Death of Melinda Duckett

Duckett was born in South Korea and moved to the United States on Christmas Eve of 1985, at the age of four months, after being adopted by an American couple.[2] She lived in Lockport, New York until she was seventeen years old, when she moved to Florida to live with her adoptive grandparents.[3] She attended South Sumter High School with Joshua Duckett, whom she began dating.[4] Melinda became pregnant, and gave birth to Trenton shortly after graduating high school. She and Joshua married in July 2005. The relationship between Josh and Melinda Duckett was “tumultuous” and they separated numerous times before Melinda filed for divorce in July 2006.[5]

Melinda was involuntarily committed under the Baker Act in April 2005 after Joshua alleged that she had threatened to harm Trenton.[6] She was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder in December 2005, but the report indicated there was "no psychological reason that would preclude Melinda from being a capable and loving parent."[7]

Duckett worked for a lawn care company until she was laid off.[8] She became a notary public on August 1, 2006.[9]

Duckett reported her son missing on August 27, 2006. She told police that she went to check on Trenton in his bedroom after she had finished watching a film, and discovered that Trenton was gone and there was a cut in the window screen above the crib.[8] According to police, she was considered the prime suspect in her son's disappearance but no arrests were made because they hoped she would lead them to Trenton.[10]

Duckett was interviewed about Trenton's disappearance by Nancy Grace for a September 8, 2006, episode of Grace's television program. During the interview Grace accused Duckett of hiding something because Duckett refused to take a polygraph test and provided vague answers to questions.[11] The day after the taping of the show, Duckett wrote a two page letter addressed to "the public" expressing her love for Trenton and anger over being faced with "ridicule and criticism." She left the letter on the dashboard of her car, entered her grandparents' home, retrieved her grandfather's shotgun, entered a closet and died by suicide by firearm.[10]

Duckett's family blamed her death on media scrutiny, particularly from Grace. They filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her, accusing Grace of inflicting emotional distress on Duckett.[12] In an interview on Good Morning America, Nancy Grace said in reaction to events that "If anything, I would suggest that guilt made her commit suicide. To suggest that a 15- or 20-minute interview can cause someone to commit suicide is focusing on the wrong thing."[11] She then said that, while she sympathized with the family, she knew from her own experience as a victim of crime that such people look for somebody else to blame.[13]

On November 8, 2010, a month before the jury trial was scheduled to start, Grace reached a settlement with the estate of Melinda Duckett to create a $200,000 trust fund dedicated to locating Trenton. According to the agreement, if Trenton is found alive before he turns 13, the remaining proceeds in the trust will be administered by a trustee, Trenton's great-aunt Kathleen Calvert, until he turns 18 and the funds are transferred for his use. If Trenton is not found alive by his 13th birthday, the funds will be transferred to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "We are pleased the lawsuit has been dismissed. The statement speaks for itself," a spokeswoman for CNN said.[14] Jay Paul Deratany, a lawyer representing Duckett's family and estate, said in a statement sent to The Associated Press: "After four years of litigation and extensive discovery, the parties now agree that Nancy Grace, the producers of her program, and CNN engaged in no intentional wrongdoing in the course of dedicating a program to finding the missing toddler, as alleged in the lawsuit."[11]

• CNN Transcripts – Transcript of the Nancy Grace episode in which Duckett was interviewed