The Skelton Brothers /// Part 2 /// 281 | Forensic Files

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on yesterday's show captain we started off by going through the timeline of events of late 2010 regarding the
missing three boys regarding the missing three Skelton brothers where we left off
is talking about what's going on with John after this situation so we do know that John is locked up but during his
lockup he and Tanya they do get a divorce and John gets charged in the disappearance
of his kids and gets sentenced to 10 to 15 years for unlawful imprisonment of his children he goes to prison for this
February 1st 2011 police announced that the skelton brothers missing-persons case is now a murder investigation the
Chief of Police Larry weeks said quote he wanted to put an end to false hope in November of 2013
the Morenci police turned the investigation over to the Michigan State Police and then there was this on
December 18th 2017 Michigan Police are investigating whether the partial remains of three children found in a
shed of a rental home in Missoula Montana could belong to the brothers missing for more than seven years at
this point the remains which included fragments of bones and teeth could be those of the brothers Alexander Andrew
and Tanner Skelton who went missing in Michigan in 2010 investigators set out to determine whether this discovery
would finally solve the mystery a few things we need to discuss regarding this discovery one the experts believe the
ages of the boys could be consistent with the remains found police in Missoula found the remains in the shed
of a rental home after cleaners reported them to the police in September according to the Missoula that's a local
newspaper right a spokesperson for Missoula Police Department sergeant Travis Welsh told the outlet there is no
suspect but they did want to interview a specific person it was reported that a tenant was evicted from the home over
that last summer when a cleaning crew was brought in workers found a box containing teeth and bones according to
the Associated Press an anthropology professor at the University of Montana estimated that the
ages of the remains of the children's remains that were found were to be two to four years old five to eight years
old and six to ten years old right meaning that if if John did give them to somebody and they took him out to
Montana that they killed them there or maybe that John killed them and then gave them to somebody that took them out
there to be buried or to be hidden or whatever but they would have been dead roughly about the ages they went missing
correct now the tricky thing though however is there is no known link between the skeleton boys and anyone in
Montana right and as you were pointing out you know we have to remember the law enforcement tract John Skelton's phone
they believe they know his movements in his whereabouts during the time in question and this location it's like a
25 hour drive from Morenci Michigan to Missoula Montana so for this for these remains to be the skeleton boys somebody
else would have had to have been involved right all right but this is pieced together from some articles so
we'll get back to the article here Michigan State Police investigators are working with Missoula police to
determine if there is any connection to Andrew Alexander and Tanner Skelton who were reported missing from Morenci the
day after Thanksgiving in 2010 the State Police announced in a statement quote there has been nothing previously
reported to the police linking the brothers to Montana further forensic testing has been requested by
lise that may provide more answers until this testing is completed an additional
investigation by law enforcement in Montana occurs it cannot be determined if these remains belong to the missing
skeleton brothers quote now when's this testing gonna be done though well this is going to be extensive it's going to
take months for them to figure out if it is in fact the three boys now tan Yazoo verse the boy's mother she
took the face book after this and remind you they are divorced by this time Tanny goes to face book after police
made the possible link public and asked for prayers for her family saying quote this information has just been presented
to our family within the last several hours we are processing it and hopeful that we will have answers soon we are
thankful for all of your thoughts and prayers according to the newspaper articles tanya has continued to by
Christmas birthday and Easter gifts for her son's in in the hope that one day they would come home yeah it's weird
because you see some interviews where she's breaking down and crying a lot and then I saw one interview that I thought
was strange for a minute she talked about how her boys wouldn't want to see her upset her boys want to want to see
her stop living life not progressing in life hmm so she's been trying to do that I
thought that was very strange at first until you see the multiple interviews where she is breaking down where she
can't control it so you know I would assume that at some point when you break down that often you'd have to tell
yourself hey I got to do this maybe it's not for me maybe it's for my children well in police in that area are
announcing that they are trying to identify the remains but they're also trying to determine the causes of death
regarding those remains right and they state quote we are working with the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children and other missing-persons databases to see if that's a possibility a spokesperson for
the Missoula police department told kPa X TV also added quote the thing is there are
