for the murder of Melissa Tremblay. He was married at the time, so I assume that his wife was home too. Marvin is 6 feet tall and weighs 280 pounds. He has small, close-set blue eyes. He's mostly bald with a short ring of silver hair encircling his head.
His skin hangs from his face and transforms his downturned lips into a sour, almost angry-looking frown. Faint, dark eyebrows and tall arches frame his menacing gaze. He said to a Massachusetts state trooper who was present at his arrest, At least I got 20 years of my pension. He was taken to the county lockup, and the 74-year-old man was thrown in jail. His family came to the jail to deliver the 11 prescription medications that he was on.
Marvin was not a well man. He was sick with diabetes and heart disease and suffered from sleep apnea. He had just undergone a massive open-heart surgery in 2019. A victim advocate from Essex County contacted Melissa's family and informed them of the arrest. They said that they were happy and relieved. The next day, the Essex County District Attorney told the world that after 34 years, an arrest had finally been made.
Andrea spoke with WMUR, the Eagle Tribune, and CBS Boston in the media blitz that followed the announcement. This is a pleasant surprise. I'm beyond shocked. I think about it every day. I was starting to feel like it might not happen, but I still had some hope. I always had hope. I just didn't know if this day would happen. When asked if the name Marvin McClendon meant anything to her, she said no. She'd never heard of him.
Marvin appeared in court in Coleman County, Alabama, and waived his right to challenge extradition. He'd be promptly transferred to Essex County. Marvin still owned a home and knew that he was in for a lengthy and expensive legal process. So he tried to sign over the deed to his sister and gave her power of attorney over his affairs. Her husband started cleaning up the home and getting it ready for Marvin's anticipated long absence.
Jill Harmasinski, who had been writing about Melissa's case for the Eagle Tribune for 13 years, traveled to Bremen, Alabama to learn about Marvin's life. Bremen is located in central Alabama, about an hour away from the nearest major city, Birmingham. Marvin lived on a family plot of land, about 80 acres, surrounded by two-lane country roads. His rusted mailbox was hand-painted with the words, M.C. McClendon Jr.,
Jill noted that his, quote, small, wood-framed house with a porch stood in front of a much larger metal barn. A variety of vehicles, a Lincoln Town car, a vintage El Camino, a white van, a four-wheeler, and a full-size pickup truck were all parked in the yard. She spoke to relatives to learn about his life in Alabama. Family members said that they didn't think the 74-year-old was employed. They figured that he'd been living off his pension and Social Security benefits.
According to his sister's husband, Dan, he'd lived in Alabama for decades. Dan and he had been friends since childhood. They went to Tewksbury High School together in Massachusetts and had known each other for as long as he could remember. His arrest was, quote, the biggest shock ever in my life. Dan described him as a good friend, but he had his life and I had mine, though they saw each other on special occasions like Christmas.
He thought of Marvin as someone he could depend on. He would be there for him if he needed help. Regarding the crime, both he and his sister said that they only knew what had been printed in the papers. But Dan insisted that if he were guilty, then he should pay for his crime.
Other relatives didn't paint so rosy of a picture. He evidently had children with his ex-wife, but they were estranged. Some said he was just a grumpy old man who shouted at children playing nearby or making noise on their four-wheelers. Some said he was, quote, not a nice man. And another said, we just avoided him.
Jill got his criminal record from Coleman County Court. He was pretty clean, other than repeated traffic violations for not wearing a seatbelt, and there were many from 2007 to 2016. But the question that many wanted to know was who was Marvin McClendon 30 years prior in 1988, not 2022? And to answer that question, we'll start from the beginning.
Marvin McClendon was born on July 3, 1947. His father shared his full name. Speaking of his name, when we pulled the court files from Essex County Superior Court, we discovered that his last name, McClendon, appears to be legally spelled with only one C, M-C-L-E-N-D-O-N, but he spelled it with two Cs, M-C-L-E-N-D-O-N.
MCC, and that's how it's now been printed in the paper. His father's last name is spelt with two Cs according to his obituary, and so are his son's last names. Marvin went to Tewksbury High School, graduating in 1965. In 1966, he enlisted in the armed forces at Boston Army Base, which was a major recruitment office, and served four years in the Air Force. During that stint, he met his future wife, Patricia, in California.
When he got out in 1970, they got a place together back in his hometown of Tewkesbury. He then worked as a corrections officer for the Massachusetts jail system three different times over the next 32 years. The couple had kids right away. His first son was born in 1970 and the second was born in 1971. He and Patricia remained married for 13 years and split up in 1983. They may have also had other children over their marriage.
Marvin married again in 1985 to a woman named Doreen. They remained illegally married for 18 years, but split after a short time. It was around the time of this split, in 1988, that Marvin was living in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, about 20 minutes away from where Melissa was murdered. He was 41 years old and worked as a handyman and a carpenter for Seventh Day Adventist Church in Lawrence.
That church was only a quarter mile from where Melissa's body was found. According to prosecutors, he was known to be an angry, violent drunk who spent time in strip clubs and had sex with women in the back of his van. It was this man, Marvin McClendon, in 1988, who was accused of killing 11-year-old Melissa Tremblay.
Many people imagined that the person that killed Melissa was a drifter, or a transient, as it was called in the papers in 1988. Marvin was a father, had been twice married, and was a local. Melissa's friend, Andrea, said, It's shocking that he was a church-going corrections officer. The fact that he was a member of law enforcement never occurred to any of us. How did she cross his path?
Was he watching her? Did he stumble on her that day? Are there other families out there waiting for closure? There's a lot of questions that have yet to be answered. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts tried to answer those questions in the 20 months that followed Marvin's arrest and concluded just a few weeks ago in December of 2023.
On May 13, 2022, Marvin faced a judge in Lawrence District Court that read the charges against him. First-degree murder. His expression was blank and unchanging. He entered a plea of not guilty and was held without bail pending trial. It was during this hearing that prosecutors revealed that DNA had played a major role in the arrest. Also, that based upon the wounds, it was believed that the killer was left-handed. Which Marvin is.
Lastly, the van that witnesses saw Melissa near on the day of her death, the one that was tan in color and had significant rust, was similar to one that Marvin drove at the time. A month later, a grand jury returned an indictment against him, and he was arraigned again in Essex County Superior Court in Salem, Massachusetts on July 7th. Melissa's cousin, Danielle Root, attended the proceeding and spoke to the press after.
She finally had the opportunity to direct the public focus in the right place. In part, she said, Many people blame my aunt for Missy's death. While I don't believe she made the right decision that night, that's between her and God. Ultimately, the only person responsible for Missy's death is the man that we saw in court today, Marvin McClendon. Marvin's defense attorney asked the court to release Marvin on a $50,000 bail. The prosecution opposed.
At the bail hearing, Marvin, who had just turned 75, appeared by video. He was dressed in a prison jumpsuit and used a walker. A judge's decision in a bail hearing will depend on the defendant's presumption of guilt. So sometimes these proceedings will reveal some more details about the case. In Marvin's case, the defense brought up other family members who were living in the region at the time of the murder, his father and his brother.
they could just as easily match the DNA held by the state. The defense also mentioned his teenage sons, who were living in Utah but may have visited Massachusetts in 1988. The judge sided with the prosecution, though, and ordered Marvin to remain at Middleton Jail until trial.
Marvin was standing on the opposite side of the steel bars in the very correctional system in which he had worked for many years. The judge was aware of this and required that he be kept in protective custody, meaning that he was only allowed to leave his cell with a guard escort. His prior employment put him at an increased risk of violence, not to mention that he stood accused of killing a little girl.
This meant that Marvin wouldn't be allowed out of his cell each day until 11 p.m., when he would be permitted to shower and have a short recreation period. In January of 2023, after eight months in jail and eight months of defense by a public defender, the court challenged his indigency. The judge ordered that the transfer of his Alabama home to his sister be stayed, or put on hold.
It and the 11 acres it sat on were set in court to be worth about $150,000. He asked about the vehicles on his property if they could be sold to help pay for legal defense. His attorney argued that they were junk cars and they weren't worth much. His Social Security benefits and his pension benefits were on hold, though, while he was incarcerated. Three months later, the judge made his decision and ordered that the property be used to foot $35,000 of the legal fees.
