It's interesting to note that Jimmy's ex-wife Carla Duckett Boggs Massero (she had a much younger boyfriend - Brian Lee Boggs - waiting in the wings when Jimmy was on his way to prison).
An aside:
Just a note about the Bragg book: James and Carla dated since
she was 13. They married 7/11/77
at Ft Meade just before Carla's 18th birthday (8/3/59 ) Josh was born May 15, 1985 and his brother
Justin was born November 13, 1982. That's 5 years with no kids. I wonder
if Carla worked during that time, also it was mentioned that she cleaned
offices in the book. It also mentions that James worked as a computer room
operator at W.R. Grace, a phosphate company. He was laid off in 1986. That's
when he went to police academy in Eustis. It was May 11, 1987 that the child was raped and
killed. That was just 4 days before Josh's 2nd birthday and 1 day after Mother's day.
My thoughts...Maybe Carla was suffering from post partum depression at that time. Supposedly before all this, they were a happy loving couple and went everywhere together. James' childhood was a really good one. He was loved by his brothers and sisters, his mother and he loved his step dad and vice versa. He was mild mannered and very likeable. He may have had a dark side, but somehow, maybe I'm prejudiced, Carla developed a very dark side. James worked the night shift, so he was gone from7
pm until 7 am .
Maybe Carla wanted affection and was seeking it elsewhere. She had the two
babies all day and no husband at night, and he probably slept a lot during the
day so he was only available to Carla about 4 hours per day. And like he said
there was nothing to do in Mascotte. They had 2 bars, a laundry and a
convenience store. Also, as I understand it, James' mother was very independent
and controlling. I wonder how she felt about Carla..or how Carla felt about
her.
My thoughts...Maybe Carla was suffering from post partum depression at that time. Supposedly before all this, they were a happy loving couple and went everywhere together. James' childhood was a really good one. He was loved by his brothers and sisters, his mother and he loved his step dad and vice versa. He was mild mannered and very likeable. He may have had a dark side, but somehow, maybe I'm prejudiced, Carla developed a very dark side. James worked the night shift, so he was gone from
It was Carla who called Prosecutor Hurm to inform him that she found a toy in a bag (with bloody underwear) that Jimmy brought home one night. This was to implicate Jimmy in the murder of Jennifer Weldon a 14 year old girl. Of course she no longer had it because she told police that her sister Susan Harrell (now Peterson) conveniently threw it out.
"
Killer seen as suspect in Polk girl's '87 death
By Sherri M. Owens | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted June 26, 2003
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A Polk Sheriff's Office investigator said Wednesday that the department intends to present the new information to the State Attorney's Office within two weeks. Duckett always was a suspect in the 1987 Polk case, but officials said the new witness only came forward after reading recent news reports about Duckett's appeal -- and claims of his innocence -- in the
"We're rather confident we have a pretty good case," said Maj. W.J. Martin, chief of the Polk County Sheriff's Office criminal-investigation division.
He would not elaborate on the new information. Duckett never was charged in the death of Jennifer Weldon, a 14-year-old
Duckett's lawyer, Beth Wells of
"They have nothing more now than they had years ago and they didn't indict him then," she said, conceding she had heard little about the new witness. "We think we'll be able to prove he didn't do it."
According to law-enforcement reports, Jennifer Weldon was last seen walking home alone on Highway 98 just north of
At the time, Duckett already was considered a suspect in the rape and murder of Teresa McAbee, a Mascotte schoolgirl. He was seen talking to her in his squad car on
Duckett was fired from the Mascotte Police Department that June and was indicted that October. In the meantime, he worked for a Polk phosphate mining company.
"He was supposed to have been at work at 11 the night [Jennifer Weldon] went missing, but we found out he was late that night and didn't arrive until 1," Martin said.
Other witnesses said that they saw Jennifer carrying a lime green bag and a stuffed cat the last night she was seen alive. Duckett's wife at the time said he brought home a lime green bag and a stuffed animal the next day.
"Not only do we have Duckett's ex-wife saying she saw the bag, but [the ex-wife's] sister cleaned out the home and found the bag and a stuffed animal and bloody underwear," Martin said, referring to events shortly after the girl's death."
She also wrote a letter to then Governor Jeb Bush to ask him to execute Jimmy. She hated Jimmy (She hates me too). She once told Melinda's grandparents Nancy and Billy Eubank that "she got even with Jimmy". (Just like she got even with Melinda Duckett and Stephani and Debi).
It's also interesting that the then Sheriff - Noel Griffin - had a stepson named Joey Rothel Bowden who was jailed around that time and was a sexual offender of a child under age 12..
One of Noel's sons Monte Griffin - a policeman for Wildwood, Florida was running drugs using their private air strip and later was involved in "cracking" a case with none other than lead investigator in the Melinda Duckett case... Rich Giles.
Rocky Harris the Lake County detective on the Death Row Stories who believes James to be guilty has a checkered past of his own:
Booze-sting Team Quits Underage Secretary, Officer
Reported Drinking In Bar
April 05, 1985|By Jim Runnels of The Sentinel Staff
"TAVARES — An 18-year-old secretary who worked in a sheriff's sting operation to stop the sale of alcohol to teen-agers and the sergeant who supervised her work resigned Thursday when confronted with allegations that they had been seen drinking together in a Leesburg bar.
The underage secretary was used in the sting operation so officers could prove the law was broken by virtue of her age.
Rocky Harris, the supervising sergeant of the Lake County Sheriff's Department Criminal Investigation Division, and secretary Becky Robbins resigned Thursday when confronted with the allegations.
Sheriff Noel Griffin said that the 11 criminal cases that Robbins helped officers create will not be affected by the resignations or the accusations.
''What happened with our employees doesn't technically affect the criminal cases at all,'' Griffin said.
Defense attorneys, however, said they think the cases will be jeopardized because juries probably will refuse to impose criminal sanctions on clerks on Robbins' word.
''How can they expect a jury to find somebody guilty when the informant and a supervisor in the unit are accused of violating the same law?'' one attorney asked. He said he did not want to be identified.
Deputies began the sting operation in the wake of criticism of a similar operation in which the department used an employee of WCPX-Channel 6 to make cases; three clerks who were arrested March 13. The television station provided the undercover agent -- a young female intern -- and deputies made arrests after store clerks sold the underage girl alcoholic beverages.
Shortly after the arrests were made, sheriff's spokesman Chris Giachetti said the department would begin doing its own sting operations, using a department employee. He said the change was because the stings were so successful, not because the department and the television station were being criticized.
The employee chosen to work undercover in the sting was Robbins, whose full-time department job was to act as Giachetti's secretary.
Giachetti said Thursday that most of the 11 cases in which Robbins assisted were filed in the past week.
In those cases, Robbins was sent into various stores to purchase alcohol while other officers videotaped the transactions.
While the criminal cases proceeded through the preliminary stages of the court system this week, rumors began to circulate that defense attorneys were planning to attack the sheriff's department because Harris and Robbins had been seen drinking together at a Leesburg restaurant lounge.
When inquiries by The Orlando Sentinel were made to the sheriff's department Thursday, Griffin said he ordered an internal affairs investigation.
Independent investigations of Harris and Robbins ended almost as soon as they began, Giachetti said, with both Robbins and Harris resigning as soon as they were confronted with the allegations.
Giachetti said the investigations went no further.
Harris was reached by telephone but refused to comment. Robbins could not be reached."
And one of the many letters I received from James this one dated 4 years ago:
I am disappointed that this episode presented by CNN Death Row Stories did NOT give the full story nor present the information researched by Jeanne Bragg nor myself and the many others who carry the torch for this injustice.
