I have often been asked "Why did you start following missing children cases?"
In August of 2000, My son John, 25, died of complications of Juvenile diabetes. Two days later we buried him.
The next year, My wife and I went to Grantham park in Mt. Dora, Florida to watch the sunset and to release three balloons. Red, for me, Yellow for my wife, and blue for John. We would go to in front of the lighthouse and watch the sunset over the lake. When the sun touched the lake, we would release the balloons which represented our spirits together in the heavens.
This tradition continued every year around the same weekend of my son's passing.
The release of the balloons on August, 27th, 2006 would mark a turning point that would change my life forever.
We arrived at the part shortly before sunset on that hot and humid August evening. We sat silently on the ledge that went around the lighthouse and watched the sun as it slowly set.
The moment soon arrived where we would release the balloons. After the release, we watched as the gentle breeze carried the balloons off into the evening sky, westward toward nearby Eustis, and perhaps, toward Leesburg, 20 miles farther west. We lingered a bit, watching the stars come out as the sun set, remembering our long ago departed son and the life and times we had with him.
We soon arrived home after the 10 minute drive from the light house. I turned on my tv in time to hear the local breaking news casts that a 2 year old child by the name of Trenton Duckett was missing from his mother's apartment in Leesburg, Florida.
For a week, I followed the news about Trenton and wondered along with the rest of the country, what had happened to him and if he would be found, alive or not.
Soon I began to go onto chat sites on the internet and join in on the discussions about Trenton and what could have happened to him.
As time went on with no answers, I became more and more interested in the case. I noticed that the mainstream media was starting to cut back on their coverage of Trenton as more current news events devloped.
I also noticed that some internet posters were uploading pictures and other materials, mostly from already available sources in the commercial media sites. Since I lived within a short distance of Leesburg, I felt that perhaps those who lived outside of the area would be interested in a video perspective of the places significant in the case. It was out of this that my photobucket site was created.
http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q259/M2KFL/
In retrospect, if I had confined my efforts to just taking pictures of people and places of interest, I may not have the problems I am now having with the haters and professional hackers.
Hindsight is 20/20 and foresight is blind. The truth of the matter, however, is whatever missteps or mistake I made from then on was for one reason and one reason only.
It is my belief that no parent should outlive their child. To out live your ONLY child is a bitter experience that never goes away.
The remarkable coincidence of this case is forever engraved in my mind.
On August 24th, 2000, my son and only child, John died on his way to surgery to repair damage to his heart caused by a heart attack a week earlier. We buried our son on August, 26th, 2000.
Trenton was reported on August, 27th, 2006
The following year, My wife and I released four balloons. The fourth balloon, a white one, represented the purity of Trenton, a child just starting out in life.
This last year, I released the four balloons again, this time alone. My wife of 36 years passed away the previous January of a heart attack brought on from complications of adult Diabetes.
As I end this entry, I sit and wonder the fate of yet another child Haleigh Cummings, and the countless other missing children who do not receive national media coverage.
May god speed their return to those they love and who love them so that another loved one does not have to outlive their child.
MURT
