Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 10, 2006 22:28:45 GMT -5
Mother of missing boy dead----Police say woman shot herself at her
grandparents' home
The mother of a 2-year-old Leesburg boy missing since Aug. 27 committed
suicide Friday at the home of her grandparents, police said Friday.
Melinda Duckett, 21, died of "an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound,"
said Leesburg Police Capt. Steve Rockefeller.
Trenton Duckett is still missing.
"Time is of the essence," Rockefeller said. "Even though Melinda is
deceased, we're not giving up hope. We don't want the public to quit
looking for Trenton," he said.
Police were searching Melinda's home at Windermere Apartments in Leesburg
and the home at The Villages for any clue that might lead to the missing
child.
Melinda Duckett's grandparents, Bill and Nancy Eubanks, made the upsetting
discovery at their home at 638 Rainbow Blvd. in the Lady Lake portion of
The Villages.
A Lady Lake detective told the Star-Banner that a 911 call was forwarded
to the Lady Lake Police Department at 3:15 p.m. It was not clear who made
the call. No one could be reached at the home Friday night.
"The family's very somber right now. They want to be by themselves,"
Rockefeller said, including the boy's father, Joshua.
News of the tragedy also upset the retirees in the gated retirement
community.
"I can't believe this is happening," said Virginia Snowden, whose father
lives on an adjoining street. "We were talking about it all day today."
The normally quiet street lined with mobile homes, was blocked by yellow
crime scene tape and a Lady Lake police officer who sat in an unmarked
police car to prevent reporters from getting close.
Several live broadcast trucks from TV stations were parked nearby,
anxiously awaiting any word from investigators, who were roughly 400 to
600 yards away.
"Shocking," was the way Angelika McCarty described it. She lives in a
neighborhood across busy U.S. 441, which runs through the community.
"Nothing like this happens here," McCarty said. "You can hear a pin drop."
Jackie Campbell, who was returning from dinner with her husband, described
the Eubanks as Christians and "very, very nice people."
Some neighbors had at least a passing relationship with Melinda Duckett.
Joe Humphrey, who was walking his dog, said, "I walk 2 miles in the
mornings and afternoons, and she would wave and say hello."
Campbell, who said she saw Melinda at her grandparents' home Thursday, had
a theory about why she would commit suicide at the home in The Villages.
"In my opinion, she came here for absolution before she killed herself,"
she said.
Melinda Duckett, told police she last saw Trenton on Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. in
his bedroom.
According to police, she refused to take a polygraph examination, but her
estranged husband, Joshua, not only took the test 24 hours after the
child's reported disappearance, but investigators said they were
"satisfied with his responses."
Her refusal to take the lie detector test thrust her into the limelight,
especially when police began asking the public to call them if they saw
her or Joshua with Trenton on that weekend. Detectives are trying to
verify their investigative timeline.
Police never did label Melinda as a suspect.
"We're not focusing on any one person, and no one has been eliminated,"
Leesburg Police Capt. Ginny Padgett said.
Duckett told police she tucked Trenton into his bed at her apartment at
1416 Griffin Road in Leesburg at 7 p.m., but when she went back to check
on him at 9, he was gone.
Police said the screen on his window had been cut.
The disappearance, which has been treated as an abduction, eventually
attracted national media attention. Mark Lunsford, whose daughter,
Jessica, was kidnapped from his home and slain in Homosassa in February
2005, has shown up to lend his support to Joshua Duckett, and helped pass
out fliers with the boy's picture.
The child is the grandson of James Duckett, who, as a Mascotte police
officer, was convicted in 1988 of raping and killing an 11-year-old girl
while on duty. He is on death row.
He has been described as an Asian-Caucasian, 2 to 3 feet tall, between 30
and 40 pounds with brown hair.
Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is also assisting with their
mobile crime lab.
(source: Ocala Star-Banner)
grandparents' home
The mother of a 2-year-old Leesburg boy missing since Aug. 27 committed
suicide Friday at the home of her grandparents, police said Friday.
Melinda Duckett, 21, died of "an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound,"
said Leesburg Police Capt. Steve Rockefeller.
Trenton Duckett is still missing.
"Time is of the essence," Rockefeller said. "Even though Melinda is
deceased, we're not giving up hope. We don't want the public to quit
looking for Trenton," he said.
Police were searching Melinda's home at Windermere Apartments in Leesburg
and the home at The Villages for any clue that might lead to the missing
child.
Melinda Duckett's grandparents, Bill and Nancy Eubanks, made the upsetting
discovery at their home at 638 Rainbow Blvd. in the Lady Lake portion of
The Villages.
A Lady Lake detective told the Star-Banner that a 911 call was forwarded
to the Lady Lake Police Department at 3:15 p.m. It was not clear who made
the call. No one could be reached at the home Friday night.
"The family's very somber right now. They want to be by themselves,"
Rockefeller said, including the boy's father, Joshua.
News of the tragedy also upset the retirees in the gated retirement
community.
"I can't believe this is happening," said Virginia Snowden, whose father
lives on an adjoining street. "We were talking about it all day today."
The normally quiet street lined with mobile homes, was blocked by yellow
crime scene tape and a Lady Lake police officer who sat in an unmarked
police car to prevent reporters from getting close.
Several live broadcast trucks from TV stations were parked nearby,
anxiously awaiting any word from investigators, who were roughly 400 to
600 yards away.
"Shocking," was the way Angelika McCarty described it. She lives in a
neighborhood across busy U.S. 441, which runs through the community.
"Nothing like this happens here," McCarty said. "You can hear a pin drop."
Jackie Campbell, who was returning from dinner with her husband, described
the Eubanks as Christians and "very, very nice people."
Some neighbors had at least a passing relationship with Melinda Duckett.
Joe Humphrey, who was walking his dog, said, "I walk 2 miles in the
mornings and afternoons, and she would wave and say hello."
Campbell, who said she saw Melinda at her grandparents' home Thursday, had
a theory about why she would commit suicide at the home in The Villages.
"In my opinion, she came here for absolution before she killed herself,"
she said.
Melinda Duckett, told police she last saw Trenton on Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. in
his bedroom.
According to police, she refused to take a polygraph examination, but her
estranged husband, Joshua, not only took the test 24 hours after the
child's reported disappearance, but investigators said they were
"satisfied with his responses."
Her refusal to take the lie detector test thrust her into the limelight,
especially when police began asking the public to call them if they saw
her or Joshua with Trenton on that weekend. Detectives are trying to
verify their investigative timeline.
Police never did label Melinda as a suspect.
"We're not focusing on any one person, and no one has been eliminated,"
Leesburg Police Capt. Ginny Padgett said.
Duckett told police she tucked Trenton into his bed at her apartment at
1416 Griffin Road in Leesburg at 7 p.m., but when she went back to check
on him at 9, he was gone.
Police said the screen on his window had been cut.
The disappearance, which has been treated as an abduction, eventually
attracted national media attention. Mark Lunsford, whose daughter,
Jessica, was kidnapped from his home and slain in Homosassa in February
2005, has shown up to lend his support to Joshua Duckett, and helped pass
out fliers with the boy's picture.
The child is the grandson of James Duckett, who, as a Mascotte police
officer, was convicted in 1988 of raping and killing an 11-year-old girl
while on duty. He is on death row.
He has been described as an Asian-Caucasian, 2 to 3 feet tall, between 30
and 40 pounds with brown hair.
Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is also assisting with their
mobile crime lab.
(source: Ocala Star-Banner)