missing children all over the world and the thing in this case we don't know that this particular case is isolated to
the city of Missoula we don't know where the bones came from and if they were transported from one area to another and
then ended up here you have like you said similar ages and the fact that there's three boys there's how many
cases are like that the percentage goes down a lot the remains have been sent to
the University of North Texas center for human identification for DNA testing which runs the National Missing and
unidentified persons system so it took some time as we stated and I think it was about six months for answers to be
found regarding the remains in Montana here are their findings the teeth and bone fragments found inside a shed at a
Missoula house in September are more than ninety nine years old according to a report from a national forensic lab
Missoula County Chief Deputy Coroner Lieutenant Jace Dickon said the Center for human identification has concluded
that the bone fragments and teeth are archeological in nature and at least a century old the report stated that they
likely were buried somewhere else for some time before being unearthed so this is don't got him right yeah don't got
him and it makes me go back to what John's family says there are a hundred percent convinced that what he's saying
that he gave the boys to somebody and then they're alive they a hundred percent believe and his father even said
when it's all said and done we'll see who has the last laugh hmm which is one a weird thing to say cuz your your gang
kids were missing but that's how sure he is of what his son is telling them right
well and then think about this situation for a little bit you know Tonya is hearing about this they found the
remains of three children right she has three children that are missing and I actually I'm not certain that the
the sex the gender of the remains was able to be determined at that time or if it ever was right but what are the
percentages you know I mean we talked about that when we covered the the body barrel case right where you have
multiple people that are missing and the multiple people that are found their remains are found what are the
percentages it can't be very high it can't be very high so then she's this poor woman sitting there wondering
that's got to be the absolute hell of the parent of a missing child or missing children to hear this information and go
it could be them I don't know nobody knows for certain oh and it's going to take because of science it's nobody's
fault it's going to take months before they can give me an answer it's gonna take six months six to eight months I
think was the original estimated time that they expected to yeah but if you don't find these and you don't have a
test coming up then you have no end date of possible answer right and that's your
real hell is when you just don't know I mean there's so many parents that have their kids go missing and they'll say
look we've kind of given up hope at this point but we still want to know so they'll take the death but tell us why
and how it happened they'll take that over not knowing anything well and I remember when this story broke about the
remains being found in Montana because we had many people that requested that we cover the skeleton brothers case
before those remains were found right and then when that happened we were getting even more requests to cover the
skeleton brothers case and by the way what a lot of people in the media were saying is it's got to be the boys it's
got to be the boys right I mean that was the initial reaction by everyone that this is these three missing boys and
again to their to their credit to vouch for them what is the percentages it's got it can't be very high at all so
right that's where you would go but now that we know that it was not these boys so we
does that leave us captain you know theories us in the garage theories are still here that we should explore I
think is where it leaves us okay okay but we're gonna explore them in the garage yes okay not in Montana or in
that weird shed where the remains were found okay so let's there there's multiple
theories like smaller theories that will be inside of one of four big ones okay the first big one is are the boys still
alive mm-hmm now there are multiple avenues you could take with this thought and theory and a lot of them come from
John's stories and some of them come from speculation from Tanya and from her family and from the media from armchair
detectives and message boards so let's start with I want to start with an easy one okay because some of these could be
quite involved the first one I want to point out under the under the title of are the boys still alive could they be
in Florida we know that John had ties to Florida now am I there yeah yes he has family
there he has friends there the first obstacle you have with that being a correct theory is one we know of his
cell phone movements we know his cell phone didn't go down to Florida so this is similar to the idea of if the remains
in Montana were the boys that this would require some help right the he delivered
the boys to somebody or they were picked up at his home or some kind of location
and then delivered to Florida now this could mean that they were picked up by family members of his or he met family
members of his somewhere or it could mean that he handed them off and they were transported to Florida the major
obstacle that I think you have with this theory and where I think you can easily
take it off of the dry erase board here is I think that's too easy to trace for law enforcement I think it's too easy
