Lake County, Florida

Melinda Duckett is dead; Local6 says she committed suicide

In the latest twist to the Trenton Duckett abduction, the 21 year old mother Melinda Duckett has turned up dead.  Local6 says she committed suicide.  Just earlier today we had reported to Melinda Duckett refused to take a lie detector test.  What gives?  Was she just cracking under the pain of losing a child or is something else at play here?

Duckett's: Father Joshua passes lie detector test, mother Melinda refuses to take lie detector test, and toddler Trenton still missing - to be discussed on Nancy Grace

As an update to our story "Someone's hiding information about the missing Leesburg toddler" about the 2 year old missing toddler Trenton Duckett, the father Joshua Duckett has passed a lie detector test while the mother Melinda Duckett has refused to take the lie detector test.  However, a friend of Melinda Duckett who was with her at the house of the time of the supposed abduction did take a lie detector test that apparently shows that her friend didn't see the toddler Trenton Duckett at their house that night.

For the moment, Leesburg police are unsure of where Melinda Duckett is but say that declining to take a lie detector test doesn't mean she's guilty.  Also, investigators are looking more deeply into the Ducketts' rocky past including allegations that Joshua Duckett threatened to kill Melinda Duckett and Trenton Duckett and also that Melinda Duckett was forced to go through a psychological evaluation given allegations of neglect regarding her son Trenton Duckett.

The Trenton Duckett case will be presented on CNN tonight (Fri 9/8) on Nancy Grace's show at 8pm.  Of note, Trenton Duckett's father James Duckett is on death row for being found guilty of sexually abusing and killing an 11 year old girl in 1987.  Some feel that he is innocent given an apparent mis-steps regarding how his DNA was tested.

As a final note, people in this country are innocent until proven guilty.  While we would all like to jump to conclusions, let's do our best to leave this case up to the investigators and courts.  But by all means, if you have ANY information relevant to this case, please contact detectives Jim Dunagan or Richard Giles of the Leesburg department at 352-787-2121.