Mom asks the judge to declare 3 missing bes dead for almost 15 years later

Adrian, Mich. (AP) -A woman from Michigan asks a judge to declare her three missing sons, almost 15 years after their father did not return after Thanksgiving. The disappearance has tormented a small town near Ohio and stays unsolved.

Authorities believe that brothers are dead and clearly suspect that John Skelton is responsible, although he has not been accused of killing his sons. Until November, it is expected to complete a 15 -year prison sentence for his failure to give the boys back to Tanya Zuvers, the only conviction in Saga.

File - This plate honors the Skelton brothers disappeared from the Municipal Park on the banks ... — File – This plate honors the Skelton brothers disappeared from the Municipal Park on the Bean Creek shores in Morenci, Mich., On January 27, 2017 (Dale G. Young/Detroit by AP)(Dale G. Young | AP)

A judge of Lenawee County will start to hear testimony to an unusual hearing on Monday. The list of witnesses includes zuvuri, as well as police investigators who will publicly discuss the efforts for years to find any trace of Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton.

Starting with November 2010, Zuvers prayed someone to “heal their broken heart” with news about where John Skelton would explain what happened, lawyer R. Burke Castleberry said in a court file.

“In full heart, nothing in this happened,” he wrote.

Nathan Pwoowarski, a lawyer from Cadillac, Michigan, specialized in evidence and real estate, said there may be many reasons for someone to be declared dead, including “personal closing for the family”.

Also, a declaration of trial could “give someone to authority to pursue a request for wrong death or another civil request,” said Pwowarski, who is not involved.

Castleberry refused to comment before hearing. Skelton, 53, did not respond to an E -mail sent to prison on the petition submitted by Zuvers.

The brothers, between the ages of 9, 7 and 5 years, lived in Morenci, a small community near the Ohio border, 100 miles (161 kilometers) south -west de Detroit. Zuvers sought a divorce of Skelton in the autumn of 2010, and the boys were with him, a few doors away, on Thanksgiving.

He had to return to Zuvers the next morning. Instead, they disappeared. Later, the police established that Skelton’s phone was in Ohio at 4:30 am before being stopped and then started at 6 in the morning in Morenci.

Skelton denied his sons and said they were with an underground group for their safety, among other dark explanations, according to investigators.

People spent weeks in search of forests and waters in Michigan and Ohio. While in prison, Skelton told the authorities that a man who helps people leave Amish communities might know about boys, but Castleberry said it is “another lie.”

The investigators at the court hearing “will detail the failed threads, of the nonsense, John Skelton, have led the authorities on a wild chase after another,” said Castleberry.

The years have passed, but the people in Morenci did not forget the Skelton brothers. A plate with their names and images is attached by a rock in a park near Bean Creek. He says: “Faith, hope, love.”