Fla. mother's suicide snarls missing child case

estranged4life · #1 09-13-2006, 08:07 PM

Actions of CNN show host during interview condemned by family members

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14823398/

LEESBURG, Fla. - Two weeks after telling police that her son had been snatched from his crib, Melinda Duckett found herself reeling in an interview with CNN's famously prosecutorial Nancy Grace. Before it was over, Grace was pounding her desk and loudly demanding to know: "Where were you? Why aren't you telling us where you were that day?"

A day after the taping, Duckett, 21, shot herself to death, deepening the mystery of what happened to the boy.

Police have refused to say whether she left a suicide note and said nothing they have found so far in their investigation of her death has shed light on the whereabouts of her 2-year-old son, Trenton.

Investigators have stopped short of calling her a suspect but have focused increasing attention on her movements just before the boy vanished and the notes, computer, camera and other items seized from her house.

Duckett's family members disputed any suggestion that she hurt her son. They said that the strain of her son's disappearance pushed her to the brink, and the media sent her over the edge.

'Bashed her to the end'
"Nancy Grace and the others, they just bashed her to the end," Duckett's grandfather Bill Eubank said Tuesday. "She wasn't one anyone ever would have thought of to do something like this. She and that baby just loved each other, couldn't get away from each other. She wouldn't hurt a bug."

Janine Iamunno, a spokeswoman for Grace, said in an e-mail that Duckett's death was "an extremely sad development" but that the program would continue covering the case.

"We feel a responsibility to bring attention to this case in the hopes of helping find Trenton Duckett, who remains missing," Iamunno said.

Duckett had told police that after she finished watching a movie Aug. 27, she went to check on Trenton in his bedroom, and all she found was an empty crib - and a 10-inch cut in the window screen above it. At the time, she was living with her son, wading through a messy divorce with the boy's father and trying to get her life back on track after getting laid off from her job with a lawn care company.

Exhaustive search
The boy's disappearance in this town of 19,000 people about 45 miles northwest of Orlando stretched the 75-member police force to its limits. Fliers were posted on gas station doors around town, asking for information from anyone who might have seen the boy, a brown-haired youngster wearing denim shorts and a diaper.

Trenton's father, 21-year-old Josh Duckett, was closely questioned after the boy disappeared. Newspapers reported that his wife had taken out a temporary restraining order against him. But Josh Duckett took a polygraph test and has answered all police questions satisfactorily, Capt. Ginny Padgett said.

On Sept. 7, Melinda Duckett gave a telephone interview to CNN Headline News' Grace, a former prosecutor known for practically cross-examining her guests. Duckett stumbled over such questions as whether she had taken a polygraph - she said she refused on the advice of her divorce lawyer - and where, exactly, she was shopping with the boy before his disappearance.

Hours before the interview aired, Duckett shot herself Friday with her grandfather's gun at her grandparents' house, up the road from where she was living.

Building a timeline
Investigators are still trying to piece together a timeline of where she and Trenton were 24 hours before she reported him missing. On Tuesday, they released the make and model of her car, a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse, and asked anyone who might have seen it during that period to call them.

Also on Tuesday, a newspaper reported that she bought a shotgun from a pawn shop two days before Trenton vanished. Padgett said police could not confirm that.

On Monday, agents used dogs and digging equipment to search an outlying area that someone had called about, but found nothing. Investigators continued to field tips.

"We're following up," Padgett said. "Hopefully they'll bring in something to help us firm up the timeline."

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

markolas · #2 09-13-2006, 08:10 PM

Nancy Grace is a harpy.

carrie721 · #3 09-13-2006, 08:19 PM

there is a line between hard-hitting journalism and heartlessness.

even if her story is suspicious, NG is not an investigator and should have had more tact with such a sensitive topic.

irishgrl · #4 09-13-2006, 08:29 PM

oops, Sorry Brian, I didnt see you already posted this....

DrummerDeanna · #5 09-13-2006, 08:38 PM

Yet another example of how television journalism is becoming nothing more than a sensationalistic spectacle.

irishgrl · #6 09-13-2006, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrummerDeanna

Yet another example of how television journalism is becoming nothing more than a sensationalistic spectacle.

wasnt there a movie that dealt with that topic? the details escape me but I seem to vaguely remember there was a movie about the propaganda machine and its consequences....

markolas · #7 09-13-2006, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrummerDeanna

Yet another example of how television journalism is becoming nothing more than a sensationalistic spectacle.

Oh, I think it already has become.

I don't watch television at all anymore. If it was up to me, I wouldn't even have one in the apartment at all.

DrummerDeanna · #8 09-13-2006, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markolas

Oh, I think it already has become.