too you look into that and to determine if that's correct or not well law enforcement and the FBI have they've
said we don't even know if this person that he claims he dropped him off to his real because they're the lack of
evidence that he had communications with somebody else they have his phone records they have his Google searches
they have his computer and there doesn't seem to be much contact with somebody else right I do want to point out one
thing here that I learned in a phone call last night so last night I spoke with Lynn Thompson
he's the author of the only book that I know to be out there regarding this case
and one thing he had said during our phone call was he said that it is his understanding that John's cell phone at
the time that the boys went missing was relatively new to him it was practically
a brand-new phone okay makes me wonder like were they what happened with the old phone what happened with that data
what happened with that information were they able to track that were they able to comb through it
we know they were able to check his computer right I feel like there's not a whole lot of weight to this Florida idea
unless they're with someone that somehow the police can't can't check into it can't easily make the leap from John to
family to this person that has them I think that's too easy to check out and too easy to check off the list one thing
that's interesting and Tonya said this in an interview so this is off of her speculation she says and this is kind of
her wishful thinking I believe is what she says yeah is that maybe the boys are in the Bahamas why well that seems like
a leap right yeah you think okay so Michigan to the Bahamas what she says is that John's father has a
connection to the Bahamas that he the he goes down there he travels down there once or twice or maybe a couple times a
year I don't know how often but according to Tonya's words he travels to the Bahamas and it's he's there to like
service some boats and things like that room and so her wishful thinking is that somehow John convinced his family
that the abuse that he claimed was real and that the family stepped in got involved helped John get the boys and
took them to the Bahamas where they would be I mean the trail of bread crumbs from Morenci Michigan to the
Bahamas but it's got to be but we don't know what the whereabouts are for the family is family in Florida right there
in Jacksonville Florida no I mean but we don't know like on that Thursday did he
call up his dad and say hey meet me here yeah that's an interesting thought there
you you have to believe that they've that they were tracking or at least attempting to question the the parents
John's parents right figure out where they work and do you have anybody that can vouch for you do you have an alibi
for this timeframe right but you know what's weird - is there was at least one instance where Tonya says that John's
parents came to the area where they live where Tonya and John lived visited friends and didn't even really like they
were there visiting and home and gone back home without even telling Tonya and John so it's not crazy to think that
they couldn't have moved into the area without Tonya knowing especially once they were separated living in different
residence but that kind of thing also makes me question well how tight really are John or were John in his parents
yeah cuz they well they live so far apart - mm-hmm now here's here's where things get a little more difficult so we
have some kind of connection to that the boys are alive but could be in Michigan
Ohio or Indiana now this is pieced together from different stories that John has told that they could be with a
foster family in one of those areas may be Amish Mennonite or reorganise Mormons right those are the
the groups that he he suggests or that he lists for us regarding this he does give some other names so we have the
name of Jo Ann Taylor but at one point he gives the name of four people we have Jo Ann Taylor we have somebody named
Virgil someone named sue and someone named Elijah these are people that he say works for this you know works for
this is the wrong phrase but is involved in this underground foster care system that the boys were being abused and he
entrusted these four people to assist him to get the kids to safety where they could go out and live and grow and
become adults and then go off on their own he we talked about all the cryptic messages there's another quote that he
has and I think he's repeated this a few times okay it's they and this is in reference to the three boys they will
hibernate until they graduate they will hibernate until they graduate right but that's it's like if his parents did help
him out in some way or somebody else helped him out then you have to think that that individual then also
questioned the boys about what was going on mm-hmm and you have to think that whoever
talked to them that these allegations of sexual abuse or abuse would be real or at least they believed them at least
right yeah and then that way then you want to be coming forward to the authorities because look what they did
to John John said hey I gave them somebody and they arrested him mm-hmm yeah and you hope and you just have to
pray that there's not somebody out there sitting somewhere they assisted john skelton only to later believe that the
abuse was not real and then refuses to come forward because they're afraid of being imprisoned right for that action
right I I mean if I could talk to that person I would I would bei them beg them please just come forward
