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

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[Music] [Music] 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
lock up he and T 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 person's 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 7 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 missan 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 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 2 to 4 years old 5 to 8 years old and 6 to 10 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 MH 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 right and as you were
pointing out you know we have to remember law enforcement tracked John skelton's phone they believe they know
his movements and 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 morenzi 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 police 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 and quote now when's this testing going to
be done though well this is going to be extensive it's going to take months for them to uh figure out if it is in fact
the three boys now Tanya zuers the boy's mother she took the Facebook after this remind you they are
divorced by this time Tanya goes to Facebook after police made the possible link public and ask 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 buy Christmas birthday and Easter gifts for her sons in in the hope that one day they would come home yeah it's
weird cuz 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 wouldn't want to see her stop living life not progressing in life 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 is breaking down where she
can't control it so you know I 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 and 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 kpx TV they 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 6 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 99 years old according to a report from a national forensic lab Missoula
County chief deputy coroner Lieutenant Jace dickin said the center for human identification has concluded that the
bone fragments and teeth are archaeological in nature and at least a century old the report stated that they
likely were buried somewhere else for some time before being unearth 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 they're 100% convinced that what he's saying that he
gave the boys to somebody and then they're alive they 100% believe and his father even said when it's all said and
done we'll see who has the last laugh mhm which is one a weird thing to say cuz your your grandkids are missing but
that's how sure he is of what his son is telling him right well and then think about this situation for a little bit
you know T is hearing about this they found the remains of three children right she has three children that are
missing MH and I actually I'm not certain that the the sex 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 right it's going to take months before they can give me an answer it's
going to 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 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 Mont
because we had many people that requested that we cover the Skelton 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 to vouch for them what is the percentages it's it's got can't be very high at all so that's where you would go
but now that we know that it was not these boys so where does that leave us Captain you know theories leaves us in
the garage theories we're still here that we should explore I think is where it leaves us okay okay well but we're
going to 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 MH 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 uh 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 family there yeah yes he has family there he has friends there the first obstacle you have with
that being a corre direct 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 that 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 aase board here is I think that's too easy to trace for law enforcement I think it's too
easy to look into that and to determine if that's correct or not well law enforcement and FBI have they've said we
don't even know if this person that he claims he dropped him off to is real because the 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 uh 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 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 Jon'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 Jon 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 Tanya said this in an interview so this is off of her speculation she said
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 is that 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
Tanya's words he travels to the Bahamas and it's he's there to like service some
boats and things like that right 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
take took them to the Bahamas where they would be I mean the trail breadcrumbs from Morenci Michigan to the Bahamas
right is got to be but we don't know what the whereabouts are for the family his
family in Florida right they're 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 were can do you have anybody that can vouch for you do you have an alibi
for this time frame right but you know what's weird too is there was at least one instance where Tanya says that
John's parents came to the area where they live where T and John lived visited friends and didn't even really like they
were there visiting and home and gone back home without even telling Tanya and John so it's not crazy to think that
they couldn't have moved into the area without T knowing especially once they were separated living in different
residents right but that kind of thing also makes me question well how tight really are Jon or were Jon and his
parents yeah cuz they well they live so far apart too MH 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 maybe Amish minite or reorganized 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 Joanne Taylor but at one point he gives the name of four people we have Joanne
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 is the wrong phrase right but is involved in this underground foster care
system that the boys were being abused and he and 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 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 MH and you have to think that whoever talked to them that these allegations of
sexual abuse or abuse would would be real or at least they believe them to right yeah and then that what then you
wouldn't be coming forward to the authorities cuz look what they did to John John said hey I gave him to
somebody and they arrested him mhm yeah and you hope and you you you just have to pray that there's not
somebody out there sitting somewhere that 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 beg them beg them please just come forward tell us what
happened or produce 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 they're with 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 M and
they would have probably contacted police did you listen to the um shattered podcast no I didn't have a chance to
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 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 the 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 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 say hey I got these three kids that somebody dropped off to me
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 uh reporter ERS and and people go out of their way to confirm you know would this be
something that that 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 MH so we know that John cell phone went to Holiday City Ohio and in regards
to the Amish minits reorganized Mormons Ohio does have a large Amish population as does Indiana well at some point I
think that's what John starts claiming is the group that they're with uh lives on the border of Ohio and Indiana which
I actually lived on the border like I was in Indiana but half a mile away was the Ohio border and a lot of that is
just Acres upon Acres of Farmland well and you know Holiday City is Northwest of Columbus we're right in
the middle of Ohio right so Northwest that's definitely going to put you closer to that Indiana state state line
right and just because he went to Holiday City doesn't mean that that's where they have to be somebody could
have picked them up and he could have met somebody halfway or 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 dis close 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 one and two losing the
children to where they return to a bad situation yeah cuz 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
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back Cheers 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 them 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 off to bad people or do we one thing we've not discussed
too 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 if they're bad people yeah cuz 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 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 cuz her car broke down and then they stayed in contact that this person
Joan Taylor just so happened to be which that's not a real name but just so happened to
be a person that was connected with child pedophilia rings and he said my kids are being molested and she said
I'll take them and then he gives them to her and then she sends them off to other
pedophiles mhm like that seems so far-fetched like you'd have to believe all the stuff
that he said oh oh of course yeah 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 he heavily
populated area like McDonald's or something and just go kids go in there and then tell them that you're missing
M and then they'll call authorities and within a day we'll fig you know would figure out who they were mhm like there
were 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 did happen
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 JN and whoever he handed these people off
