Mom holds out hope missing boys are alive
Associated Press
TOLEDO
The mother of three missing Michigan boys believes they will come home alive even though it has been a year since they were last seen with their now-jailed father at his home near the Ohio state line.
Tanya Zuvers always keeps her cellphone within reach, waiting for a call that the boys have been found, and she has birthday cards and Christmas presents ready.
“As their mom I have always felt they’re alive, and that gets stronger,” Zuvers told The Blade newspaper.
Her sons, Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton, have not been seen since they went to spend last Thanksgiving at their father’s home in Morenci, a small town in Michigan that straddles the Ohio state line. They were 9, 7 and 5 years old.
Their father, John Skelton, didn’t return them, setting off a search that involved hundreds of volunteers in northwest Ohio and southern Michigan. Police have said they don’t believe his story that he handed the boys over to a group he hasn’t identified to protect them from their mother.
Skelton pleaded no contest to unlawful imprisonment in July as part of a plea bargain and was sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.
Zuvers said she hasn’t talked with her ex-husband since he said he attempted suicide a year ago.
“There are things I wish I could say to him, but it wouldn’t accomplish anything,” she said.