Former Officer James Duckett Faces Execution for 1987 Murder of Young Girl

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Governor Ron DeSantis has authorized the execution of former Mascotte police officer James Duckett, setting the date for March 31. Duckett faces the death penalty for the 1987 murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee, as per the warrant signed on Friday.

Duckett, who is now 68, is also known as the grandfather of Trenton Duckett, a toddler who mysteriously vanished from his mother’s apartment in Leesburg in 2006. At the time of Trenton’s disappearance, James Duckett was already on Florida’s Death Row and is not considered a suspect in the case.

According to court documents, Duckett was the sole officer on duty in Mascotte on the night of May 11, 1987. Witnesses reported seeing McAbee in Duckett’s patrol car outside a convenience store where she had gone to purchase a pencil.

When McAbee failed to return home, her mother sought help from Groveland police and later encountered Duckett at the Mascotte police station.

In his statements, Duckett admitted that McAbee had been in his patrol car but claimed he instructed her to go home and never saw her afterward, as documented in court records.

The following morning, McAbee’s body was discovered in a nearby lake, less than a mile from the convenience store. The medical examiner testified that she had been sexually assaulted, strangled, and drowned.

Investigators discovered tire tracks in the mud near the lake that matched unique Goodyear Eagle snow tires designed for northern driving that were installed on Mascotte’s two patrol cars.

McAbee’s fingerprints were found on the hood of Duckett’s patrol car, authorities said, indicating that she had been seated backwards on the hood and had scooted up the car.

A jury voted eight-to-four in favor of recommending the death penalty after finding Duckett guilty of first-degree murder and sexual battery.

Over the past four decades Duckett has unsuccessfully appealed his conviction and death sentence, which was affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court.

“The record has been reviewed, and there are no stays of execution issued by any court of competent jurisdiction in this cause,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier wrote in a letter supporting the issuance of a death warrant.

Following a record 19 executions last year, two Florida inmates have been put to death by lethal injection so far in 2026 with Billy Leon Kearse scheduled to be executed March 3.