A Michigan man charged last week with killing his three sons in 2010 will remain jailed on a $60 million bond, a judge ordered Monday.
John Skelton, 53, appeared in a Lenawee County court for his arraignment on three counts of murder. Skelton is believed to have killed Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, 5, sometime between November 25 and 26, 2010 — though the three boys have never been found, according to the Detroit News.
John Skelton was charged on Wednesday, weeks before his release from prison. He has been jailed for 15 years for unlawfully imprisoning his three sons.
The boys’ mother, Tanya Zuvers, had sole custody as she and John Skelton were in the middle of a divorce. They had spent the holiday with their father, and their mother planned to pick them up the next day.
John Skelton told investigators multiple stories about the boys’ disappearance, including claiming he gave them to an organization to protect them from their mother, who he called abusive, claims that she denied.
FBI Special Agent Corey Burras said John Skelton searched online about how to break a neck, potassium cyanide, and rat poison. The searches were allegedly conducted the same month his sons disappeared.
The FBI agent also alleged that John Skelton addressed Zuvers in a suicide note, stating, “You will hate me.” Burras said he believed the note implied that he killed their sons.
John Skelton appeared virtually at March’s hearing to declare his sons legally dead. He did not provide any information about their whereabouts.
“I’m at a disadvantage. Anything I say isn’t going to make a difference,” he said.
In March, a judge granted Zuvers a petition to have her three sons declared legally dead. However, the judge ruled there was insufficient evidence proving they were murdered on or about November 26, 2010, or that their father killed them.
A probable cause affidavit from early November stated that state police interviewed John Skelton, but he became uncooperative and refused to disclose this sons’ whereabouts. The document stated that he has been “inconsistent and misleading” for the past 15 years, according to the Detroit News.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for December 1.
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[Featured image: Handout]
