长达一年多的搜寻失踪的加州幼童周三发生了令人不安的转折，一名检察官说，这两个男孩在被报告失踪前几个月就被杀害了，他们的养父母已被指控谋杀。
根据在线监狱记录，35岁的特雷泽尔·韦斯特和32岁的杰奎琳·韦斯特被关押在克恩县监狱，不得保释。
克恩县地方检察官辛西娅·齐默说，韦斯特的收养孩子，4岁的奥尔森和3岁的弟弟欧灵，在2020年12月被报告失踪前三个月被杀。
“今天早上，我很难过地宣布，调查显示欧灵和奥尔森·韦斯特已经死亡，”齐默在周三的新闻发布会上说。
齐默说，去年底召集的科恩县大陪审团听取了50多名证人的证词，本周驳回了对特雷泽尔和杰奎琳·韦斯特的五项指控，法官签发了逮捕令。
地区检察官表示，这对夫妇于周二晚上7点左右在克恩县的一个未合并地区被捕，罪名是两项二级谋杀罪、两项虐待儿童重罪和一项谎报紧急情况的轻罪指控。
齐默说，韦斯特夫妇定于周四被传讯，如果他们请不起律师，将被指定为律师。如果罪名成立，特雷泽尔和杰奎琳·韦斯特将面临30年至终身监禁的判决。
齐默说，两个男孩的尸体还没有找到。
“然而，我想强调的是，执法部门没有找到他们的尸体这一事实并不排除谋杀起诉，”齐默说。“事实上，在美国已经有数百起我们称之为‘无体杀人’的案件被成功起诉，甚至在克恩县，无体杀人也导致了谋杀定罪。”
脸书克恩县地方检察官办公室
克恩县地方检察官辛西娅·齐默与执法人员一起召开新闻发布会..
齐默拒绝透露检察官针对养父母的证据细节。
“法庭上的事实将表明，我们能够向大陪审团证明男孩们已经死亡，他们是被谋杀的，”齐默说。“我们通过综合直接和间接证据做到了这一点，大陪审团确信他们已经死亡。”
贝克斯菲尔德警察局长格雷格·特里和加州市警察局长乔恩·沃克称赞调查人员在失踪人员案件中不知疲倦地工作，以“找到真相”
“这不是我们和许多人去年所希望和祈祷的结果，”特里说。“我们向欧灵和奥森的家人表示慰问和祈祷，今天的消息让他们最担心的事情变成了现实。”
特里补充说，“我们现在意识到，真正的悲剧发生后，才开始寻找男孩。”
他说对男孩尸体的搜寻仍在继续。
特里说:“在这个案件中，这不是一个决议，在这些男孩被带回家之前，这个案件中也不会有一个完全的决议。”。
特雷泽尔和杰奎琳·韦斯特在2020年12月21日报告了男孩们的失踪，并公开否认与他们的失踪有关。
这对夫妇报告说，这两个男孩从他们位于贝克斯菲尔德附近的加州市的家后院失踪，引发了警方、联邦调查局和志愿者的大规模搜索。提供男孩下落信息的奖励基金膨胀到超过12万美元。
在接受美国广播公司贝克斯菲尔德分公司采访时煤油就在男孩们失踪两天后，特雷泽尔·韦斯特声称他最后一次看到他们在后院玩耍。
“我意识到我忘了关后门，我慌了，就进屋了。(我们)搜查了房子，我和我的妻子，”特雷泽尔·韦斯特当时说。“一旦没有成功，我就上了货车。我朝街道的两个方向看了看;天越来越黑，越来越冷。”
警方调查人员此前表示，韦斯特一家不是嫌疑人。
自从开始寻找男孩，警方说，他们怀疑谋杀与他们的失踪有关。
韦斯特夫妇最初是奥森和欧灵的养父母，他们于2018年搬来和他们一起生活。这对夫妇于2019年正式完成收养手续。
调查人员告诉ABC新闻，除了奥森和欧灵，这对夫妇还有四个孩子，其中两个是领养的，两个是亲生的。警方说，韦斯特的另外四个孩子已经被保护性拘留。
在一个美国广播公司新闻采访2021年2月，特雷泽尔·韦斯特的母亲旺达·韦斯特为他和杰奎琳·韦斯特辩护说，“在我看来，他们是真正的好父母。”
Adoptive parents of 2 missing California boys arrested on murder charges
The more than yearlong search for twomissing California toddlerstook a disturbing twist Wednesday when a prosecutor said the boys were killed months before they were reported missing and that their adoptive parents have been indicted on murder charges.
