The father of three missing Morenci children last seen around Thanksgiving pleaded no contest this morning to criminal charges of unlawful imprisonment, but not before the judge revealed his conflicting, chilling statements to investigators.
Whether the plea deal with Lenawee County Prosecutor Jonathan Poer will lead to an explanation of what happened to Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton, then ages 9, 7 and 5, is unclear.
John Skelton, who has been jailed on a multimillion dollar bond since his arrest shortly after Thanksgiving at an Ohio hospital where he was receiving treatment for an alleged suicide attempt, entered pleas today before Lenawee County Circuit Judge Margaret Noe.
He pleaded no contest, meaning he accepts criminal responsibility for three counts of unlawful imprisonment. Other charges, including the felony crime of kidnapping, will be dropped by the prosecutor when Skelton is sentenced. Sentencing is set for the morning of Sept. 15. The crime carries a maximum sentence of up to 15 years. Kidnapping can result in up to a life sentence.
Morenci Police could issue a statement later today. Poer’s staff has said he will make no public statement on the case.
The judge read into the court’s record today from several investigative reports, saying Skelton’s story about his sons’ disappearance had changed several times. Noe said he once told investigators he had planned to commit suicide and took the boys away so they weren’t there when he did.
“That story changed, however,” Noe said in court.
She also said he told others he wrapped each boy in a blanket, gave each a stuffed animal and placed them in his van. And, Noe said he had told yet others, “They will hibernate until they graduate,” according to a WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) video recording of the judge’s comments in court today.
Noe said Skelton told others about dreams or nightmares in which he saw the boys and their belongings in or behind a Dumpster. She said he made drawings and told about leaving the boys in a park and an abandoned schoolhouse.
Noe also said investigators found that a week before the boys’ disappearance, Skelton had searched online for how to break a neck.
As Noe read the charges, the boys’ mother, Tanya Zuvers, quietly sobbed, according to videotape of the court proceeding.
Regarding the charges to which Skelton pleaded guilty, Noe said, “He forcibly restricted their movement, forcibly confined each of his children so as to interfere with their liberty without their consent or without lawful authority.”
Skelton has steadfastly claimed the boys are alive and in the hands of an organization — the United Foster Outreach and Underground Sanctuary — that he claimed keeps children safe. Investigators have said the organization doesn’t exist.
Skelton has told authorities he took his sons in the midst of a messy divorce from their mother to protect them from sexual abuse. Zuvers has served prison time and is on the Michigan Sex Offender Registry because of a sexual relationship in 1998 with a 14-year-old neighbor boy. She has denied abusing her children. She took her maiden name this summer after being granted a divorce from Skelton.
Morenci Police Chief Larry Weeks has said he believes John Skelton killed the boys, and three months after a search of expansive farm fields surrounding the Michigan and Ohio border town turned up no clues, Weeks declared the missing person investigation was switched to a murder investigation.
Posts Tagged ‘investigators’
Investigators: Father of missing Morenci boys looked up how to break a neck
In domestic law on July 29, 2011 at 1:19 pmIn a jealous rage– he has confessed to the brutal slayings of Vonetta Haynes-Reyes and her two sons
In domestic law on July 29, 2011 at 1:10 pmIn his statement, the man told homicide investigators he killed Vonetta, 31, in a jealous rage and also brutally attacked her sons because they knew him.
In his statement, the man told homicide investigators he killed Vonetta, 31, in a jealous rage and also brutally attacked her sons because they knew him.
The murder suspect claimed he had been in a relationship with Vonetta for a few months earlier this year. They had known each other for several years before they began dating, police reported.
However, Vonetta broke off the relationship, which the man confessed he could not accept.
When she told him she was not in love with him, he became jealous.
“I loved her dearly,” the man reportedly told investigators.
He gave police details of the murders which occurred at Vonetta’s home at Plumbago Avenue, La Horquetta, early last Thursday morning.
The man told police he waited outside Vonetta’s home on Wednesday night and was there when she arrived at about midnight.
She let him in the house and they began to quarrel. He had been calling her all day on Wednesday, which police were able to verify through Vonetta’s phone records.
The man and Vonetta began to struggle when she told him to leave the house and he stabbed her once in the neck.
Her sons ran into her bedroom when they heard her screams, the man said.
He took Makasi to his bedroom and slit his throat. He did the same to Malik in his bedroom.
The suspect told police he could not leave the boys alive because they could identify him.
Deputy Police Commissioner Mervyn Richardson last night confirmed a suspect had been arrested and investigators will approach Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard for directions on the case.
“The arrest of the suspect is a major breakthrough in the probe and I want to commend all the officers who worked round-the-clock under the supervision of Snr Supt Donald Denoon,” Richardson told Newsday. Denoon is the head of the Homicide Bureau.
