this is bizarre. and smells.
i'm trying to obtain more information.
usually when it's family/custodial abductions, i don't watch it too closely. but in this case i'm very frightened for these boys.
Police say any information should be reported by calling 911, the Morenci Police Department at 517-458-2323 or Lenawee County Dispatch at 517-263-0524.
(CNN) Police and neighbors were searching for three young Michigan boys Saturday who have been missing since their father claimed he dropped them off with a woman before trying to hang himself a day earlier.
The father survived his suicide attempt and is being cared for in a mental health facility, said Morenci, Michigan, Police Chief Larry Weeks on Saturday.
But Michigan authorities do not know what has happened to his boys -- 5-year-old Tanner Skelton, 7-year-old Alexander William Skelton and 9-year-old Andrew Skelton -- prompting them to issue an Amber Alert on Friday.
Weeks said that the boys' father, John Skelton, told police that he dropped the boys off Friday morning with a woman he identified as Joann Taylor -- in part to ensure they didn't see him while and after he tried to commit suicide.
John Skelton told police that the woman, whom he allegedly met on the internet, was supposed to drop the boys off at their home in Morenci, a southern Michigan town of about 2,400 people about 40 miles west-northwest of Toledo, around 3 p.m. Friday.
But the boys never went home and, Weeks added, authorities still aren't sure if John Skelton's story -- including Joann Taylor's existence -- is true or a fabrication.
"We have not been able to locate a Joann Taylor or confirm that she even exists," Weeks told reporters Saturday evening.
The last non-family member saw the boys at 5 p.m. on Thursday, according to the chief.
Their mother, Tanya, has been with police "virtually the entire day" on Saturday, answering questions and serving as what Weeks called a "valuable resource at this time."
Weeks said Tanya Skelton had "contact with someone alleging to be Joann," adding only that this communication was not necessarily by phone or in person.
According to the Amber Alert, Taylor may have been from Jackson or Hillsdale counties and may be driving a silver van. Still, Weeks reiterated that they have yet to confirm she is real and, if so, if she is with the boys.
Saturday's press conference was crowded with media and residents of Morenci, many of whom have been searching for the young boys. Dozens spent Saturday searching along Bean Creek, Wakefield Park and the Riverside Natural Area -- all in Morenci -- according to Toledo-based CNN affiliate WUPW.
"We just hope they're somewhere safe and warm playing video games," volunteer Carol Garcia told WUPW.
But authorities thus far have offered few tips pointing community members to places where the young Skeltons might be.
"We understand their drive and desire to be out there," said Weeks. "The fact is, I cannot tell the community there's a specific location they should be searching."
The alert notes that Tanner is 3 feet, 6 inches tall, has strawberry blond hair, has blue eyes and weighs about 40 pounds. Alexander is 3 feet, 9 inches tall, has brown hair and eyes, weighs about 45 pounds and has scars on his hairline and chin. The oldest brother, Andrew, is 4 feet, 1 inch tall, has brown hair and eyes and weighs roughly 57 pounds.
the Skelton boys -- Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, 5 -- are missing, and police have not been able to find a Joann Taylor. Skelton also posted a Facebook message Wednesday indicating that he hoped God and his wife would forgive him.
For what is unclear. FUCK
A family friend said Skelton, 39, and his wife, Tanya Skelton, were going through a divorce, and the boys were visiting their father at the time of their disappearance.
Police Chief Larry Weeks said a coordinated search effort is under way with the FBI and Michigan State Police. The small Lenawee County community of 2,500 has lost a number of children in recent years to fires and a hunting accident, Weeks said.
"We are actively and fervently seeking these kids out," he said. "It's devastating. We would hate to lose another child."
this is a small town, and they have never dealt with anything like this.
the woman he says he gave the children to does not appear to exist! Jesus Christ.
Morenci, Mich. - Searchers are scouring an Ohio state park this afternoon for three young boys they fear are in "extreme danger," left by their father with a stranger just before he attempted suicide.
The Fulton County Sheriff's Department confirmed that volunteers are canvassing Harrison Lake State Park in northwest Ohio, about 10 miles south of Morenci.
Whoa. Mom is a egistered sex offender?! I wish Dad had gone through with his hanging and left the poor kids out of his psychotic plan. Mama and Daddy are two brutes that never should have been allowed to breed. The little boys deserved so much better. I hope they're found soon.
those little boys' faces have affected me deeply, maybe because i have 3 sons. i am afraid for them. they should be home thinking of santa and Christmas. are they out in the cold scared? dead?
in someone's house safe and warm? i don't think so.
Friends and family of the three missing Skelton boys file into the Morenci United Methodist Church Sunday evening for a vigil.
(11-28-2010, 07:52 PM)bampton Wrote: Ohh, yea. With 3 boys of your own, I'm sure this hits your heart a little deeper than most of the cases you report LC.
sometimes i get emotionally involved, not often. there are way too many of these cases. another one that tore me up was Jessica Lunsford. and Kyron Horman. they come to represent ALL the abused, missing and murdered children.
Fuck. Little Jessica. That was probably one of the worst cases I've ever heard of. I'm not sure I could have done that case had she come into our office. I've done alot of abused, murdered children and it's tough. Like you, every once in awhile a case hits me. I'll have to look up Kyron Hormann. THat one doesn't ring any bells.
my notes, the mom is a registered sex offender (post #5), offense took place 12 years ago, involved 13-year-old boy.
skelton was an unemployed trucker.
their house is in foreclosure.
they were divorcing.
as far as the mystery woman and the police "don't know whether she exists"---baloney. if they have checked his computer, emails, etc. they KNOW and have been in contact. nobody in their right mind is hiding the children for this nutjob father in the face of a major news story and Amber Alert.
Detroit Free Press early this monday morning:
MORENCI -- The soft sounds of music filled the United Methodist Church.
"God," the prayer began, "bring us a sense of hope and a sense of peace and a sense of comfort."
People who filled the pews and folding chairs Sunday night bowed their heads, ever so slightly, hoping for a safe return of three missing brothers, as Christmas lights dotted the church like tiny lanterns.
"We thank you," the prayer continued, "for community and what it means."
What it means in the rural town of Morenci on the southern border of Michigan was clear Sunday, as neighbors and friends fought back prickly bushes and stomped through brush in the woods, sloshed through creeks and drove four-wheelers down trails in search of the boys.
"Bonds of a small town," explained Buffy Nash, 33, as she walked with other volunteers by a field near Lime Creek Road.
The Skelton boys -- Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, 5 -- went to their dad's house Wednesday and, by Friday, had disappeared. That day, their father, John Skelton, attempted suicide, survived and told police he had handed over his boys to a woman, officials said. But police say they have no information that the woman exists.
The community, still recovering from the death of a teen in a hunting accident last month, has come together again.
The support and willingness to give is no shock in this small town where pizza shops, an ice cream parlor and family-run businesses dot the downtown. It's a place where everyone knows everyone.
But as the search for the Skelton brothers draws out and questions linger, family members are left hoping and praying.
"In my heart I know my grandchildren are safe somewhere," Roxann Skelton, John Skelton's mother, said from her home in Jax. Florida. "I know those children are ... still with us."
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)
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."
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.
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.
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.
Whoa. Mom is a egistered sex offender?! I wish Dad had gone through with his hanging and left the poor kids out of his psychotic plan. Mama and Daddy are two brutes that never should have been allowed to breed. The little boys deserved so much better. I hope they're found soon. 
