James Duckett
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James Aren Duckett (born 4 September 1957) is a former Florida police officer currently awaiting execution for the 1987 rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee.
Biography edit
At 10:00 p.m. on 12 May 1987, Duckett was on patrol in Mascotte, Florida, when he came across 11-year-old Teresa McAbee and several friends outside a convenience store. Most of them left after they saw him coming because it was past curfew, but McAbee and 16-year-old Salvador Castillo remained. Duckett verified McAbee and Castillo's ages from the store clerk, then warned Castillo off and told him to go and wait for his uncle to pick him up. Duckett claimed in his statement that he had then told McAbee to go home and driven off.
McAbee was reported missing at around 11:00 p.m. The next day her body washed up at the shore of a nearby lake. She had been raped, choked into unconsciousness and then thrown in the lake to drown. Duckett was interviewed by two deputies from the Lake County Sheriff's Department and gave the aforementioned statement, leading to Salvador Castillo coming under suspicion. Duckett had previously gone to interview Castillo but found he wasn't at home. Tyre tracks outside Castillo's house were matched to tracks from the crime scene. Castillo was found and arrested, but his uncle was able to provide an alibi; he had picked him up from outside the convenience store just after Duckett left.
The tracks from the crime scene and Castillo's house were found to be from winter tyres, which are very rare in Florida. Moreover, the specific make of tyre had only been sold by one dealership in the county, to two Mascotte PD police cars. One had been taken away for repair and the other was Duckett's car. Duckett was suspended under investigation and went to work at the phosphate mine. He was interviewed and claimed that he had been responding to a call from a Jiffy Stop at 10:58 p.m. The Jiffy Stop clerk, Ray Pike, was interviewed and said that he had seen Duckett twice: at 9:30 p.m., when he stopped for coffee, and at 1:20 p.m., when he arrived to hand out missing persons flyers, but he had not been there anytime in between. Duckett's logbook was examined and the entry for 10:58 p.m. had been written in a different ink to the rest of it and had clearly been written after the other entries. Duckett had also never bothered to date his entries except the one for 12 May, suggesting he had somehow anticipated he would need to account for his movements that day.
One of Teresa McAbee's friends, Lyndsy Solace, was interviewed and told police that Duckett had raped her. Because of this, she had gone back to check on Teresa after Duckett had shown up and had seen her getting in Duckett's car, contradicting Duckett's original statement as he said she was never in the car. Two other girls also claimed to have been assaulted or harassed by Duckett. Duckett and McAbee's fingerprints and handprints were found on the bonnet of Duckett's car in a position consistent with Duckett being on top of McAbee, who the prints suggested was trying to back away. A DNA test was performed on pubic hair and semen taken from McAbee's body, which was found to be a probable match for Duckett. Meanwhile, a second girl, 14-year-old Jennifer Weldon, was found raped and murdered near the phosphate mine where Duckett was working. Duckett is the prime suspect in the murder, which officially has never been solved. Duckett's wife told police that he had come home with Jennifer Weldon's bag the night of the murder, but spousal privilege meant her testimony was inadmissible and Duckett could only be charged with McAbee's murder.
Duckett was arrested and charged with Teresa McAbee's murder. He was convicted on 5 May 1988 and sentenced to death. He continues to maintain his innocence and has filed multiple appeals on the grounds of ineffective counsel, prosecutorial misconduct, improper jury instructions and improper calling of witnesses. All appeals were rejected and Duckett remains on death row.