tell us what happened or produced the boys and well the boys are so big now that it's like they could be getting on
the internet they could be reaching out for somebody eventually yeah I mean the oldest boy was nine at the time of the
disappearance in 2010 and there right I don't have their birth dates right in front of me but they're all towards the
end of the year the later part of the year so they all would have had birthdays at the end of last year in
2018 right so yeah one of them the oldest boy would be 17 years old going on 18 I do think if there was the Amish
because they had some reporters actually go talk to the Amish about this that anything like in Ohio or Michigan that
those Amish communities would have known that these boys were missing and they would have probably contacted police did
you listen to the shattered podcast no I would seen sue well you know what was interesting so so
for those that don't know it's shattered podcast it's created by a group of people that work for channel 4 news up
in the Michigan area right and they've taken on a few different Michigan cases this is one of the cases that they
looked into and one of the most interesting portions of their coverage of this case that I thought was what you
just referenced there about people going out and interviewing Amish people and finding out one were you aware of the
disappearance of these three boys and two what is your opinion would would an Amish person help in regards to this
situation right you know help foster these boys and I found it fascinating they interviewed just two two families I
believe it was but both of them had the same answer and it was yes we would help
if we thought that these boys needed help we would take care of them we would feed them we would keep them warm but
during that whole process we would notify the police and hey I got these three kids that somebody
dropped off by which you should do right right everybody should do and I it's not
that I question that they wouldn't but it was interesting to hear these reporters and people go out of their way
to confirm you know would this be something that the Amish people or people from any other walk of life would
do right the other thing here regarding this though where there could be some weight to this theory and to this this
version of John's stories is if they are in Michigan Ohio Indiana where I mean those states all touch each other
they're all very close right so we know that John's cell phone went to holiday city Ohio and in regards to the Amish
Mennonites reorganised Mormons Ohio does have a large Amish population as does Indiana who all at some point I think
that's what John starts claiming as the group that they're with lives on the border of Ohio and Indiana which I
actually lived on the border like I was in Indiana but half a mile way was the Ohio border mm-hmm and a lot of that is
just acres upon acres of farmland well in you know holiday city is north west of Columbus we're right in the middle of
Ohio right so north west that's definitely going to put you closer to that Indiana State State Line right
and just because he went a holiday said he doesn't mean that that's where they have to be now somebody could have
cracked him up but he could have met somebody halfway or a part of the way there the other thing too that's that's
interesting is if in fact they are handed off with the idea of them going into foster care because they were in
danger is sometimes these groups and when I say these groups I'm just kind of air quotes here referencing an unknown
group here that we're talking about you got to believe that they have certain security measures involved that they
don't may not disclose everything to anyone involved on the surface so that they can keep the kids safe so that they
don't end up getting in trouble themselves 1 & 2 losing the children to where they're
returned to a bad situation because if I give John a fake name then you can never
track me down the other thing too that goes along the same lines is that John told investigators he gave the boys to a
group called and we have two names here one is United foster outreach and underground sanctuaries as everything
that I could find public statements by law enforcement no such group was found to exist
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[Music] [Music] all right we're back cheers Cheers cheers Cheers all right so continuing on the idea of
these different theories okay so second on the list we have the boys were handed
off to someone as John said but possibly he was duped now this comes from this comes from an interview that he did do
where he does say you know I've not heard from these people I've not talked to these people I handed him off to them
and who knows maybe I was duped so this would be the idea there's a few different ideas involved in this one
one could they still be alive yet they were given to bad people for nefarious reasons right unbeknownst
to John or could they be no longer with us handed it off the bad people or one thing we've not discussed - you know we
discussed the the percentages of what would it be that there are three missing kids that are under the age of 10 and
then three remains of children found that are believed to be under 10 what's the chances of that but what we didn't
discuss is could the kids be separated could they be alive and they've been separated well if they're bad people
yeah because you can control people better if you you know you separate and then conquer or if they're if they're
good people are they separated because they're less chance of detection less they're not as easy to be identified
