Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

Amber Alert issued for missing 2-year-old Trenton Duckett in Florida

http://missingexploited.com/2006/08/28/amber-alert-issued-for-missing-2-year-old-trenton-duckett-in-florida/

(http://www.scaredmonkeys.com/fun-images/Trenton_20Duckett_small.jpg)

Trenton is described as follows:

Asian-Caucasian
2 1/2 to 3 feet tall
weighing 30 to 40 pounds
brown low-cut hair
He was last seen wearing a blue-and-green striped shirt (or no shirt) with blue denim shorts and no shoes.

Authorities believe that Trenton Duckett is in danger. It is believed that Trenton was taken through his bedroom window.

Police still hunt for missing boy (Orlando Sentinel)

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/orl-lamber2906aug29,0,2544514.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-lake

This does not look good at all. Family in the middle of a divorce with a nasty custody battle ... a restraining order and threats previously made.

Family members said the boy’s parents, Melinda and Joshua Duckett, both 21 years old, had been fighting for custody of the child. The couple filed for divorce in June and live in separate cities, according to court records.

Last month, Melinda Duckett requested a restraining order against her estranged husband.

In her petition for injunction, she said she received an e-mail from Joshua Duckett in July, threatening to hurt her and Trenton, court records said. Her petition stated “Joshua would hunt my son and I [Melinda] down and that he will bury my son with me.”

This certainly doesn't sound good at all.

Oh that is not a good thing.... I agree Jennifer34.  I hope that they find this kid alive and well....

Search Continues for Trenton Duckett, Local Sex Offenders Questioned

(http://www.scaredmonkeys.com/fun-images/Trenton_20Duckett_202_small.jpg)

The search continues for 2 year old Trenton Duckett who has been missing since Sunday night. Police authorities in Leesburg, FL are questioning sex offenders and neighbors in an effort to find a missing boy.

http://missingexploited.com/2006/08/31/search-continues-for-trenton-duckett-local-sex-offenders-questioned/

UPDATE (9/1/06): Tip Sparks Search Of Central Fla. Woods In Missing Boy Case

Trenton Duckett Still Missing, Police state missing Trenton likely Alive

http://missingexploited.com/2006/09/03/trenton-duckett-still-missing-police-state-missing-trenton-likely-alive/

The search continues for the missing 2 year old Leesburg, FL boy Trenton Duckett. Authorities in the first time in the case mentioned that “Trenton Duckett is alive and close by.”

The search goes on with the efforts of The project Adam team. The questions remain is whether the parents extremely rocky past and history of alleged abuse allegations and mis-treatment have anything to do with the Trenton’s disappearance?

BIZARRE Event in the Trenton Duckett Case … Mother Melinda Duckett Found DEAD

http://missingexploited.com/2006/09/08/bizarre-event-in-the-trenton-duckett-case-mother-melinda-duckett-found-dead/

Melinda Duckett, 21, the mother of missing 2 year old Trenton Duckett was found dead today in her grandparents home. According to reports Melinda Ducket did not die from natural causes

This story is getting soooooooooo strange.  I watched a repeat of Nancy Grace late last night and heard the interview she had with the mother, Melinda and the scroll underneath stated that since the taping of this show, the mother had been found dead in her grandparents home.

I'm thinking suicide.

Nancy really ripped into this woman , asking her why she was not providing details and not working with local law enforcement on this.

The mother sounded very "odd" with her answers.

BOY OH BOY let Nancy Grace get a crack at Joran sometime...
She'll rip him a new one...

http://cfn13.com/StoryHeadline.aspx?id=18531

Melinda Duckett found dead from self inflicted gun shot .

No suicide not left.

Family: Media Coverage May Have Pushed Missing Boy's Mom Over Edge
2-Year-Old Remains Missing

POSTED: 8:49 pm EDT September 9, 2006
UPDATED: 9:13 pm EDT September 9, 2006

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Family members of a mother who committed suicide while a search continued for her missing 2-year-old son said the intense media coverage in the case may have pushed her over the edge, according to a Local 6 News report.

Leesburg authorities said Melinda Duckett's body was found Friday in a home at 638 Rainbow Lane in the Villages of Lady Lake. Police said the house belonged to the woman's grandparents.

Local 6 News reported that Melinda Duckett's grandparents said media coverage may have been too much.
 

Two days before she died, Melinda Duckett told Local 6 News that she was frustrated that the media and police were scrutinizing her whereabouts before her son vanished.

And in a taped interview that aired hours after Melinda Duckett's suicide, CNN news anchor Nancy Grace grilled the woman about her alibi on national television.

"Where were you?" Grace asked Melinda Duckett. "Why aren't you telling us where you were that day? You were the last person to be seen with him."

"We were just shopping, going around…" Duckett said.

"Shopping where?" Grace asked.

"Well, we didn't go any where specific," Duckett said.

"If you went shopping, you had to go into a store -- what store did you go into?" Grace said.

"I wasn't (going to get) into any specifics," Duckett said.

The boy's father, Joshua Duckett, said he did not think the media was unfair in their coverage."At first, the media was rough on me too and I had a lot of fingers pointed at me and stuff like that," Duckett said. "To me, I don't feel the media was unfair to either side."

"Despite Melinda Duckett's apparent suicide, police are not yet publicly calling her their primary suspect," Local 6's Mike DeForest said. "They say everyone is still a possibility at this point."

Saturday, investigators searched Melinda Duckett's apartment but so far there was no sign of a suicide note.

Joshua Duckett said he is optimistic his son will be found but the death of his estranged wife complicated things.

"It hits you like a ton of bricks," father Joshua Duckett said. "It makes it that much harder."

According to authorities, Trenton Duckett was last seen in his room. His mother first noticed he was missing around 9 p.m. Leesburg police said a screen on a window in the boy's room was cut and that he was apparently taken through the opening.

Melinda Duckett had earlier told Local 6 News that the day before Trenton vanished, she and the child were driving around visiting friends and family.

Detectives are still searching for witnesses who can either back up her account or contradict it.


The search continues for the missing boy.


Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

Previous Stories:
September 8, 2006: Body Of Missing Boy's Mom Found

Let me say right off the bat, I don't think this woman killed herself because of Nancy Grace.  I think there is alot more to it than that.  But the way she handled this woman is one of the reasons I would like to see her interview Joran....SHe would just keep pounding the tough questions and I would love to see his reaction when people are not treating him with kid gloves........

Melinda Duckett Now Becomes Focus of Police Investigation of Missing Trenton Duckett

http://missingexploited.com/2006/09/11/melinda-duckett-now-becomes-focus-of-police-investigation-of-missing-trenton-duckett/

Melinda Duckett’s Grandparents partially blame CNN’s Nancy Grace for her suicide

http://missingexploited.com/2006/09/10/melinda-ducketts-grandparents-partially-blame-cnns-nancy-grace-for-her-suicide/

The grandparents of Melinda Duckett have gone on record as saying that they believe that the grilling that CNN’s Nancy Grace gave Melinda Duckett contributed to her decision to commit suicide. Did this interview go too far? It leads to some interesting questions regarding interviewing parents of missing children. What is the media’s role? Does the media have a right to ambush a parent during an interview as police investigate a case? We all want the truth to come out and more importantly Trenton Duckett to be found.

Leesburg police are still searching for 2-year-old Trenton Duckett, who disappeared more than two weeks ago.

Duckett's mother, Melinda, killed herself on Friday, and investigators are explaining more about her final hours and the writings she may have left behind, WESH 2 News reported.

Leesburg detectives said they're now looking at pages of a diary that belonged to Duckett. Her estranged husband, Josh, confirmed for WESH 2 that she did keep a diary.
 

Investigators said the pages could explain her state of mind before committing suicide on Friday while at her grandparent's home.

By analyzing the pages of her writings, detectives said they hope it will shed more light on what may have happened to Trenton.

Leesburg police said there is a 28-hour gap between the time Melinda Duckett reported her son missing and anyone else who saw the toddler alive.
"Right now, unfortunately, the direction that we're looking is more in the direction of Melinda," said Capt. Steve Rockefeller of the Leesburg Police Department.

"There doesn't need to be any games played. Everything needs to come out, no matter what it is," said Josh Duckett.

Police said they are satisfied with the cooperation coming from Melinda Duckett's family.

Police are asking landowners in and around Leesburg to check and see if anything was dumped there.
Copyright 2006 by WESH.COM. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

This case is just so sad all the way around... and what a beautiful child...

I know what a little hunny bunny.

Construction Site Searched In Missing Toddler Case
POSTED: 8:20 am EDT September 11, 2006
UPDATED: 5:19 pm EDT September 11, 2006


 
LEESBURG, Fla. -- Leesburg police are still searching for 2-year-old Trenton Duckett, who disappeared more than two weeks ago.

On Monday afternoon, investigators began searching a subdivision under construction for evidence that might be buried, WESH 2 News reported.

As construction crews with bulldozers continued to work, investigators used other tools to search the freshly leveled dirt at the Plantation 2 development south of Leesburg, just off U.S. Highway 27.

Police said a recent lead brought them to the site, and they asked other landowners to search their properties, too.

Duckett's mother, Melinda, died on Friday, apparently from suicide, and investigators are explaining more about her final hours and the writings she may have left behind.

"We have to look at the possibility that maybe she was grieving and she couldn't handle the stress of the event, yes, we are looking into that possiblity," said Capt. Steve Rockefeller of the Leesburg Police Department. "But we also have to look into the more likely possibility that she may have had something to do with the disappearance of Trenton."

Leesburg detectives said they're now looking at pages of a diary that belonged to Duckett. Her estranged husband, Josh, confirmed for WESH 2 that she did keep a diary.

Investigators said the pages could explain her state of mind before committing suicide on Friday while at her grandparent's home.

By analyzing the pages of her writings, detectives said they hope it will shed more light on what may have happened to Trenton.

Leesburg police said there is a 28-hour gap between the time Melinda Duckett reported her son missing and anyone else who saw the toddler alive.

"Right now, unfortunately, the direction that we're looking is more in the direction of Melinda," said Capt. Steve Rockefeller of the Leesburg Police Department.

"There doesn't need to be any games played. Everything needs to come out, no matter what it is," said Josh Duckett.

Police said they are satisfied with the cooperation coming from Melinda Duckett's family.
Copyright 2006 by WESH.COM. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Police did say that American’s Most Wanted may be doing a story on the Duckett case and CNN's Nancy Grace will be doing another story on the Duckett story.

From News 13, 9-12-06

Tim Miller and Texas EquuSearch Maybe be Entering the Search for Missing Trenton Duckett

http://missingexploited.com/2006/09/12/tim-miller-and-texas-equusearch-maybe-be-entering-the-search-for-missing-trenton-duckett/

We had the opportunity to speak to Tim Miller this afternoon regarding Texas EquuSearch’s involvement in the case of missing Trenton Duckett. Tim Miller said,  “he is offering the Leesburg Police TES as a search resource”. Tim Miller also went on to say, “that if Trenton is not found soon, TES could be involved in the case as soon as Thursday or Friday of this week.”

RELATED STORIES
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Melinda Duckett (STEPHEN M. DOWELL, ORLANDO SENTINEL)
Aug 29, 2006
 
Trenton Duckett (COURTESY OF THE DUCKETT FAMILY)
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LEESBURG -- The plight of missing 2-year-old Trenton Duckett is the latest cause taken up by ex-prosecutor and national talk-show host Nancy Grace, who frequently uses her cable forum to draw attention to abduction cases.

But the Headline News host found herself answering Monday whether she had become part of the story -- only days after grilling the boy's mother in a televised interview. The day after that probing series of questions, Melinda Duckett killed herself.

"I do not feel our show is to blame for what happened to Melinda Duckett," Grace said on the air Monday.
Grace also noted that "Melinda committed suicide before that interview ever aired."

Melinda Duckett's family members have said the publicity surrounding the case may have added to her stress in the days before her suicide.

The boy's father, Joshua Duckett, said he did not blame Grace for Melinda's suicide. He was estranged from his wife, who had custody of Trenton.

"Nobody made her do the show," he said. "Nobody made her do anything."

Since her death, investigators have increasingly said they are looking at the boy's mother as being involved in his disappearance. They have not officially labeled Melinda as a suspect.

Police are trying to piece together a 26-hour period during which they cannot account for Melinda Duckett's whereabouts. They said she gave "vague" answers about her activities Aug. 26 and 27.

Grace questioned Melinda Duckett about the time gap.

The ex-prosecutor demanded details, including the names and locations of the stores where Melinda Duckett said she had taken her son shopping in Lake and Orange counties.

Grace also pressed Melinda Duckett about refusing to take a lie-detector test.

Grace declined to be interviewed Tuesday but issued a statement by e-mail.

"We feel a responsibility to bring attention to this case in the hopes of helping find Trenton Duckett, who remains missing. Our goal in our continuing coverage of Trenton's disappearance is to enlist the public's help in finding him," Grace's statement read. "While Ms. Duckett's death is an extremely sad development, we remain hopeful that Trenton will be found safe, and we will continue to cover the case until it is solved."

Grace, who has helped publicize the cases of Natalee Holloway, JonBenet Ramsey and other youthful crime victims, featured Trenton Duckett's case twice in the past few days. She questioned Melinda Duckett during a taped interview Thursday.

Melinda Duckett committed suicide at her grandparents' home in The Villages the next day.

Grace also interviewed Joshua Duckett on the same show, posing similar questions. He and Melinda Duckett disagreed on how heavy a sleeper their son was -- a relevant point because the boy's mother claimed Trenton was taken from his bedroom while she watched a movie with two friends.

Joshua Duckett said the boy was a "very, very light sleeper" and would have cried if he had been awakened by a stranger.

Melinda Duckett contended their son was a heavy sleeper. "You can move him from room to room, and he'll still be asleep," she told Grace.

The boy was reported missing Aug. 27.

I watched NG last night and listened to some of what was being reported by them as far as the divorce goes... and I have to say that for the record, even "older" fighting parents use these same exact tactics... in fact, some attorneys advocate that one side accuse the other of:

(1) manlipulating the child
(2) excessive alchol use
(3) being crazy and uncontrollable....

hell, I have seen divorce cases with these allegations even where there are no children just lots of money to divide.... so don't buy into the whole thing about the fighting or bittler divorce in that regard.


I hope that some family member took this child in order to protect him.. sounds to me like he needed that..

Mom buys gun; 2 days later, boy's gone

Police use dogs to keep searching for Trenton Duckett, 2, in the area of U.S. 27 and C.R. 48.
 
LEESBURG -- Two days before Trenton Duckett was reported missing, his mother bought a shotgun at a local pawn shop, authorities said Monday.

Although it was not the gun that Melinda Duckett used to kill herself last week, it may be another puzzle piece for investigators as they try to link the events that led up to 2-year-old Trenton's disappearance Aug. 27 -- and his mother's suicide almost two weeks later.

Police said that Melinda Duckett, 21, shot herself in the head with her grandfather's shotgun Friday afternoon at her grandparents' home in The Villages.

Since her death, investigators have recovered several of Melinda Duckett's handwritten notes and writings on her computer, Leesburg police Capt. Steve Rockefeller said Monday. He provided few other details.

Rockefeller called Duckett's death "suspicious" and said that investigators now believe it is unlikely that Trenton was abducted by a stranger.

"The more likely possibility is that she may have had something to do with the disappearance of Trenton," he said.

Police used cadaver dogs to search a construction site Monday evening off U.S. Highway 27, about three miles south of County Road 48, after receiving a tip that someone had seen the mother and child in the area.

On Monday, Rockefeller said investigators still don't know if Trenton is dead or alive. The toddler's pictures were shown in Tallahassee on Monday during the state's annual Missing Children's Day ceremony.

Investigators have received many tips about where Melinda Duckett and the boy were in the days leading up to his reported abduction. But Rockefeller said there is a 26-hour gap between the time when Trenton was reported missing and anyone else, aside from his mother, saw him.

Duckett's grandmother, Nancy Eubank, told the Orlando Sentinel last week that Melinda and Trenton had visited her the day before the reported abduction.

But police said Eubank's account ends in the early evening of Aug. 26.

Melinda's estranged husband, Joshua Duckett, said Monday that the thought of her harming their son "ran through my head." But he added, "There's millions and millions of possibilities" that might explain Trenton's disappearance.

Joshua Duckett said he knew Melinda practiced shooting at nearby rifle ranges but didn't know why she would purchase a gun shortly before their son's disappearance.

"She's the only one that knows the answers to these questions," he said.

Anyone with information about Trenton's disappearance should call Leesburg detectives Jim Dunagan or Richard Giles at 352-787-2121.

Christine Dellert can be reached at cdellert@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5917.

Trenton Duckett Missing: Did the Media and Nancy Grace Push Melinda Duckett Over the Edge to Suicide?

http://missingexploited.com/2006/09/14/trenton-duckett-missing-did-the-media-and-nancy-grace-push-melinda-duckett-over-the-edge-to-suicide/

Lets start out by saying that 2 year old Trenton Duckett is still missing. The focus should be on the missing boy and his whereabouts. Instead the media has made the story about the media. It is disturbing that certain shows have only covered this story after Melinda Duckett committed suicide rather than when Trenton Duckett went missing.

The question has arose, did an over-zealous media and Nancy Grace push Melinda Duckett, the mother of missing Trenton Duckett, over the emotional edge to commit suicide? Melinda’s grandparents seem to think so.

I don't think you can ever blame one's suicide on one incident.  Did it tip her over the edge?  Maybe.  This girl appears to have had some deep issues, and I would think her lawyer or anyone who advised her, would have advised her not to do the interview with Nancy Grace in the first place....

I agree Jacqueline. Usually it takes many events that are set in motion to bring someone to the point of such despair.

It certainly did not help the cause as to what transpired on NG.

The fact that Melinda Duckett is no longer alive to tell what she knows is absolutely tragic.

If she was involved in the disappearance of her son or innocent ... what good can come of her being dead?

The question was been raised as to whether a line was crossed by the media and NG?

Isn't that obvious, Melinda Duckett is dead. She obviously had issues prior to any of this occurring. No one needed to bring gasoline to the fire.

Here is a story that I found that is getting NO airplay. I have yet to see any follow up to this story.

Pursuit Inquiry After Chase Of Possible Suspect Called Off

http://www.wftv.com/news/9779121/detail.html

DELAND, Fla. -- Eyewitness News has learned a pursuit inquiry was launched after a Florida Highway Patrol trooper called off a chase that may have been related to the Amber Alert for missing toddler Trenton Duckett.

One trooper thought a child in the car matched Duckett's description.

In the FHP incident report, the trooper involved in the pursuit said he had every reason to want to pull the car over and no reason to let him go.

The report says the driver fled after being pulled over. The trooper writes that he saw the driver force a small child to the floorboards as he pulled away. The trooper notes that he tan car, with no plates, matched the description of a car wanted in connection with a murder in Saint Johns County.

What's more, the trooper believes the child fit the description of 2-year-old Trenton Duckett, a child recently abducted in Lake County. There is an Amber Alert out for Duckett and a be-on-the-lookout (BOLO) alert for the car.

"If the BOLOo was put out for a crime that was a forcible felony, we would be able to continue our pursuit by our policy," said Trooper Kim Miller, Florida Highway Patrol.

Murder and kidnapping are considered forcible felonies and justify pursuit according to FHP policy, but the trooper said his supervisor told him to let the car go.

"We are looking to see if the trooper should have been able to continue the pursuit by our policy," Miller said.

In the report, the trooper makes his case to stay on the car, but his supervisor, Lt. Kevin Vaughn, is quoted as saying, "It is not against the law to have kids in the car."

The trooper broke off pursuit and the car, suspect and child were gone.

As a result, a pursuit inquiry was launched and FHP hopes the 2-year-old's possible kidnapper was not let go for no reason.

"We don't know if we can go into the what-ifs. For a trooper, that's definitely weighing on their mind," Miller said.

The inquiry into the decision not to pursue the suspect car was still ongoing Friday

True.  

It is sad to me that no one close enough to her who may have known what state of mind she was in could convince her not to do her show.

I am no Nancy Grace fan, never have been...

I guess to stay in the game on tv you go for ratings no matter at what cost...

Also,....

they are now searching another location for the little boy....

http://www.wesh.com/news/9849178/detail.html

She did cross a line and all this week she has attempted to make her actions more amenable by showing what an emotionally disturbed young woman Melinda Duckett was.  In contrast, it only shows what a careless, inept individual Nancy Grace truly is.  If she knew the fragile situation she was dealing with before hand, she was criminally negligent in her verbal assault.  If she knew nothing about the girl’s background before the interview, then she did not do her homework which is also negligent and carelessly caused a tragic outcome.

If law enforcement officials had brought her in for interrogation, they would have in all likelihood had a psychologist on hand, they would have had the benefit of watching her physical reaction to questions and they could have held her in protective custody if they feared she might commit suicide.  To have none of those one-on-one controls in place and no real facts to base such a public attack is reckless and outrageous!

All of us could go through a series of “what if’s” concerning what might have happened to little Trenton Duckett.  However, the only thing we know for sure right now is that Melinda Duckett is dead and what she might have told the right person has forever been silenced.

Yeah, NG crossed a line!

Maybe she crossed a line.......

But, I think if Nancy Grace used the same hard tactics with Joran no one would be complaining...

Everyone was very quick to bash Greta for being too easy with joran....

well if Grace had interviewed him and did not candy coat her questions, I think then alot of people would be applauding her now...

Anytime someone commits suicide it is a tragedy...

Especially because this young woman was cleary disturbed and more importantly could have been more helpful alive than dead in trying to find her son....

This incident reminds me of the person who got embarrassed on the Jerry Springer show when he was on the show and his secret crush turned out to be another guy...So mortified he was that he later hunted him down and killed him....

Yes....TV can be very deadly now a days........

Joran has never shown an ounce of remorse about what happened to Natalee Holloway.  In fact, he has never really shown any conscience whatsoever.  If NG had interviewed him within days of the disappearance and wrecked the investigation, I am sure many people would have been upset.  If she got a shot at him over a year later with all that we know, yes we would expect some tough questions.  Kind of an apples and oranges thing in my mind.

The girl should not have gone on the NG show, but I doubt she even really knew who NG was.  Much less that NG would go for the throat of the mother of a missing child without strong evidence pointing toward that mother.

BTW, it was the Jenny Jones show and she wound up in court.  We also do not see much of her on TV anymore.

Oh thats right it was Ms Jones......Yep you are correct , don't see much of her anymore....

As for this young mother.....I did find it odd that she put an ad in the paper selling her baby car seat two weeks before the baby went missing....it took many hours since she noticed the baby was gone, to report it to police....she would only cooperate with the FBI not other law enforcement agencies and the FBI denied saying they told her to only cooperate with them....she refused to take a lie detector test.....does not sound all that innocent to me.........

Yes, several suspicious things about the whole case and she probably had the answers.  A good shrink or even an experienced cop might have been able to get those answers.

Wow, forgot about that story ... remember that. I think the difference of in how one interiews say JVDS or a Melinda Duckett is that teir psychies are like oil and water. Also the situation as well.

Although both were the last to see the missing party, JVDS is of no relation to the missing. We do have to remember that deference needs to be given to a mother of a missing child.

Also, it was proven that JVDS lied. It was only being accused of Melinda. What a really sad situation and frustrating as well.

Does everyone remember that Nancy Grace was rebuked by a Georgia Court for engaging in “inappropriate and, in some cases, illegal conduct in the course of the trial” of Weldon Wayne Carr in 1997?  That alone demonstrates that she will skirt by ethical (and legal) conduct in order to get her desired result.

To tell you the truth Easy, I don't know much about NG other than what I have seen when she has been on tv, and I know she lost her fiancee to a violent crime.

Like I said, I'm really not a Nancy Grace fan.

And i feel bad that this woman committed suicide, that goes without saying.

I did see the father on BOR tonight and he said that searches did find a teddy bear in the new area that they are searching for this precious child but have not confirmed that it belonged to Trenton.

I just pray that this kid is alive but my gut tells me he is gone...I sure hope I am wrong.

I'll bet the kid is gone, bet it was a murder/suicide and think the mother just delayed her suicide to try and make it look like it might have been the father that did it to the kid.

Jaq, I read somewhere today, in an article somewhere... that she had a new car seat ready to be put in the car... as they did say on the news this morning, about 2 years old is when it could be time to get a different car seat...

I don't know what I think about this case, I guess I just want him to be alive and well so bad that I don't want to believe that the mom did anything to harm her son -

and Easy, I agree with you that this girl probably had no idea who NG is, and how she conducts interviews.

That's very possible about the car seat...

But the other things....just don't add up...

She was the last one seen with the baby...she waited hours before she reported it to the police...

The two visitors that night said they never saw the baby....

Just made me think that the baby was gone before they even got there.

Believe me, I am not ready to say GUILTY and I feel bad she is gone...
but mostly because I am afraid she held answers that no one else can tell that could lead to this child.

I agree that she knew things that we will now not be able to find out....

So sad...

Well I'm gonna hit the hay my sistah!!!!!!!

Have a good night, and I'll see ya tomorrow.......
 :lol:

Nite Sistah... I am watching NG right now, and NG is still going after the mom... but the story about the state trooper that was told not to stop the car... what if that person is the guilty one?  

OMG!  I am just seeing way too much from NG about this... going on GMA in the morning?  NG seems to be trying way to hard, to back pedal...

I don't think NG needs to back pedal on anything, I think she was on the right track with the mom.

http://www.wesh.com/news/9843232/detail.html

LEESBURG, Fla. -- On Friday, Melinda Duckett, the mother of a missing 2-year-old boy, will be laid to rest in a private ceremony.

She shot herself to death in her grandparents' home nearly a week ago, WESH 2 News reported.

Josh Duckett, Melinda's estranged husband and Trenton's father, will not be at the funeral.

"Out of respect for the family, for her family, due to the bad blood, I will not be attending. I would like to have been there, but I got to keep our focus on Trenton 100 percent," he said.

Bill and Nancy Eubank, Melinda Duckett's grandparents, said they believe their granddaughter killed herself because she was under so must stress.

