Skelton Boys: ages 9, 7, and 5, missing 11/26/2010, Morenci, Michigan

[klaasend]

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=news/local&id=7815138


In 1999, she was convicted of fourth degree criminal sexual conduct for having sex with a 14-year-old boy. The teen would do handyman work on rental properties Tanya and her ex-husband owned.

Shortly after the allegations surfaced, Tanya's husband filed for divorce. He was granted custody of the couple's two daughters.

Well this answers some of the questions about her.


 

Thanks Lenie

[Leroy]

Parents of three missing Morenci boys in custody fight
Monday, November 29, 2010

We are learning more about the Skelton family.

The mother of the three boys recently filed for divorce from John Skelton and was fighting for permanent custody.

John Skelton said the mother of the children was an unfit parent. He cited the fact Tanya Skelton is a registered sex offender and is repeatedly in violation of sex offender laws as reasons why she shouldn't have custody of the three boys.

On September 13 of this year, Tanya Skelton filed for divorce, according to court documents.


Related Content
Story: "Still hopeful" in search for Morenci boys
That same day the father of Andrew, Alexander and Tanner took the children out of school. It's alleged he took the children to stay with an acquaintance in Jacksonville, Florida.
Tanya Skelton stated because the boys' father is a long-haul truck driver and is on the road for weeks at a time, she should be granted sole custody.

But on September 27, John Skelton filed for custody. citing the fact Tanya Skelton is a registered sex offender.

In 1999, she was convicted of fourth degree criminal sexual conduct for having sex with a 14-year-old boy. The teen would do handyman work on rental properties Tanya and her ex-husband owned.

Shortly after the allegations surfaced, Tanya's husband filed for divorce. He was granted custody of the couple's two daughters.

John Skelton has also been married before. He has one daughter from that marriage. In January of this year, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail for failure to pay child support.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=news/local&id=7815138

[no rose colored glasses]

John Skelton has also been married before. He has one daughter from that marriage. In January of this year, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail for failure to pay child support.      Reason for why he may have done something to the boys, child support?

[Leroy]

John Skelton has also been married before. He has one daughter from that marriage. In January of this year, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail for failure to pay child support.      Reason for why he may have done something to the boys, child support?

I can almost promise that was his reason for going for full custody. 

[4 Donks]

Parents of three missing Morenci boys in custody fight
Monday, November 29, 2010

We are learning more about the Skelton family.

The mother of the three boys recently filed for divorce from John Skelton and was fighting for permanent custody.

John Skelton said the mother of the children was an unfit parent. He cited the fact Tanya Skelton is a registered sex offender and is repeatedly in violation of sex offender laws as reasons why she shouldn't have custody of the three boys.

On September 13 of this year, Tanya Skelton filed for divorce, according to court documents.


Related Content
Story: "Still hopeful" in search for Morenci boys
That same day the father of Andrew, Alexander and Tanner took the children out of school. It's alleged he took the children to stay with an acquaintance in Jacksonville, Florida.
Tanya Skelton stated because the boys' father is a long-haul truck driver and is on the road for weeks at a time, she should be granted sole custody.

But on September 27, John Skelton filed for custody. citing the fact Tanya Skelton is a registered sex offender.

In 1999, she was convicted of fourth degree criminal sexual conduct for having sex with a 14-year-old boy. The teen would do handyman work on rental properties Tanya and her ex-husband owned.

Shortly after the allegations surfaced, Tanya's husband filed for divorce. He was granted custody of the couple's two daughters.

John Skelton has also been married before. He has one daughter from that marriage. In January of this year, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail for failure to pay child support.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=news/local&id=7815138

BBM
He married an RO and fathered 3 children with her but now says that makes her an unfit mother. Both these people creep me out.

[theboyzmom]

Parents of three missing Morenci boys in custody fight
Monday, November 29, 2010

We are learning more about the Skelton family.

The mother of the three boys recently filed for divorce from John Skelton and was fighting for permanent custody.

John Skelton said the mother of the children was an unfit parent. He cited the fact Tanya Skelton is a registered sex offender and is repeatedly in violation of sex offender laws as reasons why she shouldn't have custody of the three boys.

On September 13 of this year, Tanya Skelton filed for divorce, according to court documents.


