JOHN SKELTON WROTE WIFE A NOTE AFTER BOYS WENT MISSING: 'I PRAY YOU WILL FORGIVE ME'. (PHOTO).

 John Skelton wrote wife a note after boys went missing: 'I pray you will forgive me'

Tanya Zuvers, the mother of three boys who vanished on Thanksgiving Day in 2010, testified in Lenawee County Circuit Court that her ex‑husband John Skelton told her he had left the children with a friend before attempting suicide. 

Skelton, now 54, is facing three counts of murder and three counts of evidence tampering, charges brought more than 15 years after the boys Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner were last seen at his home in Morenci, Michigan. 

Though their bodies have never been found, prosecutors believe Skelton killed them. He previously served a 10‑ to 15‑year sentence for unlawful imprisonment connected to their disappearance and is currently held on a $60 million bond.

Zuvers recounted the troubled months leading up to the boys’ disappearance, including Skelton’s attempt to take them to Florida without her knowledge and his efforts to undermine her credibility by telling the children she had a criminal past. 

She filed for divorce to prevent him from removing the boys from Michigan, and custody was awarded to her, though Skelton retained visitation rights. On Thanksgiving, Skelton pressed her about reconciling, but she told him there was no chance. 

The next day, he claimed the boys were staying with a friend, later sending her a message from an account that appeared to be impersonating that friend. Hours later, she learned Skelton had tried to hang himself.

When police entered the home, they found it in disarray, with smashed furniture, cut appliance cords, and passages in Zuvers’ Bible marked with her name in Skelton’s handwriting. 

A rope tied to the banister suggested his suicide attempt, and investigators discovered a letter in which Skelton professed love for Zuvers but said his actions were meant to “kill my pain of losing you.” 

Despite Skelton’s insistence that he handed the boys over to a secret group he called the “Underground Sanctuary,” authorities have found no evidence such an organization exists. 

The boys were declared legally dead last year, and Skelton now faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted.