The family of Melissa Ann Tremblay, an 11-year-old girl found stabbed to death at a Lawrence railyard in 1988, says they’re confident justice will finally be served even after an Essex County judge declared a mistrial against the alleged killer.

A deadlocked jury triggered the judge to order a retrial in the murder case against 76-year-old Alabama man Marvin C. “Skip” McClendon Jr., who has pleaded not guilty.

McClendon, a former Chelmsford resident, was arrested in Alabama last year, decades after Tremblay disappeared. McClendon was linked to the killing through DNA evidence, according to a prosecutor.

“While we would have preferred a guilty verdict we thank God that it wasn’t not guilty and that this isn’t the end,” the family of “Missy” Tremblay wrote in a statement released Friday, days after the judge ordered a retrial. “The last month has been a very long one and we would like to thank all those that have been there to support us. It truly has taken a village to get us through.”

McClendon’s lawyer Henry Fasoldt said his client appreciated the jury being “deliberate and thoughtful” and looks forward to trying the case again.

“Mr. McClendon maintains his innocence and I believe he’s innocent,” Fasoldt said.

A spokesperson for the Essex County District Attorney’s office said they plan to retry McClendon.

No new trial date has been set.

Tremblay, of Salem, New Hampshire, was found in a Lawrence trainyard on Sept. 12, 1988, the day after she was reported missing. She had been stabbed and her body had been run over by a train, authorities said.

The victim had accompanied her mother and her mother’s boyfriend to a Lawrence social club not far from the railyard and went outside to play while the adults stayed inside, authorities said last year. She was reported missing later that night.

McClendon lived in Chelmsford and was doing carpentry work at the time of the killing, authorities said. He worked and attended church in Lawrence.

Tremblay’s family thanked the Essex County District Attorney’s Office, detectives assigned to the case over the years and everyone else who have provided support during the process.

“Someone asked why retrial is so important and honestly it is because justice needs to be served!  He has had 35 years that he has gone unpunished, walking free for 33 of those years,” part of the statement reads. “We might have got a mistrial but in our hearts we know the right man was on trial and we look forward to seeing him finally punished.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Marvin C. McClendon Jr., appears in Essex Superior Court last year in Salem, to be arraigned on a charge of the murder of 11-year-old Melissa Tremblay. (Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)