His sister said that she would make the arrangement to get a loan against the property and cut a check as required by the court. A trial date was set for December of 2023, and there were a number of pretrial motions filed to discuss what could be presented during the trial.
After selecting the jury, the trial began on Thursday, December 7th. His defense attorney, in opening arguments, emphasized the fact that the DNA did not uniquely identify Marvin, saying, quote, he has absolutely no reason to kill an 11-year-old girl. His crime is his last name, McClendon. He is innocent. He wasn't there.
The prosecution called retired Massachusetts state trooper Kenneth Kelleher. He was there the day they discovered Melissa's body. He explained that all of her extremities were potential evidence carriers, so he covered them with bags to make sure they wouldn't be contaminated.
He presented Melissa's shirt, a stained white top with black and gray stars on it, to the jury, pulling it from a brown paper evidence bag. He had attended Melissa's autopsy and recalled watching the medical examiner clip her fingernails for DNA evidence. As reported by the Eagle Tribune, quote, the retired detective paused and seemed to choke up before saying that nothing unusual was found in the girl's room.
More people who were there the day her body was discovered were summoned for trial. A B&M rail yard worker named Bruce, Lisa, the mother of Melissa's four young friends who live nearby, and Donald Netto, the bartender at the LaSalle Social Club. Lisa remembered the kids making mixtapes together on cassette. She said that Melissa always wanted to help with her youngest children, who were just one and two years old.
She also recalled that her husband would often walk Melissa back to the bar late at night to return her to her mother. Donald, the bartender, said that Melissa would often sit at a table in the bar by herself and have a Coke and a bag of chips. Sometimes she would be there for five or six hours at a time. When asked by defense, he said that he never remembered encountering anyone named Marvin, Skip, or the last name McClendon.
The next day, the prosecution called Nereida Cortez. She lived in an apartment not too far from the railroad, and she recalled that the night of Melissa's murder, as she was getting ready for bed, she heard a scream, quote, loud enough to grab my attention. She looked through the living room window, but couldn't make anything out. Nereida didn't say what time she was going to bed, but she did say it was dark. Sunset that evening was at 7 p.m.,
According to the missing person report, Melissa was last seen by her mother and the bartender at 2 p.m. At 5.30 p.m., she was last seen alive near a tan van. If the scream she heard was from Melissa, that leaves several hours unaccounted for, and it makes you wonder what happened to her during those hours.
Kenneth, the state trooper, returned to the stand on day two and said that after five years of consistent effort, the case went cold in 1993. Marvin's attorney asked him about two men, Randy Tarian and Robert Powers. Kenneth had interviewed both men. According to an old transcript from the interrogation, one of the men had a hunting knife, and both of them were using drugs in the area the night that Melissa was murdered.
Kenneth said that they checked the footwear worn by the two men and sent either impressions of the shoes or the shoes themselves to the FBI. The FBI compared it to the evidence collected at the scene and said that it wasn't a match. On day three, a 13-year-old boy named Daniel, who was unhoused back in 1988, was called to the stand.
He said that he would typically spend his days looking for cars to steal, shelters to stay warm, and places to get some food. He would sleep in unlocked vehicles or in railroad boxcars. The night that Melissa disappeared, he noticed a man and a girl sitting on the steps outside of the LaSalle Social Club.
Daniel was on his way to a friend's house to get a screwdriver, a tool he used in car thefts. He recognized the man on the stoop as Mike Tyrion, someone his family had warned him to avoid. About 10 minutes later, he saw them walking together away from the club. He saw them join another man, the three of them walking together. The next day, when he heard about the discovery of the body, he asked his brother if he should tell the police what he'd seen. His brother told him to stay out of it.
It wasn't until 2013, when Daniel was arrested in Lawrence, that he decided to tell police what he had seen 25 years prior. What doesn't make sense about Daniel's testimony is the timing.
Her mom last saw Melissa at 2 p.m. They got worried about her at 4.30 when it was still light out, and they then spent hours looking for her around the bar, trying to find her. Numerous people were likely aware of the search, including all of the bar staff. He said that he saw a girl about Melissa's age sitting on the front steps of the bar that night, but it wouldn't have been dark until 7.30 p.m.
