Trenton Duckett new eyewitnesses

There are some new developments in the Trenton Duckett case click here for updates.

Some new updates

These are some recent posts at An Ounce of Prevention on wordpress.

Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006
Touched her heart or hit a nerve
Automatic Amber Alerts?
Cajun, cameras, consent
School Dazed
Getting there is half the fun
MySpace … MySolutions?
Famous or infamous?
Bus…ted in Brownsville
Injury by omission

Melinda Duckett

Check here for an update on the Trenton Duckett disappearance and tragic death of his mother Melinda. Trenton is a 2 year-old believed to have been abducted from his Leesburg, Florida home.

Recent posts of interest

These are some recent posts on another blog I have. The How Dangerous Is Childhood, is reprinted with the permission of Nicole Neal of the Palm Beach Post.

Recent Posts:

Goose and the Gander

How Dangerous Is Childhood?
How Dangerous Is Childhood (con’t)
How Dangerous Is Childhood (con’t)
How Dangerous Is Childhood? (final)

Match game
Let your fingers do the walking
Horse of a different color?
Lost and Found
It is better to give than to receive

Innocence lost

Adam Walsh’s childhood wasn’t the only one that ended 25 years ago.

Childhood - and parenthood - would never be the same.

On Aug. 10, 1981, the severed head of the South Florida boy was found in a canal in Vero Beach.
If a 6-year-old could be taken from a mall after being out of his mother’s sight for just minutes; if he could be murdered and decapitated; if his killer could elude authorities, then our world must be a truly dangerous place for children.

It’s an understandable response to what was surely one of the most horrific crimes of the 20th century.

But the fallout - a culture of parental paranoia that has become the norm today - may be just as tragic.

The casualties, beyond the death of one innocent little boy, are many:

The death of simple childhood pleasures.
The death of peace of mind.
The death of common sense.
The death of self-sufficiency.

Read more When a child goes missing

Horse of a different color

Watching Dateline, The Worst Predator, on August 11, 2006, two people immediately came to mind. The story was about Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller, a suspected child molester. He is thought to be the most prolific child molester of all time.

John Larson started his article with a couple of observations.

For generations parents have warned their children about “the stranger”: Don’t take candy, accept a ride, or even talk to somebody you don’t know.

But what if that somebody is a family friend? Somebody parents know and trust?

The two people who came to mind were Peter Whitmore and Mary Kay Latourneau.

Deion Santistevan

Deion Santistevan was found shot to death after police heard gun shots while trying to negotiate with his father. They were in an apartment in Denver acording to this article .

It doesn’t mention if they were located as a result of the Amber Alert.

Colorado Amber Alert

After an alleged assault of the mother of his child, Elias Santistevan, 22, kidnapped his son, Deion Sanstivensan. The assault and kidnapping happened around 3 p.m. Sunday but the Amber Alert wasn't issued until after midnight on Monday.

Is an Amber Alert still effective if it is issued over nine hours after an abduction?
According to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation one of the purposes for issuing an Amber Alert is to rapidly disseminate information.

Is it effective if it is activated and de-activated during the search efforts?
Multiple Amber Alerts have been issued recently in the efforts to recover Daniel Jimenez, and Elian Majano both still missing. They were also issued multiple times in the abduction of Destiny Norton.

Amber Alert Process

Once law enforcement has been notified about an abducted child, they must first determine if the case meets the AMBER Plan criteria:

The child must be 17 years of age or younger

The child must be in immediate danger of serious bodily harm or death

There must be enough descriptive information to believe a broadcast will assist or aid in the recovery

The activation must be requested by a local local law enforcement agency or AMBER Designee from another state.

Purpose of the AMBER Alert

To rapidly disseminate information about a suspect and child to law enforcement agencies and the public when a child has been abducted

To gain the assistance of thousands of television viewers and radio listeners throughout the coverage area

To coerce the kidnapper to release the child for fear of arrest

To deter persons from commiting the crime

Out of sight out of mind?

Are there enough resources being devoted to runaways?







The media is filled with sensational stories concerning abducted children. Stories of runaways rarely are published or in some cases even addressed by law enforcement. However, the number of runaways far exceeds the number of abducted children.

Many also become victims but, the main difference is the runaway’s fate may never be included in missing child statistics. You can argue they place themselves in danger by running away but you can argue, in some recent child abductions, they too were placed in danger by their actions.

The California Department of Justice reported 112,015 missing children (runaways) in 2005 and 524,262 in the period of 2001-2005.

Read more

Hold the bacon

Six degrees of separation is the theory that anyone on earth can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances with no more than five intermediaries.

