Adoptive parents of two little Black boys have been charged with their murder over a year later since their disappearance. The adoptive parents of  California City, CA initially reported the children missing.

Trezell and Jacqueline West told police in December 2020 that their adoptive son’s, Orrin and Orson West, went missing from the backyard. Now the couple is being charged with two counts of second-degree murder, wilful cruelty to a child, and filing a false report, according to court records People reported.

The couple was interviewed on local media in the days after the reported disappearance to raise awareness. On Dec. 29, 2020, California City Police Chief John Walker told KGET that law enforcement officials  suspected foul play. This caused the Wests’ four other children to be placed in protective custody.

According to Walker, police came to the West household and performed another search after the disappearance of Orrin, 4, and Orson, 3.

“I cant comment on whether I think they’re alive or not,” Walker told KGET at the time. “I do suspect foul play. We haven’t been able to put together how the boys got out of the yard, or where they’ve gone.”

Bakersfield Police, which led the case, and the FBI were apart of the investigation according to the news station.

Charles Pettus, the biological father of the two toddlers, is suing Kern County alleging that officials were negligent to remove Orrin and Orson from their birth parents’ custody and place them with the Wests.

“I don’t want my kids to be deceased. I want them to come back,” Pettus told 17 News in December 2021. “My kids is all I got. After my parents pass it’s just me and my kids.”

An attorney representing Pettus told KGET in December 2021 that police had found human remains during another search of the home in November.

“They recently found human remains it looks like they were found in early-November,” Castillo said. “So the children’s father, Mr. Pettus, went in to allow DNA to be collected to see if there was a potential DNA match.”

The Wests are currently being held without bail.