"For people who are already suffering some form of stress and new stress, added stress, can push people over the edge. And typically, it's the sleep disturbance, which then impairs your brain functioning and your ability to think clearly and logically," said Dr. Thomas Valente, a psychiatrist who did not treat Duckett.

He said because a person commits suicide does not indicate that he or she may have committed a criminal act.

Anyone who has any information in the case is asked to call investigators at 800-CALL-FBI.

http://www.wesh.com/news/9849178/detail.html

Just wanted to add to the car seat and stuffed animal information:

Police Searching Ocala Forest In Duckett Case Find Stuffed Animal

LEESBURG, Fla. -- Police searched two new locations in the case of a missing Lake County toddler, and they found a stuffed animal during their search on Thursday.

Investigators searched two areas of the Ocala National Forest in Marion County, but the search has been called off for the day, WESH 2 News reported.

Trenton Duckett, 2, has been missing since Aug. 27. His mother, Melinda Duckett, said he disappeared from his bed.

Police received two tips that placed Duckett in the area of the Ocala National Forest before she reported her son missing. Police have been asking the public to help them establish a timeline around the toddler's disappearance.

They have specifically asked anyone who may have seen Duckett, her son or her car on Aug. 26 and Aug. 27 to call police. She drove a silver 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse.

Searchers found a stuffed animal during their forest search on Thursday, but so far, there is no evidence to link it to Trenton. The Leesburg Police Department said the animal is an elephant with black-and-white checkered ears. The FBI will show it to Josh Duckett, Trenton's father, to see if it's similar to one his son has.

"We have no indication that the stuffed animal belongs to Trenton or has any link to Trenton in any way," said Capt. Steve Rockefeller of the Leesburg Police Department. "The K-9 teams and the searchers have broken down their search efforts for the evening and they did not find anything else other than this stuffed animal."

Officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement assisted with the search.

During the search, WESH 2 News spoke with Josh Duckett, and he said his son has a small brown bear that he often carries around. He said it was a Christmas present.

Investigators cautioned that the stuffed animal they found may not be related to the case, but they thought it was a close enough match to take it in for analysis.

Officials searching said they are chasing down every possible lead. They said they received two different tips from people who thought they might have seen Duckett that weekend near the forest. The tipsters were a camper and someone who lived in the area.

The stuffed animal was found in the area where the camper reported possibly seeing Melinda Duckett. The second search scene is where the resident reported seeing her.

Other than the stuffed animal, searchers said they did not find anything else significant.

The Leesburg Police Department said the search will resume on Firday or Saturday with fresh teams of search dogs.

WESH 2 has also learned that investigators have searched a pet cemetery looking for clues in Trenton's whereabouts, but that search turned up nothing.

At a Thursday afternoon news conference, Rockefeller said the family of the missing boy will be holding a prayer vigil in Leesburg Square on Friday at 7:30 p.m. He said the prayer service is intended for Trenton, so any bad blood that may exist between Melinda and Josh Duckett's friends and family should be set aside.

He said both sides are welcomed and encouraged to attend. It will be held in front of the City Hall.

Rockefeller also confirmed Thursday that Melinda Duckett purchased a 20-gauge shotgun during the month of August. He said they have heard some indications that she did some target shooting but they are unaware if she was a hunter.

CNN has confirmed that on Trenton's second birthday, Duckett placed an ad in a local newspaper attempting to sell her son's car seat. That was 17 days before he disappeared.

But at the news conference, Rockefeller said investigators found a new carseat box in Duckett's apartment. He also said he never saw her car without a car seat in it.

Duckett shot herself to death last Friday at her grandparent's home in Lady Lake, and she will be laid to rest on Friday.

Anyone with any information about the case is urged to call 800-CALL-FBI.

It looks like they pulled an ALE.  Do I need to elaborate?

Thanks Bearly for all the updates!

I found it interesting that Garrison has no respect for Grace’s interview style and will not go on her show.

There are tried and true methods used by professionals to extract information from witnesses and suspects.  Those methods are diametrically opposed to Nancy Grace’s technique.  She takes the approach of an overzealous prosecutor confronting an indicted individual.  Two vastly different scenarios…

You're welcome.    

There is a lengthy interview with Josh Duckett, Trenton's dad, here:

http://www.wesh.com/news/9849178/detail.html

She goes over the top and flares her nostrils at least 4 times during her show.

She is a tuff broad!  I wouldn't go on her show on a bet!

LEESBURG -- The father of a 2-year-old boy who has been missing for more than 2 weeks told WKMG Local 6 News that he does not believe a stuffed animal found during a search in the Ocala National Forest belongs to his son.

Authorities received a new tip Thursday that Trenton Duckett and his mother were apparently seen in the Ocala National Forest on the weekend the child vanished, police said.

During the search, a child's toy elephant was found, but it apparently does not belong to Trenton."

Father Joshua Duckett said at first he was alarmed when searchers found a stuffed animal, an elephant, near the search site," Local 6's Erik von Ancken said. "But, now he believes the toy does not belong to Trenton."

"He wasn't a real big stuffed animal fan," Joshua Duckett said. "He tended to play more with the balls."

Joshua Duckett planned to see the stuffed animal today.

Authorities said they are leaning toward the scenario that the boy's mother may have staged the boy's disappearance from his home at the end of August, Local 6 News reported.

Melinda Duckett committed suicide last week, officials said, and since then investigators have leaned away from the theory that an intruder snatched the boy from his home.

Local 6 News has learned that crime lab technicians are analyzing a .20-gauge shotgun recovered from Melinda's home to see if it is relevant in Trenton's disappearance.

"Melinda did purchase a firearm during the month of August, which is the same month of the reported abduction," Leesburg police Capt. Steve Rockefeller said.

The gun Melinda used to kill herself belonged to her grandparents, the report said.

The 21-year-old mother was studying for a career in law enforcement and had experience shooting guns.

"We heard that she did do some shooting, some target practice-type shooting," Rockefeller.

Joshua Duckett also confirmed Thursday that when Melinda was pregnant with Trenton, she was checked into a mental health facility because she was talking about suicide.



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http://www.myspace.com/92022224

 :lol: I am never going to be able to look at her again without seeing a face of a bull superimposed on hers.  Thanks for the visual.  :lol:

Sowwwy.....LOL
Watch how many times she flares them..... :wink:

Did anyone else go to that myspace posting?  his friends don't seem to get it.... and that made me wonder what the hell is going on....

WOW...

I like Clint Van Zandt and respect his assessment of the Nancy Grace interview.

Yesterday, Van Zandt told The Free Lance-Star, "When they make it a circus just for ratings and take a fragile human being like that--whether she killed her own child or not-- and rake her over the coals, that's unconscionable."

Good morning Easy, andall monkeys...

In the beginning I did not make much of Nancy' Grace and her attacking of Melinda Duckett as far as making this girl commit suicide, but after reading alot of Monkey Posts, and listening to what Clif V said I am beginning to change my mind.

NG is a former prosecutor and acted like one during that interview, and she should have realized she is a TV host now, and was not grilling a suspect in court, but a mother whose child went missing.

I still think that Melinda Duckett had a lot to hide, knew alot more than she let on, but with her being gone now we may never know the truth and maybe the chance for getting that baby alive is now lost...

And to a big extent, I do now feel that NG in a sense probably did alot more damage than good with this investigation, and I am sure the people who are working this case feel the same way.

JUST MY 2 cents.
_________________

http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060917/NEWS/209170382/1001/NEWS01

Still searching for Trenton~

Divers find no clues in toddler search
OCALA, Fla., Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Divers came up empty Sunday after searching a swampy lake in Ocala National Forest in central Florida for a 2-year-old boy missing for three weeks.

Police said they planned to take a new course in their search Monday, WFTV-TV in Orlando, Fla., reported.

They had searched the lake after getting a tip from someone claiming to have seen Trenton Duckett with his mother, Melinda, shortly before the toddler disappeared Aug. 27.

Melinda Duckett killed herself in her grandparents' home Sept. 8. Family members blamed the suicide on stress and intense media attention.

Since the suicide, investigators have been leaning toward the possibility that Melinda Duckett staged her son's disappearance.

Above is from 6.com

Stomachs Of Alligators To Be Examined In Missing-Boy Search
Trapper Called To Remove 8-Foot AlligatorPOSTED: 1:44 pm EDT September 18, 2006
UPDATED: 1:56 pm EDT September 18, 2006

The Marion County Sheriff's Office asked the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to catch at least one large alligator in an area where crews are searching for a missing boy, according to a news release.

Authorities continued their fourth day of searching near Farles Lake in the Ocala National Forest for 2-year-old Trenton Duckett.

Trenton was reported missing 22 days ago by his mother, Melinda Duckett, who committed suicide more than a week ago.
 

On Monday afternoon, a trapper will attempt to catch an 8-foot alligator spotted near Farles Lake.

If alligators are captured, their stomachs will be examined for any evidence such as bone, fabric and hair remnants, the Florida Fish and Wildlife release said.

The report said the alligator has not posed a threat to search divers, but investigators want to rule out any possibilities.

"There are not a lot of alligators in Farles Lake, and again, there is no information linking an alligator to Trenton's disappearance," the release said.

Search Continues


Authorities continued their fourth day of searching near Farles Lake in the Ocala National Forest with dive teams, search dogs and ground crews.

"It is very treacherous work," Marion County sheriff's Capt. James Pogue said. "The water is murky. It is not like swimming in a swimming pool, where you see everything when you go underwater. It is really just a touch-and-feel-type of game."

Searchers have been in the area after a tipster said he saw and possibly talked with Melinda Duckett.

Searchers formed a human dragnet around Farles Lake Sunday but found nothing.


More than 150 officers and volunteers, 17 cadaver dogs and a helicopter were used in the search near the Farles Lake area of the forest.


Hundreds Of Tips


Local 6 News reported that since the boy vanished on Aug. 27, tips have come in by the hundreds, but there are still more to check out, according to police.

"We are still trying to firm up Melinda's timeline in the 24 to 48 hours prior to the abduction," Leesburg police Capt. Steve Rockefeller said.


Leesburg police said a multiagency task force is working other routine leads and plans to regroup Monday and Tuesday to plot a new course in the search for the toddler.


Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1874696,00.html

Interesting perspective from across the pond.......

Clint Van Zandt will be on Dana's show tomorrow night discussing this case and the Nancy Grace interview.

LEESBURG -- Authorities said Monday that two people spotted Melinda Duckett alone on the day her toddler was reportedly snatched from his bed.

The sightings appear to conflict with accounts Melinda gave police and her own attorney about her travels Aug 27.

 "Taken at face value, they do contradict Melinda's statements to agents and investigators," Leesburg police Capt. Steve Rockefeller said.
Melinda Duckett, 21, said she spent the entire day with her 2-year-old son Trenton, then put him to bed at 7 p.m. only to discover him missing two hours later. She also told her attorney she took her son and her shotgun to the Ocala National Forest that day, then became lost and drove around Central Florida for eight hours.

Police released few details about the two tips they consider "very credible." But they place Melinda alone at a Leesburg business at 8 a.m. and walking into her apartment without Trenton at 3 p.m. that day.
Police asked anyone who baby-sat Trenton at that time or who knows someone who could have watched the boy to contact the FBI. Their investigation has focused more on Melinda after she shot and killed herself at her grandparents' home in The Villages two weeks ago.

And their search anticipates Trenton's death.

Divers spent a third day Monday searching the bottom of Farles Lake in Ocala National Forest. They will return today looking for signs of Trenton's body.

"We will be here as long as we need to," Marion County Sheriff's Office spokesman Capt. James Pogue said.

In another development, a plan to enlist alligator trappers in the search Monday were held off at the request of sheriff's officials, said Joy Hill, spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Under the plan, alligators large enough to eat a toddler would have been trapped and cut open, authorities said.[/b

]A tip about Duckett brought investigators to the forest last week. They hope the sightings reported Monday will yield a better timeline for the day Trenton disappeared.

They have been unable to confirm Duckett's version, and therefore can't say who was the last person to see the toddler alive.

Trenton's last confirmed whereabouts put him at his great-grandparents' home late Saturday afternoon Aug. 26, Rockefeller said.

"Beyond that, it's only Melinda's word about where he was," he said.

Melinda's divorce lawyer Kimberly Schulte said Melinda Duckett never told her anything consistent with the sightings released Monday.

"The Police Department isn't under any obligation to share anything with me -- and they haven't," she said. "I couldn't tell you if anyone else was telling the truth."

Hours after Duckett's suicide, Schulte gave law enforcement a copy of a crude map Melinda drew to account for her daylong odyssey. She told Schulte she went to the Ocala National Forest, then detoured to the Altamonte Mall and TD Waterhouse Centre in downtown Orlando before arriving at her Leesburg apartment.

Duckett never told Schulte the times she arrived at each location but that she cared for Trenton the whole day.

Schulte, who does contract work for Leesburg, has said she was surprised detectives did not approach her earlier to ask about the map and the details Duckett revealed.

Melinda Duckett's story might have other inconsistencies.

She appeared to post several comments on a friend's myspace.com online profile during the time she told Schulte she was driving and lost in Central Florida.

"Hey doll, life treating you well? It's been quite sometime so I thought I'd check in with ya'll and see how you were doing and all," said one message to a friend that was posted at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 27.

Schulte said she couldn't explain the electronic message. Internet timestamps on myspace.com are not always accurate.

Police said they investigated Duckett's online profile and the messages she left for friends on myspace.com but would not provide further details.

Meanwhile, Melinda's parents left Central Florida on Monday for upstate New York, to care for their 9-year-old daughter and plan Melinda's second funeral service in the coming weeks with relatives and friends there.

"This is not closure for us," Melinda's mother, Beth Eubank, said after her daughter's memorial service in The Villages last week. "The Ducketts have lost a grandson. We've not only lost a grandson; we've also lost our daughter."

Lauren Ritchie and Tom Benitez of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Christine Dellert can be reached at cdellert@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5919. Erin Cox can be reached at ecox@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5926.

 

NOTICE: You

wow, this just gets more bizarre by the day.  Makes you wonder if they will ever find that little boy.  How sad.

I also wonder if she (the mother) didn't "give" him to some one.  Like to keep his father or father's family from having him.  Just a thought.

You know others have had the same idea, even the father himself said he couldn't imagine her hurting their child, but might give the child to someone so he could not have contact with him.

If so, I would hope the person would just come clean and turn the baby in to his family.

Personally, I think this woman killed herself because of guilt.  And when she had such a hard time with nancy grace she realized it was not going to be so easy to fool everyone with her inconsistencies.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Law enforcement sources in Lake County told the WESH 2 I-Team that Melinda Duckett became a potential suspect almost immediately after she reported her 2-year-old son, Trenton, missing because of her initial reactions.

Police asked to search her apartment on Aug. 27 -- the night she reported Trenton missing. She consented, but investigators also went to court to get a search warrant.

"There were two search warrants served. One on the original night of the disappearance, or I guess that would actually be the following morning, early in the morning hours, and that was as the case wore on and it became apparent after interviewing the parents that the child had indeed disappeared," said Capt. Steve Rockefeller of the Leesburg Police Department. "The case migrated to a full-blown crime scene. So, at that point, rather than searching the house with consent, we chose to search the house with a warrant and consent."

When they received the court-approved search warrant, police entered Duckett's apartment at the Windermere Villas in Leesburg for a more thorough search on Monday, Aug. 28. They said they found some suspicious items.

Law enforcement officials told the WESH 2 I-Team that police found freshly painted walls in some places, and in the back of the building, trash that was allegedly thrown out of Duckett's apartment was filled with Trenton's toys.

But what grabbed investigators' attention was pictures, officials said. They said a lot of pictures of Trenton, including the sonogram printout from when Duckett was pregnant, were all thrown away in the trash.

"We did do a trash pull, that's common. And we pulled items from her house that night, but as far as items that were taken, that would be evidence and I have not been authorized to talk about anything like that," Rockefeller told WESH 2 News on Tuesday.

Investigators said the photos are what made them take a hard look at Duckett from the beginning of the investigation. Detectives said they are still trying to figure out how those clues might relate to Trenton's disappearance.

Police said there's no evidence as to who threw the photos away, but Duckett was staying in the apartment.

Duckett killed herself on Friday, Sept. 8, two weeks after her son disappeared.

This past Sunday, divers in Farles Lake in the Ocala National Forest found a garbage bag.

On the bag, investigators discovered a substance that some believed was blood and holes that appeared to be from alligator bites. The bag was sent to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab in Jacksonville for analysis, and forensic tests showed that the substance on that bag is not blood.

Law enforcement officials also said divers found a large piece of asphalt about 10 feet away from the bag. The lake is in a remote woodland where there are no paved roads.

Lake County's sheriff's divers were back out at Farles Lake on Tuesday to search for more clues or possible evidence in this case.

The search in the Ocala National Forest has also turned up what could be a child's shoe. Forensics experts are examining the shoe.

Also, Nancy and Bill Eubank, Melinda Duckett's grandparents, were at the Leesburg Police Department on Tuesday to discuss a fund that their church is setting up in Trenton's name. They said they wanted to make sure their paperwork is legal.

The fund will give $5,000 to anyone who provides information that helps investigators find Trenton.

They were at the police station at the same time as Joshua Duckett -- Trenton's father -- and his family. The two sides of the family have had strained relations.

Duckett offered the Eubanks two shirts that said "Team Trenton."

"I hadn't talked to them since me and Melinda separated," Duckett said. "I tried to reach out to them numerous times now to try and get them to get on the same page as we are, and I haven't gotten any response. And today I seen them in person, I tried to reach out to them by giving them our Team Trenton shirts and I got no response there."

The Eubanks' church fund is in addition to the reward offered by Crimeline. In order to get that reward, tipsters need to call 800-423-TIPS. However, police are also urging anyone with information to call the main investigative number at 800-CALL-FBI.

Police said people seeking a reward should call both numbers with tips.


To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Stephen Stock.
Copyright 2006 by WESH.COM. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Thanks Jacq for all the information.  Did you listen to C Van Zandt's thoughts?

I didn't cause I got home late tonight, and just popped on a few mins ago.

I would have liked to have heard it...

Be sure and check out the podcast... I think you will find it interesting- just use the link from the FP that was posted to the show... I want to hear what you think about what they said...

I will...Me and the FP are going to become better acquainted! LOL

My Sistah!!  I comment out there all the time...LOL... lots of stuff to comment about!!

She refused to let authorities search her apartment on the day she reported her son missing to police.

Ouch. This statement speaks volumes to me.

Me too... I just keep hoping and praying that she had hidden him... or that a family member took him... but sadly, I don't think it's the case...

I am off to listen to the pod cast and then get back to discuss.  It sure dosen't sound good based on that article.

OK, for some reason I can not hear it.   :cry:

I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

Jennifer, I wish I knew how to help you.... CVZ had a lot to say on this...

Any news about this today?  What does it take to get TES involved?  Do the cops have to open the door, does a family member have to make the request?  I saw Tim on some show and he said they were ready to go.  I was just wondering what it took for them to mobilize and join a search.

Hi Jennifer
Im sorry you cant get the podcast to work, Ive tested it and it is working fine.
Did you download the show or are you trying to play it from the podcast page ?

Dana

Easy,
TES has to be asked by the family or the authorties... and Tim Miller was on Catherine Crier and he said that he would gladly help find the baby... and Josh Duckett was on the show with them...

I will be so interested to see if he does contact TIM and TES...

I just heard a psycharitrist say that the throwing away of the stuff may have been in preparation for committing suicide...

this case is so distrubing...

Kinda why I think the lady was slow at doing her side of the murder suicide deal.

Still don't think NG did anything to cause the mother to do anything that wasn't already going to happen.

but Car, I have to admit I was channel surfing and stopped on Nancy Grace's show and heard that....

I want so badly for them to find this little boy.... I keep praying an interested relative took him.. and just isn't reporting because they wanted to start over...

I know it's wishful thinking....

Family Friend Says Melinda Duckett Threatened To Hurt Son

POSTED: 6:43 pm EDT September 20, 2006
UPDATED: 7:32 pm EDT September 20, 2006

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Melinda Duckett threatened to hurt her son if her husband didn't do what she said, according to Josh Duckett and a witness who talked to police after an incident involving the couple last Christmas.
The statements are on audiotape obtained exclusively by the WESH 2 I-Team.

According to the Bushnell Police Department, investigators with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and FBI investigators have not heard the tape yet.
 

Melinda and Joshua Duckett's volatile relationship rocked back and forth between Lake and Sumter counties. They had residences in both counties.

According to both Bushnell and Leesburg police reports, Trenton was trapped in the middle of a marital feud fueled by threats.
"She was going to hurt Trenton if Josh didn't stop," said witness Jeffrey Scott on Dec. 27, 2005. "If she doesn't get what she wants, and things not going her way, she likes to make little threats."

In chilling detail, Scott told Bushnell police how he listened in on Josh Duckett's phone as Melinda Duckett threatened to hurt Trenton if her husband would not get back together with her.

"She threatened to, I guess, put her hands on Trenton and stuff like that just so Josh would hear Trenton cry and comply with her and whatever she wanted," Scott said.

The interview was part of an investigation into a suspicious fire at a business owned by Josh Duckett's mother. It was an arson fire where Melinda Duckett was one of several suspects that Bushnell detectives were seriously investigating.

"Me and Melinda were arguing at the time," Josh Duckett told investigators. "I was having problems with Melinda and we were feuding at that time," he said.

Josh Duckett told a fire investigator on the scene that he was sure his wife had set the fire, although he later took that back.

"Melinda wanted child support and stuff at that time. And if she was wanting child support, it wouldn't benefit her or anything to do anything to that because that was where my income was. That was my job. That was our life. That's where every bit of money that we had came from," Josh Duckett said.

On April 16, 2005, Josh Duckett was even more clear to police investigators. In an interview with Bushnell police, he told investigators that "he thought Ms. (Melinda) Eubank (Duckett) was going to hurt their child" and "that Ms.(Melinda) Eubank (Duckett) starts making their baby cry" and "he is afraid that Ms. Eubank will injure their child if he doesn't tell her what she wants to hear," according to police reports.

Melinda Duckett obtained a restraining order against her husband in Lake County, according to court records obtained by the WESH 2 I-Team. In the records, she claimed she was threatened by Josh Duckett.

Both parents were warned by police and by the Florida Department of Children and Families to stop filing false abuse reports concerning Trenton.


To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Stephen Stock.
Copyright 2006 by WESH.COM. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I hate to say this, but it doesn't sound to me like either of these guys - the dad or the mom deserved that beautiful child...

that might sound harsh but he just doesn't give me the feeling of he'll do anything for answers...

I mean he was on the same show as Tim Miller and wouldn't respond to Tim who said right then and there he would gladly come in and help... he just said oh you will have to speak to the police.....

Makes you wonder if the dad thinks the mother killed the son.  How old is this guy?  21?

Anything new happening with the search for Trenton?

Don't know, Easy... but above I answered the TES question...

and that is nagging at me...

I hear ya!  Looks like they would want all the help they could get.  Maybe someone should contact Joshua Duckett through his myspace page and remind him all he has to do is ask TES to help.

Amen my sweet Sistah!
Agree with you 100%

Of course all children are special , but there is something about this little Trenton that really tugs at my heart...

But Easy... that's my issue!!  Joshua was on Catherine Crier at the same time as Tim Miller and TIM sat there and offered... Josh's answer was to the effect of oh, well you need to talk to the police....I can't say

maybe just such a beautiful little boy... so sweet and innocent ...

The Latest on the Trenton Duckett Investigation
After days of searching the Ocala National Forest with no successl, members of the Marion County Sheriff's office have called off the forest search for missing 2-year old Trenton Duckett.

Meanwhile, Leesburg police aren't saying much about what Melinda Duckett allegedly threw in a dumpster outside her apartment around the time Trenton Duckett went missing.

Captain Ginny Padgett says they found electronic devices, a computer, and some writings in the trash a few days after Trenton was reported missing.

She did confirm that Melinda Duckett painted her apartment just before Trenton went missing. However, Captain Padgett dismissed the possibility of the painting covering up a criminal act, saying, "Melinda informed investigators about the painting early on in the investigation. She has been characterized as a neat and tidy person by friends and family. When forensic search... Paint was taken into consideration. Nothing was found forensically, that paint covered up evidence of a criminal act."

Investigators say their main focus in the investigation is a timeline for Melinda Duckett in the hours leading up to trenton's disappearance.

The Marion County Sheriff's Office is now following up on this timeline:

Records show Melinda Duckett used an a-t-m in Leesburg at 10:49 AM...
Then a phone record shows her using a cell phone at 12:08 near the Paddock Mall in Ocala.
The same records show she was out of the cell service area by 12:28 PM.
Investigators are asking all gas stations, convenience stores or any other business open in the time frame to review any video or surveillance tape.
Police still hold out some hope for finding Trenton and are still asking for your help. If you think you saw Trenton, or his mother Melinda during the weekend of August 27th, please call 1-800-CALL-FBI.  
 



I would imagine since the FBI are handling the case to a degree, they may be the ones to eventually suggest to josh duckett to call in TES as some point.

Easy, you asked how old he is, I think 22 or 23.

Sorry it was Jennifer who asked the age.

Early 20's, but I'm not exactly sure.

His myspace says he is 21.

Thanks.

and his myspace distrubed me.. it read to me like his "friends" didn't know he had a missing child...and I do realize that on myspace anyone can post... but the whole call me biotch was just .. I dunno, maybe I am getting too old for that kind of thing... but it's just so inappropriate...

It isn't appropriate, I agree.

But in a way I think 21 year olds today are not as mature or grounded as we were when were in our 20's.  (Gawd I sound old LOL)

I can see it in my newphew and some of his friends who are in their early twenties. Not to a degree of being bad kids, but sort of like the world owes me a living kind of deal....

Police: Accomplice Likely Involved In Central Fla. Boy's Disappearance
Mother May Be Named Suspect In Case
POSTED: 12:35 pm EDT September 21, 2006
UPDATED: 12:48 pm EDT September 21, 2006

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Investigators in the search for a missing Leesburg boy said they now believe that a second person was likely involved in the 2-year-old's disappearance, Local 6 News has learned.

