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Police: Adoptive Parents Of 2 Missing Central California Boys Arrested

BAKERSFIELD (AP) - The adoptive parents of two little California boys who vanished in 2020 have been arrested on murder and other charges, according to police and court records.

Trezell West and Jacqueline West were arrested Tuesday, Bakersfield police Lt. Jason Townsend told KERO-TV and The Bakersfield Californian.

Kern County Superior Court online records show both parents are charged with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of willful cruelty to a child and one count each of false report of an emergency.

Both parents were held without bail and face "arraignment on indictment" on Thursday, according to the records. The records do not indicate whether they have attorneys to speak on their behalf.

Orrin West, 4, and his brother Orson, 3, were reported missing from the family home in the desert town of California City in December 2020.

The investigation involved searches in California City and Bakersfield, about 60 miles to the west, where the boys lived before moving in September 2020.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press.

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