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Trenton Duckett. September 11, 2006 7:59 AM

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.  [ send green star]

 
Trenton Duckett. September 11, 2006 8:03 AM

http://www.local6.com/news/9818553/detail.html  [ send green star]
 
Trenton Duckett. September 15, 2006 2:17 PM

Authorities comb Forest for toddler Ocala Forest searched for missing boy
Mother, son had been seen in area; officers find stuffed toy

BY MILLARD K. IVES
STAR-BANNER


FDLE Special Agent John L. King, left, and another agent search for signs of Trenton Duckett in the Ocala National Forest on Thursday. A stuffed toy was found in the area.
JANNET WALSH/STAR-BANNER

PRAYER VIGIL
A prayer vigil will be held tonight at 7:30 p.m. for Trenton Duckett in the Leesburg's Downtown Square near City Hall.

OCALA NATIONAL FOREST - Dozens of searchers spent Thursday scouring through a section of the Ocala National Forest for Trenton Duckett, a 2-year-old boy who was reported abducted from his Leesburg home on Aug. 27.

Officials were acting on a tip that Trenton and his mother, Melinda, had been seen there in a silver 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse on the weekend of his disappearance.

Authorities have been trying to construct a timeline of the two's whereabouts in the hours leading up to the boy's reported disappearance. A search earlier this week at a construction site failed to find Trenton.

Searchers seemed to have found a ray of hope Thursday after discovering a stuffed elephant with black and white checkered ears, just east of Forest Road 97 and near a gun range where the mother had reportedly taken target practice.

Officials were hoping the elephant belonged to Trenton.

"[Trenton] supposedly had some and they're trying to find out if this is the one that he had," said Tom Groff, an official with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

But the child's immediate family told officials the toy was unfamiliar to them.

There was no other significant find Thursday, but Leesburg police Capt. Steve Rockefeller said he was optimistic something valuable to the case would eventually turn up.

"We will be regrouping [today] and going out in more force Saturday," said Leesburg police Capt. Steve Rockefeller.

Thursday's effort included a ground search, scent-detecting dogs and air units circling overhead. The searchers divided into two teams and mainly searched an area surrounding a 11-mile stretch of road where the child and mother were last seen together.

Rockefeller said he hopes to add five to seven more police dog teams.

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

Rockefeller added he wanted to dispel rumors they were seeking volunteers to help search the Ocala National Forest.

"We are organizing the effort with already designated law enforcement volunteers," he said. "We are not seeking volunteer searchers."

Trenton was reported missing from a bedroom in his mother's Leesburg home at Windermere Apartments about 9 p.m. on Aug. 27. Police believed foul play was involved after discovering a slit in the screen, that covered an open bedroom window.

But when the mother died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound Sept. 8 in her grandparents' home, the investigation in Trenton's disappearance shifted to her.

Melinda Duckett was dogged by many questions because she was the last one who reported seeing Trenton, and unlike her ex-husband, she refused to take a polygraph examination.

Her grandfather said in an earlier interview, she was advised by a lawyer not to take the lie detector test. She was fearful of losing the child custody she had won in a bitter court fight with her ex-husband Joshua Duckett, her grandfather added.

Police recovered the grandparents' shotgun she used to kill herself as well as a shotgun she bought just before the reported disappearance. Rockefeller said they are examining her shotgun, trying to determine if it is connected to the case.

Trenton has been described as Asian-Caucasian, 2 to 3 feet tall, between 30 and 40 pounds with brown hair.

Police are urging anyone with information to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Millard K. Ives may be reached at millard.ives@starbanner.com or (352) 387-2488. Monica Bryant contributed to this report.


http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...376/1001/NEWS01
 [ send green star]
 
 September 15, 2006 2:20 PM

 [ send green star]
 
Trenton Duckett. September 15, 2006 2:25 PM

I have a bad feeling about this child  [ send green star]
 
anonymous  September 15, 2006 2:40 PM

Marcia - so do I - I pray that he will be found safe and sound but my insides are not saying that.  [report anonymous abuse]
 
Trenton Duckett. September 27, 2006 4:32 PM

See Poster And Photo's At The Bottom
 
It's been one month since Trenton Duckett was reported missing from his Lake County home.
 
Leesburg police said Wednesday that they are still examining Melinda Duckett's 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse and hoping that it yields more clues, WESH 2 News reported.
 
The vehicle is in the police department's impound garage. On the front seat of the car, Duckett's 50 Cent CD is still sitting in its case.
 
Also, a Sumter County judge said Wednesday that he will be releasing hundreds of pages of case records from the Florida Department of Children and Families. The documents reveal the missing toddler's turbulent upbringing.
 
Trenton's father, Joshua Duckett, told reporters that he tape-recorded his wife's threats and abuse of Trenton. He said he called DCF and gave them the tapes he made.
 
"It was the typical stuff that I reported all along that she was squeezing him and making him cry, holding him upside down, things like that, threatening to harm him. And I called the hot line, and it took them five and a half hours to get out there," he said.
 
DCF is not commenting on the Duckett case.
 
The judge said he is going through all the records and he is expected to release them by the end of the week.
 
The Leesburg Police Department said leads are starting to dry up but the rumor mill is still churning out false stories. Police said there is no truth to the rumors around town that Melinda Duckett sold her son or gave him away.
 
Anyone with information about Trenton's whereabouts is urged to call 800-CALL-  [ send green star]
 
Trenton Duckett. September 28, 2006 8:19 PM

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/breaking_news/15631003.htm  [ send green star]
 
Melindas Friend November 02, 2006 11:38 AM

Mindy was killed by the media and Nacny Grace.

Josh Duckett abandoned her and Trent and never paid child support.

------------------------
www.melinda-duckett.com
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 [ send green star]
 
MySpace June 26, 2007 6:34 PM

Just to let you all know.  There is someone who has put up a myspace for Trenton Duckett.  You can look in my friends list at http://www.myspace.com/4heatherlewis_missing.  I have a few missing & a few supporters in there, but I have come across a few missing that have been posted here that are on the Myspace in my friend's list.   [ send green star]
 
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