Since the Trenton Duckett was reported missing last month, police have had their suspicions that his mother, Melinda Duckett, 21, may have been responsible for the boy's disappearance, Local 6's Mike DeForest said.

However, Local 6 News learned Thursday that police are getting closer to naming Duckett as a suspect in the case. Duckett committed suicide after she reported Trenton missing.
 

There appears to be evidence that a second person may have been involved in the incident.
"Police are also telling us that
 there is a very likely possibility that there was an accomplice involved -- someone else who helped played a role in young Trenton's disappearance," Local 6's Mike DeForest said.

E-Mail Questioned

Local 6 News also learned Thursday that Melinda Duckett apparently presented investigators with an e-mail that she said she received from her estranged husband Joshua.

In the e-mail, it appears that Joshua threatened to kill the child and Melinda Duckett, DeForest said.

Joshua said that he didn't write the e-mail and that someone else wrote the e-mail.

More information about the e-mail was expected to be released Thursday night.


New Timeline


With newly released ATM and cell phone records, authorities are also getting a better idea of Duckett's travels.

A witness claims to have seen Duckett by herself inside a Leesburg business at about 8 a.m. the day her son disappeared, Local 6 News reported.

ATM records show that Duckett was still in Leesburg at about 10:39 a.m. on the same morning.

Marion County officials said they believe Duckett then traveled within five miles of Paddock Mall in Ocala, where new cell phone records show her leaving the area at 12:28 p.m.

A witness later spotted Duckett back at her Leesburg apartment shortly before 3 p.m. without her son.

Six hours later, when Duckett reported her son missing from his apartment bedroom, the woman allowed police to search her home and a trash bin outside.

"That's when investigators made a bizarre discovery," DeForest said. "Inside the trash, detectives uncovered a box full of unused garbage bags, along with photographs of Trenton, a sonogram and several of the boy's toys."

"It strikes me as very odd," the boy's father, Joshua Duckett, said. "I have all of my photos and all of my sonogram pictures from when she was pregnant. To me, it's a shock that you would want to throw stuff like that away."


Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.


Previous

Thanks for the age answer.  the myspace thing kinda made me wonder too.  Some of the comments made you wonder.  Maybe I am old but, 20s now are not like twenties when I was 20.  There seems to be so many "privilages" with so little responsibility. KWIM?  I am 39 by the way.

What does KWIM mean?

Yes, I agree with y'all on noticing that kids (in their 20's) are much younger than we were... I am only 44 but they seem light years away... like they are 15 or so...

but if they were married at that age and had a baby wouldn't you think they would be a little more mature?? or at least hope so??

KWIM stands for know what I mean and you would think marriage and a child or at least the child part would make one more responsible.  My husband is 44.

Does an accomplice mean that there is a chance Trenton is alive?

One can hope....

Latest news:

http://www.wesh.com/news/9901688/detail.html

MY SPACE POSTING AT CENTER OF DUCKETT DIVORCE

Thanks Jennifer....

Ok, so I have heard Joshua Duckett in an interview, don't remember which show, but he stated that he wouldn't put it past Melinda to hide the child and pretend that he was kidnapped....

maybe someone close to her that knew the baby has him?

I don't know why, but until they actually find his body, I have to keep hoping that he's alive...

Trenton Duckett Missing: MySpace Postings on Josh Duckett account …”I hate you because you ruined my life and took my son.”

http://missingexploited.com/2006/09/21/trenton-duckett-missing-myspace-postings-on-josh-duckett-account-i-hate-you-because-you-ruined-my-life-and-took-my-son/

Video available at post

“I hate you because you ruined my life and took my son.”


‘”I am going to hunt you and your damn son down one day and kill both of you.”

“I don’t even think Trenton is my son anyway and your (sic) going to pay for what you’ve done to my life.”

“When I get my hands on your f—– (racial slur) a– you’ll regret what you’ve done … and I’ll bury your son with you.”

Did anyone see the prime time show titled "mean girls" last week?  It had alot of the things people are capable of doing on myspace as far as posting under a different name.  Basically if you have the log in information you can go in under some one else.  So it is possible he did not post those, but wouldn't all they have to trace is the IP address?

I was wondering why this 20+ year old guy would not be glad for his "problem" to go away, no child, no child support, (which can be bruttle when you are facing 17 more years of it) no court problems, kinda like poof problem solved back to his regular life.  That is based on the appearance of things if they are accurate.

It doesn't appear that this little boy should not have been at the mercy of either of these people.

Just doing a google/yahoo search drive by, I stumbled on this site... take a look at the comments... including Melinda's????

http://sticksoffire.com/2006/08/31/amber-alert-leesburg-trenton-duckett/

do y'all think it's real?

These were both kids having kids....

And it does not appear that either of them grew up.

But often when there is a child custody battle even with so called grown ups it can get ugly and even deadly....

- The maternal grandfather of a 10-year-old boy at the center of a custody dispute fatally shot the boy's paternal grandparents during an argument after watching him play baseball, authorities said yesterday.

Then, Samuel L. Noe, 61, was fatally wounded while wrestling with three onlookers trying to disarm him. Among them was the boy's father, Jerry B. "Brent" Shands, 39, who also was shot in the struggle, District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn said.

The shooting occurred Monday night as about 75 adults and children were making their way to the parking lot at a city-owned ball field nicknamed Field of Dreams in Dandridge, a lakeside community overlooking the Great Smoky Mountains about 30 miles east of Knoxville.

"These two families were walking (to the parking lot) and were yeah-yeahing with each other, and then the next thing you know it escalates, and the shooting starts," Dunn said.

Four shots were fired from Noe's five-shot revolver, the prosecutor said.

Paternal grandfather Jerry D. Shands, 63, and Noe died instantly. Paternal grandmother Ellen E. "Sue" Shands, 62, was dead on arrival at a local hospital. Brent Shands was flown to University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, where his family said he was in serious condition. All were from the Jefferson City area.

Austin Shands, 10, was uninjured but dazed, witnesses said.

Noe's wife, Patricia Noe, who also attended the game, may have sparked the confrontation when she said something to Jerry Shands and pointed an umbrella at him, Dunn confirmed.

"Then, of course, he says, 'Get that blankety-blank thing out of my face.' ... And the next thing you hear is pop, pop, pop (from Noe's gun)."

Brent Shands and at least two other men ran over to Noe. They wrestled for the gun "and at some point during the struggle the gun went off at least one time, maybe twice," wounding Brent Shands and killing Noe, the prosecutor said.

Asked if there is anyone to charge, Dunn said, "It doesn't appear to be."

This was not an argument that began Monday night, he said. "This has been going on for some time, and I don't know how long."

Dunn said he knew that Brent Shands and his former wife Diane Shands Robbins, Noe's daughter, had been battling for many months over custody of Austin.

Poor Austin....like his life will ever be the same.

I'd like to know more about Melinda. Did she have volatile relationships with everyone? History of clinical depression? Ever cut or burn herself, threaten suicide?

Melinda Duckett Wrote MySpace Posting, Police Say

POSTED: 6:21 pm EDT September 21, 2006
UPDATED: 7:26 pm EDT September 21, 2006

Email This Story | Print This Story

The WESH 2 I-Team has obtained an inventory of the search warrant that was served on Melinda Duckett's apartment on Aug. 28, the day after she reported her son missing.

Among the 15 things that investigators seized was a swab of something taken from an unknown stain on the hall wall in her apartment.

Also, police took a blue towel with unknown stains and a top sheet with "blood-like stains," according to the inventory sheet.
 

The I-Team obtained the document from the Lake County Courthouse through the clerk of courts. Investigators have not commented on the inventory.

Also, Leesburg police confirmed on Thursday that a MySpace.com posting that included death threats and racial remarks directed at Melinda Duckett was written by Melinda Duckett. The posting appeared on Josh Duckett's MySpace page, but he said he didn't write it.

Computer experts now believe that Melinda Duckett hacked into his account and posted the message to set him up.

"I said that since Day 1. I knew for a fact," Josh Duckett said on Thursday. "She was the only one that had the passwords to my e-mail account and everything. So, I knew from the start and I said that. I mean, they tried to set me up, and they failed."

WESH 2 News obtained the posting on Aug. 29 and has spent weeks several weeks investigating it. The WESH 2 I-Team asked police on Thursday why they are only just now confirming the information about the posting and why they waited until Thursday to name Melinda Duckett as the prime suspect.

"We did not bring it out earlier because we were afraid that the public would be focused on Melinda and not on finding Trenton," said Capt. Steve Rockefeller of the Leesburg Police Department.

Click here to read the I-Team's report about the controversial MySpace posting.


To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Stephen Stock.
Copyright 2006 by WESH.COM. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.wesh.com/news/9903836/detail.html

Duckett officially named Prime Suspect

Was kinda obvious from the start the Mother was trying to setup the Father for the fall.

I bet if she coulda figured out how to do her suicide in such a way as to look like a murder she would have done it that way.

Actually she may have thought suicide by shot gun might look like a murder?

Police went thru the garbage of the two men visitors who watched movies with Melinda the night Trenton went missing. In the trash, they found information on how to take care of a baby, what there needs are....

This gave me hope that maybe these two men helped give the baby over to someone and maybe Trenton is still alive.
_________________

well the police in an earlier report said that they thought there was an accompliance... I am with you, Jaq... I so want to hope...

Me too...

As badley as her attempt to frame Josh, seems like she would not be able to harm this child and have no trace of him turn up anywhere.  I mean she didn't exactly come accross as "believable" from the start or smart enough to pull off a murder.  That kinda gives hope to the possibility that some one has him hid.  Hopefully.

Detailed timeline of Melinda Duckett released

By DAN SULLIVAN, DAILY SUN

LEESBURG — Investigators issued an official timeline Friday of Melinda Duckett’s confirmed whereabouts in the day before she reported the disappearance of her 2-year-old son Trenton.

The official timeline listed several cell phone calls Melinda made, as well as confirmed sightings of her in Leesburg without Trenton.

“We want people to continue to focus on the cell tower hits, remembering the five-mile radius from the tower,” Leesburg police Capt. Steve Rockefeller said at a press conference.

“Most importantly, remember we have no sightings of Trenton since late Saturday afternoon. Although our searches of the Ocala National Forest have not produced Trenton, we still believe Melinda and her car were in the Ocala Forest that weekend.”

The timeline indicated that Melinda’s cell phone signal was picked up by a cell phone tower near the Paddock Mall in Ocala on Aug. 27 at 12:08 p.m.; in Wildwood at 12:30 p.m.; and in Minneola at 12:45 p.m. A cell tower in Tavares picked up the signal at 3:42 p.m., followed by a tower in Bassville Park at 3:47 p.m.

Eyewitnesses placed Melinda at a retail store in Leesburg at 8 a.m. Aug. 27; at a SunTrust Bank ATM in Leesburg at 10:49 a.m.; and walking from her car to her Windemere Villas apartment in Leesburg at 4 p.m.  
   
 

The last confirmed sighting of Trenton was at his grandparents’ home on Saturday, Aug. 26 at 4 p.m. A friend of Melinda’s, identified for the first time Friday as Chris Pearce, arrived at Melinda’s apartment to watch movies at 6:55 p.m. Aug. 27.

Investigators have not established Melinda’s whereabouts from 4:30 p.m. Aug. 26 to 8 a.m. Aug. 27.

“This investigation will not be closed until Trenton is found,” Leesburg Police Chief Bill Chrisman said Friday. He added that more than 20 different law enforcement agencies continue to assist in the effort to locate Trenton.

Officials with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office also announced Friday that a bag of Jelly Belly jellybeans from a specialty candy shop was found during a search of Melinda’s car.

“The candy would have been sold by weight and not at a convenience store,” Marion County sheriff’s spokesperson Sue Livoti said in an e-mail.

“It is unknown when this was purchased and detectives are hoping that someone would remember helping Melinda with this purchase.”

Livoti added that wrappers from Ghiradelli chocolates were found inside the jellybean bag.

Marion County sheriff’s officials also said that they had collected several surveillance tapes from businesses in Marion County. Detectives plan to examine the tapes for any signs of Melinda or her vehicle, officials said.

Investigators had announced for the first time Thursday that Melinda Duckett is the prime suspect in Trenton’s disappearance. They continue to seek the public’s help in establishing exactly where Melinda was on Aug. 26 and 27.

Trenton Duckett was reported missing Aug. 27. Melinda Duckett told police she put the boy to bed at 7 p.m. that day and discovered him missing two hours later.

Melinda Duckett committed suicide Sept. 8 after giving investigators a vague account of her whereabouts in the days before Trenton went missing as well as refusing to take a polygraph test. Investigators have labeled her the prime suspect in Trenton’s disappearance.

Anyone with information regarding Trenton’s disappearance, current whereabouts, or Melinda Duckett’s whereabouts on Aug. 26 or 27 is urged to contact authorities at (800) CALL-FBI (225-5324).

Dan Sullivan is a reporter with the Daily Sun. He can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9059, or dan.sullivan@thevillagesmedia.com.

Something is wrong about this whole thing and now it appears everyone screwed up BIG time.  LE now says they had probable cause to arrest Melinda only days after Trenton was reported missing, but they chose not to.  They wanted to watch her and see if she led them to Trenton.  Where were they looking when she blew her brains out?

Easy, Happy belated Birthday...I was without a means of communication on your birthday.

I had been following this, but jsut on NG.
I hope that she gave the kid to someone to stash until the divorce thing was over. This woman , well, what more can we say.. she was a seriously ill woman. The husband Josh was on NG doing an interview and he seemed very young. And immature.
Maybe her suicide was becasue she lied and lied and felt there was no way out.

LEESBURG, Fla. -- The Leesburg Police Department released a copy of both the 911 call reporting the disappearance of Trenton Duckett and a copy of a note allegedly written by Melinda Duckett.

The note began with an apology for the shortness of her letter.

The note said that the focus on her was reflected from her son, whom she loved and only wanted "safe in my arms."

Through the note, Duckett explained that she is usually strong, but she stated that she was young and hard-working yet still faced "ridicule and criticism."

Duckett wrote the note to an ambiguous "you," saying, "you created rumors and twisted words."

Melinda ended the note by stating "time is short and I have more important people to speak to."

The 911 phone call began with an unidentified male speaking to the 911 dispatcher stating that young Trenton was missing. He described what Trenton looked like.

Melinda then spoke to the dispatcher, and is audibly disturbed by the ordeal, and she is unable to clearly describe what Trenton was wearing or how long he had been missing.

Copyright 2006 by WESH.COM. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.



 
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Yes, they wanted to keep an eye on her to a degree. Does not mean they could be there 24/7.

Melinda is the one who is responsible for whatever happened to her son. Not the Police, and Not even Nancy Grace.

Few clues follow show on Trenton


Posted September 25, 2006
 

Leesburg -- Authorities received several calls when missing Trenton Duckett was featured on the television show America's Most Wanted on Saturday night, but those calls have so far brought few, if any, clues on the toddler's whereabouts, authorities said Sunday.

The 2-year-old has been missing since Aug. 27. His mother, Melinda Duckett, killed herself with a shotgun Sept. 8 as media scrutiny into the boy's disappearance grew.

Leesburg authorities consider the 21-year-old woman the prime suspect in her son's disappearance.

Leesburg police Capt. Steve Rockefeller said Sunday the agency plans to follow up calls received after Trenton Duckett's story was aired on America's Most Wanted.

After speaking to one of the two lead investigators, Rockefeller said the calls were "routine with a slim possibility of leading us to more acquaintances of Melinda Duckett."

He said there was no information indicating where the boy might be.

Nin-Hai Tseng, Kristen Reed, Christopher Sherman and Amy Rippel of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Information from The Associated Press also was used.

http://www.wesh.com/news/9938223/detail.html

Police release two more suicide notes that Melinda Duckett wrote.

Thanks for posting these Jacquie. I rarely see anything on our local news about the case.

This just gets sadder every day -- if that's possible :cry:  I wish they would just find this beautiful little boy!

You know all missing children cases are beyond sad, but this little Trenton...Oh, it just hurts my heart about him...

I wish they would find him alive and healthy, but I really think this mother killed her son.

I would think whomever had him would bring him forth in light of the fact that she has now commited suicide and would want him with the remaining family he has.

And I don't think any mother who was innocent would kill herself unless she was mighty guilty about something.  

From the email that she wrote to herself and tried to pass off has her estranged husband shows how manipulative this girl was.

Well I watched Nancy Grace last night because they had the dad on the show....

and he said that he thought that maybe, just maybe Trenton is still alive because he said that Melinda was so detailed that she would have never said as he grows in her note  - unless maybe there was the chance he was still alive....

I would like to know more about the trooper that thought he saw Trenton in a car... but wasn't allowed to chase the car.....

I hope you're right.

How was NG with Josh?  Was she tough with him?
I'm just curious....

She fawned on him... she  was saying how sweet it was that he said he still had feelings for her... that he always would...

but he also mentioned that there was major bad blood between the two of them...

Ducketts' marriage rocky from the start

BY MABEL PEREZ
STAR-BANNER

 OCALA - It began innocently. Teens Melinda Eubank and Joshua Duckett liked each other. But things changed. Melinda got pregnant and a saga filled with accusations and lies began.

That drama ended on Sept. 8 when 21-year-old Melinda Duckett shot herself in the head with a 12-gauge shotgun - in despair or guilt over the disappearance of her son, Trenton.

Joshua Duckett remembers their first meeting vividly.

It was on New Year's 2003. The then-South Sumter High School student was with a group of friends at The Villages Spanish Springs Town Square. There was another group of girls also hanging out there. But one in particular got his attention. She was a petite girl, just 4-foot-11, with a cute smile. He didn't approach her that night.

Instead, the next day, his friends, who saw her again, got her phone number and passed it to Joshua, who called the following day.

"I thought she was somebody to hang out with," he said. "We both liked the same things. We basically just hit it off. I was into cars and she was too. It kind of went from there."

Melinda Duckett didn't know a lot of people. The 17-year-old had recently moved in with her grandparents, Bill and Nancy Eubank in The Villages. Before that, the native South Korean lived with her adoptive parents in Lockport, N.Y.

"We hung out a lot together and in her senior year, she moved to my school [South Sumter High, from The Villages High School]. Then she got pregnant and everything went downhill from there," Joshua Duckett said.

"I remember she was very outgoing. She liked to have fun. But the longer we were together, the more jealous she would get. It was like we were together too much."\

RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS
The problems started on a Nov. 28, 2004, trip to a motocross event where Joshua Duckett was scheduled to race a dirt bike.

After a stop, Melinda learned that Carla Massero, Josh's mother, had earlier given Trenton a bath.

According to an Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office report, Melinda Duckett assaulted and bit Massero on her right forearm.

Melinda admitted to the deputy that she had bitten Massero because "she was mad because Trent was her son and she wanted to take care of him." The deputy also saw marks on Melinda's arms and body. She told the deputy they were "self-inflicted." Melinda admitted to having psychological problems and said she was adopted. She told him she "had thoughts she could not control" and "hated people."

Massero did not press charges against Melinda but made her agree to go to counseling.

But exactly one year later, Massero changed her mind and contacted the Okeechobee Sheriff's Office, stating she wanted to press charges.

On Nov. 31, 2005, Massero also wrote a letter to Gov. Jeb Bush, saying her daughter-in-law was violent.

"The mother . . . not only has a history of self-mutilation, but also has made several threats on Trenton," she wrote, telling the governor of her attack in 2004 and about an incident where Melinda left her son stranded in Ocoee after an argument.

She also accused Melinda of performing "oral sex" to get information from two Bushnell police officers.

She ended the e-mail with a chilling sentence: "I am afraid for Trenton's life and I don't want him to end up yet another story in the news."

Saturday, Massero told the Star-Banner: "I didn't have anything against her. I was just trying to get her some help."

Other records show:
¥ In April 2005, Joshua Duckett told the Sumter County Sheriff's Office that Melinda was "squeezing, shaking and threatened to harm their son." The Department of Children & Families and Bushnell police found no evidence of abuse.

¥ In May 2005, DCF gave Joshua Duckett custody of Trenton for a time. Records at the Lake County Clerk's Office, which later were removed by clerk administrators, showed specifics in a case plan and indicated Melinda and Joshua were ordered to attend parenting classes.

¥ On June 13, 2005, Joshua wrote a letter to the court, stating he fabricated allegations about Melinda.

¥ Melinda Duckett was awarded sole custody on May 23 of this year.

¥ On June 14, Melinda filed for divorce and on July 3, she said in a sworn statement that she had received a threatening MySpace e-mail from Joshua.

Leesburg police later said that she sent the e-mail. She had access to his logon, police said.

UNDERSTANDING MELINDA
Depending on who you talk to, Melinda's character varied from a caring, hardworking mother to a young woman who suffered from severe mood swings and tantrums.

Miriam Chevalier, owner of It's a Kid's World day care in Fruitland Park, told the Star-Banner she remembers Melinda as a "smart" and "private person."

"It's always hard to tell with anybody. She seemed like a very good parent. She was always there when we needed her or called her," Chevalier said.

Trenton had been going to the day care since he was an infant.

"Sometimes I would call just to tell her Trenton had two diapers left, and she would leave her job and bring diapers right away," Chevalier said. "When she came in I would say, 'Melinda, you didn't have to come now. It was for you to bring them tomorrow.' "

Joshua Duckett described his estranged wife as a wreck.

"I don't think a relationship should be based on a schedule. I'm a spontaneous person," he said. "She was the type to have everything planned out. She would write everything in a book.

"Everything had to be planned out and in order . . . She would plan to go to the movies three months in advance. And if it didn't work out she would get mad."

Her grandparents declined to comment for this story, but in an earlier interview with the Star-Banner, Bill Eubank described his granddaughter as a loving, dedicated mother to his great-grandchild.

Chevalier said she only saw Melinda upset once.

"I can tell you she's a very strong person. As far as emotions, she held it all in. She kept it together," Chevalier said. "I only saw her tear-eyed once. She was going through some stuff . . . They were going through some custody battle."

In her MySpace blog entitled "Move On," Melinda talked about setting her expectations too high in a relationship and how she sought perfection. She talked about being free.

"You trusted a rogue that follows defiance, and somehow attempted to make an alliance," she wrote about herself. "But I can not be tamed to what you want, I run around with attitude to flaunt," Melinda wrote in her last blog before Trenton went missing.

In another entry, Melinda talked about her struggles.

"Not too awfully long ago and continued into this very day, I have had to fight to keep my son, whom I am extremely proud of. The father lied to the authorities . . . forced me to jump through legal and emotional hoops."

At the same time, she appeared to understand life's lessons, even if it was just a worthwhile goal.

"True love stays there through the obstacles and hardships. If that person makes you so mad, you can't stand it, you take the time to compromise with the situation, and work through the problem. You help each other learn life's lessons and you never leave their side."

Mabel Perez may be reached at mabel.perez@starbanner.com or (352) 867-4106.

Jacque.....this is such a disturbing case....thank you for following it and giving us updates......I pray that this child may be with someone....yet
I don't think anyone would hold him after all that has happened....Mere

Its so disturbing and sad.

No MeMere, I can't see after all this why or how anyone could hold on to him still.....

Maybe she sold him. Or whoever she passed him to sold him.

I know that's horrible -- but it would mean he was still alive :cry:

I'm trying to hold onto that thought -- that's he's alive.

Melinda definitely sounds bipolar or 'personality disorder'. It sounds like life just wasn't smooth for her in any way.

Jacquie -- have you heard anymore about what the police found? I remembering hearing 'blood' -- but then I didn't hear anymore about it or any confirmation. Was it just rumours? I keep hoping.

Jaq... thanks for posting all the info on this ... y'all I just keep hoping and praying that he is alive.... but the more times goes by .. maybe someone has him is taking wonderful care of him and is giving him a wonderful life that kids so deserve and they just think that at this point, he is better off just not knowing..... and if not found then he'll not remember...

have not heard any more about the blood they mentioned earlier...

This poor child.

Records: Experts critical of parents
Court-ordered evaluation says Ducketts were unfit, another saw child as pawn.BY MABEL PEREZ
STAR-BANNER
 
OCALA - Trenton Duckett was loved and cared for by his parents. But the 2-year-old was used as a pawn by both parents months before he went missing, according to court records released Thursday.

"When they [Melinda and Joshua Duckett] are angry it appears the child has been used as a pawn to exercise power and control over which ever is the absent parent," said a child custody evaluation, dated July 29, 2005.

"It is obvious that both parents love their child," wrote Ruth Harvey-Gilligan, child custody evaluator. The report then calls Melinda and Joshua Duckett "impulsive and immature as it relates to parenthood and their relationship."

The evaluation was among 549 pages of courts documents released as part of a court order allowing members of the public to examine the case. The Star-Banner and the Orlando Sentinel asked for the records to be released.

Just over 2,200 pages of records were also released by the Department of Children & Families late Friday afternoon. Those documents also released per Sumter County Circuit Judge Williams "Bud" Hallman III's order are being reviewed by the Star-Banner. Those documents were released after Hallman ruled Trenton's best interest would be served if records were opened.

Trenton has been missing from his mother's apartment in Leesburg since Aug. 27. Initially police focused on Joshua Duckett who, at the time, did not have custody of Trenton, but later shifted the investigation to Melinda Duckett.

Leesburg police said Melinda Duckett did not cooperate with them, refused to take a lie detector test, and that on the day Trenton went missing had trashed several of Trenton's toys, baby photos and a sonogram. Melinda Duckett committed suicide on Sept. 8. Days later, the police named her the prime suspect in her son's disappearance.

Court records indicate that during the 16-month DCF investigation into the young parents, Joshua Duckett made four separate allegations stating Melinda had threatened to harm their son.

In one allegation, Joshua claimed Melinda would make their son cry over the phone saying she would hurt him. In another, he accused Melinda of threatening to break Trenton's neck. DCF found the allegations made by Joshua Duckett to be "unfounded."

Melinda Duckett made two allegations against Joshua and his family.

Melinda lost custody twice - once when she was involuntary committed to a mental health facility for 24 hours - when Joshua claimed she threatened to hurt their son.

Joshua Duckett, however, would later recant his story. On June 15, 2005, he withdrew all allegations against Melinda. He wrote a letter stating: "I want to state that my former fiancee, Melinda M. Eubank, is not crazy and is not nor has she ever been an unfit mother."

Joshua Duckett went further to state that his mother, Carla Massero, who was at the time taking care of him financially, was "directing" and "influencing" him into making the accusations.

Melinda Duckett got full custody of Trenton on May 23 after completing her case plan, which included counseling, parenting classes and a psychological exam. Joshua Duckett never completed his case plan, which included similar requirements, in addition to domestic violence classes.

Thursday, Joshua Duckett told the Sentinel he "was coerced to sign the document by Melinda and her family-law attorney, Kimberly A. Schulte."

Court appointed Guardian ad Litem Barbara Nolan was assigned the Duckett case. In October 2005, Nolan wrote a report stating she felt neither parent was fit to have Trenton.

In her report, she accused the couple of fighting excessively and not giving their attention to their son.

"I have reservations about the ability of Joshua and Melinda Duckett to control their emotions during times of stress and disappointment. They both appear immature and naive. The parents are focused on each other and their son . . . is being left out of the family circle."

Nolan also said in the report, Melinda Duckett has called her twice to "berate" her about her findings.

When assigned a case plan, however, Melinda Duckett took it seriously. In the court file, there are Melinda's handwritten assignments from various counseling sessions, including a certificate of completion for a parenting class. Joshua Duckett also has a certificate for completing a required course.

The file also notes the couple went to counseling at First Baptist Church in Leesburg.

In one of their sessions, the counselors wrote notes that are surprisingly different than those written by the case worker: The notes dated Aug. 24, 2005, said: "Melinda and Joshua appear to be very open in their discussions with us. We feel they want to be the very best parents they can be."

It's now been five weeks since Trenton Duckett was last seen, but there's new information this morning

Two-thousand pages of DCF documents were released, revealing Trenton's mother Melinda Duckett was abused as a child in New York state, before her grandparents became her legal guardians when she was 17.

Her grandmother says in state records that Melinda Duckett left her adoptive parents in New York because she was "mistreated."

Another part of that record says Duckett was molested by a cousin when she was four years old.

Duckett was South Korean and was adopted at four years old. Investigators say she committed suicide last month, two weeks after her son Trenton disappeared. She has since been named the primary suspect in his disappearance.  




For more information tune to Central Florida News 13. Only on Bright House Networks.

Copyright © Central Florida News 13. All right reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LEESBURG -- Police released a new detail Monday they hope will lead to missing 2-year-old Trenton Duckett -- a receipt that shows the boy's mother, Melinda Duckett, visited a gas station in south Leesburg the evening before she said her son was snatched through a bedroom window.

This new piece of evidence from Aug. 26 slightly shrinks a gap in the timeline of events leading up to Trenton's disappearance.

 Investigators learned that a previously unknown credit card issued to Melinda Duckett was used to buy gas at 5:25 p.m. that day at the BP station at U.S. Highway 27 and County Road 48.

The pump used did not have surveillance video available.

Previously, the gap in Duckett's whereabouts began when she and Trenton left her grandparents' house in The Villages about 4:30 p.m. Aug. 26.

The gas purchase may indicate she drove south from The Villages, according to police, who are adding south Lake as an area she may have traveled.

Duckett's unwillingness to cooperate with authorities before she killed herself Sept. 8 complicated investigators' efforts to find Trenton.

Detectives want to re-create where the 21-year-old mother and her son went during the 24 hours before she reported him missing.

Erin Cox and Lauren Ritchie of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

 

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Jacquie!

Thanks so much for finding and posting updates.

I spoke with my sister on Monday and asked her if she had heard anything -- she lives in Ocala and teaches in the Marion County School District.

She said there is nothing in the papers there.

And there is nothing in the papers here.

My mom and dad think that he is gone  :(  That too much time has gone by. But I'm still holding out hope. I don't know why, but I am.

My pleasure Sharon!  I just hope I have something positive to post soon.

I agree it doesn't look good, but I never thought Elizabeth Smart would be found alive, and she was......

keep hope alive~

People who spot missing toddler Trenton Duckett are no longer encouraged to call the FBI's hot line.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of the missing 2-year-old is now encouraged to call CrimeLine at 800-423-TIPS, WESH 2 News reported.A reward is being offered in the case.
 

Police are also asking people who may have seen his mother, Melinda Duckett, the weekend he vanished to also call the number.

She reported Trenton missing on the night of Aug. 27, and police are still trying to establish a timeline for Melinda and Trenton Duckett that weekend.

Melinda Duckett killed herself on Sept. 8 in her grandparents' Lake County home.

Leesburg police also said Wednesday that there have not been any major breaks in the case. Investigators are still receiving and following up on routine tips and leads, police said.

I still have hope for him... don't know why but I do.  It would be an answered prayer if he is just given a better life...no child should be used as a pawn.

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/breaking_news/15687395.htm

Thanks Jacquie.

It's an emabarrassment to the state of Florida. I don't know about the other states in the US.

The Department of Child Welfare in Fl. has let too many children slip through what is supposed to be their safety net. The stories are horrifying. One worse than the next. Poor Rilya :cry:  Poor Carly :cry:  Poor Trenton :cry:  The list is long.

Our governor has promised and nsisted on reform for both his terms -- yet nothing seems to have improved. We keep losing children in the system  -- we keep making wrong decisions about the children in our system -- we don't protect the children in our system from predators. Some of the predators are part of the system.

Anyone know who are governor has been :evil:

I'll give you a hint -- his last name is BUSH.

-Team: Melinda Duckett Failed Voice Stress Test
Trenton's Mother Walked Out Of Several Lie-Detector Tests
POSTED: 8:34 am EDT October 6, 2006
UPDATED: 8:49 am EDT October 6, 2006

Email This Story | Print This Story

Melinda Duckett failed a voice stress test and walked out of several lie-detector tests in the days after her son was reported missing, the WESH 2 I-Team reported.

Leesburg police gave Melinda and Josh Duckett voice stress tests right after 2-year-old Trenton disappeared.

His father passed with flying colors, and then he also passed a lie-detector test. But Melinda Duckett flunked the voice stress test and then refused to finish any lie-detector test.
 

Melinda Duckett killed herself on Sept. 8.

Melinda Duckett's behavior around the time that her son disappeared continues to confound investigators. As the I-Team first reported weeks ago, she was not fully cooperative with police after she called them to her Windemere Villas apartment to report Trenton missing on Aug. 27.

"She feigned cooperation, but she was uncooperative throughout the investigation," said Capt. Steve Rockefeller of the Leesburg Police Department.

Not only did investigators find fresh paint on Melinda Duckett's apartment walls and baby pictures, including a sonogram, in the trash, investigators said they also found holes in any story Melinda Duckett tried to tell them, especially when they put her on a voice stress test machine.

"Joshua passed his voice stress test. And Melinda, the results on hers were indicated deception," Rockefeller said. "That was definitely one of the earlier indicators that something was wrong with her story."

Several sources told the I-Team that Melinda Duckett balked at several opportunities to take a lie-detector test.

Leesburg police confirmed that at one point, she started answering questions about the Friday and Sunday on the weekend Trenton disappeared, but when they started asking her about Saturday, Melinda Duckett got up and walked out.

"The time frame right after Saturday afternoon leading up until Sunday morning she was, she just didn't seem willing to discuss. And at one point, she did get up and leave an interview," Rockefeller said.

Rockefeller continued to defend his department's decision not to arrest Melinda Duckett, despite all the evidence and despite the fact police had drawn up an arrest warrant they never served on her.

"Had we arrested Melinda, it may have gotten us Melinda. It may have prevented a suicide. But it wouldn't have gotten us Trenton," Rockefeller said.

After she flunked the voice stress test, Melinda Duckett went to an attorney and that lawyer told her to only talk to the FBI, sources told WESH 2 News. But she never formally agreed to take a lie-detector test, even with the FBI.
WESH 2 has also obtained a copy of Melinda Duckett's will. It was signed on June 6, 2006.

Police said they wonder why a 21-year-old would have a will. They said they wonder if that shows some sort of plan on her part.

Anyone with any information that could help in the search for Trenton is urged to call CrimeLine at 800-423-TIPS.

Investigators said even the smallest detail could be a big help.

There is a great op-ed in the latest Entertainment Weekly written by horror raconteur and American gothic spiel meister, my fellow New Englander, Stephen King.


King is upset with Georgia legal pit-bull, CNN's Nancy Grace.  His complaints stem from her unbridled use of the bully television pulpit that damns anyone silly enough to get caught in her cross-hairs.

The subject setting him off involved missing 2 year old Trenton Duckett and his mother, the now deceased Melinda Duckett.   Melinda crawled into a closet with a shotgun and blew her head clean off the day after Grace had cross examined her  supervision of her missing child.

King fumes in his assessment of the southrn legal eagle ratings queen and beneficiary of the now coined media termed dead mother bounce:  "And before you accuse me of writing about news in your favorite entertainment magazine, let me assure you Nancy Grace is entertainment...if, that is, you're the sort who watches NASCAR for the crashes and Survivor hoping no one will. In the increasingly weird world of infotainment, she is the belle of the Freakers Ball...[Grace] conveys by body language alone the idea that we're all guilty of something...and she knows it."

There is a dividing line between real reporting, and sensationalized pap, and pap sadly seems to be winning more viewers than the truth.  King further claims the Grace phenomenon that permeates every level of media and reporting is immoral, and too close to his own horrific imagination that spawned his “Running Man” novel about live execution on television.  

Different strokes for different folks.

I still like NG and think she does a good job, even though I have a difficult time watching her expressions and attitudes on occasion.

I don't blame NG for the Duckett suicide.

I don't blame her either Carnut.

I'm just posting everything I can find on this story...

LEESBURG, Fla. -- Trenton Duckett's father is taking charge in the search for his son.

Six weeks after the 2-year-old disappeared, Josh Duckett told WESH 2 News reporter Kathy Marsh that he's opening his own command center to field tips on what happened to Trenton.

"I feel, if anything, she stashed him somewhere. Somebody has him. It's just a matter of finding him," he said.
 

Duckett said he never believed his son was abducted or that he is dead. Now, he's announcing bold new moves to find the child, including hiring a private investigator.

"It would give somebody that hasn't been directly involved in it, who's got a fresh view and fresh opinion on it. I think it could definitely help," he said.

Duckett said more money has to be raised before the private investigator can come on board, but he's willing to work on it. Thanks to cash donations so far, Duckett is opening an office next week to take tips on Trenton.

"Mainly it's to give the community another phone line away from law enforcement to contact anonymously and give their tip," Duckett said.

Duckett, his family and friends are going to open up their own command center in Leesburg. Starting next week, anyone can walk into the Team Trenton Headquarters and give them a tip. They also set up a Web site, www.helpfindtrenton.com, to solicit tips.

A new phone number is also up and running for tips at 877-TRENT-65, and tips can be e-mailed to tips@HelpFindTrenton.com. All tips will remain anonymous.

"We'll turn it over to law enforcement no questions asked. We need the information that's out there," Duckett said.

People can also still call CrimeLine at 800-423-TIPS with tips about Trenton.


 To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Kathy Marsh.


Previous Stories:
October 6, 2006: I-Team: Melinda Duckett

Thanks Jacquie!

I hope he is sincere. I hope he doesn't already know all the answers because he was part of it.

I saw my sister last weekend and asked again about the news in the area about him.

Her school (she's a teacher in Marion County) had been in lockdown all last Friday due to an anonymous phone call that someone in school had a gun -- she said that got more publicity than Trenton.

How sad.

Thanks for posting what you find.

My gut is that he is sincere...

You have to be a pretty good liar to pass lie detector tests (Melinda was a good liar, and she didn't pass)

and although he is probably guilty of being too young to be a parent....I don't think he knows where his child is....

And you are more than welcome! :lol:

Trenton Duckett's Father Hires Private Investigator


Trenton Duckett

 Oct 17, 2006
 

By WTSP-TV Tampa

LEESBURG, FL -- The father of the two-year-old Leesburg boy that disappeared from his bedroom in August is hiring a private investigator.

A few weeks after Trenton Duckett disappeared, his mother killed herself.

Now Joshua Duckett is setting up an office in Leesburg to take in tips about Trenton and he hired an investigator.

He believes Trenton's mother hid the boy's body somewhere.

He believes Trenton's mother hid the boy's body somewhere :shock:

What happened to:

"I feel, if anything, she stashed him somewhere. Somebody has him. It's just a matter of finding him," he said.   :shock:

Something is not right at all.

I agree Sharon, something is not right... what a sad, sad case this is... such a beautiful little boy.  It really angers me that people have kids and don't care about them... why not just use birthcontrol?  :twisted:

Josh Duckett to Open official “Team Trenton” headquarters today in Central Florida for Missing Son

http://missingexploited.com/2006/10/18/josh-duckett-to-open-official-team-trenton-headquarters-today-in-central-florida-for-missing-son/


Josh Duckett, the father of missing Trenton Duckett, is opening the official “Team Trenton” headquarters in Central Florida. The office space was donated to Josh Duckett by a local marketing company.

As well as setting up a headquarter and hiring a PI, Josh Duckett and “Team Trenton” have created a web page for Trenton Duckett. As the police department scales back on man power and the media attention wanes, parents of missing children need to get more creative in finding ways to get the information out and to get new leads.

(http://www.missingexploited.com/images/Trenton_20Duckett_203_small.jpg)

http://www.helpfindtrenton.com

The Search For Trenton Duckett
Leesburg Police say they've received results from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime lab in connection with the Duckett case, but there appears to be nothing that helps get any closer to finding the two year old boy.

Police say the results could not determine whether the screen to the child's bedroom window was cut from the inside, rather than the outside.

 Nor could they pinpoint what instrument was used to cut the screen.

Police say computer information from Melinda Duckett's home is still being studied for possible evidence.

Trenton's mother Melinda was named as the prime suspect in the child's disappearance, but that happened after the woman had already committed suicide some 12 days after the child vanished.

In addition, national television personality Nancy Grace is expected to bring her show on CNN Headline News to the area to try to keep the case in the spotlight of the national attention.

well I hope they get some answers.... I know it's probably too far gone to hope but I still do!!

Duckett Investigation
National talk show host Nancy Grace is coming to Leesburg next month, hoping to keep Trenton Duckett's Case in the lime light.

Grace plans to air her show live November 16th and 17th from the new Leesburg command center that Trenton's father Josh opened last week.
     This weekend, Josh plans on attending the "Leesburg Trick or Treat on Main Street" this Saturday, with hopes of finding the boy.

The new publicity about the case comes just one day after Leesburg Police say test results from the FDLE Crime Lab have not helped them get any closer to finding the missing toddler.
     
Police say crime scene technicians could not determine whether the window screen in the toddler's bedroom was cut from the inside or outside, nor could they pinpoint what instrument was used to cut the screen.
   
Investigators say computer information from Melinda Duckett's home is still being studied for possible evidence.
   
Trenton's mother Melinda was named as the prime suspect in the child's disappearance, but that happened after she had already committed suicide after the boy vanished.

http://www.wesh.com/video/10104722/index.html

LEESBURG - More than 100 tips have been received since a "Team Trenton" headquarters was set up two weeks ago, with a tips hotline and Web site created for Trenton Duckett, the 2-year-old boy reported missing since August.

Trenton's father, Joshua Duckett, said family, friends and neighbors are volunteering to answer phones, monitor e-mails and put tips together.

"We still have no answers, haven't had a big break yet," Duckett said from the office on Tally Road in Leesburg on Wednesday.

Trenton's mother, Melinda Duckett, said she was at home with the child on Aug. 27 when she discovered him missing about 9 p.m. However, she never made it clear to Leesburg Police where she and the child had been in the hours leading to the reported abduction. And several days later, when she committed suicide, suspicion really fell on her.

Trenton's disappearance was in the news every day for a while, especially after Melinda shot herself to death at her grandparents' home in The Villages, but then the news items trickled off.Duckett said he optimistic his son is still alive.

"It's just another way to keep things going and moving forward," Duckett said of setting up the office. "We've had a lot of answers, just not the ones we're looking for."

Leesburg police Capt. Steve Rockefeller said the agency still has two investigators dedicated to the case and is getting help from the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

"We're still looking for Trenton, and we're not giving up," Rockefeller said Wednesday.

Police have been trying to establish a timeline for Melinda and Trenton in the hours leading up to the time Trenton was reported missing.

The department recently got back lab results on the window screen on his bedroom, which had a slit in it. There was no positive confirmation that cutting utensils found in the home made the slit, or whether the slit was made from inside or outside the home.

Rockefeller said investigators are still going through evidence, and there's literally "tons and tons" of information to go through.

"It's a monumental task," Rockefeller said.

The case could be getting some help from CNN talk show host Nancy Grace, who encountered a lot of criticism for grilling Melinda Duckett hours before she killed herself.

Grace has mentioned coming to Leesburg to help look for Trenton.

Rockefeller would not comment on Grace's involvement. "We're not picking sides between the media," he said.

Millard K. Ives may be reached at millard.ives@starbanner.com or (352) 387-2488.



DISCUSS THIS ARTICLE
Start or join a forum on this topic.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/orl-lbodies1006nov10,0,7621871.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

Thursday's investigation is the latest of several crimes that led detectives to the Ocala forest, most recently the fatal shooting of two college students killed at a remote campsite. In the January slaying, the suspect, Leo Boatman, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and is awaiting trial in the Marion County Jail. In September, deputies from Marion and Lake counties spent almost a week in the forest searching for missing Leesburg toddler Trenton Duckett.

http://tinyurl.com/v5x4x


Officials Say Missing Boy May Be Alive
His Mother Committed Suicide After TV Interview
By JENNIFER KAY, AP


MIAMI (Nov. 15) - Investigators have renewed their search for a 2-year-old boy whose mother committed suicide days after reporting him missing, saying he may still be alive, authorities said Tuesday.
 
A witness said she saw Trenton Duckett with his mother, Melinda Duckett, hours before his reported disappearance, said Capt. Jimmy Pogue of the Marion County Sheriff's Office. Investigators have not clearly determined the mother's whereabouts in the 24 hours or so before the boy went missing.

Melinda Duckett reported her son missing Aug. 27, telling police she found a cut in his bedroom window screen when she checked on him around 9:20 p.m. Melinda Duckett committed suicide Sept. 8.

Melinda Duckett remains the primary suspect, Pogue said.

"He could still be alive, and we need people to start looking for him and stop assuming he's passed away and that we're not looking for him," Pogue said.
   
The witness reported seeing Melinda Duckett with the boy at a restaurant in Belleview on Aug. 27, Pogue said.

"She believes she saw Melinda and the baby during the time that Trenton is unaccounted for," he said.

More details will be released Wednesday, Pogue said.

Trenton's father, Joshua Duckett, said investigators now share his belief that his son is alive. He also declined Tuesday to release new information about the investigation.

"They're just going on the same theory I've been going on," he said. "I'm still 100 percent confident he's alive and well. It's just a matter of finding him."


11/14/06 22:47 EST

Thanks, Sharon...
If someone does have this boy for God's sake just give him back.

I do hope this turns out to be true, that this woman believes she saw them.  

I agree Jacqueline,  Whoever has him,  please just give him back

If some one does have him, maybe they are afraid to give him back because of how long it has been and how much trouble they are going to be in .... so they keep hoping that maybe everyone will eventually quit looking.  

I would hope some ones conscience would eat at them enough that they would return him ...

THE VILLAGES - Information from a restaurant employee who saw missing 2-year-old Trenton Duckett and his mother the day he disappeared has led investigators to believe the boy is still alive, authorities said Wednesday.

Investigators have said there may have been a "conspiracy" between Trenton's mother and another party to keep the boy away from his father. Trenton's mother, Melinda, committed suicide Sept. 8.

Now testimony from an employee at a Wendy's restaurant in Belleview has opened up a new, parallel investigation by the Marion County Sheriff's Office. The employee told authorities she saw Melinda and Trenton at the drive-through window she was working around 11:30 a.m. the day he went missing.

About 30 minutes later Melinda Duckett came back to the drive-through window, and Trenton wasn't with her. Authorities said the witness told them she asked Melinda where the boy was, and Melinda either said at her grandparents', or at a babysitter's, but the witness couldn't remember clearly. Authorities said they don't believe she could have driven the 14 miles to her grandparents' home in Lady Lake and back to the Wendy's in the time frame supplied by the witness.

"We believe that it was possible during this time that she may have left that Wendy's and actually met someone to hand Trenton off," said Capt. James Pogue of the Marion County Sheriff's Office.


Copyright © 1996–2006 Alligator Online and Campus Communications

Missing Boy's Father Credits Nancy Grace After New Developments In Case
POSTED: 1:14 pm EST November 16, 2006
UPDATED: 1:31 pm EST November 16, 2006


LEESBURG, Fla. -- The father of a 2-year-old boy who has been missing since August credited controversial talk show host Nancy Grace after investigators announced they believe the boy is now alive and that his mother may have given him away, according to Local 6 News.

"A lot of people say it is just a ratings scam, but to me, I've met Nancy Grace and I've talked to her personally while a lot of people have not," Trenton Duckett's father, Josh, said. "To me, she is very sincere and wanting to help in any way possible and to me she is showing a great deal of accomplishment with everything she is doing."

Grace came under fire for her aggressive questioning of Melinda Duckett on the day before she committed suicide on Sept. 8. Duckett reported her son missing in August but was a prime suspect in his disappearance.
 

Grace's visit Thursday to Central Florida for a live show about the case coincides with new developments in the search for the boy.A Wendy's worker said she served Melinda and Trenton the day the boy disappeared.

"The first food that Melinda purchased didn't appear to be something that you would feed to a 2-year-old," Marion County sheriff's Detective Rhonda Stroup said.

Police said about 20 minutes after the first purchase, the worker claims Duckett returned to the Wendy's drive-through and purchased some chicken nuggets.

The employee said she thought Duckett apparently forgot to buy her son some food during the first visit. But, when Duckett's silver Mitsubishi approached the window again, the boy was not inside the vehicle.

"(Now) not only do investigators think the 2-year-old is still alive, they believe Trenton's mother Melinda may have gotten rid of him within miles of a Wendy's restaurant in Belleview," Local 6's Mike DeForest said.
 
Local 6 reported that the investigation may include Duckett's ties to the adult entertainment industry.

Local 6 recently uncovered explicit sex videos of Duckett being sold over the Internet before she committed suicide.

Trenton's father, Josh, and private investigators are looking into who purchased or helped create the adult movies.

Detectives are following up on leads in the case Thursday.

:shock:  :shock:

It just could not get more bizarre.

Actually, I disagree... don't give him back. Keep him give him a great life and  don't let him remember any of this.  These two people used that child as a battleground... the father was in reality no better than the mom... so I pray that Trenton is alive, and that if someone has him, they give him the life and love he deserves.

Sorry to sound harsh, but that's my opinion...

Mrs Red

Your opinion is a great one.  I hadn't thought of it that way until now.

 Just maybe,Can we request,that whoever has him, send a dated picture of him to the media so we know he is out of harms way.

Anyone who would associate with Melinda Duckett and agree to kidnap a child and make people go crazy looking for him?  Does not sound like anyone I would want raising a child. :cry:

Duckett case returns to National Spotlight:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/orl-duckett1706nov17,0,1316644.story?page=1&track=rss

Especially since they are beginning to link Melinda to porn films :shock:

I can't imagine the people she associated with would give this child a good life.

(hi jacquie!)

Also, if it is indeed true that Melinda made porn movies and was involved and associated with that crowd...I shudder to think of that little boy in the care of those kind of people.

Nope, the kid needs to know who he is and needs to be returned.  

Just my opinion.

Hey Sharon!  :lol:

Exactly what I was thinking, it's a no win situation for the kid if he's still alive.

Wouldn't trust her judgement in picking caregivers and anyone willing to take the kid ain't exactly 'right' either.

Also the caregivers will now have to worry all the time about being tracked down and the consequences of thier acts.

Just not a good possiblity.

http://www.wesh.com/news/10344528/detail.html

Police Say Tip From Wendy's employee is being considered..

Employee passed polygraph

Team Trenton took to the streets in Downtown Leesburg Saturday trying to get 2-year-old Trenton Duckett’s face out into the public even more.
The Duckett case is being highlighted by CNN's Nancy Grace who broadcasted her show live from Leesburg the past two nights.  

This week Marion County investigators opened a new investigation, thinking the child might still be alive.  
     
On Friday night, Grace hinted at a lead Trenton had been taken to an abandoned house south of Leesburg where a ball similar to one Trenton had was reportedly found.    
Trenton hasn't been seen since late August, and his mother Melinda remains the prime suspect. She committed suicide a few weeks later.

The reward is now up to $11,000. If you have any information about the whereabouts of Trenton Duckett, call CrimeLine at 1-800-423-TIPS.

Mom of missing boy made porn videos



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

   Trenton Duckett's mother. Nude photographs of Melinda Duckett, including one image where she is straddling a child's crib and another explicit video where the sound of a crying baby can be heard in the background surfaced in the missing boy investigation and caused concerns for detectives. WKMG Local 6 image.
 
 

ORLANDO, Fla. -- As authorities renew their search for missing Central Florida boy, Trenton Duckett, WKMG Local 6 News has learned that a private investigator is looking into his mother's apparent secret side business of creating and performing in amateur pornographic videos.

Nude photographs of Melinda Duckett, including one image where she is straddling a child's crib and another explicit video where the sound of a crying baby can be heard in the background surfaced in the missing boy investigation and caused concerns for detectives, the report said.

Before Duckett's suicide, authorities told Local 6 News that they thoroughly looked into her alleged involvement in the adult entertainment industry to see if the 21-year-old made any enemies or possibly had given her son away to someone she met while making the movies. However, there was no connection found between the adult videos and the boy's disappearance.

Now, Team Trenton investigator P.A. Turner and his staff are looking into who may have purchased Duckett's adult videos and whether they had direct contact with her son, the report said.

