Post: #15

Chief just held presser.
father has hurt ankle. still in mental hospital. (setting up defense case no doubt)
he lied about "joann taylor", there is no relationship.
police want to know where his van was at 0400 to 0700 friday. (2000 blue dodge caravan) the police have the van. last time kids were seen by anyone was Thanksgiving afternoon playing in his yard.
FBI setting up a search base in nearby Kunkle, Ohio.

the grandmother appears here on video from Good Morning America:
(i'm afraid she is deluding herself)

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/



did the bastard hurt his ankle somewhere in the woods??

Post: #16

Detroit Free Press

MORENCI -- More than 60 law enforcement officers and firefighters and several civilians are searching the Lazy River Campground near Pioneer, Ohio, in connection with the search for the three missing Morenci boys.

Campground owner Doug Rowland told the Free Press that Lenawee County Sheriff Jack Welsh was at the campground at 10:45 a.m. today and a full-scale search began at 11:30 a.m.

The search involves law enforcement officers and firefighters from both Michigan and Ohio, including firefighters from places like Hudson, Mich., and law enforcement officers from Pioneer and the Fulton County (Ohio) sheriff’s office and others.

The campground covers more than 100 acres at the intersection of U.S. 20 and U.S. 20A, about three miles southwest of Pioneer, Ohio. The campground stretches about halfway from U.S. 20 on the north to the Ohio Turnpike (U.S. 80-90) to the south.

News Alert: Fire official says latest tip points to missing Morenci boys being dropped off along HWY 20 in Ohio. Searchers moving now.

Pioneer, Ohio— A search for three missing brothers in Pioneer, Ohio, has turned ominous this afternoon. Investigators are preparing to search 18 miles of roadway in Williams County, Ohio, in the belief John Skelton may have left his sons there.

Fire Chief Scott Damon of Cambridge Township, Mich., told a group of firefighters preparing to search that Morenci father "may have just dumped them on the road."


From The Detroit News

Post: #17

Toledo Blade:

PIONEER, Ohio — Three bus loads of volunteers and firefighters will be dropped Monday afternoon at various points in Ohio to start a walking search for three brothers missing from Morenci, Mich.

The school buses — each with 50 civilians and 20 firefighters — were being loaded at a community center in Pioneer about 2 p.m. Monday, said Cpl. Jeff Paterson, an officer with the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office.

Once they are taken to drop off points, they will walk 20 to 30 feet off main roads until they meet back in West Unity, he said. They are searching for anything that has to do with the missing boys: Andrew Ryan Skelton, 9, Alexander William Skelton, 7, and Tanner Lucas Skelton, 5. They have been missing since late last week when their father John Skelton, 39, told police that he had given them to a woman named Joann Taylor to take them to their mother. That story has since been discounted.

One search group on Monday afternoon will start in Holiday City and will travel south on State Rt. 15 to State Rt. 20A East to West Unity, Corporal Paterson said. Another group will start at the intersection of U.S. 20 and U.S. 127 and will go south until they reach West Unity.

The corporal said they have been told to report anything suspicious to the firefighters and other law enforcement officials who are traveling with them.

News of the ground effort came after a search at a 64-acre campground in Pioneer was called off Monday afternoon after crews hunted through the area for about 90 minutes.

Post: #18

The Detroit News

Morenci— With nightfall, police have discontinued the two-state search for three missing brothers, saying it would resume in the morning.

"Until we've exhausted everything, we're moving on," he told about a hundred emergency personnel and volunteers huddled in the city fire department.

The search will continue on Tuesday and focus on an area from Morenci to Pioneer, Ohio, and down to Holiday City and West Unity. Authorities have developed evidence, including cell phone activity that puts John Skelton, 39, in those areas.

As the days drag on since Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, 5, were last seen on Thanksgiving, many searchers fear the worst. Organizers have tried to limit young children from helping and a search this morning of an Ohio campground was conducted by fire and police personnel. Civilian volunteers weren't used until the afternoon's search focused on more than 20 miles of roadway.

That search began after Fire Chief Scott Damon of Cambridge Township, Mich., told a group of firefighters preparing to search that Skelton "may have just dumped them on the road." He said later that they were looking for any evidence.

Weeks expressed his thanks to the dozens of Morenci firefighters, police and local volunteers who have endured cold temperatures and long days in the search. "I sincerely, sincerely appreciate every one of you," he said Monday evening. "I don't know if I've ever been prouder of a community."Investigators were acting on information that Skelton may have traveled roads in the area between Thursday and Friday afternoons.

Post: #19

The Detroit News

Adrian — The father of three missing boys bitterly fought for custody of them and took them before without permission, according to court records.

The records show that John R. Skelton, 39, took his sons and announced his intention to move to Jacksonville, Fla., on Sept. 13 — the same day his wife filed for divorce, according to documents in Lenawee County Circuit Court.

