A Michigan father whose three young sons disappeared nearly 15 years ago has now been charged with their murders — just weeks before he was set to be released from prison.
John Skelton, 53, was charged in Lenawee County with three counts of open murder and three counts of tampering with evidence, according to court filings reported by WTVG on November 12.
Skelton has been behind bars since 2011 after pleading no contest to unlawful imprisonment for abducting his sons — Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, 5 — from Morenci, Michigan, over Thanksgiving weekend in 2010. He had been serving a 10- to 15-year sentence and was scheduled for release on November 29.
The boys were last seen at their father’s home in Morenci after spending the holiday with him. At the time, Skelton and their mother, Tanya Zuvers, were in the middle of a bitter divorce. Zuvers, who had sole custody, was supposed to pick the boys up the next day — but when she arrived, neither her sons nor Skelton were there.
Zuvers has long maintained that her ex-husband is responsible for their disappearance. “He took them from me,” she told WTVG in a previous interview. “And I believe he killed them.”
Age-progression images released in 2020 show what Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner might have looked like as teenagers, but despite years of searches, their remains have never been found.
Earlier this year, a judge granted Zuvers’ request to have her sons declared legally dead, a decision she said was meant to bring closure. At the time, the court said there was no “clear and convincing evidence that John Skelton murdered these children.”
According to court documents, Skelton has offered no plausible explanation for the boys’ whereabouts. The petition states he “has done nothing to assist the authorities, his family, or his ex-wife’s family in what has become an exhaustive search for [the boys] since they went missing in 2010.” Investigators also noted that cellphone records contradicted the story Skelton told both authorities and his wife.
Skelton has denied harming his sons in the past, claiming among other things that they were with an underground group for their safety.
The case has haunted the small community of Morenci for over a decade. A memorial plaque honoring the Skelton brothers at a local park reads, “Faith, Hope, Love,” ensuring the boys are not forgotten even as this shocking new development unfolds.
Put him away from society