Mom Kills Herself After TV Interview

CNN's Nancy Grace Grills Mother Who Says Her Baby Was Kidnapped

(AP)  Two weeks after telling police that her son had been snatched from his crib, Melinda Duckett found herself reeling in an interview with TV's famously prosecutorial Nancy Grace.

Before it was over, CNN's 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.

"Nancy Grace and the others, they just bashed her to the end," Duckett's grandfather Bill Eubank said. "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.

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.

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."

[zykracosmos]

I agree with jcomb1, verbatim. When television ratings are alligned with a vicious host who skewers guests on stage, it says something about the ugliness just under the surface of the millions who watch such trash. If it turns out that this woman's baby was stolen from her, and she committed suicide in despair, Nancy herself should be hounded the rest of her life.

[alton28]

Nancy Grace should be fired for pushing that woman over the edge. She is just a bitter and lonely woman who wants everyone to feel like she do. That's why no man wants her, a man will be better off dying then to live with someone like her all the time (boy he was a lucky man). She needs to get a life and stop being so mean to people only so she can get high rating's on her show.

[dwacon]

Does an innocent person commit suicide? Perhaps if there is mental or emotional instability. Was Nancy wrong? She was just doing her job. Would anyone expect her to do different?

[roblyn777]

Just becaise she committed suicide does not mean that she was guilty, she could have bee or maybe not. How would you feel if your life was turned upside down and on top of it all you lost your 2-year old boy (by whatever means)? I know that I would be devestated and it might not take much to make someone realize exactly how bleak the future looks and in that state being pushed even further it would be hard not to think things could be better off if you weren't around...I think what Nancy Grace did was unexcusable...she was not on trial and should have displayed some tact, but because she couldn't a woman is dead and no one may ever find out what happened to a sweet, innocent little 2-year-old boy...

[themooniac]

Nancy Grace is to full of s**t. Always with the histrionics. I've been watching her on Court TV for years. I'll tell ya, she's no Catherine Crier. Does'nt it make you wonder how many people she railroaded as a prosecutor to advance her own personal career/interest?? Not even a shred of remorse from her for the "innocent until proven guilty". This from a member of the legal community. I should hope this is the last chapter in her career-television and otherwise.

[brianmackdfw]

There is alot more to this story. I'm interested in see what happens. As for Nancy Grace, the woman is just plain annoying. She and O'Reilly need to be taken off the air.

[whight]

Nancy Grace is a disgrace to the law profession. No way should she have a TV show. She is such an ***. I'm sure her actions had a lot to do with this death. Lets all try to get her off the air.

[jcomb1]

Nancy Grace is quite possibly the most hatefull, synical and nasty person on TV. I stopped watching Larry King when she started guest hosting it. I was shocked when CNN gave her her own show ! She "prosecutes" people on the air, polluting jury pools and compromisng the justice system.
I hope this lady's family sues Grace and CNN for buckets of $$$.

[orionenigma]

Nancy Grace is as pitiful as a commentator as she is a disgrace to her trade.
Her overly dramatic and often arrogant attitude, braced with her inane innuendo, serves as a thinly veiled attempt to mask her inability to flesh the facts from her feverish imagination.
Was Ms. Duckett guilty of a heinous act?
Maybe she was, then again, maybe she wasn't. Perhaps we'll never know, but the one undisputable FACT in this entire sordid episode, is that Nancy is still around and on-air, and THAT is without a doubt, a crime of the highest magnitude.

[orionenigma]

Nancy Grace is as pitiful as a commentator as she is a disgrace to her trade.
Her overly dramatic and often arrogant attitude, braced with her inane innuendo, serves as a thinly veiled attempt to mask her inability to flesh the facts from her feverish imagination.
Was Ms. Duckett guilty of a heinous act?
Maybe she was, then again, maybe she wasn't. Perhaps we'll never know, but the one undisputable FACT in this entire sordid episode, is that Nancy is still around and on-air, and THAT is without a doubt, a crime of the highest magnitude.