Related Content
Story: "Still hopeful" in search for Morenci boys
That same day the father of Andrew, Alexander and Tanner took the children out of school. It's alleged he took the children to stay with an acquaintance in Jacksonville, Florida.
Tanya Skelton stated because the boys' father is a long-haul truck driver and is on the road for weeks at a time, she should be granted sole custody.

But on September 27, John Skelton filed for custody. citing the fact Tanya Skelton is a registered sex offender.

In 1999, she was convicted of fourth degree criminal sexual conduct for having sex with a 14-year-old boy. The teen would do handyman work on rental properties Tanya and her ex-husband owned.

Shortly after the allegations surfaced, Tanya's husband filed for divorce. He was granted custody of the couple's two daughters.

John Skelton has also been married before. He has one daughter from that marriage. In January of this year, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail for failure to pay child support.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=news/local&id=7815138

BBM
He married an RO and fathered 3 children with her but now says that makes her an unfit mother. Both these people creep me out.

I have to agree - I wonder if he knew at the time that she was a RSO? I would not have thought of running the WOMAN was was engaged to through the registry (although since I am a woman perhaps I would not have that problem?)  I know that I run all our male applicants through but I guess I need to run the female ones through too. Women SO are rather rare though - partially because of a double standard I think.

[klaasend]

This is so sad

[SuzieQ]

http://www.wtol.com/global/story.asp?s=13584449

Father of missing MI boys had lost job, custody
Updated: Nov 29, 2010 7:40 PM EST
Video Gallery
 
Crews in MI and OH search for missing boys Monday
5:59 

   
Associated Press
MORENCI, Mich. (AP) — The father of three missing Michigan boys was out of work, his marriage had fallen apart and he'd lost custody of his children in the months before he told police that he gave the boys to an acquaintance and tried to kill himself.

Police said Monday that they don't believe John Skelton's claim that he handed his children over to a woman he met online and had crews searching areas in Michigan and along an Ohio highway where the FBI said Skelton's blue minivan had been seen Thursday or Friday. Morenci Police Chief Larry Weeks said police spent several days searching extensively in records and by other means for the woman and couldn't find any evidence she existed.

Skelton's sons — Tanner, 5, Alexander, 7, and Andrew, 9 — were last seen Thursday in the backyard of their father's southern Michigan home, and authorities said they believe they are in danger. Weeks did not name Skelton as a suspect in the boys' disappearance, but he said investigators haven't ruled him out. Skelton, 39, has been in an Ohio hospital since Friday, receiving treatment for "mental health issues" after telling police he tried to hang himself, Weeks said.

The boys were reported missing Friday by their mother, Tanya Skelton, who was awarded custody after filing for divorce on Sept. 13. They had been with their father as part of court-ordered visitation.

The Skeltons married in 2002. It was the second marriage for both.

Jennifer O'Brien, who said she was John Skelton's cousin and had introduced the couple, told the Detroit Free Press that John Skelton had been secluding himself for years and Tanya Skelton had wanted to separate. O'Brien did not return a message left Monday by The Associated Press.

The day Tanya Skelton filed for divorce her husband picked up their two oldest sons from school and texted her from Ohio that he was taking them to Florida, according to her motion for custody. Tanya Skelton called Weeks, who contacted John Skelton and convinced him to return the boys. But later that day, John Skelton picked them up at home and drove to Florida with them, the motion said.

John Skelton later returned the boys and had been seeing them "with no issues," said Kathye Herrera, who identified herself as a spokeswoman for Tanya Skelton.

But court records show the custody fight continued to be nasty. John Skelton filed a motion for custody on Sept. 27, saying his wife was a registered sex offender.

Tanya Skelton, 44, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in 1998, according to court records. Her misdemeanor plea was part of a plea bargain after she was accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy who had worked for her and her former husband at rental properties in Morenci. Her divorce attorney, David McFarland, declined to comment.

Herrera said early Monday that Tanya Skelton's conviction was not relevant to the children's disappearance. She did not return a call later Monday after the AP obtained records detailing the complaint.

Lenawee County Circuit Judge Margaret Noe told the AP that Tanya Skelton received exclusive custody after John Skelton returned from Florida with the boys, but the couple subsequently negotiated an agreement that allowed visitation.

"The agreement was without my intervention," Noe said. "It is not unusual for judges to encourage parents to engage in agreements between themselves relative to visitation because they best know the circumstances."

