Father of 3 missing Mich. boys arraigned

Associated Press

ADRIAN, Mich.

A 39-year-old father blamed for the disappearance of his three missing sons appeared via video in a Michigan courtroom for the first time Wednesday to face kidnapping charges.

Sitting in a wheelchair, John Skelton appeared in court by video from the Lenawee County jail, where he was lodged after waiving extradition Tuesday in Ohio. The unemployed truck driver said he understood the charges and couldn’t afford to hire his own attorney.

John Glaser, the lawyer appointed to represent Skelton, declined to comment Wednesday.

Skelton’s sons — Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, 5 — were last seen on Thanksgiving playing in the backyard of their father’s home in Morenci, a town about 70 miles southwest of Detroit on the Michigan-Ohio state line.

Police say Skelton tried to hang himself the next day and made up a story about having first given the boys to a female friend to give to their mother.

Hundreds of searchers spent days combing the countryside on both sides of the state line but found no trace of the boys.

District Court Judge James Sheridan scheduled a Dec. 28 hearing to determine if there’s probable cause to order a trial on parental kidnapping charges. John and Tanya Skelton were going through a divorce when the boys disappeared.

John Skelton remains in jail on $30 million bond. He was in custody for two weeks in Lucas County, Ohio, after his release there from a medical facility where he was treated for his alleged suicide attempt.