Nearly 15 years after three young Michigan brothers vanished without a trace, their father has been charged with their murders. The move comes just weeks before John Skelton was scheduled to be released from prison on charges related to the disappearance of sons, Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner—ages 9, 7, and 5 when they went missing in 2010, reports Fox2 Detroit. Now, according to court records in Lenawee County, the 53-year-old faces three counts of murder and a charge of tampering with evidence.
The new charges come after a judge officially declared the boys dead at the request of their mother, Tanya Zuvers, notes Court TV. The boys were last seen spending Thanksgiving with Skelton in Morenci, Michigan. When Zuvers tried to pick them up the following day, she found Skelton missing—he turned up in a hospital with an injured ankle that he said came from a suicide attempt. Police found his home ransacked, but there was no sign of the children. Investigators say Skelton kept changing his story, at times claiming he left the boys with friends, an unknown woman, or a mysterious underground group meant to keep them safe.
Phone records placed Skelton in Ohio the day after the boys were last seen, but searches turned up no trace of the children. Though Skelton never faced murder charges until now, he has been in prison since 2010 after being pleading no contest to unlawful imprisonment, per the Village Reporter. He was on track for release on Nov. 29. Despite suspicions and a previous conviction for taking the boys out of school on an unapproved trip—an incident that led to the final custody ruling in Zuvers' favor. His ex-wife said Skelton once claimed the boys would "hibernate" until high school graduation. All would be beyond that age now.
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