Dad charged with parental kidnapping; "positive outcome" for missing boys not anticipated (Morenci, Michigan)

Dad JOHN SKELTON is certainly more imaginative than a lot of abuser daddies who are separating from the mothers of their children. It's a rollicking good tale he's been spinning: how Daddy got sooooo depressed that he attempted to hang himself--but not before handing off the kids to some Woman of Mystery he met on the Internet.

Yup, too rollicking to be true. What it appears we have here is just another garden-variety abuser daddy who apparently killed his kids during his court-ordered visitation time. In other words, just another spiteful @$$shole intent on hurting his soon-to-be ex-wife for leaving his sorry butt.

A question that has yet to be answered: what Judge gave this "depressed" pathological liar (and probable killer) visitation rights and why?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40434407/ns/us_news-life/

Dad charged with kidnapping 3 missing sons
Police chief says mother's 'worst nightmare' may be realized

MORENCI, Mich. — The father of three missing Michigan boys has been charged with three counts of parental kidnapping, police said Tuesday.

Morenci Police Chief Larry Weeks said John Skelton was arrested by FBI agents after he was released Tuesday from a medical facility in Lucas County, Ohio.

Earlier Tuesday, Weeks warned that the search for the boys is unlikely to end in a "positive outcome."

Tanner Skelton, 5, and his brothers Alexander, 7, and Andrew, 9, were last seen Thursday in the backyard of their father's southern Michigan home and authorities have said they believe they are in danger.

Skelton, 39, had been in an Ohio hospital since Friday, receiving treatment for "mental health issues" after telling police he tried to hang himself, police said.

Police have said they do not believe his claim that he gave his children to a woman — named in news reports as Joann Taylor — he said he had met online.

Weeks told reporters Tuesday that the authorities "do not anticipate a positive outcome" in the search for the children, based on information including statements made by their father.
Weeks declined to provide specifics.

"Because it's an ongoing and fluid situation, that information is not going to be made available to the public," Weeks said, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press.

He was asked how the boy's mother, Tayna Skelton, was coping with the situation. "Imagine your worst nightmare coming true. How would you respond?" he reportedly said.

Skelton was awarded custody after filing for divorce on Sept. 13 and reported the boys as missing Friday. They had been with their father as part of court-ordered visitation.

Crews have been searching areas in Michigan and along an Ohio highway where the FBI said Skelton's blue minivan had been seen Thursday or Friday.

Story: Missing Mich. boys' dad had lost job, custody

Ernie Allen, the president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which has sent search experts to help find the boys, told the Detroit Free Press said there was still hope of finding the children alive.

"What we know is that time is the enemy. The good news in this case is that response was swift," he told the paper.

Allen added that 60 percent of children in abduction cases were recovered safely. However he said abductors who kill children usually do so within three hours.

Superintendent Michael Osborne, of the boys' school Morenci Elementary, said many students and staff were preparing for the worst.

"This could be a very serious situation. We might find out the students have passed," he told the Free Press.

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."