to he says he maintained some kind of relationship with this Joanne Taylor after they met on the side of the road
somewhere when he helped her when her car broke down they maintain 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 reg you know 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 an app like what's up app or whatever where they can 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 because they're like ghost they're like Phantoms I didn't I didn't
break anything in the house they broke it that's what happened they I was asleep
they must have went into the house and took my cell phone and then drove down to Ohio mhm he has a story he has a he
has an explanation for everything and look if we had my way would have that game show
called The 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 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 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 and law it's can you imagine how
frustrated law enforcement has to be when they because 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 him a story and other times Hees can't tell you that
well I tell him John every time he tell me you can't tell me something go and break one of your ribs that's what I'd
tell him well you've been watching too much True Detective cuz 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 got no 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 them 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 going to wake up
and realize where he is where he's been living for the last seven eight years right in
prison and he's going to realize that he has nobody he has nothing else and he has nothing left to to do but to tell
the truth that is their hope that is their hope yeah and you know what I I wonder about too regarding I think
that's 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 that they're awfully darn certain
that he's going to serve the full 15 years MH 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 yeah 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 I 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 um unless you are Joanne Taylor
but so how are we going to know well the thing is I would love to know if because
of the charges because of what he was sentenced to uh or sent to prison for uhhuh 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 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 at at the end
once that 10 or 15 years expires can you charge him with kidnapping can you charge you know cuz he's charged right
now with unlawful imprisonment I believe is the exact term yeah so I'm curious there you go to jail for being a
douchebag that imp no but there are prisons full of douchebags oh yeah weird conundrum so that would be
interesting to know if there's something left in the in the old napsack if there's something left that they can
charge him with once that 105 years expires because again that's what law enforcement is hoping for that he's
going to wake up one day realize he has nothing nobody else nothing left but the
truth and he's going to feel comp to finally deliver that to everyone the other thing too with him publicly
stating and I say publicly is just an interview but with JN saying hey I gave them away to this underground foster
care uh organization maybe I was duped uhhuh 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 oh it wasn't me 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 he tried to give them to
somebody else because he was going to commit suicide so he wanted to make sure that they were protected mhm it's like
no 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 was suicidal he's probably also homicidal and and it was almost like oh
well if you're not going to be with me then you're not going to get my children either
and but for some reason he's not man enough to State what he did uhhuh and he's not man enough to
to have closure for everybody else and and to accept uh 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 JN 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 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 cell phone pings and yes we do have um you know a as John has a
blackout period we have a blackout period as far as where John's whereabouts are mhm but we can at least
start breaking down how how much area we'd 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 claim that they've you know every Barn that they could find that they that they uh they search through
and all all this stuff and and yes it's been 7 years but it's like I think they could do that that's your key if you
could double down on those searches in 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 suggest in his book is that look
at the area that we know his phone to have in right for that 76 minutes is what Lynn calls
it and Lynn is 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 going to 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 land it's not that bad it's not
that bad considering I mean you've done the Google Map fly over 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 it's no no need to talk [ __ ] about Holiday City um no I I mean they're not
there to blame anything but what I'm trying to to point out to everybody listening is that this small little if
it is even a one you know two traffic light town it's surrounded by a lot of open area right a lot of rural area and
so Lyn Thompson is and and to 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 sheer 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 of all the possible theories I think uhhuh 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 he had a straightup break with reality mhm is
that the is that the the the black hole The Big Empty Space that he referenced and that 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 you're hindering the possibility of finding out what happened so the thing here is and this
is why I question 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 going to be honest with it would be her for John right maybe but
the but the problem here is I feel like that's not what John's parents are saying I almost feel like it 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 have 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'd 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 right 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 that John gave them to somebody
yeah yeah so I that makes me question this uh If he if he does not know I almost feel like by this time with the
amount of time that has past that 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 discuss is are we for sure that these three boys are his you know that's the claim from the
the mother and then obviously the father but I I mean there 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 has anybody looked into that
angle well it's an interesting thought to ponder um 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 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 um 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 I'm not I try not to do that anymore I try when we go into these cases I'm 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 I like for it to to tell me what I'm supposed to know what whatever that may be if that makes any sense mhm
makes a lot of sense the thing that 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 there
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 if you send anybody to take them from me I'm going to tell them
what's going on and I'm going to let I'm going to 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 accusations yes yeah and and let's be
clear I I do think there's there is a leap that you have to make from having a relationship with a 14-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 is 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 um Tanya who I mean the nightmare that she's had to face of this
guy that she marries right I don't even feel great calling him their father you know 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 t 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 and I think law enforcement stated that they're not as hopeful as
they once were but they are very confident that they're going to have answers to this case very soon well and
to 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 blonde 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 517
45871 04 or call 1 800 the Lost [Music] 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 Lynn Thompson check that out you don't have to write down on that title right
now you can go to True Crim garage.com click on the recommended page and we have lots of books including 76 minutes
by Lyn 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 [Music] litter you can live out your Master Chef dreams
when you find a professional on Angie to tackle your dream kitchen remodel connect with skilled
professionals to get all your home projects done well visit angie.com you can do this when you Angie that

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

Part 2 of 2

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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

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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 police announce a murder investigation.
Discovery of Remains. Partial remains of three children found raise questions about their connection to the Skelton brothers.
The Disappearance of the Boys. A discussion about the missing boys and the plea for information.
Amish Communities and the Missing Boys. Exploring whether Amish communities would help the missing boys if found.
Theories of Duping. Speculation on whether John was duped into handing off the boys.
John's Evasive Answers. John's consistent evasiveness raises questions about his credibility.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's good to be seen and it's good to see you.

Host greeting listeners

2:00WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

50/ 100Some tension

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