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Trenton John Duckett was a toddler who vanished from his home in Leesburg, Florida, in 2006. His age progression depicts him at 17 years old.

Background[]

Trenton was born on August 10, 2004, to parents Joshua Duckett and Melinda Duckett (née Eubanks). Melinda was born in South Korea but was adopted and brought to the United States in 1985. She grew up with her adoptive parents in Lockport, New York until she moved in with her grandparents at 17. She met Joshua Duckett when they attended South Sumter High School together. The two began dating and had Trenton together shortly after Melinda finished school. They went on to marry in 2005. In April 2005, Melinda was sectioned under Florida's Baker Act after Joshua claimed that she had threatened to harm Trenton. She had a history of depression and was known to either hurt herself or threaten to harm herself. In December 2005, Melinda was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. However, in her psychological report, it was noted that there was "no psychological reason that would preclude (her) from being a capable and loving parent".

Melinda and Joshua accused one another of abuse and of mistreating Trenton throughout their relationship. They would also often break up and then get back together. Because of the tension between his parents, Trenton had spent a significant amount of time in foster care or living with his maternal grandparents.

In July 2006, Melinda filed for divorce, and by August 2006, the couple was in the midst of a heated divorce and custody battle. Melinda had also taken out a restraining order around the same time she filed the divorce based on claims that he had threatened both her life and Trenton's life. Joshua has denied these allegations. At the time of his disappearance, Trenton was living with Melinda.

Case[]

Trenton was last seen at his home at Windermere Apartments in the 1400 block of Griffin Road in Leesburg, Florida, on August 27, 2006. That day, his mother, Melina, whom he lived with, claimed to take Trenton to a shooting range at the Ocala National Forest. However, she got lost and drove around for seven hours in her silver 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse. When they returned home, Melinda put Trenton to bed at approximately 7 PM, but when she returned two hours later, he was gone once she finished watching a film. She called the police, who arrived and found a cut in the window screen above Trenton's crib. They also found that some of Trenton's toys, photographs and sonograms of him had been thrown in the trash for unknown reasons.

Law enforcement initially made a public appeal for people to search for the child, who they believed had been abducted. However, several days later, they publicly stated that they did not think Trenton had been killed or taken from the local area and that they were now focusing on his parents. Around a week later, they announced that they thought Trenton may have been missing for longer than Melinda claimed because no one had seen him since she collected him from daycare on August 26. Melinda and Joshua were both asked to take polygraph tests concerning their son's disappearance. Joshua took the polygraph test and passed it. Melinda refused to take a polygraph test but agreed to take a voice stress test, which she failed.

Police investigated the possibility that Trenton's disappearance was linked to his paternal grandfather, James "Jimmy" Duckett. Jimmy was a former police officer who had been charged with rape and murder in 1988 and had been put on death row. Joshua, who was a toddler when his father was imprisoned, still had a relationship with Jimmy, and Trenton had visited his grandfather in jail before vanishing. Melinda also kept in contact with Jimmy by writing to him. However, no evidence suggested that Jimmy or his crimes were related to Trenton’s case.

On September 8, Melinda died by suicide. She was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a closet in her paternal grandparents' home in Lady Lake, Florida. She had left two letters behind, one of which was addressed to "the public," where she expressed her love for Trenton and voiced her frustrations about the "ridicule and criticism" she had faced. She did not mention Trenton's whereabouts. The letters were found on the dashboard of her car.

The night before she died, Melinda had been interviewed by Nancy Grace, who accused her of hiding something because she didn't want to take a polygraph test and didn't provide clear answers to questions. This upset Melinda's family, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Grace, who they felt had contributed to Melinda's death by interviewing her in an overly aggressive fashion. Grace publicly denied playing a role in Melinda's death but stated that she sympathized with the pain of her family. Grace and the Duckett family settled out of court on November 8, 2010, when CNN agreed to set up a $200,000 trust fund to help search for Trenton. If Trenton is found alive, the money will be given to his legal guardian until he turns eighteen and then to Trenton himself.

On September 21, police announced that Melinda was the prime and only suspect in Trenton's case. However, they stated that while they thought she knew what happened to Trenton, they did not necessarily think she had harmed him. They had decided not to arrest her because they hoped she would lead them to Trenton of her own accord. They had looked into the possibility that Melinda had sent him to South Korea but eventually ruled this out when they found no evidence of Trenton leaving the country. Around a year after Trenton vanished, they also stated that they did not believe that he had been abducted or that Melinda gave him to someone to keep him from Joshua.

Investigators are looking to speak to anyone who saw Melinda's silver Mitsubishi Eclipse on the day of Trenton's disappearance so they can confirm her story. So far, several witnesses have stated that they saw Melinda in Leesburg when she said she was lost.

Characteristics[]

  • Brown hair.
  • Brown eyes.
  • Small mark above the left eye.

Clothing and accessories[]

  • Blue and green striped shirt.
  • Denim shorts.
  • Diaper.

Gallery[]

Sources[]