LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — Seven years after the 2-year-old disappeared, friends and family of Trenton Duckett gathered for a vigil Tuesday night. They said they are maintaining hope that he will be found alive.
The Leesburg boy was last seen on Aug. 27, 2006, with his mother, Melinda.
Trenton's father, Joshua Duckett, told Channel 9's Renee Stoll that there are leads in his son's case.
He said a new lead is being investigated, but he thinks it might be better if they can get a new set of eyes to look at the case.
"We just want to thank everybody for coming out this evening -- the seventh year that we've had to do this," Duckett told the group who gathered.
Trenton's family said that over the last seven years the crowds coming to the candlelight vigils have gotten smaller, as have the leads to find Trenton.
"In the beginning it was hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and now, as the years go on, they slowly trickle in," said Duckett.
Trenton was last seen by his mother, who claimed he was kidnapped from his bedroom. She committed suicide two weeks after her son's disappearance.
"She definitely had the answers, and I feel that when she committed suicide that went with her," said Duckett.
Joshua Duckett told Stoll that as recently as the last few months detectives with the Leesburg Police Department have received new tips suggesting where Trenton could be.
"It's been a few months and they've been working on it, but it hasn't quite been fully followed up on yet," said Duckett.
Duckett said it has been a long time since he's heard from the lead detective.
"He probably hasn't called me in over a year-and-a-half, so it makes it difficult that there's not that communication there. And I think they've got one detective that really works on the case and that's it and we would eventually like to get a new set of eyes put on the case," said Duckett.
Besides losing his child, Duckett said it's been hard living in the small community because, despite being cleared by law enforcement as a suspect, people have treated him and his family differently.
WFTV