I don't watch television at all anymore. If it was up to me, I wouldn't even have one in the apartment at all.

Sigh. Sadly you're right. And sadly people like Nancy Grace, or at least that "style" are trickling down to local stations. I HATED covering press events in Rochester - the tv reports, no matter how mundane the question, ask VERY aggressively - it's becoming a sort of "style" and I guess that's what pulls in the ratings

It's sad and horrible...

GardenStateGirlie · #9 09-13-2006, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrummerDeanna

Sigh. Sadly you're right. And sadly people like Nancy Grace, or at least that "style" are trickling down to local stations. I HATED covering press events in Rochester - the tv reports, no matter how mundane the question, ask VERY aggressively - it's becoming a sort of "style" and I guess that's what pulls in the ratings

It's sad and horrible...

i must be out of my mind to get involved in this buisness.

yes, while i agree that some local networks allow their reporters to be agressive, there's a huge difference between local news and even national news [cbs, abc, and nbc]. you just can't act that way. period. i'm lucky enough to get both philadelphia and new york city markets here and have studied both extensively. i suppose since philadelphia and nyc are major markets, they conduct themselves in a different fashion. if someone were to act like that in philadelphia, they'd chalk it up to a nervous breakdown and send his/her ass to a less stressful market.

while all compete for ratings [and are absolutely lying out of their collective asses if they say otherwise], there is a much larger competition for ratings on cable networks such as cnn, msnbc and fox news. not only are they competing with each other but they're also competing with primetime network shows. so if nancy grace rages on her guests and people repeatedly tune in, the network won't even give her a slap on the wrist because it's that type of straight-forward attitude that's getting her show the recognized and leading that time slot against the other cable news networks.

wrong, yes. but that's television.

irishgrl · #10 09-13-2006, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GardenStateGirlie

i must be out of my mind to get involved in this buisness.

yes, while i agree that some local networks allow their reporters to be agressive, there's a huge difference between local news and even national news [cbs, abc, and nbc]. you just can't act that way. period. i'm lucky enough to get both philadelphia and new york city markets here and have studied both extensively. i suppose since philadelphia and nyc are major markets, they conduct themselves in a different fashion. if someone were to act like that in philadelphia, they'd chalk it up to a nervous breakdown and send his/her ass to a less stressful market.

while all compete for ratings [and are absolutely lying out of their collective asses if they say otherwise], there is a much larger competition for ratings on cable networks such as cnn, msnbc and fox news. not only are they competing with each other but they're also competing with primetime network shows. so if nancy grace rages on her guests and people repeatedly tune in, the network won't even give her a slap on the wrist because it's that type of straight-forward attitude that's getting her show the recognized and leading that time slot against the other cable news networks.

wrong, yes. but that's television.

um, I think the rules are different for CNN and FOX operatives. and I dont use that word lightly.

GardenStateGirlie · #11 09-13-2006, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irishgrl

um, I think the rules are different for CNN and FOX operatives. and I dont use that word lightly.

cnn and fox news are both ****. i've become incredibly disenchanted by cable news in general.

irishgrl · #12 09-13-2006, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GardenStateGirlie

cnn and fox news are both ****. i've become incredibly disenchanted by cable news in general.

well, DUH....however they are "blessed" right now because the "right" is seemingly in control. Lately however, Ive begun to think that the wind is changing...

MacMan · #13 09-13-2006, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrummerDeanna

Yet another example of how television journalism is becoming nothing more than a sensationalistic spectacle.

Yes. And CNN has got to be the worst of the bunch!

SuzeQuze · #14 09-14-2006, 09:29 AM

Nothing like kicking someone while they're down. The woman's marriage was over, she lost her job, and her son was missing. I guess innocent until proven means nothing to NG. I am very suspicious though and think this woman probably did do something to her child.

It sounds like she was extremely depressed and probably feeling desperate.

JazmenFlowers · #15 09-14-2006, 09:37 AM

well, like I said in the other post, didn't this woman agree to go on the show? I mean, it's not like Nancy's antics are anything new. why didn't the mother answer the question? I actually watched the recap and the woman just didn't answer the question. you can't put blame for this on Nancy for doing her sensationalist version of TV journalism...that's what she does. she attacks everyone who she believes is not cooperating or answering her questions to help the victim. she's all about the victim. right or wrong, it's what she does and we all know that...

EDIT: I'm not saying I agree with either side, I'm just saying you can't blame Nancy for doing her job. what if the woman had cracked and told the police she had knowledge of the child's whereabouts? we'd all be praising Nancy for pressuring her. sadly, it didn't turn out that way. I've seen Nancy tear people new a**holes if they weren't helping an investigation, no one is safe.