MORENCI, Mich. — A judge declared three boys dead more than 14 years ago, after they spent Thanksgiving with their father and were never seen again.
WDIV-TV reports. A Lenawee County judge made the decision on March 5, but reportedly said she couldn’t rule that the boys were murdered.
Tanya Zuvers’ case began when she was scheduled to pick up her sons Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, 5, from her estranged husband, John Skelton, on Thanksgiving 2010.
Zuvers told “True Crime News” that she was supposed to pick them up at 3 p.m., but she reached out to see if she could get them earlier.
Skelton allegedly told her he wasn’t at home, but Zuvers became concerned when he noticed his van in the driveway.
Zuvers explained that Skelton kept giving her different excuses until he admitted he was in the hospital and the boys were with a friend he had recently met on the internet. Zuvers summoned the local police and asked them to go to Skelton’s house.
Officers reportedly discovered broken dishes, cut-up mattresses, and the house in disarray. Skelton allegedly claimed to have hidden the boys with an underground organization in order to “protect them from Tanya’s abuse.”
Phone data displayed Skelton drove to Ohio the morning the boys went missing, turning off his phone for two hours before returning to Michigan.
Authorities continued their search for the boys, but to no avail. Skelton was ultimately apprehended and charged with parental kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment. He pleaded no contest and will be released from prison in November.
