Losing a child is a parent's worst fear. Having two vanish from your own property is even more upsetting. Both 3-year-old Orson and 4-year-old Orrin West disappeared from their backyard in California City after a gate was left open, and the entire neighborhood is on the search.
Trezol West, who's their adoptive father, and Jacqueline West, their adoptive mother, have been working with authorities and have remained mostly quiet while searching for the boys. According to People magazine, Trezol has said that Jacqueline was wrapping presents inside during the time the boys went missing.
Trezol did choose to speak to KGET, saying that he left the boys alone for only a minute. "I came in the house," he said. "I saw them there, went into the house, came back out, didn’t see them there."
After Trezol saw they were missing, he and his wife searched the house. When they weren't there, they started patrolling the neighborhood to search for them. "I came home and I told my wife, 'We need to call the cops,'" continued Trezol. "It's getting dark and I need help, we've gotta get going."
The biological mother of the boys, named Ryan Dean, also came forward to try to help. "I just had to be here because my babies are supposedly missing from this house," she said. "So I just need to be here right now." The police have taken evidence from inside the house and even the backyard where they were last spotted.
Trezol and Jacqueline have four other kids at home — two others are adopted, and two are biological. Orrin and Orson were both adopted in April 2019. One stunning accusation comes from Ryan Dean, who has a sinking suspicion that the adoptive parents may have been involved. Ryan herself is working on getting her life back together — although it's unclear why she gave the boys up for adoption.
Trezol understands why she may feel that way. "That's understandable," he said. "I would think the same thing. That's exactly the point, and if we can find our babies … that's all I want, is to find our babies." It seems as if he's doing what he can in the moment.
Since the gate was open, an abduction is possible. But nobody seems to have any hints or clues. Child abduction is more common than you may think. According to Explore Parents, a child goes missing or is abducted in the United States every 40 seconds.
KGET interviewed some of the neighbors, all who can't believe the story happened in their town. "It's one thing when you see these stories on TV and they're happening somewhere else and you repost those pictures and memes and everything," Thomas Brown, a California City resident, told KGET. "But when it happens down the street, it hits different."
Thomas, like many of the other neighbors, is trying to find additional ways to help out. "We just dropped off some gifts," he said. "We're looking for something to do, some way that we can step up and do something with the community. Right now the only thing we can do is give gifts because they weren't able to get gifts on Christmas."
One of the reasons why the boys' adoptive family are suspects is because it's fairly common for children to be abducted by those who already know them. There are three distinct types of kidnapping, per Parents. Being kidnapped by a relative is common for 49% of kidnappings.
As the boys had both their adoptive and biological families, it's likely that the police are investigating plenty of people for more clues. Even though it's been more than a week since they've been missing, police state that there's still an active investigation in order to find them and, hopefully, reunite them with their loved ones.
"There are things in the works, but I don't want to taint or compromise the investigation at this time," Police Chief Jon Walker said, per Bakersfield Now. The police chief also said that plenty of agencies are actively working on the case — even the FBI. "We want to locate them any way we possibly can," he said. "We're accepting any information that you could possibly give us, any tips, we're following up on everything."
The good news is that it seems as if Orrin and Orson's adoptive parents didn't waste any time contacting authorities about the missing boys. And the neighborhood is behind them. "Every day I go out at least twice a day, if an area is anywhere they could fit, I just look," said neighbor Jennifer Wood.
As time goes on, hopefully more is revealed about the relationship the boys' biological mother had with the adoptive parents. It seems as if she's still involved, even though the boys have taken on a different last name. But her intuition is puzzling. Did she know more about the adoptive parents and a possible motive that the public doesn't?
Everyone in the area should keep an eye out for both boys. It's a shame that such a terrible thing happened, especially right before the holidays. But it's even more scary to think about how many days have passed with no leads yet.
As of right now, the four other children in the care of the couple have been removed from the home, something that Chief Walker said is standard in cases like this. "Anytime anything happens in a household where it involves any kids, all the kids are taken out of the household," he said. Hopefully, more information will be revealed soon, and the two will be found safe.