right yeah but again I think the duping part okay so if we believe John and we go okay well this girl that he met
randomly because her car broke down and then they stayed in contact that this person Joey and Taylor just so happened
to be which that's not a real name but just so happen to be person that was connected with child
pedophilia rings and he said my kids are being molested and she said I'll take him and then he gives them to her and
then she sends them off to other pedophiles mm-hmm like that seems so far-fetched
like you'd have to believe all the stuff that he said oh of course yes I mean that's part of that theory is that he
actually did hand them off and then unbeknownst to him the people he gave them to were actually bad people yeah
but I don't know it's it's like if they're good people and they're afraid of getting in trouble it's like you
could go to a have heavily populated area like McDonald's or something and just go kids go in there and then tell
them that you're missing hmm and then they'll call authorities and within a day we'll figure you know would figure
out who they were mm-hmm there's so many things if they went to good people how they could get back right if they went
to bad people and they were duped it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me but if if it had happened they're dead
and we'll never find them so right I mean well and it goes back to what you said earlier where where is the trace
where is the breadcrumb trail between John and whoever he handed these people off to he says he maintained some kind
of relationship with this Joann Taylor after they met on the side of the road somewhere when he helped her when her
car broke down they maintained their relationship through the internet where's the trace of that where's the
you know they checked his computer he doesn't have her phone number right his phone doesn't register
he's not text her on his phone she's not text him they've had no communication via phone just the Internet but we can't
find anybody that was there a app like what's up app or whatever were they text through it well and I think his response
to that was something to the effect of well maybe maybe this group is just really good at what they do they're the
ones that they're the ones that clean this they cleaned it all up they cleaned it all up and there's no trace of them
they're like ghosts they're like phantoms I didn't I didn't break anything in the house they broke it
that's what happened Dave I was asleep they must have went into the house and took my cell phone and then drove down
to Ohio mm-hmm he has a store he has a he has explanation for everything and look if
we had my way would have that game show called this psychotic clown interrogators right and we would be we'd
have a bunch of psychotic clowns in a room with John right now getting answers it's just you know well that's
interesting too because you have a couple of different thoughts that I that I go to when I think of that one you
know in the statement that he has an answer for everything that's a very fair statement he comes up
with a nice story for everything that you throw at him right and sometimes what's the most damn frustrating thing
out there is that sometimes he just goes I can't tell you that yeah I dude I've never we've covered a lot of cases I
can't remember another time where we have someone that's just like nope sorry can't tell you that
yeah and he's cool with that and in law discs can you imagine how frustrated law
enforcement has to be when they cuz they go back and they talk to this guy it's not like they don't know where he is
they go back and talk to him periodically what's going on John tell us what really happened John and
sometimes he gives them a story and other times he goes I can't tell you that why Tom John every
time he told me you can't tell me something break one of your ribs that's what I'd tell him well you've been
watching too much true detective because it you can't do that but the thing the thing where I go with that is with him
having an answer for everything is one he's gotten out he's got nothing else going on he's got plenty of time to sit
around and dream up answers for everything right right the other thing though it is a bit of a police tactic
not so much then because I mean it's the courts it's technically the court system
that put John in prison 10 to 15 years but what the state of Michigan police are hoping that
someday he's finally gonna wake up and realize where he is where he's been living for the last seven eight years
right in prison and he's gonna realize that he has nobody he has nothing else and he has nothing left to do but to
tell the truth that is their hope that is their hope yeah and you know what I wonder about - regardless he says all of
our hopes yes and and I wonder regarding his prison sentence I've heard you know
it's it's all it's always reported 10 to 15 years I have read some speculation that the there awfully darn certain that
he's going to serve the full 15 years but if we are in fact talking about murder if we are in fact talking about
the worst possible thing we can come up with regarding this case it's a triple homicide of children and that's a really
light sentence and it's nobody's fault it's nobody's fault for that light sentence there's nothing really they can
do unless there's evidence but what's interesting to me is can they I would love for once in a while we get lawyers
prosecutors judges people that know the system better than we do reach out to us
yeah I would love to and if you go on the blog you don't have to leave your real name please do not leave Joanne
