Age-progression images show what the three Skelton brothers could look like now - ten years after their father told their mother he'd 'given them away to an underground group' on Thanksgiving
Ten years after three young brothers vanished without a trace in Michigan after spending the Thanksgiving holiday with their father, newly complied age-progression photos show what the boys could look like now.
Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton were 9, 7, and 5 years old, respectively, when they went to their father John Skelton's home in Morenci, about 70 miles southwest of Detroit near the Ohio state line, on November 26, 2010.
The new photos - created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children - show what the boys would look like at ages 19, 17, and 15.
New age-progression photos show what missing Michigan brothers Andrew Skelton, 19 (left), Alexander Skelton, 17 (center), and Tanner Skelton, 15 (right), could look like now
The Skelton brothers were 9, 7 and 5, respectively, when they vanished while in the care of their father on Thanksgiving Day in 2010
John Skelton, the boys' father (pictured in court in March 2011), is currently serving a 10-15-year prison sentence for unlawful imprisonment
'The age progressions are always the hardest for me,' Tennille McCain, the boys’ aunt, told the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. 'In my mind, I still see them as 5, 7 and 9. Their faces are etched in my mind. I just wish answers could be given.'
The children's father is currently serving a 10-15-year prison sentence for unlawful imprisonment in connection to their disappearance.
Skelton has maintained that he never hurt his sons but handed them over to an underground group to protect them from their mother amid a bitter custody dispute. Authorities have not been able to verify that the group Skelton mentioned exists.
The man was denied parole in September of this year, but he will be eligible for parole again in 2022, raising concerns from his ex-wife, Tanya Zuvers.
'I always have maintained that he’s not going to get his parole,' Zuvers told ClickOnDetroit. 'But there’s always that little nag that says, "but what if?"’
Zuvers had sole custody of her and Skelton's three sons at the time of their divorce in 2010, but agreed to let them visit their father on Thanksgiving that year if he returned them the next day.
The Skelton brothers were sent by their mother to spend Thanksgiving with their father, her estranged husband, amid the couple's divorce. They were never seen again
Tanya Zuvers (left) believes her ex-husband harmed their sons while they were with him. John Skelton claimed that he had handed over the boys to an underground group
When Skelton failed to bring the children back to his ex-wife and stopped responding to her phone calls, Zuvers went by his house, but he was not there. He was in the emergency room, being treated for a broken ankle following a suspected suicide attempt by hanging.
Skelton, pictured in his booking photo, pleaded no contest to an unlawful imprisonment charge
When police later gained entry into the man's house, they discovered that everything inside had been broken and smashed up, and there was no sign of his sons.
Police placed Skelton under arrest and launched what became a massive search effort over the next few weeks.
All the while, Skelton was changing his story. He initially claimed that his sons were with friends and would return soon. Then, the father alleged that he had given the boys to a woman, and finally he said he had handed them to some shadowy organization he refused to identify, and that he did not know where the boys were taken.
He claimed that he wanted to protect the boys from their abusive mother, but Zuvers has denied ever mistreating her children.
Cell phone records indicated Skelton left home at around 4.30am the day after Thanksgiving and drove at least as far as Holiday City, Ohio, about 20 miles southwest, before returning home two hours later.
Police said early on they suspected the children were killed by their father
The brothers were the subject of an intense search in Michigan that lasted several weeks but failed to produce any results
A sign in front of a home shows the names of the three missing brothers two days after their disappearance on November 28, 2010, in Morenci, Michigan
Despite the help of hundreds of volunteers, the search produced nothing.
In September 2011, John Skelton was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison after pleading no contest to an unlawful imprisonment charge.
Skelton hasn't been charged with murder, but police said early on they suspected he killed his children.
Skelton said in court that he has cried every day since he last saw his sons. He said he would have done things differently had the system not failed him.
Judge Margaret Noe called Skelton's version of events 'ridiculous' and admonished him for failing to tell her the truth about his children's whereabouts.
'I have asked you to tell me where the children are located,' she told the defendant. 'You have refused, telling one conflicting story after another to explain their circumstances since they were last seen.'
Skelton was denied parole in September of this year, but he will be eligible for parole again in 2022
A decade later, the Michigan State Police and the FBI are still looking for answers.
'Every so often we’ll get a tip that makes a lot of sense to us,' said Detective Jeremy Brewer, with the Michigan State Police. 'We’ll throw everything at it, all our resources, but obviously nothing has panned out.'
The boys' mother, Zuvers, said she will never quit looking for her children.
'I will continue to fight on their behalf for justice,' she said. 'I hope that at the 20-year mark I’m not having to give interviews to mark that date, that we’ll have answers before then. I could not fathom sitting here, 10 years ago, still asking for answers.'
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