‘Someone knows something’
Kern Black Chamber asks for leads in case of missing California City boys
The Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce hosted a livestream discussion Wednesday morning regarding the effort to locate two California City brothers who allegedly went missing from their home in December under the care of their adoptive family.
Nick Hill III, CEO and president of the Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce, encouraged anyone watching to share the Kern Secret Witness line for those who might be anxious about coming forward for any reason. That number is 661-322-4040.
Three-year-old Orson and 4-year-old Orrin have been missing since Dec. 21, when their adoptive parents, Trezell and Jacqueline West, contacted police saying the boys disappeared from their California City home while playing with sidewalk chalk in the backyard during the late afternoon.
Both the boys’ biological and adoptive families are or have been residents of Bakersfield, and the Bakersfield Police Department recently took over as the lead investigating agency in the case.
The tight-knit community of California City, population 14,000, was galvanized by the news of the boys’ disappearance. The city put up $25,000 in reward money and several local businesses and a church also contributed money to encourage anyone with information to come forward. Community members organized prayer vigils and searches for the boys.
Rewards totaling more than $100,000 have been posted for information on the children’s whereabouts.
“We’re not asking only people in Bakersfield. We’re asking for any clues anywhere,” Hill said. “They can’t just fall off the face of the earth without someone knowing something. Someone knows something.”
The discussion featured the boys’ cousin Rosanna Wills as well Cole Crenshaw. Both discussed their extensive efforts in assisting the boys’ biological family in search efforts.
Wills said early search attempts brought them to all corners of Bakersfield: the Casa Loma Apartments, Hageman and Allen roads and Hart Park.
The current phase of the search is letting as many people know what the boys look like and that they’re missing in the hopes that they may turn up. Private donors have chipped in to purchase digital billboards with the boys’ faces around town, Wills said. They’re also sending out banners to other cities and states.
Hill encouraged Wills to reinstate a GoFundMe account to make sure the effort to send these
banners and other search efforts can go as widely as they need to.
Wills said that she initially took it down because of criticism and backlash that she had received. Both panelists mentioned “backlash” as a reason that the boys’ biological mother was not present at the discussion.
“She’s hurting and people are blaming her for the kids being in the system,” Wills said.
Hill said that the most important thing was to focus on finding out what happened to the children, and the best way to do that was to publicize the case. He encouraged everyone to share details about the boys widely in hopes that someone with a key detail might step forward.
“By us doing this today, if we get one lead, one tip, one clue, that would be good,” Hill said.