Judge Declares Three Michigan Brothers Missing Since 2010 Legally Dead at Mother’s Request

DETROIT—On Wednesday, a judge officially declared three Michigan brothers deceased, over 14 years after they vanished during Thanksgiving, a case that remains unsolved though investigators strongly believe their father is to blame.

Lenawee County Judge Catherine Sala approved the request made by Tanya Zuvers, the mother of Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner Skelton.

“This situation has inflicted severe and lasting effects on the Lenawee community,” Sala remarked. “No expression of sympathy will ever sufficiently address the profound loss experienced.”

However, the judge dismissed a request to confirm that the boys’ father, John Skelton, killed them, stating that there was insufficient “clear and convincing evidence” after reviewing law enforcement testimonies presented on Monday.

“The evidence brought forth during this trial invites a multitude of speculations and hypotheses,” Sala stated. “Yet, declaring such a conclusion would merely align the court with those indulging in speculation and theory, considering the absence of solid information.”

The boys are officially presumed dead as of November 26, 2015, which is five years post-disappearance, a significant benchmark according to Michigan law, the judge noted.

John Skelton, 53, has not faced charges for the murders of his sons. He is expected to complete a 15-year prison sentence for failing to return the boys to Zuvers, which is the only conviction he has received to date.

Zuvers shared her testimony on Monday, stating that a formal death declaration would bring her closure and honor the memory of her sons, who were aged 9, 7, and 5 in 2010 when they went missing while in their father’s care during Thanksgiving in Morenci, near the Ohio border.

At the time, Skelton and Zuvers were experiencing difficulties in their relationship and were living separately in Morenci. The boys were expected to return to their mother the following day, but instead, they vanished.

Despite extensive searches conducted in the woods and waters of Michigan and Ohio, the boys have never been located, and numerous tips from across the nation have led nowhere.

Authorities reported that Skelton fed investigators a continuous series of lies regarding the boys’ locations, directing them to an abandoned schoolhouse in Kunkle, Ohio, and a dumpster in Holiday City, Ohio. His claims of handing the boys off to others for their safety were also proven to be false.

Det. Lt. Jeremy Brewer of the Michigan State Police, who took on the case three years later in 2013, testified with “no doubt whatsoever” that Skelton was responsible for the deaths of his sons.

Skelton chose not to take part in the hearing to declare his sons dead.

“Anything I say isn’t going to make a difference,” he stated via video link from prison on Monday.

By Ed White