"That's a risky proposition to place yourself in the position of selling adult entertainment as an individual where it can be traced back to you," Turner said. "If she is conducting this activity and Trenton is in the home, that would raise questions of who else was available in the home."

Turner is also trying to determine if Duckett sold adult videos of herself out of her apartment.

"We do know that some of the movies were sold through an out-of-state adult video Web site," Local 6's Mike Deforest said.

A source told Local 6 News that the Web site operator paid Duckett to videotape herself nude and even provided the camera equipment for about two years.

"Although detectives have ruled out any connection between the Web site and Trenton's disappearance, authorities acknowledge they never interviewed the Web site operator saying, 'We didn't need to,' " DeForest said.

"If there are other parties involved in the video, then naturally those are individuals who, for lack of a better term, have an intimate relationship with Melinda -- we don't know who those people are and what their background is," Turner said.

Melinda Duckett reported her son missing Aug. 27, telling police she found a cut in his bedroom window screen when she checked on him around 9:20 p.m. She committed suicide Sept. 8.

Melinda Duckett remains the primary suspect, officlals said.

Search continues for Trenton

MIAMI -- Investigators have renewed their search for a 2-year-old boy whose mother committed suicide days after reporting him missing, saying he may still be alive, authorities said Tuesday.

A witness said she saw Trenton Duckett with his mother, Melinda Duckett, hours before his reported disappearance, said Capt. Jimmy Pogue of the Marion County Sheriff's Office. Investigators have not clearly determined the mother's whereabouts in the 24 hours or so before the boy went missing.

"He could still be alive, and we need people to start looking for him and stop assuming he's passed away and that we're not looking for him," Pogue said.

The witness reported seeing Melinda Duckett with the boy at a restaurant in Belleview on Aug. 27, Pogue said.

"She believes she saw Melinda and the baby during the time that Trenton is unaccounted for," he said.

Belleview is 20 miles northwest of Leesburg, where Trenton lived with his mother and her grandparents.

--Associated Press
 
 
   
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Melinda Duckett Estate Suing Nancy Grace
Attorney's representing the estate of Melinda Duckett say they are planning to sue CNN's Nancy Grace and her producers.

The attorney's say Duckett killed herself just hours after being questioned, some say grilled, on the show by Grace over the disappearance of Melinda's 2-year-old son Trenton Duckett.

The lawsuit is expected to be filed Tuesday and alleges that Grace and the news network inflicted emotional distress on Duckett.

She appeared on Grace's show on September 7 where she was asked with several questions including an implication that she murdered her son.

Duckett committed suicide on September 8. Trenton Duckett has been missing since August 27.
 
I don't know about this law suit...

If someone gets fired from their job and they kill themselves do you sue the boss who fired you?  Or if one kills themselves over a romance, does the estate sue the person who dumped you?

I just can't see how this holds water...
But ya never know... :?

Thanks Jacquie!

I wouldn't be able to keep up on this if not for you.

I'm with you on this one -- so strange.

And the father's family is singing Nancy's praise for bringing the additional attention to the case. And the new tip.

Plus -- what estate? Who's behind the suit? Her estranged parents (wasn't she sexually abused by one of them?) or her grandparents who raised her?

I don't get it :?

I don't know Sharon what they mean by Estate ...Grandparents, or Parents...I do feel for this Melinda, sounds like she really did have a screwed up childhood....It's too bad she couldn't rise above it....
I just hope if  Trenton is alive he is healthy and found soon...

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1121061grace1.html

It appears that Melinda's parents are the ones suing.
Yes, she was abused but I believe it was by a relative, not her mother or father...

I could be wrong...

The Estate of Melinda Duckett Sues Nancy Grace for Wrongful Death

http://www.scaredmonkeys.com/2006/11/21/the-estate-of-melinda-duckett-sues-nancy-grace-for-wrongful-death/

(http://www.scaredmonkeys.com/fun-images/nancy_2Dgrace_2D2_small.jpg)

The attorneys that represent the Estate of Melinda Duckett filed a wrongful death law suit against Nancy Grace, CNN and her producers. Melinda Duckett committed suicide the day after a harsh exchange during an interview with TV cable host Nancy Grace.

http://missingexploited.com/2006/11/21/the-estate-of-melinda-duckett-sues-nancy-grace-producers-cnn-for-wrongful-death/

Program Reminder:

Please note that Jay Paul Deratany, attorney representing the Estate of Melinda Duckett will be a guest of Dana Pretzer on Scared Monkey’s radio Friday, November 24 at 9:00 EDT.

(http://www.scaredmonkeys.com/radio/images/radioteaser-smfront.jpg)

http://www.scaredmonkeys.com/radio/

Second Witness In Trenton Duckett Search
Tuesday, deputies in Marion County confirmed there is a second witness who saw Melinda and 2-year-old Trenton Duckett at a Belleview Wendy's.
Last week police announced they believe Trenton is alive, all because of a worker at the restaurant who saw the boy.

Deputies are considering the possibility Melinda Duckett handed the boy off to someone else, before killing herself a few days later.

Lockport Couple Sues CNN Journalist

http://www.wivb.com/Global/story.asp?S=5718843

Not sure if this is criminal, but it sure isn't in good taste. It may have been one of the determining factors that caused the suit to go forward. The Nancy Grace Show had to have known that Melinda was dead and killed herself when they aired the taped show.

They may have been better served to have held back.

Melinda did a phone interview on CNN's Nancy Grace Show on September 7th. One day later, the young mother took her life.

Her parents in Lockport were outraged by the talk show hosts harsh, accusatory line of questioning. The segment aired just hours after her death.

Melinda's father, Jerry Eubank: "It was 3-4 hours after I heard that Mindy died and I'm watching this woman banging the table, and screaming about why aren't you telling us this, I mean she was judge, jury and executioner."

Agree wholeheartedly Red.  Poor taste indeed.

On third-anniversary of Trenton's disappearance...
Posted on Nov 27, 2006 4:55:29 PM
Discuss This: Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Linking Blogs | Add to del.icio.us | Digg it Every so often, whether there is much new to report or not, we get an e-mail from authorities about the Trenton Duckett case. You hope for the best, but fear the worse. Today, Leesburg police sent another update on the missing toddler. Nothing, unfortunately, is new to report on this, the three-month anniversary since Trenton's mother, Melinda Duckett, reported him missing. You can read the Leesburg release below. We have our coverage of the case on this Web page.

The Leesburg Police Department continues to investigate the disappearance of Trenton Duckett. Finding little Trenton has been, and remains, our primary mission. While new information has been received regarding possible sightings of Melinda and Trenton for Sunday we continue asking for the public’s help in the ongoing search for little Trenton. We still need any information about Melinda or Trenton’s whereabouts from Saturday afternoon August 26th to anytime on Sunday, August 27th.

While organizing existing leads and investigative information, we continue interviewing persons familiar with Melinda and Trenton as well as reviewing phone, financial, and computer records. In response to and clarification of recent inquires, aside from Melinda Duckett, the investigative team has not developed any additional persons of interest or suspects.

Anyone who may have information regarding Trenton’s or Melinda’s whereabouts Saturday August 26th or Sunday August 27th is asked to call CrimeLine at 1-800423-TIPS.



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On Sept. 8, a lithe and comely South Korean orphan named Melinda Duckett—21 years old and known to friends as Mindy—went to her grandparents’ retirement home and shot herself in the head.
 
That was fewer than 24 hours after she had taped an interview for Nancy Grace’s prime-time Headline News show to talk about the Aug. 27 disappearance of her 2-year-old son, Trenton.
 
In the days after Melinda Duckett’s suicide, Ms. Grace utilized the services of Anna Cordasco, who is the managing director of the New York firm Citigate Sard Verbinnen, which specializes in below-the-radar corporate-image resuscitation.
 
Ms. Cordasco, who has Martha Stewart as another high-profile TV client, is old friends with Ms. Grace’s executive producer at Headline News, Dean Sicoli. Ms. Cordasco and her colleagues immediately set to work restoring the fire-breathing former prosecutor to her pre-Duckett level of dignity and national esteem.
 
Except, according to three sources close to Ms. Grace, once the crisis manager stepped in, the crisis just got worse.
 
In mid-October, six weeks after Duckett’s suicide, Ms. Cordasco e-mailed out a letter to producers of TV entertainment and news shows, pitching them on an upbeat story about Ms. Grace’s dogged pursuit of little Trenton and, if applicable, his killer.
 
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The *******, proposed a story on Ms. Grace’s upcoming trip to Florida, where she would join the boy’s father, Joshua Duckett, at an outpost called Team Trenton Headquarters. From there, Ms. Grace would broadcast her show each night, confer intimately with the police and continue to shine her national klieg light on the case of the missing 2-year-old—undaunted by the tragic fate of his mother, who, the letter noted, “committed suicide after appearing on her show.”
 
Ms. Cordasco mentioned parenthetically that Ms. Grace might even “go diving” in search of Trenton. CNN could provide footage, or Ms. Grace would happily do a “video diary.”
 
As near as can be ascertained, no one bit.
 
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Meanwhile, privately, to reporters, Ms. Cordasco was touting the close relationship between Ms. Grace and the local police.
 
Ms. Cordasco sent an e-mail to print reporters in the Florida region, a copy of which was read to The ******* over the phone. In it, she wrote that Ms. Grace “will be going to Leesburg to search for Trenton Duckett with his father Josh …. Josh and the local police have asked Nancy to come down in order to bring the national spotlight back on the case. In addition, the police want to give Nancy special access to their helicopters, etc. Nancy has already made two trips to Florida to investigate the missing-child case and assist in the search efforts on her own.”
 
“A lot of the media feels like we coordinated our efforts around Nancy Grace and her show coming to Florida,” said Capt. James Pogue of the Marion County Sheriff’s Department. “And honestly, that is not the truth. What happened, it had nothing to do with Nancy Grace coming to town and doing all that. Our objective was to get Trenton Duckett’s face back on national TV so that the world would know who Trenton Duckett was, what he looked like, so they would start looking for him again.”
 
On Nov. 22, Lauren Ritchie, a columnist for the Orlando Sentinel, pounced on Ms. Cordasco’s talking point. “Just so the truth is known, Leesburg police did not invite Grace to come here, and when questioned about it, the public-relations firm backed away from that claim,” she wrote.
 
Ms. Ritchie also noted that there were no police helicopters to borrow anyway.
 
The piece caused an uproar at CNN and Headline News. “There were certainly some people pretty upset over here,” said one high-level network source.

Heck, Nancy, it's easy, just call DeVries, feature him on your show and then do a real investigative report dig into the Nat case.

If Nancy could help get the case resolved she'd be right back on top.

OCALA, Fla. -- For three agonizing months, investigators have not been able to find Trenton Duckett.

Trenton's mother, Melinda, killed herself hours before she was named the main suspect in her 2-year-old son's disappearance.

Investigators said Wednesday they now consider one of her close friends a person of interest, WESH 2 News reported.
 

The 25-year-old man is not being called a suspect, but Marion County investigators said based on some information the WESH 2 I-Team uncovered, they're taking the case in a new direction.

He was questioned Wednesday for two and a half hours by Leesburg police, Marion County detectives and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He declined to answer WESH 2's questions.

From e-mails obtained by the WESH 2 I-Team, it's clear Melinda Duckett and this man were close friends.

On the day she reported her son missing and within minutes of the time two witnesses reported seeing Duckett and her son at a Belleview Wendy's, Leesburg police confirm that Duckett called him on her cell phone.

"He is a person of interest," said Major Chris Blair of the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators said they became even more interested when WESH 2 told them where he works -- in Belleview at a Rent-A-Center directly across the street from the Wendy's where Duckett was spotted.

"So, is it coincidence? It could be coincidence, but then it's something that we certainly can't turn our heads to," Blair said.

WESH 2 spoke to the person of interest on Tuesday to ask him what he and Duckett talked about on Aug. 27 during that important window of time when investigators say she may have conspired with someone to hand off her son.

"I'm not trying to shut you guys out, but no, I can't," he said.

"They said you cooperated, and all we're trying to find out is what Melinda said to you. What did she say to you?" WESH 2 I-Team reporter Bob Kealing asked him.

He closed the door and said "nothing."

Investigators said the person of interest has told them that she simply invited him over to her apartment to watch movies.

"He's been very cooperative," Blair said. "No problem whatsoever. He's cooperative. I'm sure he understands we have to do our job and that's what we're doing. He's not the only one we're interviewing."

Based on these developments, investigators said they will be taking an even closer look at the Belleview shopping area to try and develop more leads and more witnesses.

Sources also told the WESH 2 I-Team that Leesburg police gave the person of interest a polygraph test last week, but because there was more than enough interest with the Marion County Sheriff's Office, they asked him to submit to a new round of questions this week.

Investigators said a person of interest is someone more than a witness but less than a suspect.

Anyone with any information about Trenton Duckett is urged to call 888-FL MISSING or call Team Trenton, a group set up by the missing boy's father, at 877-TRENT65.


To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Bob Kealing.


Previous Stories:
November 21, 2006: Missing Boy's Family Sues CNN, Nancy Grace, Boy's Father
November 17, 2006: Police Consider Second Wendy's Witness In Duckett Case
November 16, 2006: New Tip

Investigators in the search for missing 2-year-old Trenton Duckett named a person of interest Wednesday who apparently had cell phone contact with the boy's mother the day the child vanished, according to Local 6 News.

Detectives with the Marion County Sheriff's Office said a man named Chai Chin, who works in Ocala, Fla., was named a person of interest in the case.

"(Sheriff's officials) tell us that this is more than just a person they want to interview," Local 6's Mike DeForest. "Again, (he is) not a suspect."
 

Authorities said Chin and Trenton's mother, Melinda Duckett, spent time with each other before the boy vanished.

Police said Chin was being cooperative with them during questioning Wednesday night.

Recently, new information from employees at a Wendy's restaurant in Belleview, Fla., sparked a renewed search for the boy.

Marion County sheriff's deputies said two witnesses placed Trenton's mother at the fast-food restaurant at the time of Trenton's disappearance, according to a police report.

Information that the boy vanished within a 20 minute period near the restaurant has led investigators to believe Duckett gave her son away to someone else before she committed suicide.

Belleview is 20 miles northwest of Leesburg, where Trenton lived with his mother and her grandparents.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061130/NEWS/211300342/1001/NEWS01

A Little bit more about the Person of Interest.

Thanks Jacquie!

I hope this leads to something that helps find Trenton.

\

So do I.

Police: Trenton Duckett's Mom May Have Handed Him Off
POSTED: 7:01 pm EST November 30, 2006
UPDATED: 7:43 pm EST November 30, 2006

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OCALA, Fla. -- Investigators searching for a missing Lake County boy said they think they know where a deal went down during which someone took 2-year old Trenton Duckett and possibly handed him off to somebody else.

That was three months ago, and Trenton hasn't been seen since. The new development has investigators thinking Trenton is still alive, WESH 2 News reported.

Marion County investigators said they believe the boy's mother, Melinda Duckett, conspired to give him to someone.
 

They said they are focused on a Belleview shopping area straddling both sides of U.S. Highway 441.

"We believe that it was an original location where there was a drop-off," said Maj. Chris Blair of the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

On Aug. 27, the day Melinda Duckett reported her son missing, just before noon, two workers at a Belleview Wendy's reported seeing her with the boy. Minutes later, at 12:08 p.m., authorities confirm that she made a phone call to close friend, Chai Chen, 25.

He works across the highway from the Wendy's at a Rent-A-Center.

"With that new development, with him working across the street, him being the last one to speak to her in Marion County in that 12:08 telephone call, with the connection to the two witnesses at Wendy's, yeah, we're going to go down different avenues," Blair said.

Marion County investigators call Chen a person of interest but not a suspect. He voluntarily answered investigators' questions this week and took an FBI polygraph last week.

According to law enforcement officials, the only thing that Melinda Duckett told him during that critical 12:08 p.m. phone call was that she invited him over to her Leesburg apartment to watch videos that night.

Law enforcement wants to know if that's all they talked about. Melinda Duckett killed herself on Sept. 8 in her grandparents' Lake County home.

"It all points somewhere," said Josh Duckett, the missing boy's father.

Marion County investigators believe Melinda Duckett conspired to get their son away from him. He said the new Belleview connections are a big step toward finding his son alive.

"I think Melinda has passed him off to someone, and it's just a matter of finding him," Josh Duckett said. "It's pieces to a puzzle."

Marion County detectives have been in the process of contacting and interviewing as many people as possible from the shopping area, including Chen.

Anyone with any information about Trenton Duckett is urged to call 888-FL MISSING or call Team Trenton, a group set up by the missing boy's father, at 877-TRENT65.


To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Bob Kealing.


Previous Stories:
November 29, 2006: Police: Person Of Interest Questioned In Duckett Case
November 21, 2006: Missing Boy's Family Sues CNN

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/orl-lduckett0106dec01,0,6464080.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-lake

new person of interest, not really so new....

Duckett family lawyer Jay Pauyl Deratamy will join me thursday at 9pm et to update the status of the case and the law suit against Nancy Grace and CNN.
www.scaredmonkeys.com/radio

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0609/08/ng.01.html

DAVID SCHWARTZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yeah I`m very surprised. Especially I`m very surprised that Melinda hasn`t lawyered up. I mean her answers to your questions are elusive at times and one in particular is that she`s not working with local police. You know you`re in this situation, it`s a horrible tragic situation, now you`re going to pick and choose what law enforcement agencies you`re going to work with and what you`re not going to work with? This is a desperate situation for desperate measures. You`re going to be working with everybody. That answer makes absolutely no sense to me, Nancy.

GRACE: Explain, Melinda. I`m sure you have an answer. Melinda Duckett, Trenton`s mom.

MELINDA DUCKETT: All four of those agencies, Leesburg Police, Lake County Sheriff, the FBI from Quantico and the FBI from Ocala, none of them are on the same page. The FBI out of Ocala specifically told me to only speak to them and to deal with them so that all of them could be on the same page with everything. And it was ridiculous because people were getting their facts wrong, they were misinterpreting things and they weren`t getting the information across correctly. That was their fault.

GRACE: Did you also get that same lecture, Josh Duckett, to only deal with one entity?

JOSH DUCKETT: No, not at all.

GRACE: Have you been working with local police, as well?

JOSH DUCKETT: I`ve been working with local police, FDLE and the FBI. GRACE: So Melinda, do you feel that you are being given different instructions than your husband?

MELINDA DUCKETT: Well obviously that is the case, but I mean, I`m all hands in the pot with this whole deal. I`m not sitting down either crying my eyes out in my house not doing anything or gluing myself to the police department door. I`m actually physically doing things.

Just a snippet^

I'm sorry...This girl was a proven liar, and I don't buy for one second that the fbi told her just to work with them and not to talk.

When someone from the FBI confirms this, maybe then. But only then.

OCALA - Marion County sheriff's detectives working on the case of missing 2-year-old Trenton Duckett followed up on a tip about the toddler over the weekend. But the tip never panned out, officials said.

Detective Rhonda Stroup said they received a call from members of Team Duckett on Sunday, informing them the team had received a tip about a woman reportedly seeing Trenton with a young man in a family park in Fort Worth, Texas. The tipster gave Team Trenton a description of the vehicle the man was driving and the tag number. Stroup said they informed authorities in Fort Worth and asked them to verify the information.

Texas officials tracked down the man, believed to be in his 20s. At the home, the man was able to confirm that the child was not Trenton through a birth certificate and family photographs.

"It's encouraging to know that people are calling. Law enforcement is reacting to these calls," said Maj. Chris Blair of the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Trenton has been missing from his mother's Leesburg apartment since Aug. 27. Melinda Duckett, Trenton's mother, committed suicide on Sept. 8.

Since the formation of a task force made up of several law enforcement agencies, Blair said Team Trenton has turned over roughly 20 tips.

Authorities said they have extended the time frame of the task force. Originally scheduled for 30 days, the task force won't conclude until all relevant telephone numbers from Melinda Duckett's cell phone have been analyzed, and people connected to those numbers have been interviewed.

"We won't stop until all the numbers of interest have been checked," said Blair.

Neither Blair nor Maj. Steve Rockefeller of the Leesburg Police Department would say if Chai-Wen Chen, an assistant manager at a Belleview Rent-A-Center, has taken a polygraph test.

Authorities said Melinda Duckett called Chen Aug. 27 and the conversation lasted only a few minutes. Officials said Chen works across the street from where two Wendy's employees claimed to have seen Trenton on Aug. 27. A Rent-A-Center employee told the Star-Banner that Chen took a polygraph.

When Chen's name surfaced last month, Rockefeller said he was on a list to be polygraphed.

"We've had conversations," said Blair, who declined to say what they talked about.

The disappearance of 2-year-old Trenton Duckett continues to remain a mystery. The toddler disappeared August 27th, almost four months ago.

Trenton's father Josh Duckett says despite the lack of progress in the case, he and his family continue to hold out hope, and as a sign of faith will celebrate Christmas as though his son were there with them.
   
His family has put presents for Trenton under the tree, and decorated the house just like every other year. Josh is asking anyone who knows where his Trenton is to return him home safely.

"we just want him back," Josh said. "No questions asked. You can drop him off at a fire department, hospital, anywhere. No questions asked."

Josh hopes by next Christmas, Trenton will be home to open his gifts.

Cyber-Sleuths Try To Crack Missing Boy Mystery

POSTED: 6:35 pm EST January 12, 2007
UPDATED: 6:52 pm EST January 12, 2007

Thousands of cyber-sleuths, including one armchair detective who recently caught the attention of police, are continuing to log on to Web sites and post ideas or theories about the disappearance of 2-year-old Trenton Duckett, according to a Local 6 News report.


Trenton has been missing since late August, when he was report missing by his mother, Melinda.
 

In November, Local 6 reported that the missing boy was placed in a car with his mother at a Bellevue Wendy's around the time he vanished. However, since then, there have been no new solid leads in the investigation.

In the meantime, groups have continued to gather online to talk about Trenton.

"Every night, for nearly five months, people all over the country have been staying up late in their pajamas and logging on to Web sites, discussing the Trenton Duckett case," Local 6's Mike DeForest said.

On a Court TV online forum, a user named "Murt" grabbed the attention of fellow armchair detectives, as well as police.

Recently, Murt posted a comment that there would be a huge development in the Trenton Duckett disappearance. It led some Internet users to believe Murt had inside knowledge of the case.

Friday, Murt posted a message to Trenton's caretaker; "I now know why Melinda trusted you to take care of Trenton."

Murt urged the captor to drop Trenton off at a hospital saying, "Do it while you still can. If you need help, contact me. You know how."

When Local 6 went to his home, Murt, whose real name is William Murtaugh, admitted to having absolutely no ties to the Duckett investigation.


"His Internet postings are simply an amateur attempt to crack the case using what he calls a psychology trick," DeForest said.

"We all get together on a daily basis, and we basically talk about Trenton," Murtaugh said. "Where is he? Is he alive? Is he not?"

Murtaugh said he lost a child at the age of 25 and knows what it is like for a father not to have a son.

Murtaugh said he admits his Internet messages probably went too far, DeForest reported.

Anyone with information concerning Trenton's whereabouts is urged to call Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.



Previous Stories:
November 30, 2006: Person Of Interest Questioned In Trenton Duckett

Seems like there are lots of "Murtaugh" type people all over the net.
They think they are "in the know" :roll:  :twisted:

I just wish they'd find this little boy!

Me too.

As for MURT one would think if he went thru the loss of a missing child he would know enough not to put out false hope.

LEESBURG, Fla. -- It's been almost five months and there has been no sign of missing Lake County toddler Trenton Duckett.

Team Trenton said they are devoted to finding the boy alive, and they are getting help from all around the country, WESH 2 News reported.

The team said that they just received something in the mail Tuesday.
 

When Carla Massero, Duckett's grandmother, got a FedEx package at Team Trenton headquarters, she said she wasn’t sure what to expect.

Every square of the quilt shows a different view of the missing toddler.

Web site bloggers created the quilt as a gift for Trenton's grandmother to show that they care.

"It made my day," Massero said. "You know, to think that there are so many people that really do care."

From Kellie in Oklahoma to Michelle and Amy in Indiana, Massero said she doesn’t know any of them personally, but each name means another person is on the watch for her grandson.

The family said they are encouraged they will find, fresh tips in the case.

"They're moving forward with a lot of stuff, law enforcement has been working on a lot of stuff and they're saying that they've been very active," Joshua Duckett, Trenton's father said.

The Marion County Sheriff's Office Task Force devoted to finding the toddler is still fully operational.

The force said they will have an update in the case at the end of January.
Copyright 2007 by WESH.COM. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Police Investigating If Trenton Duckett May Be In Korea

POSTED: 5:41 pm EST January 23, 2007

LEESBURG, Fla. -- Investigators said it's been part of their investigation since the beginning, but police revealed new details, Tuesday, about the disappearance of Trenton Duckett.

Police are trying to figure out if someone might have taken the boy to Korea.

The Leesburg boy was first reported missing by his mother last summer. She committed suicide shortly after that.

Investigators said they've combed through passenger logs to see if Melinda Duckett had someone take the boy to her homeland of Korea.

So far, there's no evidence to confirm the possibility, but Duckett did once talk about having her son go to Korea.

http://www.wftv.com/news/10827031/detail.html



I pray this might be true.  He is such an adorable child, I hope they find him safe somewhere.

:shock:

Well that would put a twist on the events.  Korea is such a busy area. It would be so easy to hide him.

I just saw a video on cnn that said toddler may be in Korea...couldn't get it to play, but had a feeling it was about this.  mmmmm

Search for Trenton Duckett Takes New Turn

Jan 25, 2007 07:52 AM EST  
 
   
(January 25, 2007) - - The search for a missing Florida boy with ties to Western New York has taken a new turn Thursday morning.

Detectives searching for two year old Trenton Duckett are now going through international airline records.

They are trying to determine if the toddler was smuggled to South Korea. Trenton was last seen in late August when his mother, Lockport native Melinda Duckett, reported him missing.

