Mother of missing boy kills herself

Orlando Sentinel ^ | 09/09/06 | Christine Dellert and Martin E. Comas

[kcvl]

Police say they could have arrested Melinda Duckett within four days of her son's disappearance and more than a week before she killed herself, but they chose not to in hopes that she would lead them to the toddler.

Investigators began following Duckett and considered using other surveillance techniques, but the young mother shot herself before police could get her to cooperate fully.


snip


The charges on which authorities could have arrested Duckett involved a bogus e-mail they say she used to bolster her claim that Trenton might have been snatched from his bed by her estranged husband, Joshua Duckett.

Leesburg police Capt. Steve Rockefeller said investigators discovered Aug. 31 that Melinda Duckett had accessed Joshua Duckett's MySpace.com account July 3 and then wrote and e-mailed a threatening message to herself.

She used it the next day to lodge a police complaint and on July 5 to obtain a court order limiting Joshua Duckett's contact with Trenton.

Rockefeller said police kept their findings from Melinda Duckett but drafted a charging document that could have been signed quickly by a judge and used to arrest her in case she tried to flee.

snip


Also Friday, investigators released their most comprehensive timeline to date of Melinda Duckett's activities Aug. 26 and Aug. 27, the day Trenton disappeared.

The timeline, pieced together with confirmed sightings and cell-phone records, ends at 6:55 p.m. Aug. 27, when a friend arrived at Duckett's apartment.

Police said the friend was Chris Pearce, one of two men who watched the film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels with Duckett until she said she discovered her son was missing.

Rockefeller, who would not identify the other guest, said Pearce answered all police questions and passed a polygraph test. He said he never saw Trenton.


http://tinyurl.com/o357g

[teenyelliott]

I did not read anywhere in that story where she specifically denied having anything to do with it.

She also never fully cooperated with the police, and she faked that email message.

My opinion has not changed. Not that it matters, anyway.

[Karson]

The other guest was Danny Bass. I think he is 19 years old. He is the one who called 911. Bass and Pearce did not know each other before that night. I'm not even sure they knew there would be two male guests. I'm thinking MD set it up that way for whatever reason.

Trenton has still not been found and chances are slim to none that he will be, IMO.

[Karson]

Melinda Duckett failed a voice stress test and refused a polygraph, and walked out when they started to question her about her activities on Saturday. She "cooperated" when they asked her about Friday and Sunday but refused to talk about Saturday after she left her grandparents' house.

She was seen at 8:00am Sunday morning in a store in Leesburg but she did not have Trenton with her. Also, there was no activity on her cell phone or her computer Saturday night.

I believe something happened to Trenton on Saturday and I believe Sunday was just a decoy pointing LE in the wrong direction as to her real whereabouts.

IMO