MI Father Charged With Murder 15 Years After 3 Sons Disappeared

A Michigan father has been charged with murder nearly 15 years after his three boys went missing, according to court documents.

John Skelton faces three counts of open murder and three counts of tampering with evidence in the deaths of 9-year-old Andrew, 7-year-old Alexander and 5-year-old Tanner Skelton. A Michigan judge declared the boys dead earlier this year.

Investigators said the boys went missing after spending the Thanksgiving holiday with their father at his home in Morenci in 2010. Skelton and the boys’ mother, Tonya Zuvers, were separated amid a divorce and custody battle.

Skelton was supposed to return the boys to their mother the next morning, but never did, according to investigators.

Skelton denied harming his sons and said they were with an underground group for their safety, among other murky explanations, according to investigators.

Investigators tracked John Skelton’s movements through his cellphone, which showed him leaving his home in Morenci and crossing the Ohio border to Holiday City before returning. They have searched countless wooded and water areas across Michigan, Ohio and across the nation, but have never found the boys.

Investigators have long believed Skelton killed the boys, but said they didn't have enough to prosecute him for murder. Instead, they accepted a no contest plea to three counts of unlawful imprisonment. He was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.

Skelton was scheduled to be released from Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia on Nov. 29, which was the last possible day for his sentence.