This combo made with undated photos provided by The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children shows, from left, Alexander Skelton, 7 Andrew Skelton, 9, and Tanner Skelton. 5. A small southern Michigan town has been humbled by tragedy but its people are determined to find three young brothers missing for nearly a week, the mayor said Thursday.
Morenci Mayor Keith Pennington said he is still hopeful the boys are alive, although police have said they don't expect a positive outcome. It's been a week since Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7 and Tanner Skelton, 5, were last seen.
"We will not be satisfied until our boys are home," Pennington said.
Their father, John Skelton, is fighting extradition from Ohio to Michigan, where he faces three kidnapping charges. Morenci Police Chief Larry Weeks said Skelton, 39, is asking for a lawyer and that authorities have had no contact with him during the past few days.
He remains jailed on a $3 million bond and awaits a Dec. 14 hearing in Toledo.
Volunteers and authorities searched along roads and in rivers, lakes and a gravel pit across the boundary in Ohio, just miles from the town where the boys lived and were last seen on Thanksgiving. Morenci, a community of about 2,000 residents, is 75 miles southwest of Detroit.
Search crews and dive teams were checking out specific sites in Williams County, Ohio, based on tips. Others looked through abandoned homes and even around their own property.
Still, the search appeared to remain wide open as authorities cast a large net across the area.
The boys' mother, Tanya Skelton, and family members have said little since the disappearance. A family friend, Kathye Herrera, read from a statement Thursday thanking the hundreds of volunteers.
"We know how hard everyone has been working," Herrera said, and referred to "our precious little boys."
The family, she said, supported the decision to suspend the search over the coming weekend so authorities can review what they've collected and determine what to do next.
Tanya Skelton, 44, reported the boys missing last Friday when their father didn't return them. Police say he tried to hang himself and that he lied to investigators when he said he first gave the boys to a female acquaintance to hand over to their mother.
Tanya Skelton had filed for divorce in September. A judge gave her custody of the boys, but she and John Skelton reached an agreement on visitation.
Morenci United Methodist Church Rev. Donna Galloway said Wednesday she has spoken with Tanya Skelton since the boys' disappearance, and that she thinks it's absurd when people ask how Skelton's doing.
"How would you be doing?" Galloway said. "She wants her boys home. We all want her boys home. She's a mom."