(Newser)
– California city authorities suspect there is foul play in the case of two young boys who reportedly disappeared from their garden four days before Christmas, the Mojave Desert News reports. Orson and Orrin West, ages 3 and 4, were reported missing Dec. 21 by their adoptive parents, Trezell and Jacqueline West. Trezell West tells KGET that the boys were playing on the back porch the last time he saw them. “I walked into the house,” he says. “I saw them there, I went home, I came back, I didn’t see them there.” The parents say they searched for the boys in the neighborhood without success and then called the police. Since then, the FBI and other agencies have reportedly been involved in the investigation. Police have not yet named any suspects in the case.
At a news conference Tuesday, however, police chief Jon Walker said, “I suspect there’s a dirty game.” Desert news, adding: “I can’t comment on this, whether I think they are alive or not. We have not been able to gather how the boys left the yard or where they have gone.” He also told reporters that the neighbors have not seen in Orson or Orrin since the West family moved to the city of California, located about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles, in September.The boys were adopted in 2019, according to their mother. Ryan Dean tells 23ABC that he suspects the adoptive parents are involved in his disappearance. “They’ve done something, I feel like they’ve done something and they know something,” he said. The West has been taken into protective custody. (Read more disappearance stories).