Busy wrapping presents, the adoptive mother of Orson and Orrin West told the boys to go outside with their father Monday evening and play. The father opened a gate to gather wood for burning then briefly went back inside.
When he came out, the boys were gone. He drove around the neighborhood and talked to neighbors, but couldn’t find the children.
That’s what the adoptive parents of the boys say happened the night their lives became upended, with the boys still missing two days later, their four other children removed from the home and both local and federal authorities questioning them and searching their home, vehicle and phones.
No arrests have been made, and police said no one has been ruled out in the boys’ disappearance, KTLA sister station KGET reports.
The search for Orson and Orrin West, ages 3 and 4, respectively, began around 8 p.m. Monday after they were reported missing from outside their home in the 10700 block of Aspen Avenue, California City police said. Dozens of volunteers combed through the city and nearby areas to find the boys, without success.
Multiple agencies — including the FBI — are involved.
The boys’ adoptive parents, Trezol and Jaqueline West, have been questioned both by local police and federal agents, and officers searched their home Tuesday, leaving with several bags of evidence. The Wests’ vehicle was towed.
Trezol and Jaqueline West said Wednesday they fostered Orson and Orrin in 2018 and adopted them the following year. They have two other adopted children, and two biological children.
The Wests said they have not been in contact with the boys’ biological parents.