Jumping Through Hoops for Her Son Trenton

Lifestream Psychiatric Evaluation Melinda Duckett

DCF Findings

Hugs: Dad/G-Pa !...James Duckett Letter to Melinda

Above are pages from Melinda's handwritten agenda. Notated on Sunday August 27 on the top line Melinda wrote "James". Nancy wrote in later "letter from James". Then on Sunday September 3rd, Melinda wrote "James", (crossed off)

Apparently, Melinda made an appointment to visit James Duckett, Josh's father who is on death row for the rape and murder of 12 year old Teresa McAbee. He had given her a copy of a book proclaiming his innocence called "The Truth Shall Set Him Free" by Jeanne Bragg. Melinda also believed in his innocence. She tried to have Josh meet with his Dad and he did so, I believe one time. Melinda had many passages marked in the book and wanted to talk to James about it, possibly help his case to be re-tried.

She was supposed to see him that Sunday, the day Trenton was abducted, but the plans were changed because James got the dates mixed up and he thought his brother was coming the same weekend, so he sent her a message not to come that Sunday. So she postponed her appointment with him. She already had a babysitter lined up (Cara Mitchell, as her grandparents were in Church). To confirm this, here is the letter she received on August 25, 2006 from James Duckett, (written on August 22, 2006 )

Here is James' letter.



If this letter is difficult to read, I have typed it out for clarity:

James A. Duckett #112232
Florida State Prison, G-wing
7819 NW 228 Street
Raiford, FLA 32026-1160

9:25 am Tues 22nd Aug '06
Good Morning!
Hope this finds you doing great & that this finds
you and the Baby both well. My Love to you both. As for me,
Oh not much to write about. Was looking forward to going
Outside this AM but for some reason they cancelled Yard.
So will go tomorrow morning I assume. Never know about
this place.
So pulled out my Headphones, got the Radio blasting
& here writing you.
Read your letter with the Great Pictures of Trenton.
Oh he is so Beautiful & looks excited over his New Toys.
Glad he had a good B-day. And thank you for sending
Me some pictures too.
Sorry to hear things have been Crazy between work &
School. Really happy you got your Financial processed & all.
I know they make you jump through hoops to get it, my friend
Debbie out West got it and tells me how much she has to do to
get it. Of course she is a Professional at living off the system.
Her husband works full-time yet she somehow manages to
Still get like 2,000 a month in Aid and free stuff. At one time
She sat on her butt at home, lived with the father of her last
Daughter who worked & still got almost 3,000 a month.
Anyway glad you got it settled & that the mess at Daycare
Too was settled. Always Something!

I bet you are still Laughing at me over the screw up last wk. How
I lost a whole wk I will never know. I was so Positive last Sunday was the 27th & worried you would drive up & not be allowed in due to Uncle Ronnie having been here on Saturday. Oh it's Hell to be old (HaHa) I do hope
To see you Sunday! Love seeing you & talking to you.
Well let me go. Take Care. Love you both.
Hugs
Dad/G-Pa!

Melinda and Trenton Duckett's Apartment

Above is the aerial shot of Melinda Duckett's apartment, her unit #48 is marked with a red X. Notice the darkness even in "broad daylight" caused by the clump of tall trees. SR 441 is to the right of the picture past the trees, approx 100 feet. Also to the right is the Chevron Gas station that is pictured below. Notice the apartment complex across from Melinda's unit. It is facing at an angle (8 o'clock) whereas in order to view Melinda's apartment its angle would have to be at (6 o'clock). There is also a firewall that interferes with any view and there are no windows along the side of the building facing Melinda's apartment.



This is driving on SR 441 heading south before Griffin Road in Leesburg. The Chevron gas station is on the right. If you pull into the gas station and drive toward the back you will come upon the driveway leading to Melinda's apartment which is shown below. This is a quick entrance and exit with any type of vehicle, be it car, truck or motorcycle. The driveway is hidden by trees.



As you look up the driveway Trenton's window is marked with a red arrow. The blue arrow on the unit facing the 8 o'clock angle shows the firewall of that building. The remaining arrow shows the fence that people have disabled in order to have a pass through access.



This picture shows the dumpster where all the "damning evidence" was found. Items could have been tossed quickly at the same time Trenton was taken in order to implicate Melinda in Trenton's abduction, as the final set up. Melinda's apartment is far from where her car would be parked. It would be most likely that the person who said she didn't see Trenton come home with Melinda, only saw Melinda go back to her car. Very possibly,Trenton could have already been in the house and Melinda walked back to her car to get something.