Let’s put this theory to the test by examining HR 5319 which is a bill introduced to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require recipients of universal service support for schools and libraries to protect minors from commercial social networking websites and chat rooms.

This immediately brings to mind MySpace which some consider the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends and discovering popular culture. MySpace, a $580 million acquisition, is a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc. Fox is part of “The News Corporation”.

Rupert Murdoch has grown “The News Corporation” into one of the largest and most influential media groups in the world. The company owns some of the largest and most popular brands in many areas of the media industry including: 20th Century Fox, Fox Television Studios, DIRECTV, Harper Collins Publishers, Festival Records and the New York Post.
“I’m a catalyst for change … You can’t be an outsider and be successful over 30 years without leaving a certain amount of scar tissue around the place.” Rupert Murdoch

One of Fox’s television programs is America’s Most Wanted, AMW, which is hosted by John Walsh. His hard work and determination helped to pass the Missing Children’s Assistance Act of 1984 which created National Center for Missing and Exploited Children NCMEC which now serves as the national clearinghouse for information on missing children and the prevention of child victimization.

On June 21, 2006, the NCMEC praised MySpace’s for its new enhanced safety features.
“We know that children can benefit greatly from being online,” said Ernie Allen, President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). “We commend MySpace for adding new safety and security features that will help provide protection to their youngest members, so they can have a safer online experience.”

By a vote of 410 to 15, the US House of Representatives passed yesterday H.R. 5319 “Deleting Online Predators Act” (DOPA), which amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require schools and libraries receiving federal money to protect minors from commercial social networking websites. Social networking sites such as MySpace.com may soon be inaccessible to minors from libraries and schools receiving federal funding.

The NCMEC receive approximately $35 million annually in federal funding, in part to protect children from being exploited.

President Bush signs HR 4472

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Thursday signed legislation that will establish a national sex offender registry and try to make it harder for sexual predators to reach children on the Internet.

The legislation, called the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, is named for Adam Walsh, a 6-year-old boy who was abducted 25 years ago on July 27, 1981, and eventually killed.

Read more

Bill expected to be signed today

President Bush is expected to sign a bill into law today designed to keep children across the country safer from child predators. One of the major advocates of the bill has been John Walsh. The bill is named "The Adam Walsh Child Protection Act of 2006", in memory of his son Adam who was murdered 25 years ago.

"...The bill still needs to have funding passed separately, Walsh says. "Legislation without oversight and without money is just a photo-op."

Projected cost $1.2 billion for the first couple years. The bill calls for:

• 500 new U.S. marshals. "They will only look for rapists and sexual predators of children," Walsh says.

• 35 new FBI agents, "dealing with only with cyber crimes over the Internet."

• Expanded efforts to catch pedophiles who use the Internet. Walsh credited NBC's "Dateline" and Oprah Winfrey for demonstrating the size of the problem.

• A standardized sex offender registry in each state.

• The collection of DNA from all convicted sex offenders.

• A requirement that convicted pedophiles submit a new photo to authorities every three months..."

Read the entire article

When a child goes missing

Why does it take so long to post a missing child in the various missing child clearinghouses yet the poster can be removed within minutes if the outcome is tragic? If it is out of respect for the families, why not show more respect by posting the child’s information quicker?

Why are the major news outlets covering Destiny Norton's death but had little interest in her disappearance or search?

How many reported missing children cases have actually been resolved by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children ® (NCMEC) since 1984?

What are the resolutions of those cases? Recovered unharmed/harmed? Not recovered? Murdered?

How do they compare statistically with all missing children reported during the same timeframe but not reported to NCMEC?

Why does the NCMEC refer to statistics, concerning murdered children, from the Office of the Attorney General of Washington State which was a study conducted in 1997? Are these statistics still relevant today?

View their site and are they basing their conclusions on studies that are four years old?

“…How many missing children are there?

Answer: The problem of missing children is complex and multifaceted. There are different types of missing children including family abductions; endangered runaways; nonfamily abductions; and lost, injured, or otherwise missing children. The best national estimates for the number of missing children are from incidence studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

To date two such studies have been completed. The first National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART-1) was released in 1990, and the second, known as NISMART-2, was released in October 2002. …”


In the year 2006, with all the technology available and all their technology partners, shouldn’t they have more current information? They receive approximately $40 million annually to fulfill their National Mandate and Mission. They tout the number of tips, calls etc and their 94% recovery rate so they must have some basis for the numbers.

