A Michigan man, once found guilty of unlawfully imprisoning his three young sons, is soon to be released from incarceration, despite the boys’ mysterious disappearance back in 2010.

John Skelton, now 53, was convicted in 2011 after he failed to return his sons — Andrew, aged 9, Alexander, aged 7, and Tanner, aged 5 — to their mother following Thanksgiving in 2010. In a 2018 interview with NBC affiliate WDIV conducted from behind bars, Skelton claimed he handed the boys over to an “underground sanctuary” in Ohio, citing concerns that their mother posed a “danger” to them.

The children have been missing ever since, leading their mother to have them legally declared deceased in March.

Tanya Zuvers, the boys’ mother, sought a court ruling to hold Skelton accountable for their presumed deaths, but her request was denied. To date, Skelton faces no charges related to their disappearance.

According to previous reports by Law&Crime, Skelton had spent Thanksgiving 2010 with his sons, assuring Zuvers they would be returned to her the next day. However, the boys were never returned. Investigations later pinpointed Skelton’s cellphone signal in Ohio the day after Thanksgiving. In his 2018 prison interview with WDIV, Skelton claimed that a van arrived at his residence that night, whisking the boys away to an “underground sanctuary” managed by two women and a man in his 60s.

Authorities never found evidence to support this claim.

Hours after Skelton’s cellphone was tracked to a location 30 miles into Ohio from the Michigan border, the phone was tracked again to his home in Morenci, Michigan. That Friday after Thanksgiving, Skelton called a friend to bring him to the hospital after he injured himself during a failed suicide attempt.

When Zuvers found out Skelton was in the hospital on the day he promised to return the boys to her, he told her several different stories about what happened. Their conversation prompted Zuvers to call the police and report the boys missing.

Skelton’s stories evolved from the boys being with a “friend” to him having “a vision” that the boys were “put in a dumpster” in Ohio. While he was in prison, he sent police on a wild goose chase into the local Amish community, telling them to look into a former reality TV personality and mystery writer who had been excommunicated from the religious sect. Skelton indicated to police that he made that story up.

Skelton was sentenced to 10 to 15 years after being found guilty on three counts of wrongful imprisonment. After being denied parole in 2023, he is now set to be released from prison on Nov. 29.