John SkeltonADRIAN, Mich. — A Michigan man who authorities believe killed his three young sons while they were staying with him last Thanksgiving was sentenced Thursday to 10-15 years behind bars for unlawful imprisonment — a punishment police say gives them time to pursue murder charges.
John Skelton, who maintains he gave his sons to some unidentified group because he wanted to protect them from his now ex-wife, who had sole custody, told Lenawee Circuit Court Judge Margaret Noe that he has cried every day since he last saw them. He said he would have done things differently had the system not failed him.
If he was hoping for sympathy, he didn't get it from Noe, who called the state's recommended sentence of 4 to 12 years "grossly inadequate" and opted for a stricter penalty. She called Skelton's version of events "ridiculous," and admonished him for putting the boys' mother and the community through the agony of not knowing what befell them.
"For months I have asked you to return Andrew, Alexander and Tanner. You have refused to answer me truthfully," she said. "I have asked you to tell me where the children are located. You have refused, telling one conflicting story after another to explain their circumstances since they were last seen.
"Your explanations have been ridiculous, albeit more sad than anything else," Noe said.
Skelton was led out of the courtroom in shackles and was not made available to comment. His lawyer, John Glaser, objected to the severity of the sentence, telling Noe there was no cause for exceeding the guidelines because there was "nothing here to conclude a person was injured or killed."
"My client is not here on a murder charge," he said.
Skelton pleaded no contest to the unlawful imprisonment charge in July in exchange for prosecutors dropping a parental kidnapping charge. A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing purposes, and Skelton later said he made the deal because he hopes to one day spend time with his sons after he's freed.
Skelton hasn't been charged with murder, but police said early on they suspected he killed his children. After Thursday's hearing, Larry Weeks, the police chief in Skelton's hometown of Morenci, said after the hearing that he's pursuing murder charges.
"We want resolution now ... but it's a marathon, not a sprint. ... I believe that John Skelton murdered those boys," Weeks said.
Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton were 9, 7, and 5 years old, respectively, when they went to spend Thanksgiving at their father's home in Morenci, about 70 miles southwest of Detroit near the Ohio state line. The boys' mother, Tanya Zuvers, had exclusive custody of them, but agreed to let them visit their father if he returned them the next day.
When Skelton didn't return them, Zuvers notified police, who arrested Skelton and launched what became a massive search effort over the next few weeks. Cell phone records indicated Skelton left home the day after Thanksgiving and drove at least as far as Holiday City, Ohio, about 20 miles southwest, before returning home. Despite the help of hundreds of volunteers, the search produced nothing.
Skelton has maintained that he gave the boys to an organization he refuses to identify, and that he doesn't know where the boys were taken. He had been embroiled in a bitter custody dispute with their mother, and he told investigators he was trying to protect the boys from her.
Zuvers pleaded guilty to fourth-degree misdemeanor criminal sexual conduct in 1998 after being accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy she and her then-husband employed. She has denied ever mistreating her sons.
In a prepared statement she read in court Thursday, Zuvers accused her ex-husband of lying and said her sons' disappearance has been her "worst nightmare come true."
Zuvers said the start of the school year has been particularly painful for her. The boys loved playing soccer, but Andrew was going to switch to football this year.
"I see his friends going to practice and know that he should be here to enjoy this new experience."