This is the front view picture of Melinda's apartment. There are no street lights behind her apartment. There is a small lamppost behind the dumpster. This picture was taken in January 2007. The boat was not there when Trenton went missing.



This is a closeup of Trenton's bedroom window. The plants that Melinda planted are directly below the window. All the plants, except the one directly beneath the window are much taller. In fact the plant beneath the window looks as if it were stepped on.


Between 7 and 9 PM on August 27, 2006, whether it was one person or a handful of people, they came to kidnap Trenton from Melinda and they wanted to make it look like she did it to keep Trenton from Josh. She didn't need to keep Trenton from Josh. The court already gave her full custody and Josh visitation, that is until the email, then he had a restraining order placed upon him.

It is very easy for someone like Josh or his mother's boyfriend Jason Fort who are both well over 6 feet tall (Josh 6'4" and Jason Fort 6'6") to reach in and pull Trenton from his bed. Most likely they pulled the screen out from the window, raised the window that was already slightly opened (as Josh knew Melinda always did as a habit)then took Trenton, and put back the screen and then cut it. (Josh also knew which room was Trenton's and where she kept the bed.)

(An aside: on July 14, 2006 someone tossed two pictures of Josh on his motorcycle through Trenton's bedroom window. Trenton picked them up and brought them to his mommy. Melinda freaked out and called her grandparents and asked them to watch Trenton that evening as she was scared for his safety and she had to deliver papers that night)

It wouldn't even have to be someone who was tall. Two people could have been there. One could kneel down on one leg while the other stepped up on the extended thigh and reach in and get Trenton. I am more inclined to believe that it was at least two people or more.

I believe the screen was cut as part of the set up to implicate Melinda. Josh knew that Melinda always wore a knife on her belt. If they only removed the screen then it would not point so obviously to Melinda. So after they took Trenton, they put the screen back in the window and then cut it in three places. Down one side 10 inches, over the length of the screen and then up the other side 10 inches. The police said that all the knives they took from Melinda could not be matched to the cut in the screen. The police could not find any fabric or hairs, etc on the screen. Most likely because Trenton did not go through the screen, but through the window without the screen.

The police are adamant that the abduction was staged, but they wrongly assume it was staged by Melinda. It was staged, but it was staged to set up Melinda Duckett. For three years the police have absolutely no clues. They immediately dismissed Josh Duckett based on his lie detector test and alibi. Josh's alibi was his mother. They didn't think it necessary to give anyone else in Josh's family a lie detector test. I suppose one lie detector test covers everyone in Josh's family.

And it has always baffled me why Carla Massero would close her flower shop in Bushnell the day after Trenton went missing?
It was in Josh's words when he reported to the media that Melinda started the fire in the flower shop in April 2005:

Josh Duckett told a fire investigator on the scene that he was sure his wife had set the fire, although he later took that back. "Melinda wanted child support and stuff at that time. And if she was wanting child support, it wouldn't benefit her or anything to do anything to that because that was where my income was. That was my job. That was our life. That's where every bit of money that we had came from", Josh Duckett said.
Why would they close the flower shop? Someone needs to check this out.

And tonight when you attend the vigil in Leesburg, please notice how dark it is. Below is the picture of the vigil taken at the 2007 vigil at 8 o'clock. I title this picture Broad Daylight.

A Picture Worth A Thousand Tears

A Picture Worth A Thousand Words

To Get His Own Way

"We hope we never spend another year like 2005" - Billy Eubank

Here is Billy Eubank's letter to Kimberly Schulte, Melinda Duckett's attorney.

Right? His Answer YES!

(Excerpt from Billy Eubank's letter to DCF case worker Nicey Martin)

Joshua sat at the table in my house while you (Nicey Martin) completed our home study. You, Joshua, Nancy and myself were seated around the table and I said to Joshua, "You set Melinda up on 4/29/05 so you could get custody of Trenton. This would give you bargaining power to get back with Melinda, right?" His answer YES!


Another statement I remember very well when Joshua was pouring out all his 'I am sorry' was 'Now I will have to prove myself". Boy did he ever!
Many people did many things to help Joshua and I am sure he will spend many sleepless nights as he thinks about all the grief he has caused so many and the thousands of dollars and many hours of work wasted on his foolishness.

After all the heartaches and grief, we will continue to pray for Joshua and his family.

