How Missing Skelton Brothers of Michigan Might Look Today

New age progression photos of three missing southeast Michigan boys have been released by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and investigators have asked hunters and others in the woods of lower Michigan and northern Ohio to be on the lookout for anything suspicious. Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton, of the Lenawee County town of Morenci, have been missing since the day after Thanksgiving 2010.

John Skelton, the boys’ father, pleaded no contest to three counts of unlawful imprisonment in September 2011 and is serving a 10-15 year prison term. He told investigators at the time that he gave the boys away to a yet-unidentified individual he met online to protect them from his now ex-wife, who had pleaded guilty to a criminal sexual conduct charge years earlier after she was accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy she and her husband employed.

The Michigan State Police said the case has been “vigorously investigated” since the boys disappeared six years ago and that finding the brothers remains a priority. Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton were 9, 7 and 5 years old, respectively, when they went to spend Thanksgiving at their father's home in Morenci, which is located about 70 miles southwest of Detroit. They would now be 15, 13 and 11 years old.

“The Skelton case continues to be a high priority investigation for us,” Detective Sgt. Jeremy Brewer, of the MSP First District Special Investigation Section, said in a statement. “We have followed up on each and every tip and are committed to investigate all leads. Our hope is to find Andrew, Alexander and Tanner.”

John Skelton and the boys’ mother, Tanya Zuvers, were separated and going through a divorce when the boys disappeared, according to a post on the Missing Skelton Brothers Facebook page. The boys’ father was a truck driver at the time of their disappearance.

When authorities accepted John Skelton’s no-contest plea in 2011, they said it would keep him behind bars while they build a murder case against him. He had been charged with parental kidnapping.

Lenawee Circuit Court Judge Margaret Noe said Skelton’s version of the events was “ridiculous,” Mlive.com reported at the time.

“For months I have asked you to return Andrew, Alexander and Tanner. You have refused to answer me truthfully,” Noe said. “I have asked you to tell me where the children are located. You have refused, telling one conflicting story after another to explain their circumstances since they were last seen.

“Your explanations have been ridiculous, albeit more sad than anything else.”

According to investigators, Skelton’s cell phone records indicated that he drove at least as far as Holiday City, Ohio, after picking up the boys the day after Thanksgiving. When Skelton didn’t return the boys to their mother at the prearranged time, Zuvers notified police, and Skelton was arrested. A massive search over the next several weeks turned up no trace of the boys.

Zuvers, who pleaded guilty in 1998 to the criminal sexual conduct charge involving the teenage boy, has denied mistreating her sons and has said that she believes her ex-husband murdered them.

Authorities have asked people who are spending time in the woods in lower Michigan and northern Ohio to be their extra “eyes and ears” and to notify the MSP immediately if anything suspicious is found. Tips or information should be left online at www.michigan.gov/michtip or by calling (517) 636-0689.

The FBI and the Morenci Police Department, as well as National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, are involved in the search for the three brothers.

Here is more information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Photos via National Center for Missing and Exploited Children