Tanya Skelton: 'Bring my babies home'

MORENCI, Mich. (WOOD) - The mother of three missing Morenci boys is hoping for a Christmas miracle in the near future.

Tanya Skelton broke her silence this week and spoke to the media about her missing children.

Skelton, talking to WTOL-TV in Toledo, Ohio, believes her sons are alive, and hopes they will be found safe and sound.

"They're still alive," she said. "I don't think I have prepared myself for any other outcome because I just know in my heart they're coming home. I just don't know when."

Skelton reported her three sons missing the day after Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day, she texted her estranged husband John Skelton. She wanted to pick up the three boys, Andrew, Alexander and Tanner, early the next day. John said yes, but when she got to the house, John and the boys were not there.

While law enforcement and volunteers look for the boys, Tanya finds it impossible to stay home.

"The couple of times I've been there, it's big and it's empty and there's their book bags or their shoes," she said.

Tanya doesn't know if John knows where the boys are, but said it's time for him to end this.

"To me, it's unthinkable that [John] would do this," she said. "But I don't know that I know that man now. Everyone, not just me, not just my family, but everyone has hurt enough. Just tell us where the boys are."

Tanya doesn't know if someone has the boys, she said, but if a group does have the three missing children, she pleads for their return.

"Even if you take them to the nearest hospital, fire station -- and you tell the two little ones to hold Andrew's hand and you tell Andrew to go inside and tell someone, 'we're the missing boys,'" she said. "He can do that. Bring my babies home."

Tanya wants her boys to know she is ready for their return.

"I bought a few things," she said. "It was hard and it's going to be hard to wrap them, but I'm holding out hope for a Christmas miracle."

On Thursday, John said he gave his sons to someone from an "organization," which visited his home on Thanksgiving, but refused to identify the group. It was the first time that Skelton had publicly discussed his sons since his arrest Nov. 30 on parental kidnapping charges. The hearing in Lenawee County court was related to custody of the children, not his criminal case.