A father charged with kidnapping his three missing boys fought extradition from Ohio to Michigan on Wednesday as an army of volunteers prepared to trudge through fields, woodlands and dirt roads to search for the brothers who have not been seen since Thanksgiving.John Skelton, a 39-year-old unemployed long-haul truck driver, sat throughout the court hearing in Toledo, Ohio, in a wheelchair covered by a green blanket, answering the judge’s yes-or-no questions in a whisper. His attorney told the judge his client would fight his return to Michigan.Skelton was arrested Tuesday on three counts of parental kidnapping, and so far, police say, the boys’ father hasn’t told authorities much that they can use. During his hearing, the judge in Ohio set bond at $3 million and scheduled another hearing for Dec. 14.“He’s been forthcoming with some information, the credibility of which we can’t verify,” Morenci Police Chief Larry Weeks said Tuesday.Weeks acknowledged police don’t expect a “positive outcome” after talking to Skelton over the course of the investigation.
During a press conference Wednesday morning, when asked about Skelton’s reasons for fighting extradition, Weeks said: “I would not be in a position to understand why he makes decisions.”Crews have searched parts of southern Michigan in and around Morenci. They’ve also scoured hundreds of acres just south of Morenci in northwest Ohio looking for 9-year-old Andrew, 7-year-old Alexander and 5-year-old Tanner Skelton.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Father of 3 missing boys fights return to Lenawee County
Reporting by Corey Williams / The Daily Telegram
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