1988 child murder in Massachusetts
Melissa Ann Tremblay was an 11-year-old, sixth grade girl from Salem, New Hampshire who was found dead from stabbing at the Boston and Maine Railroad in the nearby Lawrence, Massachusetts on September 12, 1988, after disappearing when going to play in the area the day before. The crime received nationwide attention at the time and remained unsolved for nearly 34 years.
On April 25, 2022, a 74-year-old retired prison guard from Alabama who lived in Chelmsford at the time of the murder, was arrested from new evidence after having been a person of interest for years. He pleaded not guilty. On December 27, 2023, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury. On November 5, 2024, he was found not guilty.
Murder.
Melissa Ann Tremblay, known as "Missy" to her loved ones, was with her mother and her mother's boyfriend at the LaSalle Social Club on the evening of September 11, 1988, playing outside. Her mother noticed Melissa was missing and began to look for her, eventually turning to the police at around 9pm. The two people who last saw Melissa were a pizza delivery employee and a rail worker who spotted a van being near her before she disappeared.
On September 12, Melissa was found dead on the tracks of the Boston and Maine Railroad. She had been stabbed to death, and a passing train ran over her left leg and amputated it from the rest of her after she was already dead. Footprints and blood were found near the scene. An examination of her wounds revealed the killer was left-handed. The community was rattled, and kids were closely supervised in reaction to Melissa's murder. A plaque was placed at Lancaster Elementary School in Salem, New Hampshire, where Melissa attended, under a tree and around flowers and pinwheels in her honor.
In recent years, Melissa's childhood friends reportedly spread notices of her murder to prevent her case from being forgotten in the interest of answers.
Suspect.
Police worked with a cold case team composed of assistant district attorneys and state police detectives, who provided fresh evidence from Melissa's person in 2014 linking the suspect to her murder. He and his family gave DNA samples, and matching with forensic evidence in Melissa's postmortem examination, the suspect of interest was the only family member who was left-handed. 
Melissa's living family released a statement after the arrest, saying they were hoping for justice for years and never stopped thinking about Melissa.
The suspect was classified as a fugitive and arrested in Alabama under according charges placed in a warrant. He waived a rendition hearing and was transported back to Massachusetts, and in May 2022, the presiding judge remanded the defendant without bail. Bail request paperwork was withheld from the public eye due to holding personal history information of the defendant's, and arguments of third party involvement. An Essex County grand jury indicted him for Melissa's murder. Massachusetts has no capital punishment for murder in the first degree, but he faced a potential life sentence without parole from a successful conviction on charges. The suspect pleaded not guilty. On December 27, 2023, a mistrial was declared due to a deadlocked jury.
In October 2024, a re-trial was conducted. On November 5, 2024, the defendant was found not guilty.
References.
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