Michigan judge declares 3 missing brothers dead but says not enough evidence of murder

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A Michigan judge on Wednesday declared that three brothers who have been missing since 2010 are dead but ruled there was not enough evidence to find that they were murdered.

Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton − who were 9, 7 and 5 years old − have long been presumed dead, though their bodies have never been found.

Investigators from the Morenci Police Department, Michigan State Police and FBI all testified on Monday that they believe the boys' father, John Skelton, killed his sons sometime in the early morning of Nov. 26, 2010, about 12 hours before he was supposed to return them to their mother.

Skelton, who is in prison but has not been charged with murder, has long denied allegations that he killed the boys and has suggested they could still be alive in some underground organization.

Here's what to know about the case, including why the judge decided to declare the date of the boys' death as five years after they went missing.

Judge sets boys' death date 5 years after disappearance

During Monday's hearing, the boys' mother asked Lenawee County Probate Judge Catherine Sala to declare Nov. 26, 2010, as the date of their deaths so it can be added to their grave markers.

"Their dad showed them no respect," their mother, Morenci resident Tanya Zuvers, said at Monday's hearing. "Any loving father would not have done what he did. And I owe them the respect that − we may not have their bodies, but their lives still meant something and there is a place to go."

But Sala said that the evidence presented was not enough to find that Skelton murdered the boys. Because of that, Sala set their date of death as Nov. 26, 2015. She said she based the date on Michigan law that allows for a person to be legally declared dead if they have not been heard from for five years and their absence is not explained after a diligent search or inquiry.

"No condolences will ever be enough for such losses suffered," Sala said. "The presentation of evidence, however, does not present clear and convincing evidence that John Skelton murdered his children. The information provided at this trial provides ample opportunity for speculation and theories. But to make such a finding the court would only be joining those voices offering such speculation and theory, given the lack of information."

Brothers last seen in Skelton's backyard in 2010

The three brothers were last seen in their father’s backyard in Morenci, Michigan, on Nov. 25, 2010, according to reporting by The Daily Telegram, part of the Paste BN Network. The next morning, Zuvers reported them missing after Skelton failed to return them to her. An Amber Alert was issued soon after.

Skelton attempted to kill himself and later told police he gave the boys to a woman named Joann Taylor so she could return them to Zuvers. A search for the boys ensued across Michigan and Ohio that week, and two days later Morenci Police Chief Larry Weeks said he wasn't sure Joann Taylor existed.

On Nov. 30, 2010, Weeks said he wasn't expecting a positive resolution in the search. That day Skelton, who had previously been in the custody of a mental health facility, was arrested on three counts of parental kidnapping.

Skelton was found guilty of three counts of unlawful imprisonment in July 2011. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in September 2011.

FBI Special Agent Corey Burras said during Monday's hearing that investigators reviewing Skelton's laptop found he had recently created an email address with the name of Joann Taylor and an account on a website where moms could share experiences and exchange ideas. Zuvers also had an account on the website.

Pretending to be Taylor, Skelton would message Zuvers on the site, according to Burras. Skelton also had done online searches in the days leading up to the boys' disappearance about rat poison and how to break a neck, spine, spinal cord, brain and brain stem, Burras said.

Investigators were able to track Skelton's cellphone from his home in Morenci down into Williams County, Ohio, and then back to Morenci between about 4 and 6:45 a.m. on Nov. 26, 2010, Burras said. He said that is likely when the bodies were dumped.

Skelton to be released from prison in November

Skelton's 15-year sentence is slated to end this year, with his release set for November. The 15 years is the maximum allowed under state law for that offense.

Skelton did not attend Wednesday's hearing but appeared briefly by video on Monday from the prison where he's housed . Judge Sala gave him the option of staying to watch the proceedings or leave. He opted to leave.

"Everyone else got lawyers. I don't," he said.

Paste BN has reached out to Skelton, who is incarcerated at Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia, for comment.

Zuvers couldn't move to Florida due to sex offender status

Zuvers told the court she thought that she and Skelton had a good marriage until September 2010, when Skelton took the boys to Jacksonville, Florida, for about a week.

She said they had recently talked about moving to Jacksonville, where Skelton has family. However, she told him they couldn't uproot themselves because the boys had just started school and she did not know how a move to another state would affect her status then as a registered sex offender. That case from 1998 is no longer on the Michigan Sex Offender Registry.

Zuvers and Skelton were estranged following the discourse about where to live and the two have since divorced.

Zuvers described getting a court order for parenting time in Lenawee County, then driving with her mother to Florida, finding an attorney there and meeting with a judge. That judge conferred with a former Lenawee County judge and they agreed that they all should return to Michigan, where a parenting time order would take effect.

After they returned to Morenci, Zuvers said, she and Skelton started working out a parenting time schedule through their attorneys, including him having the boys on Thanksgiving and returning them to her by 3 p.m. the next day.

If the boys were alive today, Andrew would be 23, Alexander 21 and Tanner 19.

This story has been edited to correct first reference to Andrew, change the headline to "declare," and delete an extraneous word in the subheadline.

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