74-year-old man arrested for allegedly killing 11-year-old found dead in rail yard over 30 years ago

ESSEX COUNTY, Mass. (TCD) -- A 74-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of killing an 11-year-old New Hampshire girl in 1988 whose body was found on train tracks.

In a statement, the Essex County District Attorney’s Office announced Marvin McClendon was taken into custody in Alabama as a fugitive of justice based on a warrant issued for the murder of Melissa Tremblay over 30 years ago.

According to the statement, on Sept. 11, 1988, Tremblay went with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend to the LaSalle Social Club in Lawrence, Massachusetts. At one point that day, Tremblay left her mom and played in the neighborhood. She was reportedly last seen by a pizza delivery driver and railroad employee in the late afternoon.

Her mom and boyfriend couldn’t find Tremblay anywhere and reported her missing to Lawrence Police at 9 p.m. that evening.

Tremblay’s body was found the next morning in the old Boston & Maine Railway Yard, where she had been stabbed to death. A train reportedly ran over her after she died, which caused her left leg to be severed.

According to WBZ-TV, McClendon worked as an officer for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections and was a carpenter in the area at the time of Melissa’s death. He had reportedly been a person of interest for "some time."

The District Attorney’s statement says McClendon had "multiple ties to Lawrence."

Investigators have been working on the case since 2014 and said, "Evidence recovered from the victim’s body was instrumental in solving the case."

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