Trezell West, 35, and Jacqueline West, 32, are being held without bail at the Kern County Jail, according to online jail records.
Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer said the Wests' adopted children, 4-year-old Olson and his 3-year-old brother Orrin, were slain three months before they were reported missing in December 2020.
"This morning, I'm saddened to announce that the investigation has revealed that Orrin and Olson West are deceased," Zimmer said at a news conference Wednesday.
Zimmer said a Kern County grand jury, which convened late last year and heard from more than 50 witnesses, returned a five-count indictment this week against Trezell and Jacqueline West and that an arrest warrant was issued by a judge.
The district attorney said the couple was arrested around 7 p.m. Tuesday in an unincorporated area of Kern County on two counts of second-degree murder, two felony counts of child abuse and a misdemeanor charge of making a false report of an emergency.
The Wests are scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday and will be appointed attorneys if they cannot afford to hire lawyers, Zimmer said. If convicted, Trezell and Jacqueline West face a sentence of 30 years to life in prison.
Zimmer said the bodies of the two boys have not been found.
"However, I would like to emphasize that the fact that law enforcement has not found their bodies does not preclude a murder prosecution," Zimmer said. "As a matter of fact, there have been hundreds of what we call 'no-body homicides' prosecuted across the United States successfully and even no-body homicides have resulted in murder convictions in Kern County."
Zimmer declined to release details on the evidence prosecutors have against the adoptive parents.
"The facts in court will show that we were able to prove to the grand jury that the boys have died, that they were murdered," Zimmer said. "And we did that through a combination of direct and circumstantial evidence and the grand jury was convinced that they were dead."
Bakersfield Police Chief Greg Terry and California City Police Chief Jon Walker praised investigators for working tirelessly on the missing persons case to "find the truth."
"This is not the outcome that we and so many had hoped and prayed for over the last year," Terry said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of Orrin and Orson who with this news today their worst fears have been realized."
Terry added, "We now realize that the search for the boys began after the real tragedy had already occurred."
He said the search for the boys' bodies is continuing.
"This is not a resolution in this case and there will not be a resolution completely in this case until these boys are brought home," Terry said.
Trezell and Jacqueline West reported the boys missing on Dec. 21, 2020, and have publicly denied being involved in their disappearance.
The couple reported that the boys vanished from the backyard of their home in California City near Bakersfield, setting off a massive search involving police, the FBI and volunteers. A reward fund ballooned to more than $120,000 for information on the boys' whereabouts.
In an interview with ABC Bakersfield affiliateKEROjust two days after the boys vanished, Trezell West claimed he last saw them playing in their backyard.
"I realized that I left the back gate open and I panicked and came inside the house. [We] searched the house, me and my wife," Trezell West said at the time. "Once that didn't pan out, I got in the van. I looked down the street in both directions; it was getting dark, getting cold."
Police investigators previously said the Wests were not suspects.
Since the outset of the search for the boys, police have said they suspect foul play was involved in their disappearance.
The Wests were initially foster parents to Orson and Orrin, who came to live with them in 2018. The couple officially completed the adoption process in 2019.
In addition to Orson and Orrin, the couple has four other children, including two who are adopted and two who are biological, investigators told ABC News. The Wests' four other children had been moved into protective custody, police said.
In aninterview with ABC Newsin February 2021, Trezell West's mother, Wanda West, defended him and Jacqueline West as "really good parents as far as I'm concerned."
