POLK COUNTY, Fla. — The Polk County Sheriff’s Office says it has identified James Duckett as the sole suspect in the 1987 abduction and murder of 14-year-old Jeanifer Weldon, nearly four decades after the case went cold.
The announcement came Thursday, just days after Duckett, 68, was executed at Florida State Prison for the 1987 kidnapping, rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee in neighboring Lake County.
Sheriff Grady Judd said investigators are confident Duckett was responsible for Weldon’s killing.
“I am confident 100% that the right person died,” Weldon’s sister, Amy Weldon, said during Thursday’s news conference.
According to investigators, Weldon disappeared on Sept. 19, 1987, while walking home from a friend’s house.
Judd outlined evidence detectives say links Duckett to the crime, including records showing he left for work early the night Weldon disappeared, drove past the street where she was last seen and returned to work about two hours late the following morning.
Investigators also linked a bag containing candy and a stuffed animal that Duckett gave his wife to items Weldon had purchased earlier that day.
Detectives believe Weldon was killed just months after Duckett abducted, raped and killed McAbee, a crime for which he was convicted and later sentenced to death.
Although Duckett was never charged or convicted in Weldon’s case, members of both the McAbee and Weldon families attended his execution earlier this week.
“We got to bond with them. They were gracious to us because even though we know that Duckett killed her, they didn’t have to let us be there,” said Mindy Oakley, Weldon’s best friend.
Hope Limansah, Weldon’s sister, said the announcement brings long-awaited justice for the family.
“She deserved the life that she never got to see. She deserves justice,” Limansah said.
During the news conference, Judd also presented an age-progressed image showing what Jeanifer Weldon may have looked like as an adult.
Judd said investigators do not know whether Duckett had additional victims.
The sheriff’s office said detectives will hold one final meeting with state prosecutors before officially closing the Weldon investigation.
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