If Melissa were sitting on the steps of the bar at 7.30, it seems very likely that she would have been noticed and reunited with her mother. On day four of the trial, the jurors made a site visit to see where her body was found. Later that day, a supervisor from the Massachusetts State Crime Lab took the stand and explained the DNA testing that was done on the fingernails from 2019 to 2023.
The DNA collected didn't match the alternative suspects the defense had put forth, Randy and Robert Powers, but it was a match to all of the male members of the McClendon family, including Marvin.
Have you made the switch to NYX? Millions of women have made the switch to the revolutionary period underwear from NYX. That's K-N-I-X. Period panties from NYX are like no other, making them the number one leak-proof underwear brand in North America.
They're comfy, stylish, and absorbent, perfect for period protection from your lightest to your heaviest days. They look, feel, and machine wash just like regular underwear, but feature incognito protection that has you covered. You can shop sizes from extra small to 4XL. Choose from all kinds of colors, prints, and different styles, from bikinis to boy shorts, thongs to high-rise. You've got to try NYX.
See why millions are ditching disposable, wasteful period products and have switched to NYX. Go to knix.com and get 15% off with promo code TRY15. That's knix.com, promo code TRY15 for 15% off life-changing period underwear. That's knix.com.
On day five, Marvin's ex-wife and the mother of his children, Patricia, took the stand to confirm that he was left-handed. Several of Marvin's male family members also took the stand. Four of his cousins, who were all from Alabama, testified that they weren't in Massachusetts in 1988. Marvin's son, Todd, testified that he wasn't in Massachusetts in September of 1988, and neither was his brother.
A forensic pathologist and consultant for law enforcement testified that based on his review of the records and the photos of the case, he believed that Melissa was attacked from behind by a left-handed person. On day six, the prosecution showed body cam footage from Marvin's home in Alabama when cops went to question him about the DNA. He spoke to them from his front porch in a red plaid robe. On day seven, the prosecution rested.
The defense called an expert witness on day eight, a forensic pathologist named Jennifer Lipman. She'd carefully reviewed the autopsy photos and said that she could not determine whether Melissa was attacked from the front or from behind. She said she also had no opinion on the dominant hand of the attacker. The defense also summoned an expert on genetics, Dr. Frederick Bieber.
He said that everyone sitting in the courtroom has 800 to 2,000 living relatives, the implications being that the DNA under Melissa's fingernails could match hundreds of people. Marvin did not testify in his own defense. On day nine, closing arguments were delivered and the case was turned over to the jury on December 19th, 2023, five days before Christmas.
For the next four days, including Friday, December 22nd, the jury discussed the case for five to seven hours each day. But they didn't reach a conclusion. Court wasn't in session on Saturday or Sunday, and then Christmas fell on Monday, so the jurors had three days away before returning on Tuesday, December 26th, the day after Christmas. They deliberated again all day on Tuesday, another seven hours.
On Wednesday, December 27th, at 10:05 a.m., deliberations ended after 32 hours. A note to the judge indicated that they were deadlocked. They could not unanimously agree on a verdict. The judge declared a mistrial and dismissed the jury. Two days later, the family released a statement. It read in part,
While we would have preferred a guilty verdict, we thank God that it wasn't not guilty and that this isn't the end.
They thanked the many people in law enforcement that were involved in bringing the case all the way to trial. They thanked the witnesses that traveled from all over to testify. They thanked the jurors for spending their Christmas locked in a conference room together. And they remained steadfast in their belief in Marvin's guilt, saying, "...he had 35 years that he has gone unpunished, walking free for 33 of those years."
Missy would be 46 years old and would probably have a family of her own if he hadn't taken her life. We might have got a mistrial, but in our hearts, we know that the right man was on trial, and we look forward to seeing him finally punished. They wondered about the why. Why did the killer take Melissa's life? The motive was never discussed during the trial. The Essex County District Attorney's Office said that they planned to try Marvin again.
Though there is no limit to the number of trials someone may face, it's unusual to have more than three. Each trial involves considerable expense and the coordination of dozens of people from all over the country. A hung jury is a major blow to the prosecution. Though there's been no reporting on the reasoning behind the jury's decision, I believe that the key witness for the defense was the geneticist.
