Gerrard Kaonga
Michigan mother Tanya Zuvers has asked a judge to declare her three missing children legally dead as she testified at a hearing in Lenawee County on Monday (March 3).
Andrew, nine, Alexander, seven, and Tanner, five, disappeared while they were with their father, John Skelton, over Thanksgiving back in 2010.
Despite extensive searches at the time, they have tragically never been found.
Now, Zuvers - who had full custody of the kids at the time but had allowed them to visit their dad for the holidays - has said she believes her children are dead and is searching for closure after such a long period.
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She first filed to officially name her sons as dead in 2023.
The children’s father has not been officially charged with killing his sons and has repeatedly denied he killed them, previously going as far to suggest they could be alive somewhere.
He is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence for his failure to return the boys to Zuvers, which is due to come to an end later this year and marks the only conviction in the case.
Former police chief in Morenci, a town near the Ohio border, and the initial lead of the investigation Larry Weeks said he is 'confident' the children are dead.
Zuvers has now pleaded with a judge to declare her sons dead as she says they deserve the respect they didn’t get at the end of their lives, and she can finally put date markers on a headstone.
Speaking at the hearing, she said: “We may not have their bodies, but their life still meant something.
“Any loving father would not have killed them. I owe them the respect.
“If my sons are out there in the world with someone they don’t know. One of them ... would just tell the person next to them, ‘This isn’t mom or dad. I know that if you call this number, my mom will answer it'.”
At the time of the disappearance, Skelton and Zuvers were having relationship issues and living apart in Morenci.
Their relationship had been fine up until September 2010, according to Zuvers, when the pair began talking about upping sticks to Jacksonville.
However, Zuvers told Skelton the move ultimately wouldn't be feasible due to the boys having just started school and the fact that she was unsure whether leaving for another state would affect her status as a then-registered sex offender.
In 1998, Zuvers pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct for having sex with a 14-year-old boy.
The case is no longer on the Michigan Sex Offender Registry and she has always denied abusing her own sons.
The children were with Skelton for Thanksgiving but were meant to be returned to their mother the next day but instead they vanished.
FBI agent Corey Burras also testified that investigators searching Skelton’s home and found a mess, broken glass, severed appliance cords and a noose hanging from the second floor. A Bible was also found open with a verse circled.
Burras also said that a note was allegedly left for Zuvers that read ‘you will hate me forever and I know this.’
“That was his passive admission to killing the children," he said.
Skelton also appeared during the hearing via video from prison and simply said to the judge ‘anything I say isn’t going to make a difference.’
Skelton has never been charged with his sons' deaths and the case remains unsolved. Judge Catherine Sala will determine this week whether to declare the siblings legally dead.