Two Mothers

The "Judgment of Solomon" is the Bible story of two mothers who came before King Solomon to resolve a quarrel about which was the true mother of the baby. The king in his wisdom ordered that the surviving baby be cut in two and divided between the two mothers.

The lying woman would rather have the child divided in two by the king's sword so that the real mother could not have her baby. But the real mother showed compassion and asked the king to spare the child and give her baby to the lying woman. This was a strategy used to determine the truth.

In the case of Trenton Duckett, two mothers wanted him. Carla Massero and Melinda Duckett. Like the Bible account of the two mothers, Carla Massero and Josh Duckett would rather have Trenton kept in a foster home with strangers, rather than allow Trenton to live with his loving great grandparents, just so Melinda could not have Trenton.

Here is Bill Eubank's letter of appeal for compassion:

Joshua Duckett: I Was Indeed Being Influenced

When Joshua Duckett filed his affidavit with the court, he wrote this letter to his attorney asking her to file a voluntary dismissal of his case with DCF. He states that Melinda Eubank is not crazy and is not, nor has she ever been, an unfit mother.

This was the purpose of the Baker Act, to make Melinda out to be an unfit mother. This was the purpose of all the allegations to DCF stating she was crazy and an unfit mother. All to get custody of Trenton and not pay child support.

And this is the SAME STORY being fostered on the public since Trenton disappeared - To direct and influence the public to believe that Melinda sold Trenton, gave him away, or even killed him...a crazy, unfit mother.

But what or who prompted Josh to make these allegations?

His words: "Overlying that fact the primary force, directing and influencing me at the times of my accusations was my mother, Carla Massero."

Love Always, Your Husband

Melinda and Josh wrote love notes to each other all through their relationship. This was a note from Josh written sometime in September 2005 that Melinda kept pasted in her scrapbook of keepsakes.

The Mall Incident

After Melinda and Josh were married July 3, 2005 and filed a TRO against Carla Massero in Lake County Florida August 5th, 2005, DCF was still involved in their lives and Melinda and Josh went to Christian Counseling for their marriage. While there Melinda and Josh were both instructed to walk away from each other when an argument ensued. That would give them time to cool down and work their problems out. They went for an outing with Trenton and that's when the "mall incident" occurred. The first document is Josh's version to DCF. The following 4 documents is Melinda's handwritten version of the incident, and verified by her grandparents and neighbor Skip, and the Lady Lake Policwoman who came to the grandparents house. They took pictures of Trenton with no marks and pictures of Melinda with bruises on her arms from where Josh twisted her arm behind her back. Here is the account.

To Whom It May Concern

Nancy and Billy Eubank did everything they could to help Melinda, Josh and Trenton be a family. They were there for Melinda, to wipe away her tears and eventually wipe away her blood from their closet.

Here is Billy's letter to DCF

Whom God Has Joined Together, Let No Man Put Asunder

Melinda, Josh and Trenton asleep in the big chair at the Grandparents home in The Villages. They look so peaceful. They could have been a family. Why didn't the handful of people leave them alone, or help them but they chose to harass them.

When Melinda and Josh eloped and told Carla they were married at one of the DCF court hearings, Carla told Attorney Kimberly Schulte that she wanted to charge Melinda with a felony for breaking up HER family.

Here is Josh's own words on the police report about the harassment he and Melinda were receiving from his mother. There were many people named in the TRO. But you can see the reason for the harassment... Carla wanted Trenton. And, she wanted Josh.

Brief Summary of a Nightmare

Meet Nancy and Bill Eubank, Melinda's grandparents and Trenton's Nanny and Poppy. Here is Bill's Brief Summary of a Nightmare. He began writing it on August 13, 2006, (same month and date as I started this blog). Never knowing the tragedy to come. There's nothing to say. He says it all.

The Liar

On Friday, April 28, 2005 Mary Hatcher, the attorney for Josh Duckett, filed the papers in the Sumter courthouse for determination of paternity, custody of Trenton and child support from Melinda.

On Friday, April 28, 2005, Melinda dropped Trenton off at her babysitter in Bushnell, a kindly black woman named Rose. Melinda went to work at the Webster Feed Store where she was a cashier. She called up "Nanny and Poppy" and asked if they all could spend the evening together. Melinda picked up Trenton and drove from Bushnell to The Villages that evening after a 10 hour work day. They went to Wal*Mart and picked up a Disney video for Trenton. After watching the video, Melinda gave Trenton a bath, partially dressed him (no shirt) and he fell asleep.

