ADRIAN, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – More than 15 years after three young Lenawee County brothers disappeared, their father will stand trial for their alleged murders.

Fifty-four-year-old John Skelton faces three counts each of open murder and tampering with evidence in the deaths of his sons. Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton were 9, 7 and 5 when they disappeared while in his custody around Thanksgiving 2010. Their bodies have never been found.

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At the request of the boys’ mother, Tanya Zuvers, a judge officially declared Andrew, Alexander and Tanner dead on March 5, 2025.

Lenawee County District Court Judge Laura Schaedler ruled Thursday that prosecutors presented enough circumstantial evidence to move the case to circuit court, calling the evidence potentially “overwhelming.”

Prosecutors cited Skelton’s conflicting accounts, internet searches about killing people and comments about hiding a body. The defense argued that no physical evidence connects Skelton to the boys’ deaths.

Skelton was nearing the end of a 15-year sentence for unlawfully imprisoning the boys when prosecutors charged him with their murders last November.

A trial date is pending.