Adrian, MI – Lenawee County Probate Court Judge Catherine Sala has determined that the Skelton brothers… Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner…are legally dead. Here is the ruling…
Judge Sala heard hours of testimony Monday from law enforcement, and Tanya Zuvers…the mother of the three boys Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner.
Law enforcement that have worked on, and continue to work on the case, painted a picture of the boys’ father John Skelton as a liar who changed his story several times when talking to police.
The attorney representing Zuvers, Burke Castleberry (pictured, below left), put together a timeline of events from the Fall of 2010. Zuvers and Skelton were separated at that time, and Tanya had filed for divorce.
It was disclosed during testimony that John signed the boys out of school for a trip to Florida, without Tanya’s knowledge. She got a court order granting her sole custody of the boys and went south to get them.
Through testimony by Zuvers and law enforcement, it was said in court that John Skelton had the boys for Thanksgiving and was supposed to return them to Zuvers (pictured, below) the day after.
When the return had not happened yet, the Morenci Police Department was dispatched to Skelton’s home to conduct a welfare check and found the house in what police called ‘disarray’ with John and the boys missing. John was later located at the Fulton County Medical Center with an ankle injury. It was implied by Skelton that the injury was from a failed suicide attempt. Police found a noose in the home.
When Skelton was asked about the boys (pictured, below), he told police that a woman named Joann Taylor and her husband Mark…who was a pastor…had them.
Cell phone tracking technology showed that Skelton’s phone hit off of cell towers in northwest Ohio. In fact, John Skelton had told the police multiple spots in Ohio that the boys were located including old school buildings and a dumpster.
He has also told authorities that the boys were given to a secret organization.
The police also testified about Joann Taylor. Authorities never located her, but determined that that name was used online to communicate with Zuvers through a social media site for parents called CafeMom.
Search warrants executed on electronic devices showed police that there were searches on a computer at the Morenci home for rat poison and how to break a neck.
Skelton (pictured, right) was given the opportunity Monday to, but did not, testify.
He has been in prison for unlawful imprisonment of Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner, since 2010. Skelton will have served the maximum sentence towards the end of this year, and will be released from prison. John has not been charged with killing his sons.
Full video recordings of the testimony are available to view on the Lenawee County Probate Court YouTube channel.
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