Trenton John Duckett
Endangered Missing -- Missing Since: August 27, 2006
Missing From: Leesburg, Florida
Height: 3'0" -- Weight: 35 lbs -- Hair Color: Brown -- Eye Color: Brown
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.
Two year-old Trenton Duckett was safe and sound in his bedroom at about 7:00 PM on the night of August 27. That's what Melinda Duckett told police when she reported Trenton missing. She said she was in the same Windemere Villas apartment watching the movie "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" with two male friends.
When she went to check on Trenton around 9:00 PM, he was gone. Police said they received a 911 call at about that time reporting Trenton missing. When investigators arrived, Melinda pointed out that the screen on the bedroom window had been cut. Suspecting that someone may have broken into Trenton's bedroom and grabbed him through the window, they sent the screen to the lab to examine it for further evidence.
Police in Leesburg initially questioned friends, relatives, neighbors and local sex offenders. They scoured the Windemere Villas apartment complex and nearby neighborhoods. With the help of volunteers, they distributed fliers with photos and information about Trenton throughout Florida and as far north as Georgia. And still no Trenton.
Police spent several days using dogs, ATVs, and helicopters to search through the saw palmettos and slash pines of the Ocala National Forest. Dive teams searched muddy lake bottoms in zero visibility. They found a garbage bag that looked like it had teeth marks and blood on it, and called in alligator trappers. And still no sign of Trenton Duckett.
Melinda Duckett's grandparents found her body slumped in their bedroom closet on Sept. 8. Cops say she bought a shotgun in a pawnshop two days before Trenton went missing, but shot herself in the head with one of her grandfather's shotguns.
Cops are still trying to construct a timeline of Melinda and Trenton Duckett's whereabouts on August 25 and August 26. But now with Melinda's suicide, they're changing the direction of their investigation, moving away from the possibility that a stranger abducted Trenton, towards the idea that Melinda may have either hidden or murdered the child.
NCMEC
Charley Project
AMW
Help Find Trenton