Detectives Solve 1987 Cold Case Following Execution of James Duckett

Murder Files Unsealed · Aug 3, 2026 · 32m · transcript

Following the 2026 execution of former police officer James Aren Duckett, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office officially identified him as the killer of 14-year-old Jeanifer Weldon. Although Duckett was originally sentenced to death for the 1987 murder of Teresa Mae McAbee, investigators used the occasion of his death to exceptionally clear Weldon’s decades-old cold case. Detectives linked him to the crime through a mosaic of circumstantial evidence, including his suspicious movements on the night of the disappearance and a stuffed toy he possessed that matched one belonging to the victim…