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Search for tot has new intensity

By JOHN FRANK
Published November 16, 2006

OCALA - Investigators searching for 2-year-old Trenton Duckett have received thousands of tips from all over the world since the Leesburg toddler disappeared Aug. 27.

Most proved bogus. Now a lead from a Wendy's drive-through cashier in nearby Belleview has given investigators new hope of finding Trenton alive.

The unidentified female employee told authorities she remembered asking Trenton's name and talking about his cute smile when Melinda Duckett pulled up to the window in her silver Mitsubishi Eclipse at 11:30 a.m. the day he was reportedly abducted. She even remembers the exact change she gave Duckett and the tattoo on her left arm.

And she recalls Duckett returning about 30 minutes later to order chicken tenders. That time Trenton wasn't in the car. Duckett told the cashier Trenton was with his grandparents or a babysitter, but authorities said she didn't have time to drop him off before returning.

Nor was he with Duckett when she and friends stopped at the same Wendy's later that afternoon around 4:30, a possible third sighting reported by the witness to police.

Just hours later, Duckett reported Trenton missing from his bedroom while he slept, a story investigators now believe was a lie. Investigators say Duckett, now dead, is the prime suspect.

Like other tips, the fast food employee's story initially was met with skepticism. Investigators received the information nearly two months ago, but they didn't act on it until Wednesday - after the employee passed a lie detector test.

It is the latest twist in a bizarre 11-week investigation that has included Duckett's suicide on Sept. 8, the day after a harsh television interview by CNN's Nancy Grace; a forged e-mail used to get a restraining order against Trenton's father, Joshua Duckett; and days of searching for the boy on a lake bottom in Ocala National Forest.

None of those developments put investigators any closer to finding Trenton, but the search took on fresh optimism at a press conference Wednesday. Authorities with the Marion County Sheriff's Office think Duckett might have handed off Trenton to someone else as part of "a conspiracy ... to possibly keep Trenton away from his father Josh Duckett."

Capt. James Pogue said investigators believe Trenton is alive and asked for the public's help.

"Why do we say (he's alive)? Because no one has proven that to us otherwise," Pogue said. "What we want to do is energize people all over the nation to look at every boy that is 2 to 3 years old - look them in the face and ask themselves, does this look like Trenton Duckett."

Pogue said if someone has the toddler, they should come forward. "Just drop him off somewhere to where we can bring him back home," he said.

For Joshua Duckett, the news reinforced what he has said all along, even though most observers lost faith in finding Trenton alive as time wore on.

"We've stayed confident through all of it," he said. "We believed from the get-go that he's alive and well."

John Frank can be reached at jfrank@sptimes.com or (352) 860-7312.

[Last modified November 16, 2006, 01:11:32]