Maj. Chris Blair (Marion Co. Sheriff's Office): "We do have certain individuals that stated she talked about her roots and possibly sending him back to his roots."

Police say Melinda Duckett committed suicide two days later, shortly after she was grilled by talk show host Nancy Grace on CNN.
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
How to advertise on WIVB.com
It is time for your business to take advantage of the Internet's incredible growth!

OCALA, Fla. -- A former co-worker of missing toddler Trenton Duckett's mother has provided police with information that they are investigating.

Carolyn Kendrick is a chiropractic clinic manager in Sumter County. Melinda Duckett worked there when Trenton was 6 months old.

Duckett is considered the prime suspect in her son's disappearance. She killed herself in September, just weeks after she reported the boy missing.
 

That same month, Kendrick described Duckett's desire to find her Korean birth mother.

"The only thing she really expressed to me was that she wanted to go back to her roots, which is Korea," Kendrick told WESH 2 News.

As police search for Trenton, they're finding information Kendrick provided to be of significant investigative value.

"She stated that Melinda had a real desire in her heart to go over there and find her relatives and have Trenton meet them," said Maj. Chris Blair of the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Kendrick echoed what many believe, including investigators, that the child who was reported as disappearing from his mom's Leesburg apartment last August is alive somewhere, possibly in Korea.

Kendrick remembers Melinda Duckett as loving and caring.

"I do not believe that Melinda harmed Trenton at all. I don't think that she abused him in any kind of way," she said.

Detectives said they do not know if Duckett ever found her birth mother or father.

"We do not know that she had ever made contact with anyone or any relatives in Korea," Blair said.

Marion County started a task force dedicated to finding Trenton late last year. They thought it might last 30 days, but with as much as they are unraveling, officials said there is no end in sight as to when the task force will end its duties.

I'm holding onto hope for this adorable little boy

Same here.

The scenario that he is out of the country would certainly make sense.

I hope they find him and that he is ok.

Lead Investigator: 'We Think Trenton Is Alive'

On Monday, WESH 2 anchor Wendy Chioji spoke to Maj. Chris Blair, Marion County's lead investigator in the Duckett case.

She asked him why Marion County is operating under the belief that Trenton is still alive.

"There's no evidence to support otherwise. There's none to show that any harm came to Trenton," Blair said.

WESH 2 News has confirmed that Melinda Duckett became a notary the same month she reported her son missing.

Blair said it's "speculative" to presume that she used that to forge documents to get Trenton out of the country.

"We're aware of that information, and we do not know exactly what she had done with any paperwork at this time," he said.

Many have criticized the Leesburg Police Department for not arresting Melinda Duckett sooner in the investigation.

"That's something that certainly the detectives have to look at. I wasn't involved in the investigation (nor was) the Marion County Sheriff's Office at that time. That's something, a decision had to be made, they made it and that's where we are today," he said.

Blair said certain clues, such as the way Melinda Duckett talked about her son in the present tense, make them believe that the toddler is alive.

"She's an obsessively compulsive type person, she's a planner. We also have the witnesses from Wendy's who state that on Aug. 27 that she drove through the drive-through and approximately 20 minutes later, she came back without Trenton," Blair said. "We're taking the theory that Trenton Duckett is most likely and possibly alive."

Blair said investigators are continuing to pour over manifests of flights from the U.S. to Korea, and they have asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for assistance with that task.

entire article here:
http://www.wesh.com/news/10873392/detail.html

Thanks Festa

was just checking around to see if there were any new developments in the case.

I am still saying prayers they find this cute lil guy

The search for missing 2-year-old Trenton Duckett is about to reach the six-month point.

That's six months of interrogations, searches and scrutiny.

There are some changes in the Leesburg Police Department, which has been under the national microscope the whole time, WESH 2 News reported.
 

The department announced a new deputy chief and a new public information officer on Wednesday, but the talk quickly turned to the Duckett investigation.

"Again, no physical evidence as to whether he's dead or alive," said Maj. Steve Rockefeller of the Leesburg Police Department.

The department said it has members of the investigative team who believe that Duckett's mother, Melinda, did not kill him.

"We're very much open to the possibility that he's alive. We're very much open to the possibility, unfortunately, that he's dead," Rockefeller said.

Police had the chance to arrest Melinda Duckett last September on an active forgery warrant but chose not to. Days later, she killed herself.

"Have you thought about whether Melinda should have been arrested?" WESH 2 reporter Bob Kealing asked Rockefeller.

"Absent being clairvoyant and knowing that a suicide was going to take place, we would probably still make the same decision again," he said. "And it was just to gain her trust. We wanted her to work with us."

He said he did make a mistake by mischaracterizing the size of the cut in Trenton's window screen, but he said he still believes overall that the department has handled the case correctly.

"Melinda Duckett is still the only primary suspect that we have the case, the only suspect that we have in the case," Rockefeller said.

During the course of the investigation, police said they have contacted more than 40 sex offenders who lived within a two-mile radius of Duckett's apartment.

Leesburg said on Wednesday that Lt. Rob Hicks is the new spokesman for the department.

Marion County is also involved with the case. The sheriff's office said its investigators are talking very little, if at all, with Leesburg police, making their case more difficult.

They said the possible Korea connection is going nowhere, but they are looking at other theories, such as the idea that perhaps this was a stranger abduction.


To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Bob Kealing.


Previous Stories:

Missing Fla. boy's dad criticizes search

March 28, 2007

http://tinyurl.com/3dfkuj

Authorities Looking For SUV Owners In Trenton Duckett Case

POSTED: 5:42 pm EDT March 28, 2007

OCALA, Fla. -- Authorities said Wednesday they are looking for new clues in the case of a 2-year-old boy who disappeared in August.

A witness told Marion County Sheriff's detectives they saw a couple in a Cadillac Escalade with Melinda Duckett, the mother of missing Trenton Duckett, at a construction site off the Florida Turnpike in the week before he disappeared on Aug. 27.

The couple, described as an Asian or Hispanic man and woman in their late 50s to early 60s, were driving a light silver or gold SUV with a possible New York license tag, said Marion County Sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Livoti. No other details were available.

"The witness feels that he did see Melinda in that area with this couple. It supports our theory that the child was handed off to someone," Livoti said.

>>>The Complete Story
http://www.wftv.com/news/11423332/detail.html

Billboard Will Display Missing Toddler's Photo During BikeFest

http://www.wesh.com/news/12931744/detail.html

I hope, wherever he is, that little Trenton is ok.

This is such a strange case.

Nancy Grace, CNN Head to Federal Court Over Trenton / Melinda Duckett Lawsuit
Federal Magistrate Urges Family of Melinda Duckett to Drop Father, Joshua Duckett from Lawsuit  

A federal magistrate has recommended that the father of Trenton Duckett, Joshua Duckett, be dropped from a wrongful-death lawsuit that has been brought forth by the family members of Melinda Duckett, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The lawsuit named Joshua Duckett, Cable News Network (CNN), Nancy Grace, who is a host of a show on CNN, and other various associates from CNN. The magistrate also stated that he would suggest that the lawsuit be tried in federal court instead of county court.

The lawsuit was brought forth in the Lake County Courts in November of 2006 by the family members of Melinda Duckett, mother of the missing Trenton Duckett. Trenton Duckett was taken from his bedroom window in late August of 2006 while his mother and friends were watching a movie in the living room in Leesburg, Florida. The lawsuit is seeking an unspecified amount for damages stating that the Nancy Grace show inflicted emotional distress and also misappropriated the young mother's image.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/289809/nancy_grace_cnn_head_to_federal_court.html


I don't have a great love for Nancy Grace, but this whole thing feels so wrong - Trenton Duckett is missing and energy/money/resources should be put into finding out what happened to him and where he is - and IMO, Melinda Duckett has something to do with that - and instead we are focusing on NG and CNN as possible causes of MD's suicide - I think if we find Trenton that might explain her real reasons...

Exactly Festa - another waste of money.  My opinion - if she truly had nothing to do with it, why kill yourself over it.  The truth always comes out, and bottom line, if she felt pressure or like her character was being questioned - if she was innocent - stand strong. And she was the one who said 'they would never find him.'  What the heck.  Even IF that was a statement out of pure despair, I still don't see an innocent mother making such a statement.  I think that one was from the heart and she knew darn well what she was talking about.

Did they ever comment more on the fact that she supposedly gave him to two of her friends?  What ever happened with that?

I have heard something along those lines myself, her giving him to someone.  I never did hear anything else about that.  

What is unsettling to me is, she said to her mother, that she knows 'they will never find him.'   It could mean several things, but no matter what - it doesn't sound good on any level.

No it doesn't... my hope is that she gave him to someone that will love him... as he deserved.

Florida Cops Rule Out Theories, Narrow Search for Missing Toddler Trenton Duckett

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

    * E-MAIL STORY
    * PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION

 AP

Trenton Duckett, age 2, has been missing since August from Marion County, Fla.

Trenton Duckett, age 2, has been missing since August from Marion County, Fla.

    *
    *

LEESBURG, Fla. —  A central Florida toddler missing for almost a year was not abducted by a stranger and was not handed off to someone else by his mother, who killed herself as authorities focused on her as a suspect in the disappearance, detectives said Tuesday.

The fate of Trenton Duckett, whose third birthday was Friday, remains unclear, Leesburg police Maj. Steve Rockefeller said. There have been no confirmed sightings of Trenton since he left his great grandparents house Aug. 26, 2006.

Click here for photos of police evidence.

His mother, 21-year-old Melinda Duckett, reported him missing a day later.

"We're still looking," Rockefeller said. "Our primary mission is to bring him home."

Click here for FOXNews.com's Crime center.

Detectives on Tuesday released photos of toys, birthday cards, photos and children's food they believe Duckett threw in the trash after reporting Trenton missing. Duckett, who killed herself Sept. 8, is the only suspect in the toddler's disappearance, Rockefeller said.
Related

    *
      Stories
          o CNN, Nancy Grace Seek to Dismiss Lawsuit Over Woman's Suicide
          o Lawsuit Filed Against CNN, Nancy Grace Over Suicide of Melinda Duckett
          o Officials: Missing Boy Whose Mom Committed Suicide May Still be Alive
      Video
          o Duckett v. CNN
          o New Hope for Trenton
          o Update on Duckett Child
      Photo Essays
          o New Clues in Trenton Duckett Case

He said detectives ruled out theories that Trenton was taken by a stranger or that Duckett handed Trenton off to a friend or relative to keep him from his father, 22-year-old Joshua Duckett. The Ducketts were separated when Trenton vanished.

Melinda Duckett fatally shot herself shortly after intense questioning by CNN talk-show host Nancy Grace. Her family is suing Grace and the network, alleging the host's intense questioning caused severe emotional distress that led to the suicide on the day the taped interview aired. CNN and Grace have asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit.

Click here for FOXNews.com's Crime center.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294035,00.html

Police Release New Photos, Info In Duckett Search
http://www.wftv.com/news/13943460/detail.html

Leesburg, Marion investigators differ over Trenton's disappearance
http://www.starbanner.com/article/20070822/NEWS/70822010/1001/NEWS01

After looking at all those things she threw away.....I am convinced she killed him, and I am also convinced she did not love that sweet little boy. She got rid of some of the most precious keepsakes of her baby's life. I would never throw away a picture of my baby. Never. I have kept a lot of things from my children's infancy, maybe too many, but what loving mother throws away things from a baby's first year of life? Especially your first baby?
It's like she was almost trying to erase him, and pretend he never lived.
And to throw away his things that he probably needed for daycare...she knew she'd never need to replace them.
It's an eerie assortment of Trenton's belongings,and Melinda was a cold, self-absorbed, and cruel person to be able to throw those things in the trash.
I think those items tell the whole story, and I don't think Trenton survived his mother's selfish need to punish everyone around her.
I feel like crying over those items, for Trenton, since I doubt his mother did.

I agree pdh3, it's just beyond heartbreaking. How can anyone believe she didn't know her son was dead and to think he loved those blueberry eggo's?

I totally agree!! It breaks my heart. That sweet, innocent baby boy  :sad:

(http://www.local6.com/2006/0914/9851765_240X180.jpg)

Missing Boy Case Featured On National Show
POSTED: 6:47 am EDT August 28, 2007

http://www.local6.com/news/13990410/detail.html

       
   
The Official Trenton Duckett Website
http://www.helpfindtrenton.com/

Bring Me Home

Take me back
Where I need to be
Bring me home
So I can sleep

Those who know
Where I may be
Please no longer hold
The secrets you keep

Hatred and anger
Matters no more
Help me return
To the family I adore

I miss the love
That we all share
I long for the hugs
From those who care

Take me back
Where I need to be
Bring me home
So I can sleep

~ anonymous

 ive followed this story since day 1
I have prayed for trenton and his whereabouts.. this story has haunted me ..I find melinda was a strange person.. I recall when she spoke to her mother ..shortly after he went missing.. . she told this to her mother..he isnt coming back mom..
she knew she either killed him or sold him..
if she did kill him why hasnt he been found.. after all shes wasnt a very smart person..
what I also find weird is that her parents whom lived out of state had never met trenton.. dont you find that odd???
I to this day am haunted by  this.. I continue to pray  that he is found..
melinda took her secret to the grave.. I cannot believe that the guys that  were vissiting her the night he disappeared .said the that they . know .. nothing. i think the police should have done more to find him.. or am I watching to much CSI there had to be some DNA somewhere... I will forever carry him in my heart.. R.I.P  trenton if you are dead... sleep with the angels..

p.s
maybe she shook him .. because he was crying didnt want to go to bed.. because she didnt want her cha cha interrupted.. she probably was most likely having an orgy with the guys. she was pretty kinky.. as evidenced by her comments on my space.

trenton disappeared august 27th 06
does anyone know if there were any updates.. i have been haunted by this case since it happened and was wondering if anyone else had any ideas and thoughts  on where he is.. and why he hasnt been found
truly one of the sadest 

 
   

“Without a Trace” Will Feature Missing FL Toddler

    * Missing: Trenton Duckett
    * Without a Trace

Published: Mon, March 03, 2008 - 11:02 am
Last Updated: Mon, March 03, 2008 - 11:09 am

 A missing Florida toddler will be featured this week on the popular CBS drama Without a Trace.
3-year-old Trenton Duckett disappeared from his home in Leesburg on August 27, 2006. Since then, his case has gotten national media attention. Duckett was featured on America's Most Wanted at the request of Mark Lunsford, who's 9-year-old daughter Jessica was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 2005.
Without a Trace will mention Duckett's case at the end of the Thursday's episode, which airs at 9:00 p.m. on WKRG News 5.
Duckett is a bi-racial (Asian/White) male, stands 3'0" tall, weighs 35 to 40 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes.
If you think you know anything that could help authorities find the boy, call the FBI hot line at 1.800.CALL.FBI
http://www.wkrg.com/news/article/missing_fl_toddler_featured_on_without_a_trace/10960/
-------------------------------------------
Published: March 03, 2008 06:57 pm
NEW YORK: Maziarz proposes ‘Trenton’s Law’

Proposed law would require birth certificates upon enrollment in day care
Staff Reports
Niagara Gazette
A proposed state law, named for a missing child with local ties, aims to bring day care providers into the fight against child abduction.

“Trenton’s Law” — named for Trenton Duckett, son of Lockport native Melinda Duckett — would require parents and guardians to produce original birth certificates when enrolling their children in any day care facility.

The bill, introduced last month by state Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, is meant to help law enforcement work with day care centers to potentially find children who have been reported missing.

“It’s another tool for law enforcement to try to locate missing children,” Maziarz said.

Two-year-old Trenton was reported missing Aug. 27, 2006, in Leesburg, Fla. Melinda Duckett, who attended Lockport High School, told police that she put Trenton in his crib that evening. She said when she checked in on him after watching a movie, she found an empty crib and a 10-inch cut in the window screen.

Investigators in Florida have named Melinda the prime suspect in Trenton’s disappearance.

Melinda committed suicide in September 2006 after taping a volitile interview with CNN’s Nancy Grace. The search for Trenton continues.

Maziarz said the birth certificate requirement may help find some of the over 22,000 children reported missing every day in the U.S.

If passed, the law would be an amendment to the state’s existing social services law.

If an original certificate can not be provided upon enrollment in a day care facility, the director or operator of the facility would contact the statewide missing children registry. If the child appears to match one reported missing, the day care provider would be required to contact local law enforcement.

The law excludes day care providers from civil or criminal liability that could arise from carrying out these requirements.

http://www.niagara-gazette.com/local/local_story_063185705.html

Does anyone think:
That trenton duckett is still alive..
Is there a possibility
no sign of his body if she did kill him
I would like to think that he is alive somewhere.. and will be found.
but it puzzles me  .. the comment melinda had with her mother prior to her suicide
she said .. mom he isnt coming back..
what did she mean?

Duckett Disappearance Spurs State Bill

March 12, 2008
The proposed law, named after Trenton Duckett, would require parents to show a government-issued birth certificate, not a photocopied document, when enrolling their children in state day-care centers.

Duckett's grandmother, Beth Eubank, lives in upstate New York. She believes the law could help authorities find missing children. Eubank hopes the proposed legislation gains the momentum of Megan's Law and the Amber Alert system, which began as state laws but have been adopted nationwide.

http://www.wesh.com/news/15572783/detail.html

Mrs. Red
I certainly hope you are right.
This case has haunted me since Day1
I dunno if the  mother would actualy kill him.
There has been no sighting of him since last seen with the mother.
I would have great peace of mind in knowing he is alife.

I know it's been a long time since you posted this comment! but if by chance you read this could you give me some input on your thoughts.

Thanks
MissKatie

Lawsuit against Nancy Grace, CNN in connection with woman's suicide moves ahead   :roll:

OCALA, Fla. — A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit that claims CNN's Nancy Grace pushed the mother of a missing toddler to suicide through aggressive questioning.

CNN and Grace argued the wrongful death lawsuit brought by Melinda Duckett's family would "severely chill" journalists' coverage of missing-persons cases. But U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges on Thursday denied their motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Duckett, 21, was on Grace's show after her son Trenton went missing from her apartment in August 2006. Grace grilled the woman, accusing her of hiding something because Duckett did not take a lie-detector test and answered vaguely regarding her whereabouts.

Duckett fatally shot herself before the network aired the pretaped interview.

The family claims Grace's intense questioning caused severe emotional distress that led to the suicide. The lawsuit also claims that the decision to air the interview after her suicide caused the family to suffer severe emotional distress and media and public harassment. They are seeking a jury trial, unspecified damages more than $15,000 and punitive damages.

Duckett family attorney Jay Paul Deratany said attorneys will begin taking testimony.

"There is more information out there to be gleaned," said Deratany. "If Melinda had any information, Nancy Grace stopped the investigation in its track."

Police have said Duckett is the only suspect in her son's disappearance.

A message left Friday for an attorney representing Grace and CNN were not immediately returned.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2008085881_webmissingboy01.html?syndication=rss

Thanks, Nut, glad to see you are on it.  I searched several pages on this thread scanning for "Trenton" as the first word.  It starts with "A" for "Amber Alert."

I wish I could say that was the first time I did that.

             ::MonkeyConfused::

(http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/photo_servlet?contentId=708634&version=1&locale=EN-US&subtype=MIMG&siteId=1008&isP16=true)

Another birthday for one of Central Florida’s missing kids

Sunday, 10 Aug 2008, 11:07 AM EDT
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) -- Another year has passed, and today marks another painful anniversary for the family of another missing Central Florida child.

Today is the 4th birthday of Trenton Duckett, a Leesburg boy who disappeared in 2006. The Duckett family told Fox 35 that they planned to recognize the day quietly, privately.

“We're just gonna keep it a family day and spend some time together,” said Trenton’s dad, Josh Duckett.

The Ducketts will soon be forced to acknowledge another tragic anniversary -- Aug. 27 is the date Trenton went missing two years ago from his Lake County home.

Trenton’s mother, Melinda Duckett, remains the sole suspect in the boy’s disappearance. She committed suicide about a week after Trenton went missing.

Josh Duckett is still holding out hope, although he admits there are “no big breaks yet.”

“I'm still working and waiting for that one big tip to lead to him,” he said.

On Saturday, Duckett teamed up with two missing persons organizations to keep the now cold search for his son alive.

“It's all about getting their name and their photos on there,” Duckett said of the mobile billboards the Kid Finders Network and Never Lose Hope Foundation had on display in Holly Hill.

The event, held on the third birthday of missing Orange County toddler Caylee Anthony also commemorated two missing boys whose cases have also gone cold.

Bryan Hayes, 13, and Mark Degner, 12, disappeared after leaving their Jacksonville school in February 2005. They have not been seen or heard from since.

Bryan’s grandmother Alene Hayes was also in attendance at the Holly Hill event, hoping to bring the boys’ names and faces back into the spotlight.

“There are no leads,” Hayes said. “They don’t have an idea of what happened to them.”

http://tinyurl.com/5b23c5

2-year anniversary for missing boy 
 
Last Edited: Wednesday, 27 Aug 2008, 8:43 AM EDT 
Created: Wednesday, 27 Aug 2008, 8:35 AM EDT 
LAKE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) -- It has been exactly two years since Trenton Duckett went missing. The boy was originally reported missing by his mother, Melinda, around 9 p.m. on August 27, 2006 from his bed inside his mother’s Leesburg apartment.

The toddler’s 4th birthday was earlier this month on August 10.

Wednesday evening, his family plans to hold a candlelight vigil at 8 p.m. on Main Street for Trenton.

Trenton’s mother committed suicide almost two weeks after reporting her son missing. She was the primary suspect in the missing child investigation after police found some of Trenton’s toys, pictures and a sonogram photo in a trash ban inside her apartment.

Last year, the Florida Department of Children and Families released documents showing that the toddler was shuttled between his two feuding parents and even into foster care in the months before he went missing.

The first documents show that Melinda allegedly threatened to harm Trenton by dangling him over the water to provoke her husband, Josh. DCF investigators determined only one case of abuse when Melinda held a knife to the boys leg, threatening to kill him.

After repeated searches of woods and remote areas near the apartment, investigators have failed to locate the missing boy. 
http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7297466&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

After 2 years, search slows for Leesburg's Trenton Duckett
Stephen Hudak | Sentinel Staff Writer
August 27, 2008
LEESBURG - Crimeline rarely rings anymore for Trenton Duckett, the Leesburg toddler who was reported missing from his bed two years ago today.

Police have fielded more than 1,400 tips since Trenton first disappeared, but only 40 in the past year, as national and local media have focused on other missing kids, including Caylee Anthony of Orange County.

The tips are vaguer now, too.

"We look into all kinds [of leads], but psychics and 'I-think-I-might-have-seen-him-here-or-on-TV,' that's the type we've been getting for about the last year or so," Leesburg police Maj. Steve Rockefeller said.

As family and friends of the boy prepare to mark the anniversary with a candlelight vigil tonight at Leesburg City Hall, Trenton's father, Joshua Duckett, 23, remains hopeful that his son, who would now be 4 years old, will come home safely.

"You have to prepare yourself for the worst but hope for the best," Duckett said. "Staying positive, staying busy helps."

Duckett, who is not presently employed, recently has distributed fliers on behalf of the Anthony family, using the opportunity to remind the public of his son, too. He will attend a state program for missing and endangered children in Tallahassee next month. Duckett also monitors his own Web site, helpfindtrenton.com, for clues.

Police say the boy's mother, Melinda Duckett -- 21 when she killed herself Sept. 8, 2006, at her grandparents' home -- remains the lone suspect in the case. Many answers died with her.

Friends say the Duckett family rejects the notion that the boy is dead, too.

"It's hard [for them] to even admit it could be a possibility," said Laurie Konnerth, 52, of Eustis, who helped organize the vigil.

Rockefeller said investigators are "open" to a variety of theories, but have gathered no evidence to support an abduction or the suggestion that Melinda "handed him off" to someone else to keep the boy from Joshua, her estranged husband.

Police also have no evidence that the boy is dead, Rockefeller said.

"But as more time goes by, the likelihood of a safe recovery becomes more remote," he said.

Lawyers for Melinda Duckett's parents recently won a legal victory over cable news personality Nancy Grace, who wanted a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit accusing her and CNN of pushing the young mother to suicide with an aggressive interview.

Grace, an employee of CNN, and the cable giant filed an answer in federal court last week in which they denied "intentional infliction of emotional distress." Their lawyers denied all allegations, pointing out that Melinda Duckett had accepted an "invitation to participate in the taping of an episode of Nancy Grace and that the episode was designed to provide the public with news on the investigation into the disappearance of Trenton Duckett."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/eustis/orl-lduckett2708aug27,0,4805127.story

Orlando Sentinel (Florida)

November 14, 2008 Friday

Duckett relatives get date in court

OCALA -- Relatives of Melinda Duckett who blame cable-TV talk-show host Nancy Grace for pushing their daughter to suicide two years ago are finally scheduled to get their day with her in federal court -- in 2010.

Federal-court documents show the wrongful-death trial is tentatively scheduled for July 2010.

Duckett, 21, shot herself in her grandparents' home in The Villages on Sept. 8, 2006, the day that her taped interview was to air on Grace's nightly program on CNN. Grace, a former prosecutor, had grilled the young mother about her missing 2-year-old son, Trenton, and accused Duckett of hiding information from investigators.

Leesburg police later labeled Duckett as the only suspect in the boy's disappearance.

Jerry and Beth Eubank, Melinda Duckett's adoptive parents, contend that the caustic commentator's aggressive style caused emotional distress that led Duckett to kill herself and prevented police from learning about Trenton's fate. Lawyers for the Eubankses and for Melinda Duckett's estate say the young woman was ambushed by Grace.

Lawyers for Grace and CNN say Grace asked tough questions but is not responsible for the suicide. They argue that Grace's focus was the safe return of the boy.

Earlier this year, senior U.S. District Court Judge William Terrell Hodges ruled against a motion by Grace and the cable-news network, which had sought to have the case thrown out. According to court records, federal Magistrate Gary R. Jones also set May 31, 2010, as the deadline for mediation of the case.

