3 Boys Vanished After Going to Dad's from Thanksgiving 14 Years Ago — and Judge Just Made Ruling on the Case

A judge in Michigan has declared dead three siblings who disappeared more than a decade ago after going to spend Thanksgiving with their father. 

The Skelton boys — Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, 5 — were legally declared deceased by a Lenawee County judge on Wednesday, March 5, the Associated Press reported. 

But the judge also declined to rule that the boys’ father, John Skelton, had been responsible for their deaths — which investigators have long alleged — citing a lack of “clear and convincing evidence.”

“The information provided in this trial provides ample opportunity for speculation and theories,” Judge Catherine Sala said, per AP. “But to make such a finding, the court would only be joining those voices offering such speculation and theory, given the lack of information.”

The ruling came following a three-day hearing on a 2023 request filed by the boys’ mother, Tanya Zuvers, to declare them dead, FOX 2 Detroit previously reported. 

Zuvers was seeking a divorce from John at the time of the boys’ disappearance, per AP. 

The boys were spending Thanksgiving in November 2010 with their father in Morenci, Mich., but were not returned to their mother the following day.

Authorities later traced John’s phone to Ohio early in the morning after Thanksgiving, AP previously reported.

Investigators searching John’s home found a noose hanging from the second floor, a Bible open with a certain verse circled and a note, seemingly addressed to Zuvers: “You will hate me forever and I know this,” an FBI agent testified in court this week.

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Investigators found Internet search history from John about how to break a neck, Larry Weeks, who was Morenci police chief in 2010, told the judge. 

Weeks also alleged John lied about the children’s whereabouts during the investigation. John was never charged in connection with the boys’ deaths but was sentenced to 15 years for failure to return the boys to their mother, AP and FOX 2 Detroit previously reported.

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