While Melinda was at her grandparents' she received a couple phone calls from Josh. Nancy overheard Melinda say to Josh, "I'll take care of him myself". It was getting late, around 10 PM and Melinda picked up the sleeping Trenton, without his shirt, and placed him in his car seat in her car - an old Neon. The grandparents wanted her to spend the night but Melinda said she wanted to shower at her place and she had some things to do.

Melinda drove to her apartment in Bushnell and put Trenton to bed. She took a shower, but Josh kept calling her and basically harassed her. He knew how to push her buttons. At one point Melinda just couldn't take it anymore and told Josh that she just wanted to end their relationship, but according to the police report she said "I want to end it".

What Melinda did not know, was that Josh was calling her from the Bushnell Police Department. He had his phone set on "speaker" and he was standing next to Carla's friend Police Chief Joyce Tamara Wells.

Let me pause here and tell you that this all took place after midnight! How was this never challenged that Josh was AT the police station, talking to Melinda on the phone, waiting for her to say "anything they could use against her" to make her an unfit mother.


Melinda became uneasy about the things Josh was saying and she was scared. She got dressed, put Trenton in his car seat and headed out her driveway for her grandparents house. But the Police were waiting for her.

Police Chief Wells reached in and took Trenton out of his car seat and put him in her car, with no shirt on him, and no car seat in her car. She also took Melinda's purse, which she kept over the weekend. She drove Trenton to the police station where Josh and Carla were waiting for him.

The deputy handcuffed Melinda, took her car keys and put Melinda in the backseat of his squad car. While on the way to Lifestream, Melinda managed to get her hand free to use her cell phone. She called her grandparents and told them she was in the back seat of the police car on her way to Lifestream and that they had taken Trenton. She asked her grandparents to please call her boss and let them know what was happening as she didn't want to lose her job.

Melinda was checked into Lifestream at 3 AM Saturday. There was no doctor available to evaluate her until Sunday morning. When the doctor finished his evaluation he said that Melinda should never have been baker acted and released her at 11 AM Sunday morning. Melinda was at Lifestream for less than the required 72 hours.

Sunday, the grandparents were in church, so Melina had Cara's family pick her up from Lifestream and drive her to the police station to get her car keys. She was unable to get her purse because Joyce Wells took it home with her.

In the meantime, Melinda called Josh about Trenton and he agreed to meet her with Trenton at a Wendy's. Melinda called a friend to drive her car for her - Melinda didn't have her drivers' license so she couldn't chance driving her car or she'd be picked up again.

When Melinda got to Wendy's she took Trenton out of his car seat and began hugging him, much to the protests of Carla. Melinda thought she would be taking Trenton home with her, but Josh told her that DCF gave HIM temporary custody. He NEVER mentioned the court hearing scheduled for the next day that would give him permanent custody.

Melinda went back to her apartment in Bushnell and on Monday she got a ride to the police station to get her purse from Joyce Wells. Now, at this time Melinda still had not been served with the court papers. She had no knowledge of what was going on.

Nancy Eubank received a call Monday morning from Sadie Crews, the DCF case worker who first interviewed Melinda with officer Vaughan. She was frantic to reach Melinda because the court would be in session in 30 minutes and unless Melinda was there she could not contest the custody!

Nancy immediately called Melinda and Melinda raced to the courthouse. The judge allowed Melinda to speak (which was not usual) and he postponed the hearing until May 20th. He also threw out the child support hearing scheduled for May 10th.

The grandparents hired an attorney, Kimberly Schulte, thinking that this would all be over soon. This was only the beginning of what Bill Eubank calls "Brief Summary of a Nightmare".

April Antics

Cara Mitchell, later to become Melinda's best friend and Trenton's Godmother named in Melinda's will, had this to say on her Xanga (her personal blog) on April 10, 2005. Here is an excerpt:

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Melindas ex-boyfriend is a complete a$$hole. She is 19 and has an 8 month old baby..(Trenton) the one i watched, he is soo adorable and he is such a good baby. He's an a$$hole, that explains him, I can't believe some of the things he does..blahhh!! But anyways, she is a good mommy and she is doing well. All that matters.

This was just days after DCF Ms Crews and Ofc. Vaughan of the Bushnell Police Dept. came to investigate abuse of Trenton. Melinda was hanging out at Cara's and her family. Cara's dad Guy Mitchell spoke to Melinda about filing for child support. Melinda talked to her mother Beth Eubank in New York and she advised the same thing. So on April 18, 2005 Melinda filed for child support.