Taylor you will be banned unless you are Joanne Taylor but so how are we gonna know well the thing is I would love to
know if because of the charges because of what he was sentenced to or sent to prison for can they charge him with
something and I know there's no statute of limitations for murder so obviously if there's proof if they find additional
evidence that the kids were killed and they believe he did it of course they can charge him with murder but let's say
they never find anything is there something else they can charge him with at a later time and at the end once that
10 or 15 years expires can you charge him with kidnapping can you chart you know cuz he's charged
right now with unlawful imprisonment I believe is the exact term yeah so I mean he's there
can you go to jail for being a douchebag no but there are prisons full of douchebags oh yeah conundrum so that
would be interesting to know if there's something left in the in the old knapsack if there's something left that
they can charge him with once that 10 15 years expires because again that's what
law enforcement is hoping for that he's gonna wake up one day realize he has nothing nobody else nothing left but the
truth and he's going to feel compelled to finally deliver that to everyone the other thing too with him publicly
stating and I say publicly is just an interview but with John saying hey I gave them away to this underground
foster care organization maybe I was duped is that him already setting up a defense for if he did in fact kill them
hide the remains and they were to be found now he can go I wasn't mean I didn't I wasn't the one to see them
last I left them in the care of these people that I've been telling you about for the last nine years right you know
so I mean a real piece of [ __ ] either way I mean it's like look even if you're
to believe him and there was abuse happening and that you wanted to protect your children there's other ways about
doing that and you could have went to a judge you could have went to whoever and
it's just you know but and you can't tell me that oh well he tried to give him to somebody else because he was
gonna commit suicide so he wanted to make sure that they were protected mm-hmm it's like know that this none of
this really lines up none of this makes a lot of sense and chances are if he was
going to kill himself if he's suicidal he's probably also homicidal and and it was almost like oh well if you're not
gonna be with me then you're not gonna get my children either and but for some reason he's not man
enough to state what he did and he's not man enough to to have closure for everybody else and and to accept the
punishment for the crime he committed the next thing on my list for possible theories and this is a very obvious one
one that we've all been hoping against since we first started covering this story but it's it's so obvious it's what
everybody is thinking did are the boys no longer with us did John do something with the remains that he knows where in
fact they are he knows exactly what he did with them and he's just refusing to to be cooperative because it punishes
his ex-wife and because it punishes the system because he thinks he's smarter than everybody else I mean there's it
there's a a myriad of reasons why he's holding on to the truth not just the fact of facing more jail time well what
we do have is the cellphone pings and yes we do have you know as John has a blackout period we have a blackout
period as far as where John's whereabouts are but we can at least start breaking down how how much area
would have to search right within that time frame because we do know that he went back to his house so I think if we
focus more on that and we really started focusing and they they've claimed that they've you know every barn that they
could find that they that they they searched through and all this stuff and and yes it's been seven years but it's
like I think they could do that that's your key if you could double down on those searches and that area I think
that's the key to getting answers to this case well and that's what today's author of this week's
recommended reading suggests in his book is that look at the area that we know his phone to have been right for that 76
minutes is what Lin calls it and Lin has actually been heavily involved in the search efforts and also involved in
trying to really narrow that down to a specific location and he's saying you know I'm gonna keep working on this I'm
hoping that I can narrow it down to about I think he said 200 acres which is still a lot of lands on down Bob it's
not that bad considering I mean you've done the Google map flyover of this area of holiday city it's they need to take
the word city out of holiday city it's not a city it's a tiny little tiny little thing that you just pass through
and you don't even know that you pass through it and snow no need to talk [ __ ]
about holiday city no I mean I mean they're not there to blame anything but what I'm trying to point out to
everybody listening is that this small little if it is even a one you know to traffic like town it's surrounded by a
lot of open area right a lot of rural area and so Len Thompson is in into to give credit where credit's due to the
people that volunteer to search for these boys be it in Michigan be it in Ohio yeah the search effort according to
Lynn was not fake it wasn't just something that sounded good for the papers it was real it was the real deal
and it was massive it was massive and they looked hard and long for these these three boys the fourth thing that I
have on my list is kind of the most kind of out of the box one of all the possible theories I think but we kind of
