More than 15 years after three young brothers vanished from Morenci, their father is back in a Lenawee County courtroom in Michigan – this time accused of killing them.
John Skelton’s preliminary examination began Monday and continued Tuesday as prosecutors laid out their case that he murdered his sons Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, 5, around Thanksgiving 2010. The hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence for Skelton to stand trial.
The boys disappeared while in their father’s care and have never been found. Skelton gave investigators shifting explanations about where they went, eventually claiming he turned them over to an underground organization that would keep them safe.
Skelton pleaded no contest to unlawful imprisonment and received a 10- to 15-year prison sentence. He was approaching the end of that sentence in November 2025 when prosecutors charged him with three counts of open murder and three counts of tampering with evidence.
In March 2025, a Lenawee County judge declared Andrew, Alexander and Tanner legally dead at the request of their mother, Tanya Zuvers.
Zuvers testified Monday about the turbulent months before the boys disappeared. Pastor Donna Galloway also recalled Skelton telling her the boys were “home,” which she interpreted to mean they were dead.
Tuesday brought more troubling testimony. Former coworker Frank Kramac testified that Skelton once remarked that a body could be buried in the swamp and quicksand at the Lost Nation State Game Area and never be found.
Longtime friend Mark Pilbeam testified that Skelton had talked about hogs being able to dispose of a body without leaving evidence. More significantly, Pilbeam recalled Skelton saying that if he couldn’t have his children, Zuvers wasn’t going to have them either.
Prosecutors also played a 2011 police interview in which Skelton described giving the boys to the supposed underground organization. Investigators challenged that account, noting no one had seen the group’s alleged visits and that a woman supposedly connected to the organization may actually have been an online identity created by Skelton.
For the Skelton boys’ family, the hearing is a step in a search for justice that has lasted nearly 16 years. Andrew, Alexander and Tanner have never been found, but prosecutors are now trying to answer the question that has haunted their family and community since 2010 – what happened to the boys, and will someone finally be held accountable?