Parents of missing Skelton boys divorce

DETROIT, June 8 (UPI) -- The parents of three Illinois boys missing for more than six months have been granted a divorce as the father remains in jail on kidnapping charges.

Lenawee County Circuit Judge Margaret M.S. Noe granted the divorce to John and Tanya Skelton and awarded custody of the missing children to Tanya Skelton, the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday.

The missing children, Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton, ages 9, 7 and 5, were last seen in the custody of their father, who claims his sons are with an organization police say they've been unable to locate.

Tanya Skelton filed for divorce in September when John Skelton took two of their sons to Florida without her permission.

The three boys have been missing since November.

John Skelton, who has been in jail for months facing kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment charges, said in a divorce hearing Tuesday he no longer agrees to a judgment of divorce he had previously signed because he did not want Tanya Skelton to have custody of the boys.

"If she is granted custody, they won't be available to either of us," Skelton, who represented himself in the divorce, told Noe. "It's not in my control."

During the hearing, Skelton said he "didn't take the kids."