November 26 marks 14 years since the Skelton brothers—Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner—disappeared from their home in Morenci, Michigan, leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions and a case remaining unsolved.
In December 2023, their mother urged the state to officially declare the boys dead. Tanya Zuvers filed a petition in Lenawee County Probate Court to have her sons—who were 9, 7, and 5 years old when they were last seen—legally declared deceased.
"This decision came after much thought and discussion with my family and friends. It did not come lightly and was definitely a difficult decision to make. No parent wants to lose a child, but to have, to have the courts step in and declare them deceased is just unfathomable," Zuvers wrote in a statement on Facebook.
Zuvers continued, "At the end of the day, one person is responsible for the disappearance of my sons. That person, at one point, claimed the boys would hibernate until they graduate. As of June 14, 2024, all 3 boys are over 18 and all would have graduated high school, yet they have not been returned to me and are still missing."
A year after the petition was filed, the court has scheduled hearings for December 11-13 and December 16, 2024, to review the petitions.
What Happened to the Skelton Brothers?
The Skelton brothers were reported missing from Morenci on the day after Thanksgiving in 2010 while under the care of their father, John Skelton.
Zuvers had sole custody of her sons but permitted her estranged husband to have them for the holiday. She filed for divorce on September 13, 2010.
A month before the brothers disappeared, John filed for custody and accused Zuvers of being a registered sex offender. Zuvers pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct for having sex with a 14-year-old boy in 1998. However, she has repeatedly denied abusing her own sons.
Through interviews, police learned John traveled 25 miles to Holiday City, Ohio, around the time his sons were last seen alive. Cellphone records show the trip occurred between 4:29 a.m. and 6:46 a.m. on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Court documents revealed John searched online for information on how to break a neck a week before his sons vanished.
John, a long-haul truck driver, told police he handed his children over to a woman named Joann Taylor. He claimed he didn't know her but had met her when she experienced car trouble on the side of the road.
He also claimed the children were handed over to an underground sanctuary to protect them from their mother. Officials dismissed his account and charged him with child abandonment.
In September 2011, John pleaded no contest to three counts of unlawful imprisonment. The court sentenced him to 10 to 15 years in prison, and he is set for release in November 2025.
In 2018, John told local news station WDIV that he had given the boys to two women and a man who planned to take them to a farm in Ohio. He has not yet identified the organization involved.
Anyone with information regarding this case or the Skelton brothers' whereabouts should call Michigan State Police at 1-517-636-0689 or NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST.
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