Duckett reported her son missing from his bed in her apartment on Aug. 27, 2006.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:884443473&start=8

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-nancy-grace-010109,0,4782002.story

CNN's Nancy Grace wants Melinda Duckett records
Steve Hudak

Sentinel Staff Writer

7:41 PM EST, January 1, 2009

Lawyers for CNN and the network's TV talk-show personality Nancy Grace want a federal judge to order a Lake County mental-health facility to turn over its treatment records of Melinda Duckett, the mother of missing toddler Trenton Duckett.

In documents filed on New Year's Eve, the lawyers contend Duckett's mental-health history is relevant to her family's wrongful-death lawsuit which accuses Grace and her cable show of "intentionally inflicting emotional distress" on the distraught mother, 21.

Officials for Lifestream Behavioral Center in Leesburg, which had previously treated Duckett, told the cable network's lawyers last month that they would not honor a deposition subpeona but would follow a judge's order.

Duckett shot herself in her grandparents' home in The Villages on Sept. 8, 2006, the day that Grace planned to air an interview she had taped with her. Jerry and Beth Eubank, Melinda Duckett's adoptive parents, contend that the abrasive announcer's aggressive style was an "ambush" that caused the emotional distress that led Duckett to suicide.

Duckett reported her son missing from his bed in her apartment on Aug. 27, 2006. Leesburg police have since labeled her as the only suspect in the disappearance of the boy, who would now be 4-years-old.

Lawyers will not object to release of Melinda Duckett's mental-health records

Sentinel Staff Writer
11:53 AM EST, January 5, 2009
Lawyers suing CNN and Nancy Grace on behalf of Melinda Duckett's estate will not object to the release of the young mother's mental-health records.

The psychiatric records are relevant to the estate's wrongful-death claim against the cable giant and Grace, a network personality whose grilling interview of Duckett preceded the 21-year-old mom's suicide in 2006, lawyer Kara Skorupa told the Orlando Sentinel today.

The network asked a federal judge on New Year's Eve to force Lifestream Behavioral Center in Leesburg to surrender documents detailing its treatment of Duckett, mother of missing Leesburg toddler Trenton Duckett.

The mental-health center has refused to honor a defense subpeona.

Melinda Duckett shot herself at her grandparents' home in The Villages in September 2006 the day the network aired Grace's taped interview with her.

Skorupa also dismissed unsourced reports that CNN and Grace were seeking amateur, pornographic videos of Melinda Duckett in their defense of the lawsuit, which also accuses them of "intentional infliction of emotional distress."

Skorupa said she gave the videos to law enforcement officers investigating Trenton's disappearance. "I don't think they're relevant to what we claim CNN and Nancy Grace did to Mindy," Skorupa said.

Lawyers representing CNN and Grace did not return a call seeking comment.

Leesburg police consider Melinda Duckett the prime suspect in the disappearance of her son, Aug. 27, 2006.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-melinda-duckett-mental-health-010509,0,2762736.story

Lawyers Won’t Object To The Release Of Melinda Duckett’s Records

 (http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2009/1/5/lawyers_wont_object_release_of_melinda_ducketts_health_records.html)
Tuesday, January 06, 2009 12:25:33 AM

LEESBURG -- Lawyers suing CNN and Nancy Grace on behalf of Melinda Duckett's estate will not object to the release of the young mother's mental health records.

The psychiatric records are relevant to the estate's wrongful death claim against the cable giant and Grace, whose grilling interview of Duckett preceded the 21-year-old mom's suicide in 2006.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, CNN asked a federal judge to force Lifestream Behavioral Center in Leesburg to surrender documents detailing its treatment of Duckett, the mother of missing toddler Trenton Duckett.

The mental health center has refused to honor a defense subpoena.

Explicit photographs uncovered of Melinda Duckett surface.

http://www.clickorlando.com/slideshow/news/10322549/detail.html


Link to photo's but can't find a actual story

Photo's posted today 1/23/2009 with some details.

A motorcycle enthusiast recently went to Deland police department with a picture he thinks looks just like missing toddler Trenton Duckett. (http://www.wesh.com/video/18944243/index.html)

Orlando Sentinel (Florida) 
July 21, 2009 Tuesday
 
Towns not too proud to ask for help
 
A missing-child poster and picture of Trenton Duckett still hang on the main entrance of Leesburg police headquarters -- almost three years after the 2-year-old boy disappeared and a major crime story enveloped the small town's department.

Early in the investigation, Melinda Duckett pointed to her son's father as the likely abductor. But after he performed well on a voice-stress test and showed detectives he was not being deceptive, the case entered another realm.

Quickly, investigators went from questioning a potential prime suspect to having little more to go on than a slit made in the window screen above Trenton's bed.

"That's when we all knew this was very big," said Maj. Steve Rockefeller with Leesburg police. "Within the first day, we had FBI and FDLE working with us."

Rockefeller's experiences -- and those of his investigators -- during the next few months offer a case study in how a relatively small police agency can manage a big-crime investigation. The progression of any large case varies, but at some point it becomes clear to local law enforcement that it will need help tracking down leads. Most agencies realize they need outside expertise.

Since the Duckett case captured national attention in early fall of 2006, at least two other missing-person cases have tapped the resources of smaller departments around Central Florida while generating significant media attention.

The case of 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings, who disappeared in February from her home in tiny Satsuma east of Gainesville, has consumed the Putnam County Sheriff's Office.

And the May disappearance of Tracy Ocasio, 27, has kept Ocoee police focused on finding her.

All three cases share several elements: Each involves smaller departments with limited resources and well-publicized searches for people who remain missing.

Based simply on the amount of resources -- or all "the hands in the pot" -- devoted to determining what happened to Ocasio, Ocoee Detective Sgt. Mike Bryant said the case of her disappearance is probably the largest his department has handled in recent years. Orlando and Apopka police, the Orange County Sheriff's Office, FDLE and the Seminole County Sheriff's Office all have helped.

Bryant compared a major investigation of his type to building a home: You have plumbers, carpenters, electricians, roofers -- all experts in individual disciplines.

"No matter how big things get, it is manageable," Bryant said. "You just have to have the right people in the right places."

Looking for Trenton

Leesburg considers itself a midsized police force. Regardless, the Duckett case is not the type any agency looks forward to, Leesburg's Rockefeller said.

This case included Melinda Duckett's suicide, national media glare from Nancy Grace's television show and, at one point, a separate investigation by the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

"Going through something like this is a learning experience I wouldn't wish on anybody," Rockefeller said.

It's also an episode that is impossible to prepare for fully. The cooperation and expertise of state and federal agencies were more valuable than any class or training his officers could take, he said.

"We had air support. We had electronics that you would not believe. It was amazing the stuff that we had at our disposal," he said.

Rockefeller's three key pieces of advice when local law enforcement must rely on outside agencies for help:

*Check the egos at the door.

*Never turn down an offer of help from an agency with expertise that can aid in the investigation.

*Don't assume that when departments such as FDLE or FBI enter a case that they will take it over.

Rockefeller said he learned how to delegate assignments and manage the various resources suddenly at his disposal.

When Marion County investigators later started theorizing that Trenton might have been handed off to someone, Rockefeller said, he and his investigators had to learn not "to be closed-minded."

"The focus was always finding Trenton and bringing him home," Rockefeller said. "The worst thing is we haven't found him. That's the ultimate letdown."

Rockefeller said he thinks Trenton is dead. But he added, "If Trenton was to come home and it proved me 100 percent wrong, I would be perfectly content."

FDLE offers resources

Florida Department of Law Enforcement has had some involvement in each of the three cases. The state agency employs analysts and forensic experts it can deploy to assist local departments. FDLE supervisors also can take over an investigation that might grow beyond the capabilities of a smaller force.

"The extent of our involvement is going to vary from case to case and agency to agency," FDLE spokeswoman Kristen Perezluha said.

Generally, FDLE takes the lead in multi-jurisdictional crimes and assists with local cases, she said.

"Definitely our role is not to step on anyone's toes but to offer assistance," Perezluha said.

When help is needed, local law enforcement knows whom to contact. FDLE's seven regional offices have long-established relationships with local departments and sheriff's offices, she said.

The Duckett investigation, in fact, benefited from the FDLE's Child Abduction Response Team, which pools resources from several agencies to help with searches, Rockefeller said. CART members go door-to-door and ask specific questions, allowing investigators to cover ground that would otherwise take officers days, he said.

"Before Trenton, we were unaware of that CART availability," he said.

Another notable FDLE program is the Regional Domestic Security Task Force. Created after 9-11, it operates much like CART, pooling resources and preparing to handle a domestic-security issue.

Each of FDLE's regions includes a task-force branch.

Handling high-profile cases

University of Central Florida sociology professor Jay Corzine, who studies crime and police issues, said it's not clear whether larger departments are better suited to handle high-profile missing-person cases. Orlando police, for instance, have yet to close the case of Jennifer Kesse, who vanished from her condo near the Mall at Millenia on Jan. 24, 2006.

Larger departments, however, might be better prepared to handle those rare cases that grab national media attention and require someone trained to handle the media onslaught that accompanies, such as Trenton Duckett's disappearance.

"The larger departments all have PIOs [public-information officers], and they're set up to handle the media blitz," Corzine said.
 
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:1009626057&start=3

http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2009/8/9/caylee_anthony_would_have_turned_4_sunday.html
(http://www.cfnews13.com/uploadedImages/Stories/Local/cayleetrenton.jpg)
 Caylee, Trenton Remembered On Their Birthdays
Monday, August 10, 2009 6:58:41 AM
Reported by Kelli Cook

ORLANDO -- The families of two Central Florida toddlers who went missing marked what would have been their birthdays Sunday and Monday.
Caylee Anthony Would Have Been 4

The grandparents of Caylee Marie Anthony remembered what would have been their late granddaughter’s fourth birthday Sunday with a special memorial.

Caylee’s mother, Casey Anthony, has been locked up at the Orange County Jail since October 2008, charged with her daughter’s murder.
“As a lawyer, when you have a client incarcerated for the long haul, you want to keep them strong,” said attorney Jose Baez, who made a point to visit Casey late Sunday night.

“I have some manners I want to go over with my client,” Baez said. “Today is a very difficult day for the entire family, so I thought a good distraction would be keeping her focused on the case.”

The same time a year ago, on what would have been Caylee’s third birthday, George and Cindy Anthony were still holding out hope they would find their granddaughter alive. Four months later, her remains were found in a wooded area less than a mile from the family’s home.

Baez has always insisted his client is innocent, and said he is sure to keep Casey aware of every step her defense team is making.

Baez would not speak in detail about the case, or say anything about Casey’s demeanor Sunday. He did said it was obviously a difficult time in her life.

“You have to keep your client focused and strong, especially in a case like this, where she’s facing the ultimate penalty. It would affect anyone’s mental health spirits,” Baez said.
Trenton Duckett Would Have Been 5

A day after Caylee’s family marked her birthday, the family of Trenton Duckett marks the day he would have turned 5 Monday.

Trenton disappeared Aug. 27, 2006, just weeks after he turned 2. His mother, Melinda Duckett, killed herself two weeks later.

Trenton’s father, Josh Duckett, told News 13 Sunday that he has decided to keep the birthday a family-only event.

Josh Duckett said he is busy working on a missing children’s truck, which he plans to debut at a candlelight vigil later in the month.

Despite the length of time Trenton has been missing, Josh Duckett said he still believes his son is alive.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/20570074/detail.html
Retired Det. Still Looking For Trenton
Detective Believes Missing Boy Is Dead

POSTED: Wednesday, August 26, 2009
UPDATED: 7:50 pm EDT August 26, 2009
LEESBURG, Fla. -- The now-retired detective who began the search for Trenton Duckett three years ago said he is dedicated to finding the missing boy.
Trenton was 2 years old when he disappeared on Aug. 27, 2006, and Leesburg Police Department Detective Rich Giles was assigned to the investigation.

"I made a promise early on that is really taboo for a police officer or police detective to do. You never promise the family of a victim that you're going to find their child," Giles said.

Giles said despite that, he made a promise to Trenton's family and told Trenton's father and grandmother he would do everything possible to bring the toddler home.

"If I made a mistake in the investigation, it's that I let myself get a little too close to the family," Giles said.

Giles retired from the Leesburg Police Department last year after 30 years in law enforcement, but he has not stopped looking for Trenton.

Giles said his personal opinion is that Trenton's mother, Melinda Duckett, killed the toddler, possibly by accident, and then tried to frame her estranged husband, Josh Duckett.

Melinda Duckett committed suicide less than two weeks after Trenton was reported missing.

Giles said evasive interviews Melinda Duckett gave police still keep him up at night.

"I've got them on audio. I'll go back and listen to them to see if there was anything I missed the first hundred times I listened to them. I go back through phone records," Giles said.

Melinda Duckett's cell phone pings have led Giles to suspect she did not dispose of her son in the Ocala National Forest, which was the focus of early searches, but instead, that Trenton could be much closer to Leesburg.
"The two incoming calls and the two outgoing calls place her very close to her apartment. She was hitting off of her home tower," Giles said.

Giles said he thinks that whatever happened to Trenton happened in the apartment.

Based on this suspicion, Giles said he occasionally pokes through swamps and forests looking for Trenton.

"Just checking out a hunch. Out driving, or whatever, and say, 'You know what? Since I'm over here in this area, let me stop by here and look,' " Giles said.

Giles said he is currently working on creating a map of the most likely places Melinda Duckett hid her son's body.

As a new member of Texas Equusearch, a group that famously assisted in the search for Caylee Anthony, Giles eventually plans to recruit the organization to help finally bring Trenton home.

Trenton's family is holding a vigil Thursday night to mark the three-year anniversary of his disappearance.

The vigil will begin at 8 p.m. near the fountain on Main Street in downtown Leesburg and the public is invited.
Video.     http://www.clickorlando.com/video/20571931/index.html

I too believe Trenton is dead and has been dead from day one. JMO

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Josh Duckett to hold vigil for missing son

2:57 p.m. EDT, August 26, 2009

LEESBURG - The father of Trenton Duckett, the Leesburg toddler who went missing in 2006, will hold a candlelight vigil on Thursday in downtown Leesburg to mark the third anniversary of his son's disappearance.

The vigil will start at 8 p.m. at Leesburg City Hall, on West Main Street, between Fifth and Sixth streets.

Trenton Duckett was reported missing by his mother, Melinda Duckett, from the bedroom of their Leesburg apartment on Aug. 27, 2006.

Melinda shot herself at her grandparents' home in The Villages about a month later. Trenton's father, Josh Duckett, was estranged from Melinda Duckett.

Josh Duckett said the vigil is to help bring awareness to missing children and help families with their searches. Leesburg Police investigators plan to attend Thursday's vigil.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/lake-duckett-candlelightvigil-082709,0,4314053.story

http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2009/8/27/trenton_duckett_missing_3_years.html

Trenton Duckett Missing 3 Years
Thursday, August 27, 2009 4:26:51 AM
LEESBURG -- The father of missing Lake County boy Trenton Duckett will hold a candlelight vigil Thursday night to mark the 3-year anniversary of his son’s disappearance.

Duckett was only 2 when he was reported missing from his mom’s Leesburg apartment on Aug. 27, 2006.

The child has never been found, and Leesburg Police says the few leads it received in recent months have only led to dead ends.

The boy's mother Melinda remains the only suspect in the case, but she took her own life weeks after the boy went missing.

The vigil is planned for 8 p.m. Thursday at Leesburg City Hall. Family members say they’re holding the vigil to bring attention to all missing children.

Many prayers will be offered during this prayer vigil.  My prayer is for this little boy to be brought home to his daddy and family.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/21143574/detail.html
Grace Denies Abuse In Duckett Case
Local 6 News Obtains Sworn Statement From CNN Host Nancy Grace

POSTED: Monday, September 28, 2009
UPDATED: 10:34 pm EDT September 28, 2009
(http://www.clickorlando.com/2008/0923/17537834_240X180.jpg)
ORLANDO, Fla. -- CNN talk show host Nancy Grace has denied under oath that Melinda Duckett was subjected to mental abuse on her program, according to documents obtained by Local 6 News.

Duckett, the mother of missing toddler Trenton Duckett, committed suicide shortly after appearing on Grace's show in September 2006.

Melinda Duckett's parents are suing Grace and CNN, claiming that Grace's interview led to the suicide.

In the interview, Grace grilled Melinda Duckett with questions about her son's disappearance.

"Where were you? Why aren't you telling us where you were that day? You were the last person to be seen with him," Grace said.

Local 6 News has obtained a sworn statement from Grace, who said she had "no knowledge of Melinda Duckett's frame of mind" and that Melinda Duckett "voluntarily appeared" on the show.

Grace also denied that "Melinda Duckett was subjected to mental abuse on her program."

The wrongful death trial is scheduled to begin next year.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-nancy-grace-denies-mental-abuse-092909,0,2378650.story
Report: Nancy Grace denies allegations of abuse in Duckett case


6:05 a.m. EDT, September 29, 2009

Documents show CNN talk show host Nancy Grace has denied under oath that Melinda Duckett was subjected to mental abuse on her television program.

A report on ClickOrlando.com shows a sworn statement from Grace, saying she had "no knowledge of Melinda Duckett's frame of mind" and that Melinda Duckett "voluntarily appeared" on the show.

Duckett, the mother of missing toddler Trenton Duckett, committed suicide after appearing on Grace's show in September 2006.

To read the story, click here.
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/21143574/detail.html

http://www.examiner.com/x-1168-Crime-Examiner~y2009m9d28-Trenton-Duckett-case-Nancy-Grace-denies-Melinda-Duckett-mentally-abused-during-interview
Trenton Duckett case: Nancy Grace denies Melinda Duckett mentally abused during interview
September 28, 11:50 PMCrime ExaminerCindy Adams

(http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID1168/images/Trenton_Duckett_Computer_Photo.jpg)
Age progression photo of Trenton Duckett, based on how he might look today.


Age progression photo of Trenton Duckett, based on how he might look today.

The parents of Melinda Duckett are suing HLN talk show host, Nancy Grace, claiming their daughter’s appearance on her show led to her suicide.

Local 6 News obtained legal documents in which Grace denies under oath that Duckett was subjected to metal abuse during the interview. Grace states she had “no knowledge of… Duckett’s frame of mind” and that she “voluntarily appeared” on Grace’s show.

Duckett appeared on the show to discuss the disappearance of her 2-year-old son, Trenton. To see a video report, click here.  http://www.examiner.com/x-1168-Crime-Examiner~y2009m1d16-Over-2-years-later-Trenton-Ducketts-disappearance-remains-a-mystery
On the day Trenton went missing, Duckett told authorities she and Trenton had driven to the Ocala National Forest to find a shooting range got lost, and they wound up driving in circles for hours.  This conflicts with tips that place Melinda in Leesburg at 8:00 AM and walking into her apartment alone, without Trenton, at about 3:00 PM. To read more about Trenton’s disappearance, click here.

According to Click Orlando, Grace asked Melinda questions such as “Where were you? Why aren’t you telling us where you were that day? You were the last person to be seen with him.”

In her statement, Grace also denied that Duckett “…was subjected to mental abuse on her program.”

Trenton disappeared in 2006. If you have any information regarding the Trenton Duckett investigation, please call The Leesburg Police Department at 1-352-787-2121 or 1-800-423-TIPS (8477).

http://www.dailycommercial.com/localnews/story/092709missingamber
Amber Alerts: When young children disappear, police do everything to find them
MISSING

Every year, somewhere around 800,000 people are reported missing. Sometimes a person goes missing through criminal action. Other times it's because of someone's frail medical condition. And sometimes it's just not clear what happened to them.

Often, there are loved ones affected. And always, public safety officials are called in to search. Here is one story.

MILLARD K. IVES

Staff Writer

LEESBURG -- You might call it a souped-up Amber Alert.

It's a multi-colored, customized 1998 Chevy SS-10, plastered with the photos of 57 missing children from across the nation, including Trenton Duckett of Leesburg, who at 2 years of age was reported missing by his mother in August 2006.

The vehicle is owned by Josh Duckett, the child's father, and includes dates for the missing children as well as contact phone numbers. He picked the children's photos mostly at random from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Web site.
Trenton's face is painted on the hood.

Duckett, who helped design the artwork, unveiled the piece on the third anniversary of his son's disappearance at a candlelight vigil in Leesburg.

Duckett said he would be displaying the truck at missing children events, truck shows and other community activities to help draw attention to the issue.

It might just work. During a shopping trip to Walmart in Bushnell, Duckett came out of the store to find people taking pictures of his vehicle.

"It's a big hit," said Duckett. "I've received a lot of positive feedback so far."

Duckett's truck is just one way to raise awareness of missing children. A more immediate way is the Amber Alert.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Amber Alert Program is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies, broadcasters, transportation agencies, and the wireless industry to activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases.

The Amber Alert allows law enforcement to use the media, reverse 911 calls and electronic signs on major highways to notify residents and motorists when a child can't be found.

The law enforcement agency dealing with the abduction has to go through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to get the alert activated.

According to the FDLE, 118 Amber Alerts have been activated since August 2002 across Florida, two of them in Lake County. Duckett's disappearance is one of four unsolved Amber Alerts.

In the other Lake County alert, a 14- and 12-year-old were reported missing on June 18, 2008, at 10 a.m., but were found two hours later with their father in Seminole County.

Amber Alerts work, said Mike Miller, a detective with the special victim unit of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
"It's a great way to find a missing child you think is in danger."

The Amber Alert is still active for Trenton. Melinda Duckett, Trenton's mother and Josh Duckett's estranged wife, killed herself as suspicion began to mount against her in the child's disappearance.

Leesburg police have said if she were still alive, she likely would have been arrested for his abduction.

Josh Duckett, along with police, said they hope that the eye-catching vehicle can keep hope alive for finding the children, long after Amber Alerts for their disappearance have cooled down.

"We believe the 'cool' or unique nature of this vehicle can and will spur additional questions and publicity about these cases," said Maj. Steve Rockefeller. "Anything that brings positive attention to the cause of missing persons and their families is a good idea."
(http://assets.mediaspanonline.com/prod/3289061/092709missingamber_w300.jpg)

Orlando Sentinel (Florida) 
September 30, 2009 Wednesday
 
Grace denies abusing boy's mom mentally
 
Cable TV talk-show host Nancy Grace denies that she subjected the mother of a missing Leesburg child to mental abuse during a testy interview that preceded the young mother's suicide.

In a routine motion filed last week in a wrongful-death civil suit in federal court in Ocala, lawyers for Melinda Duckett's estate attached Grace's responses to a set of written queries posed to Grace and her lawyers.

Grace was asked to describe Duckett's "conduct and demeanor" on the day of the interview in 2006.

"Before taping the program, Melinda Duckett said she was busy, but indicated her willingness to appear by telephone on the program with Joshua Duckett," Grace answered. "Ms. Duckett was amiable when on the telephone immediately prior to her appearance, then abruptly left the call during her appearance."

Joshua Duckett is the missing boy's father and was Melinda Duckett's estranged husband.

South Florida lawyers Jay Paul Deratany and Kara Skorupa, who represent the estate and Melinda Duckett's adoptive parents Beth and William "Jerry" Eubank, say that Grace's aggressive interview pushed the distraught woman to suicide.

Grace, a former prosecutor in Georgia and Court TV personality, denied any knowledge of Duckett's frame of mind at the time and denied that Duckett was "subjected to mental abuse" on the Headline News program.

Judith Mercier, a lawyer for co-defendant CNN, also denied that Duckett was subjected to mental abuse.

Trenton Duckett was 2 years old when his mother reported him missing Aug. 27, 2006, from the bedroom of their apartment in Leesburg. She then shot and killed herself at her grandparents' home in The Villages on Sept. 8, 2006, the day the interview with Grace was broadcast.

The case is scheduled for trial in July.
 
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:1047904469&start=11

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/21804131/detail.html
Professor: Grace Pushed Duckett Over Edge
Harvard Expert Prepared To Testify In Lawsuit
POSTED: Thursday, December 3, 2009
UPDATED: 12:01 am EST December 4, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Harvard Medical School professor said he is prepared to testify that Melinda Duckett was pushed over the edge by CNN talk show host Nancy Grace, Local 6 News reported.

Duckett, the mother of missing toddler Trenton Duckett, committed suicide shortly after appearing on Grace's show in September 2006.

Melinda Duckett's parents are suing Grace and CNN, claiming that Grace's interview led to the suicide.

In the interview, Grace grilled Melinda Duckett with questions about her son's disappearance.

"Where were you? Why aren't you telling us where you were that day? You were the last person to be seen with him," Grace said.

Harold Bursztajn, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard, is prepared to testify that "there is a reasonable likelihood that Melinda Duckett's experience with Nancy Grace was a contributing cause of her suicide."

CNN's lawyers Grace asked the same types of questions police were asking Duckett about her missing son, Trenton.
But Bursztajn said that there is "a distinction between a police interview conducted in private and a nationally televised public interrogation."

Pointing to Grace's prior work as a prosecutor, Bursztajn said, "An interviewer skilled in interrogation can rapidly create emotional stress that can exacerbate pre-existing emotional vulnerability."

An expert hired by CNN said he has evidence that the 21-year-old was preparing to die long before the interview.

In September, Local 6 News obtained a sworn statement from Grace, who said she had "no knowledge of Melinda Duckett's frame of mind" and that Melinda Duckett "voluntarily appeared" on the show.

Grace also denied that "Melinda Duckett was subjected to mental abuse on her program."

If a settlement is not reached between CNN and Duckett's parents, the case will go to trial in about seven months.

" Professor: Grace Pushed Duckett Over Edge "


Nut44x4: That was (http://www.heartsofourtroops.com/forum/images/smilies/bullcrap.gif)  then and still is (http://www.heartsofourtroops.com/forum/images/smilies/bullcrap.gif)

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/22340192/detail.html
Nancy Grace Fights Taping Of Deposition
Melinda Duckett Family's Lawyers To Question Talk Show Host
POSTED: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
UPDATED: 12:20 am EST January 26, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Talk show host Nancy Grace is firing back in a central Florida wrongful death suit by filing an emergency motion in federal court to block her deposition from being videotaped.

