The hearing for the probable reason in the case is scheduled for June 17.
Jessica Strasnick, Attorney General for Essex County homicides, said the state crime lab was able to generate a DNA profile from Tremblay’s body, which was later linked to McClanden.
But McLendon’s lawyer, Charles Henry Fassold, said it “looks just as plausible” that another McLendon man’s DNA could be found on the girl’s body.
Melissa Tremblay was 11 years old when she was killed in Lawrence in 1988. Essex Province
Passion added that witnesses saw Tremblay talk to someone in a van on the day she was last seen alive, and McClendon had a van and was living in Chelmsford at the time. She said investigators also found from the wound on Tremblay’s neck that the killer was probably left-handed. McClandon is a leftist, she said.
However, Fasold argues that his client’s dominant hand should not bind him to the crime.
“Regarding the left arm of the wound,” he said, “most people have two hands and most people can use both.”
McClandon was arrested on April 26 at his home in Alabama.
Tremblay was last seen alive on September 11, 1988. The girl’s stabbed and mutilated body was found a day later at Lawrence Railway Park. For more than three decades, the horrific murder remains unsolved.
Authorities said earlier that McLendon did not work as a correctional officer at the time of Melissa’s murder, but worked in three separate positions in the U.S. Corrections Division between 1970 and 2002.
Records of the state controller show that McClandon resigned from the civil service on July 4, 2002 and received a monthly pension of $ 3,040.
Andrea Ganley, a New Hampshire resident who was a friend of Melissa’s, told reporters in front of the courthouse that she had always hoped to see her friend’s killer face trial.
“It was difficult to describe. A lot of anger … a lot of anger, “Ganley told reporters, describing the emotions that flooded her when she saw McClandon in the courtroom. “A lot of sadness.”
Ganley said Melissa was a fun, cheeky 11-year-old with a cheerful nature. As a child growing up in the 80s, she was a fan of pop music and stars like Wham! and Madonna, Ganley said.
“I looked at her,” she said. “She was my friend.”
Ganley said there were still many questions about what happened that fateful day.
“I want to know why this happened. How did he cross his path? What’s his motive? “Ganley said.” I want him to confess. I want a full confession. I want to know why. “
Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett told reporters last month that police learned that Melissa had accompanied her mother and boyfriend’s boyfriend to a Lawrence social club the day she disappeared, and that she played in neighborhoods while the two adults stayed at the bar.
A neighbor who lived next door to the bar told reporters at the time that Melissa often played with her children and that they broke bottles in the afternoon when the girl disappeared. Melissa was last seen by a railroad employee and a pizza delivery driver, Blodgett said.
Her child and mother, Janet Tremblay, were living in Salem, New York, at the time. The mother died in 2015 at the age of 70. According to her obituary published on the website of the Goundrey & Dewhirst Funeral Home in Salem, Tremblay is “the loving mother of her adopted daughter Melissa Ann Tremblay.”
“Melissa has never been forgotten,” Blodget said, adding that her family was very relieved and very happy that the police involved in the matter had never given up on pursuing justice for Melissa.
This report uses material from previous Globe stories. Travis Andersen of the Globe team contributed.
You can contact Emily Sweeney at emily.sweeney@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @emilysweeney and Instagram @ emilysweeney22.
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