If we understand his testimony correctly, the DNA evidence proves that the killer is one of a group of perhaps a thousand male relatives. To narrow it down further, the jury must have turned to the other evidence that pointed to Marvin and found it lacking. Based on the trial reporting, here's what they could have relied on. Marvin lived in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, just 20 minutes away, and he had a job in Lawrence.
He owned a van in 1988 that matched the description of the van seen by an eyewitness. He is left-handed, which is estimated to be about 10% of the population, and the state's forensic expert believed that Melissa was killed by a left-handed man. Lastly, there are Marvin's own words, suggesting a certain resignation or inevitability of his incarceration. He said, "...at least I got 20 years out of my retirement pension."
If that's the extent of the evidence against Marvin, I'm not surprised that there were some jurors who didn't find Marvin guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. There were a couple of things that we didn't see in any of the trial reporting. These details may have been presented to the jury, but we don't have the trial transcript, though we've tried to get those records.
1. The description of the man seen by the eyewitness with the van was big and unkempt, with a dark complexion and dark hair. He had heavy facial hair growth, but not a full beard. He appeared to be in his mid-30s. Marvin was 41 at the time and is quite tall and big. There are photos of Marvin on the blog at Murder, She Told, but they show him at age 18 in 1965 and again in present day.
"If there are photos of Marvin from that time in his life, I am interested in seeing them." 2. Prosecutors, prior to trial, said that Marvin was known to be an angry, violent drunk and used his van to have sex with women. 3. Some of Marvin's relatives in Alabama described him as an "unwelcome presence."
He's been a thorn in our side ever since he moved down. He's not a nice person at all. When he would just come down for visits, he was a wonderful man. We'd do things, go to ball games with him. But when he moved down here, he was just a totally different person. He would often get into arguments with me and my sisters, and we'd have to call the police. He made a lot of threats. Not like killing me or anything, just idle threats. He was just that way.
4. Lastly, the most important piece of evidence, something that was widely reported on prior to trial but completely absent from the trial reporting, is this: According to prosecutor Jessica Strassnick, Marvin "provided information to investigators about Melissa's murder that was never made public." If this is true, then his guilt seems like a foregone conclusion.
How could he know that information if he wasn't involved? But I don't know what to make of the fact that this crucial argument wasn't reported on, and therefore may have not been presented at trial. Marvin's attorney spoke to the press on his behalf, proclaiming, Mr. McClendon maintains his innocence. I believe he is innocent. We appreciate the jury's diligent and thoughtful deliberations, and we look forward to trying this case again.
Marvin's attorney will probably renew his request that he be granted bail, and with a mistrial in the rear view, a judge may allow it. If not, Marvin will likely sit in jail for some time, awaiting a new trial. With Marvin's poor health, it's possible he may not survive in jail for very long. Meanwhile, Melissa's family and friends will continue to wait. They've already waited for 34 years,
They are patient, and they are strong. The LaSalle Social Club is long gone, demolished in the early 90s. The train tracks where Melissa was found still remain. So do the memories of the innocent young girl.
WMUR went back to its archives and found some interview footage of Melissa from a feature they did on the Big Sisters Big Brothers organization back in 1988. They probably picked her because of her big personality. She seems confident and excited to be talking to a reporter. She had dreams. I'd like to leave you with a short clip of her own voice. This is for you, Melissa.
I like to type a lot, and when I write, that's pretty good. And I like to learn to do shorthand, too. The investigation in this case is still ongoing. If you have any information regarding Melissa's murder, now is the time to come forward. Please call the Lawrence PD at 978-794-5900.
I just want you to know that I appreciate you for listening. Thank you so much for supporting this show. I would love it if you shared Murder, She Told with a friend or recommend it on social media. For more Murder, She Told, you can follow the show on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. A detailed list of sources, photos, and more can be found at MurderSheTold.com. Thank you to Byron Willis for his writing and research, and to Erica Pierce and Chelsea Hanrahan for their research.
If you have a suggestion for a case or even a correction, you can email me at hello at MurderSheTold.com. I'm Kristen Sevey. Thank you for listening.