Missing Brothers in Michigan Believed to be ‘in Extreme Danger’

A statewide search is underway in Michigan for three missing brothers, who “are believed to be in extreme danger,” according to an AMBER Alert from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that went out on Nov. 27.

The alert adds they may be traveling in a silver van. The three boys are Alexander Skelton, 7, Andrew Skelton, 9, and Tanner Skelton, 5. They were last seen at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 26 in Morenci, Michigan.

The suspected kidnapper is a woman by the name of Joann Taylor.

The AMBER Alert program is a partnership between media, law-enforcement, transportation, and wireless groups to activate urgent bulletin alerts in extremely serious child-abduction cases and get communities involved in helping, according to the Department of Justice.

The father of the boys, John Skelton, claimed he left the children with Taylor just before he allegedy attempted suicide. Skelton claimed he had an online relationship with Skelton. Morenci Police Chief Larry Weeks told the press, however, that Skelton’s relationship with Taylor is a lie. “A reported relationship between Mr. Skelton and Joann Taylor does not exist,” Weeks said in a video feed from AP.

The police are investigating where Skelton drove the day he had the boys. Weeks added, “Since we can last pinpoint the boys in the backyard on Thursday afternoon, and that we know that the vehicle wasn’t there during a period of time there, we certainly want any leads we could gather for that period of time on where that vehicle was at. Were the boys in the vehicle? Did anyone see that vehicle?”

Investigators on the case were searching for the lost boys along Ohio roads in Fulton and Williams counties on Nov. 29. Just prior to the search, Fire Chief Scott Damon of Cambridge Township, Mich. told firefighters that Mr. Skelton “may have just dumped them on the road,” The Detroit News reported.