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

[trimmonthelake]

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.

[Nut44x4]

Nancy Grace settles lawsuit over woman's death   

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

[trimmonthelake]

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.

[KCJackie]

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.

[texasmom]

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.

[texasmom]

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.

[texasmom]

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.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/trenton-john-duckett/view
TRENTON JOHN DUCKETT

[texasmom]

http://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/1052224/1/screen

Trenton Duckett



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

[Nut44x4]

Sorry---waste of time and energy. His mother killed him...dead from day one.