On Monday, a jury began deliberating in the trial of an Alabama man accused of beating and stabbing an 11-year-old New Hampshire girl to death more than 35 years ago.

Prosecutors and defense attorney Marvin “Skip” McClendon Jr. The jury delivered its closing arguments Monday in a case that hinged on whether Melissa Ann Tremblay believed DNA found under her fingernails came from McClendon.

This is McClendon’s second murder trial after the judge last year. mistrial declared due to a deadlocked jury.

The Salem, New Hampshire girl’s body was found at a train station in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on September 12, 1988, one day after she was reported missing. He was stabbed in the neck.

Last year, the victim went to a Lawrence social club not far from the railroad station with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend and went outside to play while the adults were inside, authorities said. He was reported missing later that night.

The girl’s mother, Janet Tremblay, died in 2015 at age 70, according to her obituary. However, surviving relatives go to court to observe the final hearing.

After initially eliminating several suspects, including two drug addicts, authorities turned their attention to McClendon.

He was arrested at his home in Alabama in 2022, based in part on DNA evidence.

Essex County Deputy District Attorney Jessica Strasnick told the jury that McClendon’s comments during his arrest showed he knew the details of the crime and that he was “focused on the fact that she had been beaten, ladies and gentlemen, because she knew she wasn’t beaten.” “He was stabbed, that is, beaten, that day.”

Strasnick said a left-hander like McClendon stabbed Tremblay. He told jurors that the carpenter and former Massachusetts corrections officer knew Lawrence and frequented bars and strip clubs in the city. He also lived less than 20 miles away at the time of the murder.