She said the brothers' disappearance was "sad and unfortunate" and declined further comment.

Tanya Skelton's original divorce motion asked for custody because John Skelton was a long-haul truck driver gone for long periods of time, but Herrera said John Skelton hadn't worked in a while. Tanya Skelton, who described herself in court documents as an at-home mother, attends a local college or community college, Herrera said.

The couple had filed for bankruptcy in 2003, and the case was cleared later that year. Tanya Skelton asked for alimony and child support when she filed for divorce in September.

Authorities and volunteers searched Monday afternoon along busy U.S. 20 in northern Ohio highway for evidence of the boys. Cambridge Township fire chief Scott Damon said he had a crew searching east of Pioneer, Ohio, about 12 miles from the boys' home in Morenci.

"It's pretty flat land. We're just walking along," Damon said. "We're looking for any type of evidence. My group has not found anything."

About 50 people spent nearly three hours searching the Lazy River Resort Campground in Pioneer. The owner, Doug Rowland, said he was told cell towers in the area carried calls from John Skelton's phone last week. The campground is closed, but some trailers are parked there for the winter.

"They looked in every nook and cranny," Rowland said. "They peered in windows of campers and checked doors to see if they were locked. I just feel bad. I wish they would find something so the mother could get some resolution. The search turned up empty."

___

Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.

[klaasend]

BLOCKED WEBSITE

[klaasend]

They need to look in DUMPSTERS

[Cappuccino]

I get the sinking feeling that this man's "suicide attempt" was premeditated so that if he got caught killing his children he could claim some sort of diminished capacity (in his mind).  This could be a classic case of thinking the children are better off dead than be left with the other parent of a custody dispute.   I havent commented on this case until now, largely because I get the sense the outcome will be the worst feared...I pray Im wrong.

[klaasend]

Since they are currently searching in Pioneer Ohio, I google mapped it and came upon this cemetery.  Notice the lake. 

Floral Grove Cemetery - Pioneer, OH

[OneHappyChica]

I get the sinking feeling that this man's "suicide attempt" was premeditated so that if he got caught killing his children he could claim some sort of diminished capacity (in his mind).  This could be a classic case of thinking the children are better off dead than be left with the other parent of a custody dispute.   I havent commented on this case until now, largely because I get the sense the outcome will be the worst feared...I pray Im wrong.

My thoughts, unfortunately, align with your thoughts. From the forgiveness Facebook message to seemingly the non-existent Joann Taylor to a failed "suicide attempt"...I, too, pray I'm wrong.

If John Skelton truly wanted to commit suicide, why would he have a random woman pick up his children? How would he describe his need? What normal human being would agree to pick up someone's children so a friend could commit suicide? If truths weren't offered, what could possibly be Skelton's rationale? And...why wouldn't he simply drop the children off at their mother's house? There is no need to involve some random stranger when a simplistic solution exists.

Skelton sought forgiveness from God and his wife prior to the boys' disappearance. For what?!

A failed suicide is extremely suspicious. I imagine Skelton's background coupled with basic internet access could yield a flawless outcome. If he didn't succeed at first, why didn't he try again?

I truly hope these boys are located.

[Sister]

If you are so led:

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=AATS

[klaasend]

Thank you sister

[cw618]

They need to look in DUMPSTERS

because of the holiday, today 11/29/10 would be the, dumps to the landfills,or recycling centers for 11/25-26/10
i think
landfills map
http://tinyurl.com/28ylofc

wonder if they have checked johns phones and puter

[Sister]

Thank you sister

[Lenie]

I get the sinking feeling that this man's "suicide attempt" was premeditated so that if he got caught killing his children he could claim some sort of diminished capacity (in his mind).  This could be a classic case of thinking the children are better off dead than be left with the other parent of a custody dispute.   I havent commented on this case until now, largely because I get the sense the outcome will be the worst feared...I pray Im wrong.

I so agree. If these boys were with family members they would have notified LE by now. And the suicide attempt will help with his defense. I wish he would just man up and tell LE what he has done.

[4 Donks]

I get the sinking feeling that this man's "suicide attempt" was premeditated so that if he got caught killing his children he could claim some sort of diminished capacity (in his mind).  This could be a classic case of thinking the children are better off dead than be left with the other parent of a custody dispute.   I havent commented on this case until now, largely because I get the sense the outcome will be the worst feared...I pray Im wrong.