Joshua Duckett worked for his mother Carla Massero. She owned a flower shop in Bushnell called Love's Creations. She ran the business for about 10 years and it was their "only source of income" in a statement to the press by Joshua Duckett.

Two incidents happened during the latter part of April 2005.The officer who made the wellness check on Trenton was accused of having sex acts with Melinda and ultimately fired from his job by way of being transferred to another agency. His boss was Bushnell Chief Joyce Tamara Wells, a friend of Carla Massero. This never happened. It was all prefabricated to make the DCF report look as if it was cleared because of a sexual favor by Melinda. I absolutely know that this never happened because Melinda kept a very detailed list of any intimacies she had. Vaughan was NOT on that list. Since nothing came of this incident to get custody of Trenton, something else had to be devised.

On April 25, 2005 there was a "fire" at the flower shop, to the back porch area. There was some damage but it was not enough to close their business. Josh accused Melinda and her friends for setting the fire, but then he "recanted" the accusation. One of the statements made to the press was by Josh's best friend Jeffery Scott, an old school chum. Scott told the press that Melinda threatened to harm Trenton all the time.

After Josh's plan didn't work for DCF to take Trenton away from Melinda when he called in the alleged abuse, something else had to happen. Now that he received the notice for the child support hearing, his mother was paying all his bills, so she certainly didn't want to PAY child support, especially TO Melinda. She didn't have the money for an attorney but she had a friend, Lauri Konnerth who loaned her $8.000. Lauri later named herself as the sole signatory on the Trenton Duckett Trust Fund and as the key person on Team Trenton.

Then on April 28, 2005 Carla and Josh had the attorney, Mary Hatcher draw up papers to seek paternity, custody and child support FROM Melinda. But it would be doubtful that Josh would win custody and child support unless they proved Melinda to be an unfit mother.

About this time a new novel was released by Marshall Frank. He had tried to vindicate James Duckett, believing he was railroaded for raping and murdering a 12 year old girl, Theresa Macabee on May 11, 1987. Marshall interviewed James in 2003 but decided that he was guilty after all. Marshall knew Carla Massero.

His novel titled "Call Me Mommy" was about a husband who wanted custody of his son. The husband devised a plan where he made the mother look crazy and had her baker acted and was sucessful in gaining custody. This novel came out March 2005.

April 2005 Melinda Duckett was baker acted.

Daddy Leaves and Doesn't Want to Be a Family

Melinda wrote this in her Baby Book. Josh had left many times before, what made it different this time? They usually fought about Josh spending money for bike racing, and other usual couple spats. They also fought about his mother. Usually after these fights, Josh would put Trenton under his arm and march home to his mother. Sometimes for days. Josh knew that Melinda would make up with him because Josh had Trenton.

This night, Melinda was not going to let that happen again. She called a State Trooper friend, Paul Curtas, to her apartment in Bushnell, where she and Josh lived together on and off. When he came over, Josh did not take Trenton, but left.




The very next day, Josh called DCF and stated that Melinda was abusing Trenton. Officer Vaughan and Ms Crew from DCF visited Melinda and Trenton. And they found NOTHING to indicate abuse.

This was the beginning of "The Set Up".

Damning Evidence? or Set Up?

The "sonogram" found in the trash is not even a sonogram. It is a picture of someone pointing to a monitor (circled in red)showing the ultra sound. Unless of course we are to believe that Melinda had a hand and forearm inside her uterus.

Melinda's sonogram is pasted in her Baby Book which she meticulously kept. If she was trying to eliminate all memory of Trenton, then why did she still have her Baby Book? There are other sonograms in her book as well.

Now, I would suppose that Trenton's father Joshua Duckett had sonograms. He mentioned on the Nancy Grace show that he had ALL his sonograms. But this is a picture, not a sonogram, that is in the trash. Someone was with Melinda at the hospital and took the picture.

Melinda also has the picture of Trenton that is in this collage found in the trash. She also has her newspaper clipping of their wedding announcement. It's very peculiar, but why did Josh Duckett's attorney write to the elder Eubanks, requesting of all things, the newspaper clipping of their wedding announcement?

How easy it could have been for the handful of people who took Trenton out the window, to drop "damning" items to be later found in the dumpster...not in Melinda's garbage bags, but loose, in the dumpster?

The Leesburg Police have said that the abduction looked "staged". It was staged all right, but not by Melinda.

Why would she implicate herself, and so blaringly at that?

But this was not the first time that Melinda was set up by these handful of people.