Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • 10

ISA WWW.FRF.EP.COM WEDNESDAY, DEC. 2010 in mummn' n.n Fn Rrl nn jT'o' '7' IT I WA v. (( -1 IV. Photos by ANDRE J. JACKSONDetroit Free Press Volunteers join in prayer before resuming their search for the three Skelton brothers Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, 5 of Morenci in Lenawee County.

They were gathering Tuesday outside the Ramada Inn in Holiday City, Ohio, one of several areas that were searched in Michigan and northwest Ohio by volunteers, firefighters and police officers. Morenci isn't ready to give up on boys, despite ominous signs MySpace, friends, family, court filings provide glimpses into troubled relationship By GINA DAMRON and ERIC D. LAWRENCE FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS John Skelton tells the readers of his MySpace page that there are a lot of good people who can't have children. He advises pregnant women contemplating abortion to "choose adoption before abortion or abandonment. Give others their dream." Skelton, who turned 39 last month, suggests visitors check out a video of White Lion's "When the Children Cry." And he posted a poem he wrote while on one of his trucker trips called "The Dumpster," about an abandoned child: "I'm cold and alone in this metal roomWith plastic bags and a worn out broomNobody hears my call for youCome back mommy 'cause I need you It's my dying breath and I see a glowIt's an Angel from HeavenAnd he's taking me home." On Tuesday, Skelton was taken to the Lucas County Corrections Center in Toledo after his arrest on three counts of parental kidnapping in the disappearance last week of his three sons, Andrew, Alexander, 7, and Tanner Skelton, 5.

An extradition hearing could happen as early as today to return him to Michigan for arraignment on the charges. Searchers were to continue looking for the boys this morning. On Tuesday, volunteers and fire officials scoured areas of northwest Ohio as well as parts of Michigan, including a gravel pit near Morenci; the Hillcrest Country Club in Montpelier, Ohio; parks; the sides of busy roadways, and other areas. A Florida town waits, too Skelton, who last logged onto his MySpace account on Nov. 6, lists his orientation as straight, his religion as "Christian-other" and says he was a 1990 graduate of Duncan U.

Fletcher High School in Nep-: tune Beach, Fla. Nicknamed Bones, he likes Heath Ledger's "A Knight's Tale" and loves woodworking and motorcy-: cles. The page shows pictures of him and his wife, Tanya Skel-' ton, 44, with whom he is now I going through a bitter divorce, aboard a motorcycle. Skelton grew up in Jackson-' ville Beach, a community of more than 20,000 where his family and friends still live, said Hillary Golden, 37, who grew up with Skelton. Like Morenci, it's the kind of community where everyone is friends and everyone knows each other.

"It's a very close-knit community," she told the Free Press. "If you got in trouble, your mom knew before you got home." Golden said Skelton graduated from Fletcher High just one year ahead of her. Skelton and his two oldest sons stayed with Golden when he brought them to Florida for a visit in September, she said. Golden said Skelton and his sons stayed at her place for about a week because she was the only one of his friends and iv1 Don Eicher of Alvord-ton, Ohio, center, helps map out the area Tuesday as searchers confer at the Hillcrest Country Club in Montpelier, Ohio. The search was to continue today.

uJ U. Jennifer O'Brien, who said she is John Skelton's cousin, said Tuesday she is "honestly still holding out some hope" that the boys will be found alive. Morenci United Methodist Church Pastor Donna Galloway said she was upset by the news, but has been trying to support and comfort the boys' family. She said the Skeltons and their parents attended the church and came every Sunday. Galloway said they were at a service the Sunday before the brothers disappeared.

"I just want the boys home, which is what everyone wants," Galloway said. She cited the hundreds of volunteers from Morenci and other communities on both sides of the state line. "Because we are a community, we will survive and we will thrive," Galloway said of Morenci. "All of this is kind of hard on a community this By GINA DAMRON FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER MORENCI The news that law enforcement agencies say they believe the case of three missing young brothers will likely end in tragedy hit hard Tuesday in this small Lenawee County community just north of the Ohio state line. But friends, family members and some residents remained hopeful late Tuesday afternoon, even as search teams ended another unsuccessful day of looking.