The proceedings also show Skelton sought a court order for sole custody of the boys, Tanner, 5, Alexander, 7, and Andrew 9, based on the claim that their mother, Tanya Skelton, 34, was on the state's sex offender list. She served a year in prison for an illegal sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy in 1998.

Physical custody was granted to the mother by Lenawee County Circuit Judge Margaret Noe on Sept. 28, following her efforts in conjunction with Florida authorities to force the father to return the children.

On Oct. 11, the judge allowed the father to resume parenting time every other weekend and every Wednesday after school. A clause added to the agreement required Skelton to not drink alcohol while with his children. there's a reason for that.

The boys were last seen Thursday. Stories the father has told about leaving them with a friend before unsuccessfully attempting suicide, are lies, police said.

Court records show Skelton, a long-haul truck driver, took his sons from their grade school on Sept. 13, and sent text messages from Ohio requesting their birth certificates. He later turned them over to police after being called on his cell phone by a Morenci Police officer.

Skelton took them again, but this time to Florida, where Duval County Circuit Judge Karen Cole ordered him Sept. 20 to drive them back to their home in Morenci. The trip was to be taken by the mother and father in separate cars, but in sight of each other the entire time.

Post: #20

i am surprised i have not yet seen cadaver dogs on search.

Post: #21

Pioneer is only 45 minutes away from me. I pray to God he just dumped them but I would think they would go to someones house for help if that was the case. I left the house yesterday at 7 am and it was only 13 degrees outside...it's usually about 5 degrees colder in Williams County. How could they survive all night in those temps? Hearing these stories makes my heart ache, yet I read them all, always hoping for a miracle, which seldom happens but sometimes does. I'm not having a good feeling about this at all.

Post: #22

if you hear anything locally F2, let me know? thanks~
i'm afraid what he "dumped" was their bodies.

fucker is in the looney bin, and he's lawyered up now.
so here comes the mental defense or the lawyer will get the kids' location out of him for a deal.

Post: #23

it will be on my local news. If there is any new news, it will also be on the radio on my way to work. I'll let you know if I hear anything new.

Post: #24

poor grandmother, i am sure she wants to believe her son. i feel sorry for the lady (until she starts acting like cindy anthony or adam baker's mother.) who the hell wants to believe something this horrific? she's in big denial.
i'm guessing she probably arranged lawyer for him.
and she hasn't missed a TV appearance.
the mother of the boys has not been seen even once. she has a foolish-sounding spokeswoman out there. she can't ask for help finding her sons herself?

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. -- Roxann Skelton's "grandma's heart" is telling her that her three grandsons missing in Michigan are indeed still alive, scared and wondering what's happening.

Despite comments from Michigan police that Skelton's son, a Fletcher High graduate, is lying about the case, his mother said a woman very well might have the boys.

That woman, Roxann Skelton said, is an acquaintance her son met a few years back. According to police reports, John Skelton, said he wanted his boys to be with her and not at home when he attempted suicide. Police have centered their search for the boys mainly at the Ohio-Michigan border.

People are too quick to jump to conclusions, she said; her son adored his boys and would never hurt them.

Skelton said she last talked to her son on Thanksgiving. Then the next day, Friday, she received a phone call telling her to "sit down" because news was coming that her grandsons were missing.The boys, ages 9, 7, and 5, are close to their dad, she said.

Skelton and her husband will leave soon for a 20-hour trip to Morenci, Mich. They had already planned to go visit their grandsons for Christmas. In fact, Skelton said in tears, she has bought all the boys Christmas presents.

Post: #25

presser just now from Chief.

based on info he has, "does not expect a positive outcome".

he did not say we are looking for bodies, but that sure as hell is implied. so the chickenshit dirtbag in the mental ward must be talking.
"He's been forthcoming with some information, the credibility of which we cannot verify at this time."

Post: #26

I am betting the kids our dead. just like you I tend to watch and read everything I can on kids cases. I know some of the family and pray for the best be expect the worse. I do know the mom had her bad ways but cleaned up and was a damn good mother to them boys. none of us are perfect and I think they should stop worrying about her past and worry more about the boys and the slime bucket in the crazy ward. He needs to hang . [/size]

Post: #27

hello FF, and welcome to Mock! i appreciate your opinion.

the mom's offense was 12 years ago, before she had these boys. she did a year in prison. it was very bad judgement then, but i don't believe it is pertinent to the present case. except skelton tried to use that to get custody.
i DO think the mother should make her own public plea. her spokesperson is lame. people want to see her, maybe then they would be sympathetic and they wouldn't judge her.

Post: #28

true ... She needs to came out and say what she needs to . I think it all smells bad and the father is the one that needs to pay for this... I would like to help bring him down too but the law say no!! :(
thanks for the Welcome