“…The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s® (NCMEC) mission is to help prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation; help find missing children; and assist victims of child abduction and sexual exploitation, their families, and the professionals who serve them.
NCMEC was established in 1984 as a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization to provide services nationwide for families and professionals in the prevention of abducted, endangered, and sexually exploited children. Pursuant to its mission and its congressional mandates (see 42 U.S.C. §§ 5771 et seq.; 42 U.S.C. § 11606; 22 C.F.R. § 94.6), NCMEC ..”

The National Child Search Assistance Act of 1990 requires each federal, state, and local law-enforcement agency to enter information about missing children younger than the age of 18 into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. The Act also establishes state reporting requirements.

Can statistics not be extracted from the NCIC database?

Destiny Norton

Article Last Updated: 07/25/2006 03:14:54 AM MDT

Destiny found dead
Police arrest a man living next door

By Nate Carlisle The Salt Lake Tribune

The Salt Lake Tribune reported the body of Destinty Norton had been found in the basement of her next door neighbor, Craig Roger Gregerson, 20.

America's Most Wanted coverage

On America’s Most Wanted television show Saturday night, there was approximately a five second mention of the disappearance of Destiny Norton. They displayed a photo with an announcer doing a voice over.

By all accounts, her story has been mostly a regional story with little, if any, national coverage. Since her pictures and story have been on the internet for over a week, will a short blurb on AMW help that much?

It is somewhat ironic with the vote on H.R. 4472, the ‘‘Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006’’ and the upcoming 25th anniversary of his death, you might have thought there would have been more coverage of her disappearance.

‘‘Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006’’.

H.R. 4472 ‘‘Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006’’.

You know the old saying, “…To many Chef’s can spoil the broth…”? Read through this 164 page PDF, and perhaps it will help explain why it took so long to pass and could take three years to implement.

However this is one broth that in the end we trust will turn out well for the victims of these crimes.

Was the voice vote unanimous and the reason no representatives position was kept?

Votes on Passage

Mar 8, 2006: This bill passed in the House of Representatives by voice vote. A record of each representative's position was not kept.

Jul 20, 2006: This bill passed in the Senate by Voice Vote. A record of each representative's position was not kept.

A picture's worth a thousand words

A month ago there was discussion over whether the Irving, Texas police department followed proper procedure for issuing an Amber Alert for two year old Elian Majano. One month later, the child is still missing and the alert is still in effect.

Read more

Hurry up and wait.

Thursday the senate voted to approve the creation of a national sex offender registry. The House should vote this upcoming week. There is a possibility the President will sign it into law on July 25th if approved.

Why will it be required to be up and running within three years. Wonder what the statistics published concerning offenses committed during this time frame will be?

If each state maintains these records on-line now, why will it take three years to ensure implementation? Is it possible each state doesn't keep accurate records now and needs three years to "find" sex offenders?

What are the penalties to each state if they don't comply? We know what it can be for society.

Book of lists

If you believe the wheels of justice turn slowly, you might want to read about the National Sex Offender Registry bills introduced over a year ago. Expected to be voted on today, it could be signed into law July 27th.

Library of Congress

S.1086 Title: A bill to improve the national program to register and monitor individuals who commit crimes against children or sex offenses. Sponsor: Sen Hatch, Orrin G. [UT] (introduced 5/19/2005) Cosponsors (42) Related Bills: H.R.2423 Latest Major Action: 5/8/2006 Held at the desk.

H.R.2423 Title: To improve the national program to register and monitor individuals who commit crimes against children or sex offenses. Sponsor: Rep Foley, Mark [FL-16] (introduced 5/18/2005) Cosponsors (86) Related Bills: S.1086 Latest Major Action: 6/9/2005 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Subcommittee Hearings Held.

According to Congressman Mark Foley (FL-16), "...there are currently over 500,000 registered sex offenders in the United States – with 24,000 of them living in North Carolina and Virginia alone. Of that, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, we are missing between 100,000 to 150,000 of these predators.

What may be even more surprising to you is that there is a 200,000 person difference between all of the state registries and the federal National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR).
The House and Senate may vote today on the proposed bill which would make it a crime for sex offenders not to register with their state and would require states to share information when an offender moved to a new state...:

If approved, the new sex offender registry would replace the state-by-state system now in place. Under current law, offenders usually report once a year. Failure to report is a misdemeanor.

Could bill have helped Destiny Norton?

Profile of a child killer

The following is a profile of A Killer Kidnapper from a Washington state study.

The average killer of abducted children is 27 years old

85 percent are unmarried

Half are unemployed

51 percent live either alone or with their parents

61 percent have prior arrests for violent crimes

66 percent have a legitimate reason to be in the area where the abduction takes place

Source: Attorney General of Washington State, U.S. Department of Justice

Read more click here