[astrofeng]

Responsibility for our words and actions is a Universal Principle that our court system mimics. The mass media has no business "prosecuting" ANYONE in the circus court of public opinion. Now Nancy Grace bears the burden of guilt that she dumped on this 21 year old Mother and her own circus court presides at HER trial...

[dawger51]

It really saddens me to think that for the sake of ratings and advertising dollars that news organizations hire the likes of Nancy Grace. I have seen her one time and found her to be offensive, demeaning, and cruel to the person that was being grilled. Why has "news" become more about the presenter than the news. As I grow older, I watch less and less TV news and rely more and more on print media. I'm tired of TV and radio folks yelling at me.

[thblessed1]

I did not see the Nancy Grace interview, but if I knew I was innocent, no one could say anything to shake or break me. And if my son were missing, and possibly alive, I would not be so selfish as to take my own life. Police, CIA, FBI interrogate innocent people, but they don't go home and commit suicide because they felt under pressure. I don't like Nancy Grace's program, but she isn't responsible for this girl's weaknesses.

[nugu-2009]

"Nancy Dis-Grace" -- I couldn't agree more! If there is such a thing as justice, Ms. Grace will be interviewed on the death of her fiancee by some viewer-hungry harpy who will try to insinuate her into an active role in the mystery.

[lstray]

Why is Nancy Grace responsible? I saw the interview and listened to the woman's answers...they were not the answers of a distraught mother, they sounded like she had something to hide. It is very sad that this woman committed suicide. Is that an indication of how far she was willing to go to keep her son from his father? Divorces bring out he worst in people. I hope the boy is found safe and reunited with his father. Nancy did not cause anything, she was trying to do what any sane person would do...find out where the boy is. The mother just did not seem like she was concerned at all in her tone of voice or demeanor. As a mother myself, I could not imagine being in her shoes and talking or acting like she was. I would be upset to say the least; looking all over the place and on the news to ask people to help me find my children and willing to tell whatever to whoever to make sure they were found. That's just my opinion..you are entitled to yours. I do pray for the boy, the mother, the father, and the rest of the family that remains in this horrible situtation but don't blame Nancy.

[cd327]

Pounding her desk and demanding?? Who does she think she is? Feel better, now, Nancy Grace? That you could be directly responsible for a young woman's death, who was obviously distraught, and in a fragile condition, and SUPPOSEDLY innocent until proven guilty????

Remember, there is such a thing as KARMA. Oh, and Nancy, was your 'precious' interview WORTH it?????

[peaceforusa]

To SoPoME

I understand she was advised by her lawyer to not answer the questions. She may have made the appearence to prove to people that she didn't harm her child, but Nancy Grace went for the throat and asked her the questions she was advised not to answer. Melinda Duckett may be innocent in the sense she did not kill her child, but maybe just hid him away from the father. With her death goes the answer to that puzzle. I pray he is safe. Either way it goes she is dead and Nancy Grace pushed her to it.

[peaceforusa]

To SoPoME

I understand she was advised by her lawyer to not answer the questions. She may have made the appearence to prove to people that she didn't harm her child, but Nancy Grace went for the throat and asked her the questions she was advised not to answer. Melinda Duckett may be innocent in the sense she did not kill her child, but maybe just hid him away from the father. With her death goes the answer to that puzzle. I pray he is safe. Either way it goes she is dead and Nancy Grace pushed her to it.

[cathaleen]

I saw a few minutes of the interview with Nancy Grace and Melinda Duckett. I thought that Nancy Grace was over the top. I have seen other interviews that she did and none were like this.
She bullied and battered this girl.

[spredbury]

Nancy Grace is a disgrace to humanity. I have followed this story by watching all of Grace's appearances on TV hopeing she would show some remorse for her evil actions. Grace is in search of ratings *** the cost. I have never watched her show and would not even consider it not. I really can't express the amount of disdain I have for Grace.