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Trial set to begin 37 years after Maine teen's murder

16-year-old Joyce McClain was murdered in the summer of 1980, her alleged killer will face a judge when his trial begins Monday morning in Bangor, nearly four decades after her death.

BANGOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- The family of Joyce McLain has been searching for answers since she was murdered in the summer of 1980, now her alleged killer will face a judge when his trial begins Monday in Bangor, nearly four decades after she was killed.

STORY: Week one recap of the trial 37 years in the making

McLain went for a jog down a trail behind Schenck High School in East Millinocket on the night of August 8, 1980. She never made it back home. Instead, police found her body two days later. She was naked, her hands were tied and she was beaten to death.

"It's been horrible, horrible daily pain," McLain's mother told NEWS CENTER Maine in 2000. "You can appear like you're doing fine, but there's part of you inside that's gone."

Her mother, Pam McLain, has been searching for justice for her daughter since her death.

Philip Scott Fournier has been a lead suspect in the case since McLain was found, according to police documents. However, because his story continued to change about who he told and where he was, police were never able to make an arrest.

When Fournier was arrested in 2009 on child pornography charges, the judge ordered him to come clean about his involvement in the 1980 murder, he didn't. Instead, search efforts in the Fall of 2015 led to his arrest on March 4, 2016.

"I'm just aw-struck'," McLain's mother Pam told NEWS CENTER Maine in 2016. "When he said we're going to make an arrest today -- I was speechless."

Fournier has pled not-guilty to the charges and has waived his right to a jury trial. His attorney, Jeff Silverstein saying this in 2016:

"The main thrust of what they are relying upon comes from the 1980's -- the state's relying upon evidence its had for the past 20 some odd years."

Fournier's trial will begin Monday morning in the Penobscot County Courthouse in Bangor.

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