By: Jacob Kessler
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jacob@thevillagereporter.com
John Russell Skelton, the father of three young Morenci boys who vanished in 2010, is now formally charged with murder in their long-standing disappearance.
The charges were filed in Lenawee County just weeks before he was scheduled to complete his prison sentence related to the case.
According to court records, six felony charges were authorized on November 12th including three counts of open murder and three counts of tampering with evidence. Skelton, 53, continues to be held while the new charges advance through the legal process.
The new charges arrive fifteen years after the disappearance of Andrew, age 9, Alexander, age 7, and Tanner, age 5. The boys vanished over Thanksgiving weekend in 2010 while staying with their father at his Morenci home.
Their mother, Tanya Zuvers, was supposed to pick them up the following day but was unable to reach Skelton. When she went to the residence, the boys were gone, and Skelton was already at a hospital nursing an ankle injury he claimed came from a suicide attempt.
Investigators later found the home in disarray but with no sign of the children. Skelton’s explanations are said to have shifted repeatedly in the hours and days that followed.
He told police the boys were with friends, then said he turned them over to an unidentified woman and later claimed he had given them to an underground group he insisted would keep them safe.
Phone records placed him in Morenci early on November 26th before showing his device shutting off for more than two hours while pinging in Ohio roughly twenty miles from his home. Search teams combed multiple areas in Michigan and Ohio, but no traces of the boys were ever found.
Skelton was never charged with homicide until now. Instead, he previously pleaded no contest to unlawful imprisonment and received a 10-15 year sentence. He was nearing his earliest possible release date of November 29th, 2025.
Earlier this year, a Lenawee County judge granted a request by Zuvers to have all three boys legally declared deceased. Michigan law allows such a finding when a person has been missing for five years or more under unexplained circumstances. Zuvers said the decision was made to seek closure while acknowledging the years of uncertainty surrounding the case.
Despite the lack of physical evidence, investigators have stated for years that Skelton has never provided a verifiable account of where the children are or whether they are still alive.
The case now shifts back into active criminal proceedings with the addition of the new felony counts. Court officials have not yet announced when Skelton will make his first appearance on the charges.