touched upon this a little bit earlier what if John had a complete break with reality right what if what if he handed
off the kids to somebody what if he did something terrible and they're no longer
with us but he doesn't know yeah he doesn't know because he had a straight-up break with the reality is
that the is that the the black hole the big empty space that he referenced and the he offers up these tales or he's
sticking somewhat to his original story that he told his ex-wife in the beginning that he told investigators in
the beginning and he truly just doesn't know what happened if he truly doesn't know then maybe bring in like a some
hypnotherapy or something like that like at least offer that up as an option to try to figure out what happened right
but I think if you're not doing things like that then really you're you're hindering the investigation or hindering
the possibility of finding out what happened so the thing here is and this is why I questioned this too because of
what he told his pastor Donna Galloway it seems like that could be a possibility if there's anyone that
you're finally gonna be honest with it would be her for John right but the but the problem here is I feel like that's
not what John's parents are saying I almost feel like I mean if I were sitting in prison for any number of you
know any reason at all and I have my parents coming to me I've my pastor coming to me I have people coming to me
and going Nick what happened what the hell happened if I didn't know I straight-up tell at least those people
tell my parents you know I I don't know right I might deserve to be here but I don't
know what happened and what we have his parents saying on record saying is that they believe part of their son's story
at least part of it that there could have been some abuse that they that the boys are alive and that
the John gave them to somebody you know yeah so I that makes me question this if
he if he does not know I almost feel like by this time with the amount of time that has passed then we would
probably have that or some form of that statement from him yeah it seems like the more you dive into this the more
questions that come out and one of my initial questions that we never really discussed is are we for sure that these
three boys are his you know that's the claim from the mother and then obviously the father but I mean there's I just get
a sense when I look at these three boys that these three boys are half-siblings that's that's the sense I get and as
anybody looked into that angle well it's an interesting thought to ponder when I
look at the pictures of the three boys and there's there's plenty of them available plenty of these pictures
available on the internet so anybody can look them up and I'm sure we'll put a couple on our website as well in hopes
that somebody might recognize them be able to provide some kind of information the two of the boys look very much like
John to me this is just my own opinion and one of the boys looks very much like like their mother like Tanya yeah I
again I think it's it is an interesting question to ponder I don't know what that really means for the state of our
case because where my thoughts lie and look man the the whole time I was researching this case the whole time I
was looking into this and I'm sure you felt the same way as I did I wanted I wanted to I actually started off hopeful
I started off hopeful and I for the first day or so I was sitting there going you know what it's probably an
unpopular side to be on it's definitely against my better judgment but for about 24 hours the first 24 hours of
looking into this thing I'm like I feel I think they're alive my brain tells me that that's probably not the case but my
gut my heart was telling me these boys are alive that he did hand them off to somebody oh I try not to do that anymore
I tried when we go into these cases I'm a blank slate and whatever I read and whatever rabbit holes it takes me down I
try not to ponder too far into it I like for it just tell me what I'm supposed to
know what whatever that may be if that makes any sense mm-hmm makes a lot of sense the thing
that I can't get over and this is why I'm not as hopeful as when I started off is giving them away does not make a lot
of sense and what I mean by that is I understand his side of his story is look they were being abused I did this in
their best interest I get that John the problem is you're so out of control with what then happens or
could happen to them once you hand them off right it just doesn't it just doesn't ring true to me it it's it seems
like it seems like almost you would rather their there are things you could have done before going to these great
lengths there are people you could have spoke to and maybe he's totally off the rails I don't know and maybe this is all
he could come up with it doesn't seem right to me though there could there was people you could have talked to and at
the very least if you run out of ideas you go you know what I'm keeping the kids and I you send
anybody to take them from me I'm gonna tell them what's going on and I'm gonna let I'm gonna let the law I'm gonna let
the law look into it right and I'm gonna let them figure it out because those are
serious accusation yes yeah and there and let's be clear I do think there's there is a leap that you have to make
from having a relationship with a fourteen-year-old boy which let's not get that twisted that's child
molestation but then to bless your own child I think there would have to be a leap that you'd have to make on some
level yeah and the only one that seems to be claiming that there was any kind of abuse as John and you do have some
