- Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner Skelton, 5, disappeared while celebrating Thanksgiving with their father in 2010
- Their father John Skelton was sentenced to prison for not returning the boys to their mother
- Their mother Tanya Zuvers believes they were killed by their father. He was never charged in connection with their deaths
A Michigan court was set to decide on Monday whether to legally declare dead three siblings who disappeared 15 years ago after spending Thanksgiving vacation with their father.
The Skelton boys — Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, 5, were last seen in November 2010 in their father’s Morenci, Mich., home, where they were spending Thanksgiving, the Associated Presspreviously reported.
The boys’ mother, Tanya Zuvers, was seeking a divorce from their father John Skelton at the time, per the outlet.
Now, with more than a decade of no answers, Zuvers is requesting a court to declare her three sons dead. She filed the paperwork for this process in December 2023, FOX 2 Detroit reported.
On Monday, March 3, a Lenawee County court heard from investigators involved that there are no signs the boys are still alive, per AP.
Age progression photos of the Skelton brothers.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
In November 2010, when the children did not return to her the day after Thanksgiving, police traced John’s phone to Ohio at 4 a.m. and back in Michigan after 6 a.m., the outlet reported.
Detectives made an ominous discovery at John’s home while he was in the hospital for an ankle injury the same day.
Amid the mess in his residence, per AP, police found a noose hanging from the second floor, an open Bible with a verse circled and a note, seemingly for Zuvers, which read: “You will hate me forever and I know this,” according to FBI agent Corey Burras.
On one occasion, when his church pastor confronted him about the boys, John allegedly said, “I sent them home,” Burras testified, statements he said implied John had killed the children, AP reported.
“I’m confident they’re deceased,” Larry Weeks, who was Morenci police chief in 2010, said in court on Monday.
The boys’ mother also said she believed John killed them, WTOL reported.
The investigation also revealed internet searches by John, looking up instructions on how to break a neck, Weeks said.
He further alleged that John had lied about the children’s whereabouts, making false claims that they had been handed over to people for their safety. Zuvers also alleges John “claimed that the boys would hibernate until they graduate,” FOX 2 Detroit reported, citing a statement from the bereaved mother.
John Skelton.
Michigan Department of Corrections
Zuvers told the court on Monday that this legal declaration will allow her to pay respect to her sons and put a date on their headstone, WTOL reported.
“Because their dad showed them no respect,” she said. “Because any loving father would not have done what he did, and I owe them the respect.”
“This decision came after much thought and discussion with my family and friends. It did not come lightly and was definitely a difficult decision to make,” she previously said in a 2024 statement, FOX 2 Detroit reported. “No parent wants to lose a child, but to have to have the courts step in and declare them deceased is just unfathomable.”
John has not been charged in connection with the boys’ deaths; he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years for failure to return the boys to their mother, according to AP and FOX 2 Detroit.
On Monday, John appeared in court via video and declined to participate.
“Everyone has got lawyers. I don’t,” he said, per AP. “I’m at a disadvantage. Anything I say isn’t going to make a difference.”
