Ever so often I like to scan stories from different states. This story from Michigan quickly caught my attention. It hasn’t hit the national news, but it deserves the attention.
TheDetriot News reports that an overflow crowd of more than 200 people from Ohio and Michigan came to Morenci United Methodist Church for a brief vigil for three missing boys tonight.
As they left, there were many hugs and evidence of even more tears as the community tried to come to grips with the disappearance of Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton.
"It's just a terrible time," said Iola Burton, who attended the service with her husband, Wally. "It's just so sad that it takes an event like this to bring our community together."
Teams are regrouping for another wave of searching Monday in Lenawee County near the Ohio border for the boys police fear are in "extreme danger," left by their father with a stranger just before he attempted suicide.
A task force of law enforcement agencies that include the Morenci police, FBI, the Lenawee and Fulton County, Ohio, sheriff's departments and the Michigan State Police, is looking for the boys, ages 9, 7, and 5, who were reported missing Friday.
The crowd at the church Sunday evening spilled out of the available pews requiring additional chairs to be brought in. In a solemn service, those in attendance filed to the front of the church to light a vigil candle. In the background an unaccompanied piano played seasonal songs including "Peace on Earth" and "O Holy Night."
Relatives of the missing trio were on hand but did not address the crowd, which included several people still wearing yellow safety vests after participating in afternoon searches.
Bob Dister, a lay leader at the church, thanked the congregation for their outpouring of support and said of the boys' family members: "They know your love."
Meanwhile, Morenci officials will close city hall Monday so the building can serve as the operational headquarters for the search operations.
"We are not leaving any stones unturned," Morenci Police Chief Larry Weeks said.
Investigators completed a search today at Harrison Lake State Park in northwest Ohio, about 10 miles south of Morenci, but turned up no clues, according to the Fulton County Sheriff's Department.
Police issued an "Amber Alert" for the boys Friday, after their father, John Skelton, 39, said he turned the boys over to a woman named Joann Taylor, asking her to take them to the boys' mother. Skelton then attempted suicide by hanging.
After he failed, he contacted an acquaintance who took him to an Ohio hospital.
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