And the Truth Comes Out

Just as with the forged threatening e-mail purported to be from Joshua, Melinda Duckett may have thought she had outsmarted everyone with a concocted abduction of her precious son Trenton, but it's obvious now she'd never fooled anyone but herself. Investigators were skeptical about Melinda's story from the word go, when she pointed the finger at her estranged husband and presented them with the infamous e-mail threat as proof that he was responsible for Trenton's disappearance. At every turn, Melinda's words and actions only served to reinforce their suspicions.

"She feigned cooperation, but she was uncooperative throughout the investigation," said Capt. Steve Rockefeller of the Leesburg Police Department.

Not only did investigators find fresh paint on Melinda Duckett's apartment walls and baby pictures, including a sonogram, in the trash, investigators said they also found holes in any story Melinda Duckett tried to tell them, especially when they put her on a voice stress test machine.

"Joshua passed his voice stress test. And Melinda, the results on hers were indicated deception," Rockefeller said. "That was definitely one of the earlier indicators that something was wrong with her story." [Source: WESH.com}

Melinda was reportedly more than a little skittish in the face of polygraph examinations, balking at the opportunity to clear her name on more than one occasion. This revelation is in direct conflict with the statement of her attorney, Kimberly Schulte. During an appearance on The O'Reilly Factor, Ms. Schulte claimed that Melinda did not refuse to submit to a polygraph examination, insisting that she (Ms. Schulte) rejected the invitation on her client's behalf.

The undisclosed whereabouts and activities of Melinda after leaving her grandparents' Lady Lake home on Saturday afternoon continue to be the most problematic for investigators. It seems that those lost hours were a particular sore spot for Melinda, as well.

Leesburg police confirmed that at one point, she started answering questions about the Friday and Sunday on the weekend Trenton disappeared, but when they started asking her about Saturday, Melinda Duckett got up and walked out.

"The time frame right after Saturday afternoon leading up until Sunday morning she was, she just didn't seem willing to discuss. And at one point, she did get up and leave an interview," Rockefeller said. [Ibid]

I've no wish to complain about investigators' decision to release more information to the public. In my opinion, most law enforcement organizations have, until recently, been too reluctant to enlist the public's help in investigating high-profile crimes. I understand the line of thinking behind that, and in many cases, it's justified. In this case, I personally don't yet have enough information to determine whether they should have done anything differently. Although I'm grateful to be apprised of more of the facts, I'm afraid of what the decision to release the information signifies -- namely that Leesburg Police have exhausted all leads and are desperate to churn up new tips.

More than ever, the focus is on Melinda Duckett and her whereabouts from 4 pm on Saturday, August 26, until approximately the same hour on Sunday, August 27. And they want the public to know it. Hopefully, there is someone out there who can delve into his or her memory and come up with something that will lead them to Trenton. We can only hope that Melinda didn't take that most important truth to her grave. One way or another, Trenton needs to be brought home.