ADRIAN, Mich. – The father of the missing Skelton brothers, charged with their murder 15 years after they went missing, appeared in court on Wednesday.
John Skelton was charged with murder in November, roughly two weeks before he was scheduled to be released.
On Wednesday, Dec. 17, Skelton appeared in court for his last probable cause conference. During the conference, the judge scheduled Skelton’s preliminary exam to take place on May 11, 2026, at 11 a.m.
During the preliminary examination, the prosecution must convince the judge that there’s enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial.
Defense will be able to cross-examine those who testify and debate the validity of what’s presented.
The examination will run from May 11-15 and then from May 18-20.
The judge said they initially were planning to have the preliminary examination in March, but it was pushed back to allow the defense ample time to go over the “enormity of evidence.”
If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in jail.
---> Full documentary: The story of the missing Skelton brothers
What we know about the case
The three boys were 9, 7 and 5 years old when they disappeared from Lenawee County in November 2010. The boys were last seen with their father.
To this day, the Skelton brothers have never been found, and their whereabouts remain unknown.
John Skelton had spent time with the boys over the Thanksgiving holiday amid a divorce and custody dispute with their mother, Tanya Zuvers.
He was supposed to return them to their mother on Black Friday, Nov. 26, 2010.
Police said they tracked John Skelton’s phone leaving his Morenci home and traveling about 25 miles southwest into Ohio before returning to Morenci.
When he failed to return the boys and did not provide clear information about their whereabouts, Zuvers called the police.
Federal and state law enforcement agencies have carried out massive searches across Michigan and Ohio.
For more than a decade, there have been more questions than answers in the disappearance of the three Skelton brothers.
John Skelton claimed he gave the boys to an underground group to protect them from their mother, alleging abuse by Zuvers, who denies the claims. Over the years, Skelton’s story has changed, sometimes mentioning the Amish as the group, but no such group has been identified or come forward.
A judge declared the boys dead in March of this year, but stated there wasn’t enough evidence to prove they were murdered at the time.
Police said they believed Skelton was holding back information.
Anyone with information about the case or the boys’ whereabouts is asked to call Michigan State Police at 1-517-636-0689 or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.