people siding with him after the fact after this all goes down right but there doesn't seem to be any anybody else
alleging that other than him and I do want to point out we should point out Tonya who I mean the nightmare that
she's had to face of this guy that she marries right yeah I don't even feel great calling him their father you know
he no matter what the outcome at the end of the day he's responsible for why she
doesn't have her children and the thing here is she has two older daughters and they are very close with their mother
with Tanya and I think that that's probably the only thing that's kept her whole kept her together at this point I
can't imagine going through what she has had to go through I think law enforcement stated that they're not as
hopeful as they once were but they are very confident that they're gonna have answers to this case very
soon well until remind everyone we do have three missing boys they are still missing to this day when they went
missing Andrew was age nine Alexander age seven and Tanner age five they're still missing the family is seeking help
in searching for them they are encouraging people to be aware of children and to watch for these three
boys the police would like to remind everyone that it is a good possibility that the boys may not be together so be
looking for individual faces as well all three boys are Caucasian the two older boys Andrew and Alexander both have
brown hair brown eyes the little boy Tanner has blond hair and blue eyes I do want to point out in some of the
pictures of Alexander the middle child he is wearing glasses so he may require them there is a large reward for good
information in this case and police need your help and they need tips if you have
any information at all please contact Morenci police at 574-lmpd where e 27th on WGN america it stars chris Knauth and
danny pinot as well as newcomer leven rambin she portrays the newest member of this elite team who is a
survivor of a childhood abduction herself don't miss the series premiere of gone Wednesday February 27th at 9:00
8:00 central on WGN America do we happen to have any recommended reading for this
week actually we do and it actually came out just a few weeks ago it's a really good book it's the only book that I
could find on this particular case on the skelton brothers case it's called 76 minutes my search for Andrew Alexander
and Tanner Skelton by author and new friend of the show Lynne Thompson check that out you don't have to write down
that title right now you can go to true crime garage com click on the recommended page and we have lots of
books including 76 minutes by Lynn Thompson listed right there for you to check out make sure you check out our
weekly bonus show off the record that's on stitcher premium $5 a month that gets
you our show plus every show on stitcher premium so it's a great deal it's like the Netflix for podcasting and make sure
you check out our old episodes on the stitcher app you just download it and they
are for free that's right well thanks everybody for joining us here in the garage today and this week we will see
you again next week until then please be good be kind and don't litter [Music] [Applause]
[Music]

Source: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-spjb4-a87ed3

The Skelton Brothers /// Part 2 /// 281

Part 2 of 2 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com Andrew age 9, Alexander age 7, and Tanner age 5 were taken by the father from his Morenci, Michigan home during the Thanksgiving holiday visitation back in 2010. Their father John, claims the boys were abused by their mother and he was getting them out of a bad situation. However John’s story does not add up. Law Enforcement does not believe him and today John sits behind bars. This week we crack a beer and discuss this stranger than fiction true crime story. Beer of the Week - Hopsoulution Ale - Bell’s Brewery INC. Garage Grade - 4 out of 5 bottle caps Check out this good stuff and save CASH with our promo codes: www.Madison-Reed.com - use code GARAGE for 10% off plus FREE shipping www.FabFitFun.com - use code GARAGE for 10% your first box Help the Garage by taking a quick free survey at www.PodSurvey.com/GARAGE - thanks for your help! Don’t miss the series premier of Gone, Wednesday February 27 at 9/8 central on WGN America

The full archive of True Crime Garage is available on the Stitcher listening app - for FREE. Our show “Off the Record” is only on Stitcher Premium. For a FREE month of listening go to http://stitcherpremium.com/truecrimegarage and use promo code GARAGE

Brief Summary

The episode discusses the Skelton brothers' disappearance, investigation updates, and theories about their fate.

Key points

The Skelton Brothers Case. The investigation into the missing Skelton brothers takes a dark turn as remains are found.
The Remains Found. Partial remains found in Montana lead to speculation about their identity.
Hope and Despair. Tanya Skelton expresses hope for her missing children amidst the investigation.
The Boys' Disappearance. The oldest boy was nine at the time of the disappearance in 2010.
Amish Community Insights. Amish families would help the boys but notify the police.
John's Claims. John claims he handed the boys off to a group, but no evidence exists.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This information has just been presented to our family within the last several hours.

Tanya's reaction to the possible link to her missing children.

8:20WatchFeb 20, 2019

Tension

60/ 100Some tension

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