I so agree. If these boys were with family members they would have notified LE by now. And the suicide attempt will help with his defense. I wish he would just man up and tell LE what he has done.

They said they were checking areas where he hunted. If he wanted to commit suicide and there are guns available why try hanging and when that was a failure why not a gun instead of having a friend drive you to the hospital.

[Leroy]

"Still hopeful" in search for Morenci boys
Monday, November 29, 2010

MORENCI, MI (WTVG) -- Larry Weeks, Morenci police chief, says that they are now searching for tips regarding sightings of a 2000 blue Dodge Caravan that was missing from the boys' home sometime during 2:30 p.m. Thursday to 1:30 p.m. Friday. They have the van in their possession, but are SEEKING HELP from anyone who may have seen the vehicle in WILLIAMS COUNTY, specifically West Unity, Kunkle, Pioneer or Holiday City Ohio. Authorities are following all leads.

The search has expanded from Morenci to Pioneer, Ohio Monday after investigators received tips.

In Morenci, the police chief wants everyone to meet at the fire hall at 8:00 Tuesday morning. Much like Monday, the search will go from there. Morenci fire chief Chad Schisler says, "I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, so yeah, we'll take all the help we can get."

Monday morning, volunteers in Morenci packed the fire house; so many, in fact, firefighters moved the meeting to the church hall across the street. The objective was to fan out and find the three missing Skelton boys. "This community has drawn together. We want to find these boys safe and bring 'em back home to their mom," says volunteer Jeff Glore.
Tanner, Alex, and Andrew were last seen on Thanksgiving wearing pajamas. Their father, John Skelton, told police they were gone and that he had attempted suicide. He is now in a mental health facility. His sons' pictures are on flyers posted across this small town. And it is all anyone is talking about.

Pearl Phelps owns Pearl's Pizza Palace. In the entrance there are flyers for the missing Skelton boys, a fund-raiser for Collin Fletcher, who died in a hunting accident, and a reward to find whoever murdered 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchannan. Phelps says, "I don't think there could be enough of those posters hung up."


Related Content
Story: Parents of three missing Morenci boys in custody fight

Video:

Story: Search resumes for 3 young Michigan brothers
By nightfall, the police chief suspended the search until sunrise Tuesday morning. He said it was too dangerous to comb the countryside in the dark. But in the parking lot of nearby Morenci Elementary, one group decided the dark was a perfect place to light three sky lanterns and let them go.
Brad Osborn says, "It was a tribute for the boys to get home safe. I'd let three off last night. I got to let three off tonight." It was a way to send silent messages into the night - prayers - that the Skelton boys will find a safe return home.

Monday, investigators expanded their search for the Skelton boys to Ohio to the village of Pioneer in Williams County.

Investigators ended the search in Pioneer around 6:00 Monday night because of the darkness. They'll resume search and rescue operations at 8:00 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Inside the Pioneer Pizza Barn, the owner passed out flyers for the missing Skelton boys. Robert Martin, says, "Really feel bad, that's a rough situation. I've got grandchildren of my own; eight of them. Really touches your heart."

The restaurant is across the street from the Pioneer Community Center, which serves as the staging area for all of the volunteers, firefighters, and police officers who are searching the area.

Angela Gautsche says, "We did see some rescue workers on 127 when we were coming home today. Our prayers are with the family."

Monday afternoon, investigators searched the Lazy River Resort campground just outside of Pioneer and the entire surrounding area. It appears police officers retrieved the father's cell phone records and it took them here. However, no sign of Tanner, Andrew and Alexander Skelton.

The people in Pioneer are shocked that the search for the three missing Morenci boys has extended to their village. But they say they are eager to help in any way they can. Robert Martin says, "It really surprised us. I'll tell you that. Caught us off guard."

The workers at the Pioneer Pizza Barn are busy feeding the volunteers and emergency workers. Martin says, "We're a close knit community. Anything like this, everybody pitches in. That's what we should do."

The customers are praying for the best. "We just visited our grandchildren tonight. To think that some grandmother may not see those boys again, we're surely praying that someone will find them," says Angela Gautsche.

Anyone with information can call 517-458-7104.

(Copyright ©2010 WTVG-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=news/local&id=7814475