Grace is slated for a deposition in connection with the Melinda Duckett wrongful death case this week. Duckett's parents are suing Grace, claiming an interview with the talk show host drove their daughter to commit suicide.

"Where were you? Why aren't you telling us where you were that day? You were the last person to be seen with him," Grace asked Duckett in the 2006 interview.

On her show, Grace often uses short sound bites from jail interviews or court proceedings and then lawyers analyze each word. On Monday, however, she had a motion filed to block the same thing from happening to her.

Lawyers representing Duckett's parents are scheduled to question Grace regarding the interview she conducted with the troubled mother after she reported her son, Trenton, had disappeared; however, the Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, said the deposition should not be videotaped, arguing in the court filing that "the risks associated with releasing deposition videotapes prior to trial are high due to the video's unique ability to be misused."

According to CNN, such videos "can be cut and spliced and used as 'sound bites' and taken wholly out of context."
Yet, on Monday night, Grace was using spliced sound bites to highlight another missing child from central Florida, Haleigh Cummings.

When Caylee Anthony disappeared, the talk show host repeatedly analyzed and commented on jail conversations as well.

"She kept telling her mother that (Caylee's) somewhere close to home," Grace said in 2008, of the Caylee Anthony case. "She said that a couple of times, and listen -- she's either clairvoyant, or she's a killer."

Still, CNN argued that releasing depositions in the Duckett lawsuit could "harass, embarrass and intimidate Ms. Grace, and corrupt the jury pool."

Grace has denied her interview with Duckett in 2006 had anything to do with her suicide, and police said they considered Duckett to be the prime suspect in Trenton's disappearance.

The Duckett family said they want the deposition to be videotaped, and attorneys for the family said they have no problem keeping the videotape confidential and not releasing it to the public.

why do they keep calling Melinda's family the "Ducketts"????

The Ducketts are not the ones who are part of the lawsuit against Nancy Grace.

The lawsuit was brought by Melinda's Family - the Eubanks.  Hoping for money, no doubt.  They certainly have not shown one bit of worry for Trenton - in fact, her parents never even met Trenton! 

what a bunch of crap - all that needs to be done is to check out the Doc & Johnny Show from the day AFTER Melinda taped the NG show - where she asked the Doc & Johnny listeners to be sure and tune in in on her NG performance.

If anything, the Doc & Johnny listeners made sure that Melinda understood what the public was thinking in regards to her son's disppearance.

They called her a "Baby Killer".  And the FDLE has the tapes.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-melinda-duckett-20100126,0,2823951.story

Nancy Grace can be videotaped, judge rules
Her answers cannot be disclosed without court permission, however
(http://orlandosentinel.image2.trb.com/orlnews/media/photo/2006-09/25382152.jpg)
Melinda Duckett, the mother of missing 2-year-old Trenton Duckett, holds a picture of her and her son following a news conference at the Leesburg Police Department. Melinda was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. (STEPHEN M. DOWELL, ORLANDO SENTINEL / August 29, 2006)

Stephen Hudak and Willoughby Mariano Orlando Sentinel

11:41 p.m. EST, January 26, 2010
Headline News host Nancy Grace can be videotaped while answering questions in a lawsuit accusing the TV personality of pushing a Leesburg single mom to commit suicide, a federal magistrate ruled Tuesday.

But lawyers representing the estate of Melinda Duckett must not share the recording with "any third party" or disclose any portion of the testimony in the court file without the magistrate's permission.

The order could keep Grace's testimony a secret among the lawyers until the case goes to trial.

Magistrate Gary R. Jones outlined the conditions in a five-page ruling after lawyers for Grace asked Monday to bar cameras from the depositions she is scheduled to give Thursday in Atlanta.

Keeping video cameras out, Grace's lawyers argued, would avoid "annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, and undue harm should the videotape be released prior to trial for purposes unrelated to the litigation," according to the emergency motion filed in U.S. District Court in Ocala.
The magistrate did not rule on whether Grace was at risk of embarrassment or other harm from being videotaped.

"The court need not…determine whether the disclosure of Ms. Grace's videotape deposition to the public would result in the evils complained of by Defendants," Jones wrote. "The Plaintiffs in their response advise the court that they had agreed (and continue to agree) to a protective order."

Duckett's estate is suing Grace and CNN in federal court, accusing the legal commentator and her TV talk show of "intentionally inflicting emotional distress" on the mother of missing 2-year-old Trenton Duckett.

Melinda Duckett, 20, shot herself in the head on Sept. 8, 2006, at her grandparents' home in The Villages, hours before her interview with Grace was scheduled for broadcast on HLN, a division of Cable News Network.

Grace, a former prosecutor in Georgia and a Court TV personality, has denied that Duckett experienced "mental abuse" on the Headline News program that delved into the boy's disappearance from his bedroom.

Law-enforcement investigators had questioned Duckett about her son, who was reported missing Aug. 27, 2006. Leesburg police have since called the young mother their only suspect in the case.

The boy has not been found.
Videotaping depositions gives lawyers another way of preserving the sworn, pre-trial testimony of witnesses. Lawyers for the Duckett estate have not objected to video of their witnesses answering questions from Grace's lawyers.

"It's kind of an understood thing that they aren't going to be released," said Duckett lawyer Kara Skorupa. "I would expect that hers would be no different."

Skorupa said she found Grace's opposition to videotaped depositions "ironic" but would not elaborate.

The case is set for trial in July.

Grace's cable show has promoted and broadcast an array of crime-news issues, including special programs entitled "Caught on Tape!" that featured the videotaped testimony of Casey Anthony's parents, Cindy Anthony and George Anthony, taken during depositions for a civil lawsuit.

Anthony, 23, is accused of killing her daughter in 2008. She has pleaded not guility.

Grace is also the subject of the stage play "Tot Mom" by Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh. The play explores how Grace covered Casey Anthony's case and is based on transcripts of Grace's show, court documents and published reports.

Stephen Hudak can be reached at shudak@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5930. Willoughby Mariano can be reached at wmariano@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5171.

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100127/ARTICLES/1271002/1002
Around the Region

The Associated Press and Staff Reports

Published: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 10:22 p.m.

( page of 4 )

POLICE BEAT

Boys playing with lighter may have started fire

Two boys playing with a lighter may have started a fire that damaged two mobile homes and two sheds late Monday afternoon. No injuries were reported.

According to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office, charges against the boys are pending further investigation by the State Fire Marshal's office.

The fire was reported at 5:10 p.m. at Arredondo Farms, a mobile home community at 7117 S.W. Archer Road.

Continued here...   http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100127/ARTICLES/1271002/1002?p=2&tc=pg

http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=84807
 Nancy Grace Depostion Can Be Videotaped
Published on January 27, 2010
by EU News Network
(EUNewsNet.com and OfficialWire)
ATLANTA, GO
A federal magistrate says an upcoming deposition by cable television host Nancy Grace in a Florida civil case can be videotaped, but cannot be made public.

Magistrate Gary Jones refused to bar cameras from Thursday's deposition in Atlanta, which is part of a lawsuit accusing Grace of badgering a woman into committing suicide.

Grace is being sued by the estate of Melinda Duckett, who committed suicide in 2006 shortly before she was to be interviewed by Grace on her Headline News true-crime show about her missing son.

Jones did not make any judgment on the potential embarrassment a taped deposition could cause. However, he specifically instructed the lawyers for estate not to turn the tapes over to the media.

The Orlando Sun said Wednesday that Leesburg police consider Duckett to be their only suspect in the disappearance of 2-year-old Trenton Duckett.

Estate attorneys said they found it "ironic" that Grace fought the presence of cameras in her deposition since she freely used deposition video in her extensive coverage of the disappearance and death of young Caylee Anthony in Orlando.

http://www.wesh.com/news/22357128/detail.html
Trenton's Dad: Nancy Grace Did Nothing Wrong
Melinda Duckett's Family Blames Nancy Grace For Suicide

POSTED: 3:20 pm EST January 27, 2010
UPDATED: 4:34 pm EST January 27, 2010
LEESBURG, Fla. -- Melinda Duckett is the only person Leesburg police named as a suspect in Trenton Duckett's disappearance more than three years ago.

The little boy's father, Josh Duckett, said he believes talk show host Nancy Grace didn't push Melinda over the edge. He said it's the mother's guilt that lead to her suicide.

"I don't feel Nancy Grace did anything wrong," Josh Duckett said.

Josh Duckett believes Grace didn't hammer his ex-wife Melinda Duckett with any tougher questions than he endured when put in the hot seat about Trenton's disappearance in 2006.
(http://www.wesh.com/2007/0130/10873409_240X180.jpg)
"She asked questions that really honestly need to be answered," he said.
The day after being grilled by Grace, Melinda Duckett shot and killed herself in her grandparents' closet.

Her family blames Grace in a newly filed lawsuit, seeking more than $15,000.

"They didn't force her to do the show," Josh Duckett said.

"I only wish I would have questioned her more," Grace said.

Grace is set to give a videotaped deposition in Atlanta Thursday morning, but a judge has ruled, at Grace's request, that the tape cannot be released to the public without the court's consent.
Duckett feels that's fair.

"If it does get leaked, it's going to turn my son's case into a three-ring circus," Josh Duckett said.

Investigators said in the last year they've only have five leads on potential Trenton sightings across the country, and consider it a cold case.

Josh Duckett said he is still focused on finding his son alive -- not on the courtroom drama over Melinda's death.

Grace is scheduled to be deposed in Atlanta.

A CNN rep said Grace has no comment.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/22465237/detail.html
Grace's Duckett Deposition Detailed
Talk Show Host Sued For Wrongful Death In Woman's Suicide

POSTED: Thursday, February 4, 2010
UPDATED: 7:01 pm EST February 4, 2010
Details of Nancy Grace's deposition in the wrongful death lawsuit of Trenton Duckett's mother have been obtained by Local 6.

VIDEO: Documents Filed http://www.clickorlando.com/video/22468520/index.html

Melinda Duckett's family is suing Nancy Grace. They claim Grace's TV interview with Duckett, whose son, Trenton, was missing, drove the mother to suicide the following day.

Before Grace grilled Duckett, 21, about Trenton on her CNN talk show, Grace admitted during her deposition last month she had the ability to learn about the mother's history of mental illness, but she chose not to read the information, according to court documents.

In the deposition, Grace said she chose not to read the background information about Duckett that a staff member has prepared for her.

Details from the deposition are outlined in a new motion filed by Duckett's parents.

Duckett's family is suing Grace for wrongful death, claiming Grace's interview drove their mentally unstable daughter to kill herself.

According to court papers, Grace's producer, Keren Schiffman, admitted she knew Duckett had once been committed to a mental institution and that the mother was claiming to be the victim of domestic violence.

During the deposition, Grace told attorneys that she routinely throws out pre-interview notes put together by her staff, including the notes on Duckett.

Grace has denied her interview with Duckett contributed to the young mother's suicide. Police said Duckett is still the prime suspect in Trenton's disappearance.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2010/02/nancy-grace-didnt-read-background-material-on-melinda-duckett-wkmg-reports.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+entertainment%2Ftv%2Ftvguy+%28TV+Guy%29
Nancy Grace didn’t read background material on Melinda Duckett, WKMG reports
CNN, CNN Headline News, Nancy Grace, WKMG — posted by halboedeker on February, 4 2010 6:53 PM
Discuss This: Comments(15) | Add to del.icio.us | Digg it

HLN host Nancy Grace didn’t read background material on Melinda Duckett before their interview, WKMG-Channel 6 reported tonight.

The CBS affiliate cited court papers as the source of its information.

Grace’s producer admitted that she knew Duckett had once been committed to a mental institution, but the Grace employee didn’t pass the information along to her boss, WKMG’s Mike DeForest reported.

In her recent deposition, Grace said she often tosses out pre-interview notes prepared by her staff and did precisely that with notes about Duckett, DeForest reported. “We have not yet learned why,” he added.

In 2006, Grace questioned Duckett about the disappearance of her son, 2-year-old Trenton Duckett. Melinda Duckett, 20, of Leesburg shot herself to death shortly after the interview.

Duckett’s estate is suing Grace and her employer, CNN, in federal court, accusing the HLN host of “intentionally inflicting emotional distress” on the young mother.

Grace has denied the interview contributed to Duckett’s suicide.

I guess Melinda Duckett didn't do her homework either.....It is a known fact that Nancy Grace is tough and asks tough questions in a 'grilling format'. No one hog tied the woman and made her go on Nancy's show.

Melinda Duckett is responsible for her own demise...period. She is also responsible for whatever happened to Trenton. I believe she killed the boy.

http://www.wesh.com/news/24615285/detail.html
Report: Delay Ordered In Nancy Grace, Duckett Trial
Prosecution Claims Grace Pushed Duckett To SuicidePOSTED: 11:04 pm EDT August 12, 2010
UPDATED: 11:21 pm EDT August 12, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A judge has ordered a two-month delay in the civil trial for CNN's Nancy Grace and Melinda Duckett, the Orlando Sentinel reported on Thursday.

Attorneys for Duckett's side claim that Grace pushed Duckett to suicide after she appeared on her show.

Duckett's son, Trenton, disappeared from their Leesburg home in August 2006. Investigators said Duckett killed herself a month later.

The trial is being pushed back because one of Duckett's lawyers is recovering from surgery, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

http://www.wesh.com/r/24783103/detail.html
Candlelight Vigil Planned For Trenton Duckett
Vigil Planned At Leesburg City Hall
POSTED: 10:37 am EDT August 27, 2010
UPDATED: 11:21 am EDT August 27, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. -- It was four years ago on Friday when Trenton Duckett vanished.
(http://www.wesh.com/2007/0418/12377890_240X180.jpg)
Friends and family of the toddler will hold a candelight vigil at Leesburg City Hall on Friday night.

Duckett disappeared from his home. His mother claimed someone cut her window screen and kidnapped the 2-year-old boy.

When police began questioning her story, Melinda Duckett committed suicide.

Please light a candle for Trenton.   ::MonkeyAngel::
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=td2

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/lake_news/082710_Laser_treating_the_hair_to_grow
Vigil for Trenton Duckett; 4 yrs. missing
Updated: Friday, 27 Aug 2010, 11:58 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 27 Aug 2010, 11:55 PM EDT
    *Video at link

      By Elizabeth Alvarez
      FOX 35 News

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Josh Duckett talks to us about his devotion to finding his son. “I continue to look for him and I have every bit of faith that he’s out there it’s just a matter of finding him.

Four years ago Friday, Trenton Duckett disappeared. His mother, Melinda Duckett, told police the 2-year old was kidnapped after someone cut her window screen.

Melinda Duckett committed suicide when detectives began questioning her story. Josh who was separated from Trenton’s mother at the time has held a candle light vigil for his son every year, since Trenton disappeared.

“It’s definitely a sad night for me and my family. Pretty much our whole life got turned around on this day.
Because of the stormy weather, Trenton Duckett's candle light vigil turned into more of a social gathering inside a local restaurant. Friends and family say it doesn’t matter where they meet, because what’s important is that they come together to pray for the missing toddler’s safe return.

“We’re not going to give up and we don’t want anybody else to either,” they said.

Nancy Grace settles lawsuit over woman's death   ::MonkeyNoNo::

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The parents and estate of a young woman who shot herself after she faced harsh questioning from talk-show host Nancy Grace have dismissed a lawsuit against CNN and the host.
According to court records, the settlement calls for Grace to establish a $200,000 trust dedicated to finding Melinda Duckett's missing son, Trenton, who was 2 when he disappeared.

The lawsuit accused Grace, whose show airs on CNN's sister network HLN, of inflicting emotional distress on the 21-year-old mother with her questions about the missing boy. Grace accused the woman of hiding something because Duckett did not take a lie-detector test and answered vaguely about her whereabouts when the boy disappeared from her apartment.

Police later named Duckett the prime suspect in the boy's disappearance.

Duckett shot herself the day the taped interview was scheduled to broadcast — Sept. 8, 2006. Duckett had reported the boy missing less than two weeks earlier.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Ocala four years ago. The settlement agreement between Grace and the Duckett family lawyers was filed Friday and still needs a federal judge's approval. The trial was scheduled to begin next month.

If Trenton is found alive before his 13th birthday, proceeds from the trust will transfer to him for his benefit. If he is not found by the time he would turn 13 in 2017 — or if he is found dead before then — then the remaining money will be transferred to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

CNN said in a statement Monday that network officials were pleased the lawsuit has been dismissed.

"After four years of litigation and extensive discovery, the parties now agree that Nancy Grace, the producers of her program, and CNN engaged in no intentional wrongdoing in the course of dedicating a program to finding the missing toddler, as alleged in the lawsuit," Jay Paul Deratany, a lawyer representing Duckett's family and estate, said in a statement.

Deratany's statement was sent to The Associated Press by CNN. He declined further comment.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2010-11-08-nancy-grace-suit_N.htm

http://www.ocala.com/article/20101108/ARTICLES/101109699/-1/NEWS?p=1&tc=pg
Nancy Grace settles lawsuit with Duckett estate
The suit claimed the host's interview with a young mother caused her to take her own life.
By Suevon Lee
Staff writer
Published: Monday, November 8, 2010 at 2:54 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, November 8, 2010 at 11:01 p.m.
CNN talk show host Nancy Grace has reached a settlement with the estate of Melinda Duckett to create a $200,000 trust dedicated to locating Duckett's missing toddler, Trenton
The settlement, which still must be approved by a federal judge in Ocala, was outlined in a joint petition filed with the court Friday, a month before the start of a scheduled jury trial.
Duckett's adoptive parents sued Grace in a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming the television host's aggressive interview of the young mother in 2006 led the 21-year-old to take her own life the next day.

In a statement Monday, lawyers for plaintiffs Bethann and William Eubank, residents of New York, indicated the parties in the lawsuit “now agree that Nancy Grace, the producers of her program, and CNN engaged in no intentional wrongdoing in the course of dedicating a program to finding the missing toddler.”

The statement went so far as to offer an apology to the network and Grace, “to the extent that any suggestion has been made that anyone deliberately caused the family distress or Melinda Duckett's suicide.”

Neither the Eubanks nor their attorneys could be reached for comment Monday.
“We are pleased the lawsuit has been dismissed. The statement speaks for itself,” a spokeswoman for CNN said Monday.

Pending approval of the settlement, the Eubanks have agreed to dismiss their lawsuit with prejudice, meaning they cannot bring an action on the same claim in the future.

The network, meanwhile, has agreed to create the Trenton John Duckett Irrevocable Trust for the purpose of finding the missing toddler, who disappeared from his Leesburg home on Aug. 27, 2006, at age 2.
If the young boy is found alive before he turns 13, the remaining proceeds in the trust will be administered by a trustee — Trenton's great-aunt Kathleen Calvert — until he turns 18 and the funds are transferred for his use. Trenton would be six today.

The funds will be transferred immediately to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children if Trenton is not found by his 13th birthday, or if he is found but is not alive, according to the agreement.

The dispute arose from an interview Melinda Duckett gave on Nancy Grace's criminal justice-themed show days after her son's disappearance.

Duckett, who was interviewed by telephone, was subject to repeated and often abrasive questioning by Grace, a former federal prosecutor, including multiple queries about why she had not agreed to a polygraph test.

A day after the Sept. 7, 2006, interview, Duckett killed herself with a shotgun at her grandparents' home in The Villages. The show aired later that evening, with a box updating viewers about Duckett's suicide.

In December 2006, Duckett's family brought legal action against CNN and Grace in a wrongful death lawsuit. A jury trial date had been pushed back several times in recent years.

The lawsuit claimed that Duckett was subject to hostile interrogation and thinly-veiled accusations by Grace that she had something to do with her son's disappearance. Duckett had told authorities Trenton had been snatched from his bedroom window the night he disappeared.

In court papers, lawyers for CNN and Grace alleged that Duckett “meticulously prepared” for the taped telephone interview, including using a list of scripted talking points.

“The questions Nancy Grace asked Melinda were reasonably designed to provide the public with information about the investigation to help find Trenton,” stated the defense's motion for summary judgment. “She asked the same questions that Melinda had been asked during press interviews all that week.”
As to assertions that the young mother suffered from mental illness, the defendants in the lawsuit claimed they were “without knowledge” of Duckett's prior mental health history.

Nancy Eubank, Duckett's grandmother, who lives in Lady Lake but who was not party to the lawsuit, said she was not altogether consoled by the outcome of the lawsuit. “I wish that Nancy Grace would be taken off the air, totally and completely, because she just destroys people,” said Eubank, who said she had been listening on the other line as her granddaughter was interviewed by Grace in 2006.

“This case will never be put to rest in my heart, because my granddaughter is dead, and little Trenton, I have no idea where he is,” she added. “My granddaughter did not kill him.”

Contact Suevon Lee at 867-4065 or suevon.lee@starbanner.com.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-lk-duckett-what-now-20101112-14,0,6640938.story

Josh Duckett says settlement puts focus back on finding Trenton
Film crew follows father of missing Leesburg boy, who would be 6 today

 
November 12, 2010

TAVARES — With a film crew in tow, Josh Duckett used a small stage to renew his plea for help in finding his son, Trenton, who has been missing since Aug. 27, 2006, when he disappeared from his bedroom in Leesburg.

Josh Duckett, now 25, took the opportunity to speak that arose this week when CNN and talk-show host Nancy Grace settled a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the estate of Duckett's estranged wife, Melinda, over her suicide.

The cable giant and Grace pledged $200,000 toward a trust fund to search for Trenton, and each was extended an apology by the estate's lawyers, who absolved them of responsibility for Melinda Duckett's death.

Josh Duckett praised the settlement, saying he appreciated Grace's efforts to publicize Trenton's cause.

"I'm hoping now that it's solved and everything's settled that [the focus[ can get back on track and we can push forward, get his name and get his information [out to the public] and bring him home soon," Duckett said of his missing son, who would have celebrated his 6th birthday in August. "Our goal since day one has been to bring Trenton home."

The film crew, affiliated with Lifetime Television, one of the so-called "women's channels" on cable TV, is preparing a 30-minute documentary for broadcast in January about the continuing search for the missing child.

Josh Duckett was not a plaintiff in the lawsuit against Grace, who hosts a self-titled, justice-themed program on HLN, a sister network of CNN, and who pens a weekly column on legal issues that is published by the Tribune Co., parent company of the Orlando Sentinel. He regularly appeared on her program.

Lawyers Beth Ann Gause and Laura Hargrove, who are providing free legal services to Josh Duckett, organized the press gathering in the wake of the settlement to remind the public to be watchful for Trenton.

Though Josh Duckett and Melinda's adoptive parents, Bethann and William Eubank of Lockport, N.Y., were never close — the Eubanks never met Trenton — he was hopeful they could work together to find the boy.

"We definitely don't want to work against them," said Duckett, who oversees a website called helpfindtrenton.com. "We want to try to work together as a team and bring Trenton home. That's the final goal."

The settlement of the lawsuit, approved this week by a federal judge in Ocala, creates the Trenton John Duckett Irrevocable Trust to finance efforts to find the missing boy. Under terms of the agreement, if the boy is not found alive by his 13th birthday — Aug. 10, 2017 — the trust's proceeds will transfer immediately to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which Josh Duckett called "a blessing." The fund's trustee is Kathleen Calvert, an aunt.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-08-26/news/os-lk-trenton-duckett-missing-five-ye20110825-13_1_trenton-duckett-melinda-duckett-leesburg

Saturday will mark 5-year anniversary of Trenton Duckett's disappearance

August 26, 2011

LEESBURG — Saturday marks five years since Trenton Duckett disappeared from his bedroom in Leesburg, sparking a nationwide search for the dark-haired 2-year-old. His mother, Melinda Duckett, told police intruders cut through a screen window moments after she put her son to bed Aug. 27, 2006. Two weeks later she killed herself with a rifle in her grandparents' home in The Villages. Trenton would be 7 today and in the second grade.

"We continue receiving leads from time to time," Leesburg police detective Brian Cash said. "The ones we can work, we try to track down, and we get help from other law-enforcement agencies." Leesburg investigators posted an age-progression photo of what Trenton could possibly look like today.

http://www.dailycommercial.com/localnews/story/082711trenton

5 years gone

 ::snipping2::

Josh Duckett said he plans on holding an annual candlelight vigil for Trenton tonight at 8 p.m. in front of the downtown Leesburg City Hall on Main Street.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-trenton-duckett-missing-five-years20110825,0,2706574.story

 ::snipping2::

Trenton Duckett, who has never been found, would be 7 today and in the second grade.

“It’s still an open investigation,” Leesburg police detective Brian Cash said. “We continue receiving leads from time to time…The ones we can work, we try to track down, and we get help from other law-enforcement agencies.”

Raw Video: Father and son watch surfers near Cocoa Beach Pier

At the Leesburg Police Department, investigators even posted an age-progression photo of what Trenton could possibly look like today, along with information about the boy.

A few tips came in after the cable television program “Vanished with Beth Holloway” aired a show in June about Trenton, Cash said.

Cash added that Trenton — if still alive — is older and looks different from the 2006 family photos commonly seen throughout Leesburg five years ago.

“Each year that goes by it gets colder and colder and more difficult in trying to figure what may have happened,” he said.

Trenton’s father, Josh Duckett, today lives in Sumter County and has two children, according to the Associated Press.

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/trenton-john-duckett/view
TRENTON JOHN DUCKETT

http://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/1052224/1/screen

Trenton Duckett

(https://api.missingkids.org/photographs/NCMC1052224c1.jpg)

Missing Since Aug 27, 2006
Missing From Leesburg, FL
DOB Aug 10, 2004
Age Now 13
Sex Male
Race Biracial
Hair Color Brown
Eye Color Brown
Height 3'0"
Weight 35 lbs

Trenton's photo is shown age-progressed to 13 years. He was last seen at approximately 7:00 p.m. on August 27, 2006. Trenton is Biracial. He is Asian and White. Trenton has a small mark over his left eye. He was last seen wearing denim shorts and a green and blue striped shirt.

Age Progressed
(https://api.missingkids.org/photographs/NCMC1052224e1.jpg)

Sorry---waste of time and energy. His mother killed him...dead from day one.