Nancy Grace Saga

[Seahunt]

The latest on the saga of the missing toddler - I have never heard of a mother throwing away toys and pictures of a missing child INCLUDING the sonogram, usually aren't the sonograms one of the most special rememberences of the pregnancy?:

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Law enforcement sources in Lake County told the WESH 2 I-Team that Melinda Duckett became a potential suspect almost immediately after she reported her 2-year-old son, Trenton, missing because of her initial reactions.

Police asked to search her apartment on Aug. 27 -- the night she reported Trenton missing. She consented, but investigators also went to court to get a search warrant.

"There were two search warrants served. One on the original night of the disappearance, or I guess that would actually be the following morning, early in the morning hours, and that was as the case wore on and it became apparent after interviewing the parents that the child had indeed disappeared," said Capt. Steve Rockefeller of the Leesburg Police Department. "The case migrated to a full-blown crime scene. So, at that point, rather than searching the house with consent, we chose to search the house with a warrant and consent."


When they received the court-approved search warrant, police entered Duckett's apartment at the Windermere Villas in Leesburg for a more thorough search on Monday, Aug. 28. They said they found some suspicious items.

Law enforcement officials told the WESH 2 I-Team that police found freshly painted walls in some places, and in the back of the building, trash that was allegedly thrown out of Duckett's apartment was filled with Trenton's toys.

But what grabbed investigators' attention was pictures, officials said. They said a lot of pictures of Trenton, including the sonogram printout from when Duckett was pregnant, were all thrown away in the trash.
"We did do a trash pull, that's common. And we pulled items from her house that night, but as far as items that were taken, that would be evidence and I have not been authorized to talk about anything like that," Rockefeller told WESH 2 News on Tuesday.

Investigators said the photos are what made them take a hard look at Duckett from the beginning of the investigation. Detectives said they are still trying to figure out how those clues might relate to Trenton's disappearance.

Police said there's no evidence as to who threw the photos away, but Duckett was staying in the apartment.

Duckett killed herself on Friday, Sept. 8, two weeks after her son disappeared.

This past Sunday, divers in Farles Lake in the Ocala National Forest found a garbage bag.

On the bag, investigators discovered a substance that some believed was blood and holes that appeared to be from alligator bites. The bag was sent to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab in Jacksonville for analysis, and forensic tests showed that the substance on that bag is not blood.

Law enforcement officials also said divers found a large piece of asphalt about 10 feet away from the bag. The lake is in a remote woodland where there are no paved roads.

Lake County's sheriff's divers were back out at Farles Lake on Tuesday to search for more clues or possible evidence in this case.

The search in the Ocala National Forest has also turned up what could be a child's shoe. Forensics experts are examining the shoe.

Also, Nancy and Bill Eubank, Melinda Duckett's grandparents, were at the Leesburg Police Department on Tuesday to discuss a fund that their church is setting up in Trenton's name. They said they wanted to make sure their paperwork is legal.

The fund will give $5,000 to anyone who provides information that helps investigators find Trenton.

They were at the police station at the same time as Joshua Duckett -- Trenton's father -- and his family. The two sides of the family have had strained relations.

Duckett offered the Eubanks two shirts that said "Team Trenton."

"I hadn't talked to them since me and Melinda separated," Duckett said. "I tried to reach out to them numerous times now to try and get them to get on the same page as we are, and I haven't gotten any response. And today I seen them in person, I tried to reach out to them by giving them our Team Trenton shirts and I got no response there."

The Eubanks' church fund is in addition to the reward offered by Crimeline. In order to get that reward, tipsters need to call 800-423-TIPS. However, police are also urging anyone with information to call the main investigative number at 800-CALL-FBI.

Police said people seeking a reward should call both numbers with tips.