Nearly 15 years after three young Michigan brothers disappeared, their father is now facing charges for their murders. John Skelton was just weeks away from completing his prison sentence for offenses tied to the disappearance of his sons—Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner, who were 9, 7, and 5 when they vanished in 2010—when prosecutors filed new charges, according to Fox2 Detroit. Court documents in Lenawee County show that the 53-year-old has been charged with three counts of murder as well as tampering with evidence.
These charges follow a recent ruling in which a judge, at the request of the boys’ mother, Tanya Zuvers, legally declared the children deceased, per Court TV. The boys were last seen spending Thanksgiving with Skelton in Morenci, Michigan. When Zuvers went to pick them up the next day, both Skelton and the children were missing. He was later located in a hospital with an ankle injury he claimed resulted from a suicide attempt. Police found his home in disarray but uncovered no sign of the children.
Throughout the investigation, Skelton repeatedly altered his story—claiming at various times that he had entrusted the boys to friends, an unknown woman, or even a shadowy underground group supposedly meant to protect them. Phone records later placed him in Ohio the day after the children were last seen, yet extensive searches yielded nothing.
Though he had long been suspected in the case, Skelton had never been charged with murder until now. He has been incarcerated since 2010 after pleading no contest to unlawful imprisonment, according to the Village Reporter, and had been scheduled for release on Nov. 29. Zuvers has previously noted that Skelton once claimed the boys would “hibernate” until they reached high school graduation—an age all three would have surpassed by now.