The suspect was detained at the Arouca Police Station.During their investigation, police obtained phone records and other evidence which they said linked the suspect to Vonetta.
Investigators said they are close to finding the weapon used in the killings.
The suspect’s fingerprints have reportedly been found on Vonetta’s car, which was found abandoned in Carapo on Thursday night, hours after the three bodies were found in La Horquetta.
The car is now at Camp Cumuto, where SAUTT officers have been carrying out tests.
Police believe the suspect took the car to make it appear as though the murders were connected to a robbery. However, nothing was stolen from the house, leading investigators to believe the killer knew the victims.
Earlier in the investigations, police questioned a 20-year-old man, who alerted them to the bodies when he saw one of Vonetta’s sons on the floor when he went to her home on Thursday afternoon.
Vonetta had visited the 20-year-old man in Chaguanas the day before. Her sons had spent that Wednesday with their father Selvon Reyes at his home in Oropoune Gardens, Piarco. She picked them up at about 8 pm, before heading to her home in La Horquetta where they were later killed.
A relative had also been briefly questioned about the killings.
Vonetta’s mother Joyce Haynes told Newsday yesterday that she was not aware a man was in custody in connection with the three murders, but added she was awaiting word from the police on the status of the investigation.
Father charged after Orange City infant shaken and thrown
In domestic law on July 14, 2011 at 1:34 pmCharles told investigators he recently got a job and the baby’s crying was making him lose sleep.The 4-week-old may die after his father, frustrated over the baby’s crying, threw him against a couch, then the boy landed on the floor
The child suffered eight fractured ribs, detachment and bleeding of his retinas, multiple skull fractures and bleeding from the brain. He also had a fractured right arm and right leg, the police arrest report states.
ORANGE CITY — A 4-week-old may die after his father, frustrated over the baby’s crying, threw him against a couch, then the boy landed on the floor, authorities say.
Ivan Charles, 23, was arrested Tuesday and charged with aggravated child abuse and child neglect, a charging affidavit showed.
Charles told investigators he recently got a job and the baby’s crying was making him lose sleep.
The child suffered eight fractured ribs, detachment and bleeding of his retinas, multiple skull fractures and bleeding from the brain. He also had a fractured right arm and right leg, the police arrest report states.
Charles was held in the Volusia County Branch Jail without bail.
Police were alerted to the baby’s injuries by officials from Florida Hospital Fish Memorial on Sunday, according to a statement released by Orange City spokeswoman Danielle Lung.
Doctors kept finding more injuries on the baby during daily scans and said the infant would have severe brain damage if he survives, investigators said.
On Tuesday, the child was on a ventilator at Florida Hospital South, Orlando, and a Child Protection Team and the Florida Department of Children & Families have taken custody of him, Lung said.
Charles initially denied knowing how the infant was injured, saying his girlfriend, the baby’s mother, Naisha Viscaino Adames, may have dropped the child, police said.
Adames told police the infant was only in her care and that of Charles but noticed the child starting to twitch Saturday, investigators said.
Adames allowed police to search her home and officers found a bloodstain on the baby’s tiny pillow, reports said.
On Monday, Orange City police made contact with Charles again and that was when he confessed to the crime, reports state.
Charles said he had not been getting much sleep because the infant kept him awake. On Friday while Adames was out running errands, he held the baby around his body and shook him for five to seven seconds, the report said. He then threw the baby, striking the couch, then the child fell to the floor, investigators said.
Charles held the detective’s clipboard to show how he shook and threw down his son, investigators said.
Charles noticed the baby became lethargic, had decreased alertness, loss of strength and coordination and started convulsing, police said.
Charles did not seek immediate medical attention for the infant until five hours later, police said.
Charles pleaded no contest to battery domestic violence in July 2010 and was sentenced to a year probation. His adjudication was withheld.
Cult leader Pete Moses Jr. charged in boy’s death
In domestic law on June 11, 2011 at 10:54 pmInvestigators suspect Jadon and Antoinetta Yvonne McKoy, 28, whose body was unearthed at the house Wednesday, were the victims of a small religious cult led by Moses.
DURHAM — Investigators found the remains of a child Thursday at the same East Durham house where a missing woman’s body was discovered Wednesday.
Pete Lucas Moses Jr., 27, is charged with first degree murder in the death of 5-year-old Jadon Higganbothan, thought to have been missing since October 2010.
Investigators suspect Jadon and Antoinetta Yvonne McKoy, 28, whose body was unearthed at the house Wednesday, were the victims of a small religious cult led by Moses.
Claudine Dombrowski
Battered Mothers - A Human Rights Issue 