Pearl Phelps, owner of Pearl's Pizza Palace on Main Street, said her customers can't stop talking about the situation, and she leaves the TV on all day in case of breaking news. Her husband, Tom Phelps, was filling in as a delivery driver Tuesday because her grandson, the regular driver, bad joined volunteers looking for the Skelton brothers Andrew, 9, Al- John Skelton, told investigators that he gave the boys to a woman he knew before a failed suicide attempt at his home at 112 Congress. But police said Monday that story was a lie and there was no established relationship between Skelton and the woman he exander, 7, and Tanner, 5 missing since Thanksgiving afternoon. "One thing I don't feel is helpless because I know they're going to find those boys," Pearl Phelps said. "We have to think positive, right?" Tom Phelps added.

Authorities said the boy's father, past, and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in January 2003. That case was closed in November of that year. On Nov. 4 of this year, the Skelton home in Morenci was listed as a foreclosure, according to Lenawee County online property records. Friends and family have said John Skelton has worked as a long-haul truck driver, was once in the military and had lived in Alaska.

Air Force records officials could not be readied Tuesday to confirm Skelton's service. I CONTACT GINA DAMRON: 313-2234526 OR GIiHMHONifPEERESS.COM SIAFF WRITERS JENNiTER DuON.CHBiSTINA HALL AND JOE ROSSITER 0 TO REPORT. share custody of the children. Records show both Tanya and John Skelton have children from prior marriages and were both divorced when they met. Tanya has two daughters in their 20s.

From his previous marriage to Michelle Mc-Neese, now of Texas, John has a 17-year-old daughter and was paying child support. In January, court records show John Skelton was ordered to pay more than $3,400 in past-due child support. A document in February said he was to pay $314 a month, but listed his financial situation as "unemployed 3 more biological children in the household." Tanya and John Skelton have had monev trouble in the family members who had room. Linda Ford, John Skelton's sister, told the Free Press on Tuesday that Tanya Skelton was so upset about the trip that she went to Florida. She and John Skelton drove back separately to Michigan, each with one son in their vehicles.

It was that visit without her permission that apparently led Tanya Skelton to file for divorce and begin child custody proceedings, Ford said and court records confirm. Golden acknowledged that Skelton's wife was not happy that he brought the boys to Florida, but said that Skelton's family hadn't seen his sons since they were young. "The boys had a great time when they were here," Golden said, adding that the boys were affectionate with their father. She said she is very concerned about the boys' disappearance, but she is hopeful. "Those boys are amazing little boys," Golden said.

"I can't imagine anyone anywhere wanting to cause them any harm." A tumultuous relationship John and Tanya Skelton's relationship had become tumultuous in recent months. On Monday, a Lenawee County Circuit Court judge granted a motion by Tanya Skelton for exclusive parenting time with the boys because John Skelton claims he turned the brothers over to a woman named Joann Taylor so they would not see his attempted suicide, according to court records. When Tanya Skelton filed for divorce, she cited her husband's decision to leave for Florida with two of their sons without permission. John Skelton, meanwhile, raised the issue that his wife is a registered sex offender. Court documents say she had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy in the summer of 1998.

She served time on a reduced charge of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. The judge in the divorce case ruled then that the couple -1 man ii inn 1 1 snake YU I JI Vs. mum a his ankle and lost consciousness, she said. Ford said her brother has maintained consistently that the children are with Joann Taylor. She said he has described Taylor as a tall woman with black hair who has children and a heavy set husband.

"His story has never changed," Ford said, adding that she ill stand bv mv brother." She also said he was fired from another trucking company more than a year earlier for drunken driving. "You can only push a human so far," she said. Ford said her brother tried to hang himself from a banister leading down into the basement of his Morenci home, but changed his mind. When he tried to get down, he lost his footing and fell to the concrete floor, broke that he is Joann. That he made up an alter ego," she said.

Ford said she believes her brother attempted suicide Friday because he was in a deep depression. She said her brother was fired from his job with an Ohio trucking company about two weeks ago. She said she believes he had been taking time off work to see his sons when their mother would allow it. 'They're trying to tell my brother that he is Joann' By GINA DAMRON FEEPES3SW John Skelton's sister said Tuesday that she doesn't believe her brother is getting a fair shake from authorities. Linda Ford, 40, of Jacksonville, told the Free Press in a phone in- terview Tuesday night that she has spoken twice with her brother since his failed suicide attempt Friday including Tuesday before his arrest on parental kidnapping charges.

Ford said investigators who have interviewed her brother have told him they believe the woman he says he gave his children to a Joann Taylor is not real. "They're trying to tell my brother.