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A retrial began Tuesday for a former Massachusetts corrections officer accused of killing an 11-year-old New Hampshire girl 35 years ago. Marvin “Skip” McClendon Jr. was arrested at his home in Alabama in April 2022 and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the deadly stabbing of Melissa Ann Tremblay of Salem, New Hampshire.He did assault and beat Melissa Ann Tremblay, prosecutor Jessica Strasnick said. Tremblay’s body was found at the old Boston & Maine Railway Yard on Sept. 12, 1988.The sixth grader had been with her mother at the LaSalle Social Club in Lawrence, a block from the rail yard. She wandered out and was never seen alive again.Stab wounds to her abdomen, two stab wounds to her rib cage and her throat slit, Strasnick said.Prosecutors showed video of when police first talk with McClendon in his Alabama home alleging he knew details about the crime never made public.”Some of the things that he described had actually never been published,” Strasnick said.But his defense attorney says the DNA prosecutors have is not conclusive to McClendon. “It is not exclusive to one person by DNA profile. It’s not even exclusive to one family,” said defense attorney Henry Fasoldt. The jury failed to reach a verdict in his first murder trial last year.”We loved her, and I hope she knew how much we loved her,” said Tremblay’s cousin, Daneille Root.McClendon was working in carpentry at the time of the girl’s death. Officials said he worked for the Department of Corrections off and on between 1970 and 2002 before retiring and leaving Massachusetts.Investigators said McClendon had been a longtime person of interest in Tremblay’s murder. Prosecutors said DNA evidence led officials to a group of people related to McClendon. Court documents show investigators interviewed several people with the same surname last year.”To be here now, even though its the second trial, were pretty confident they found the right person,” Root said. Previous coverage: