DETROIT (AP) — A judge declared three Michigan brothers dead Wednesday, more than 14 years after they disappeared at Thanksgiving in a small-town tragedy that remains unsolved despite an explicit belief by investigators that their father is responsible.

Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner Skelton have been declared dead, 14 years after they were last seen. The boys were with their father, John Skelton, on Thanksgiving that year and he never took them home to their mother.

Judge Catherine Sala acknowledged the 'terrible and longstanding' impact of the search for missing Skelton brothers.