Investigators say there’s no sign that 3 missing Michigan brothers are alive years later

Investigators who had a key role in the search for three missing Michigan brothers testified Monday there’s no sign they’re still alive nearly 15 years later.

Larry Weeks, who was police chief in 2010 in Morenci, a town along the Ohio border, said statements by the boys’ father, John Skelton, about their whereabouts all turned out to be false.

“I’m confident they’re deceased,” Weeks said of the brothers.

Weeks was the first witness at an unusual hearing in Lenawee County in southern Michigan. Tanya Zuvers, the mother of Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton, is asking a judge to have the boys declared legally dead.

Police clearly believe John Skelton is responsible, though he has not been charged with killing his sons. By November, he is expected to complete a 15-year prison sentence for his failure to give the boys back to Zuvers, the only conviction in the saga.

Skelton, 53, appeared in court by video Monday and said he didn’t want to participate.

“Everyone has got lawyers. I don’t,” he told a judge, speaking through a TV screen a few feet above Zuvers. “I’m at a disadvantage. Anything I say isn’t going to make a difference.”

Ahead of the hearing, Zuvers’ attorney, R. Burke Castleberry, declined to comment about the reason for having the boys declared dead. In a court filing, he said their mother has prayed someone “would cure her broken heart” with news about their whereabouts or that Skelton would explain what really happened.

The brothers, ages 9, 7 and 5, lived in Morenci, 100 miles (161 kilometers) southwest of Detroit. Zuvers was seeking a divorce from Skelton in fall 2010 and the boys were with him, a few doors away, on Thanksgiving.

They were supposed to return to Zuvers the next day. Instead, they were gone. Police determined Skelton’s phone was in Ohio after 4 a.m. and back in Michigan after 6 a.m.

While Skelton was in a hospital with an ankle injury that day, investigators entered his home and found a mess, with broken glass, severed appliance cords and a noose hanging from the second floor. A Bible was open with a verse circled.

A note apparently left for Zuvers said, “You will hate me forever and I know this,” FBI agent Corey Burras testified.

“That was his passive admission to killing the children,” Burras said.

At another point, Skelton was confronted by his church pastor about the brothers, the agent said.

“I sent them home,” Burras said, quoting Skelton as referring to heaven.

Investigators found nothing when they searched an old schoolhouse in Kunkle, Ohio, at Skelton’s suggestion and a dumpster in Holiday City, Ohio. Claims that the boys were handed to other people for their safety were also false, Weeks said.

Skelton’s computer showed searches for whether rat poison can kill people and instructions for how to break a neck, the police chief said.

Hundreds of people searched woods and waters in Michigan and Ohio immediately after the brothers’ disappearance.

Years have passed, but residents of Morenci have not forgotten the Skelton boys. A plaque with their names and images is attached to a rock at a park near Bean Creek. It says, “Faith, Hope, Love.”

Nathan Piwowarski, a lawyer in Cadillac, Michigan, who specializes in probate and estate law, told The Associated Press there can be many reasons to have someone declared dead, including “personal closure for the family.”

A court declaration also could “give someone authority to pursue a wrongful death claim or other civil claim,” said Piwowarski, who is not involved in the case.

___

Follow Ed White at https://X.com/edwritez