Amber Alert: 2-year-old Trenton Duckett in Florida

[Easywriter]

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

[Jacqueline]

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

[Jennifer34]

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

[Jennifer34]

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.

[Jacqueline]

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.

[Jacqueline]

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.

[mrs. red]

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

[Jacqueline]

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...

[mrs. red]

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...

[Jacqueline]

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

[mrs. red]

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

[Jacqueline]

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.

[mrs. red]

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...

[Jennifer34]

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.

[Jennifer34]

OK, for some reason I can not hear it.  

I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

[mrs. red]

OK, for some reason I can not hear it.  

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...

[Easywriter]

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.

[Dana]

OK, for some reason I can not hear it.  

I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

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

[mrs. red]

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...

[mrs. red]

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...