Still Missing CA - Orson & Orrin West (3&4), California City, 21 Dec 2020 #5

[Knox]

So it looks like they suspect those boys never made it to California City and perhaps have been missing for a very long time. So does that mean the grandmother lied as to when they were last seen? Does that mean the other children did as well and were coached as to what to say?

Just as some of us suspected, BPD is lead agency because that's where the crime occurred IMO. Looking forward to learning just how long the boys have actually been missing.

 

[MsBetsy]

Bakersfield Police Dept. takes lead on missing West brother's case.

Bakersfield Police Dept. takes lead on missing West brother's case

I guess this explains why police in were unable to find any physical evidence that a crime was committed in Cal City. They were looking in the wrong place.

I have a feeling it was witness accounts from family and friends that prompted Bakersfield to take the lead in the investigation. Maybe the other children have been helpful with that, too. Imo

 

[katydid23]

I believe it was San Bernardino that took over the McStay case, not Bakersfield.

DOH!!!! You are so right....I must be suffering from quarantine brain...

 

[Knox]

Due to facts now known to investigators, and the circumstances surrounding the disappearance, the City of Bakersfield is a historical nexus to the children.
Bakersfield Police Dept. takes lead on missing West brother's case

What does BBM mean exactly?

 

[Ontario Mom]

Due to facts now known to investigators, and the circumstances surrounding the disappearance, the City of Bakersfield is a historical nexus to the children.
Bakersfield Police Dept. takes lead on missing West brother's case

What does BBM mean exactly?

That they have a historical connection to Bakersfield (known to have lived there before 09.20).
Notice, they didn't make the same claim about Cal City.

 

[Knox]

That they have a historical connection to Bakersfield (known to have lived there before 09.20).
Notice, they didn't make the same claim about Cal City.

I caught that after listening to the full interview between BPD Detective & Bayan Wang. I also caught the clue at the very end of the interview, when Bayan asked if there was a recent development that prompted the change to Lead Agency. IMO, something recently developed, time will tell if that's true ...

 

[fcavanaugh]

After watching Bayan’s interview with the BPD Sargeant, and thinking more about this new development that BPD has taken over the lead in the investigation, and are asking anyone that’s seen/had contact with O & O in the past year to come forward, even including Doctor, Dentist appt’s stuff like that, I mean, all LE has to do is ask the AP the question, when did O & O last see a doctor or dentist? and AP should be able to provide the info and LE will then verify it. If LE believed the AP report that the boys disappeared on 12/21/20, then they would be handling the case as an abduction, holding frequent PC’s, etc., looking for unknown suspects, not looking to verify sightings and contacts with the boys for up to a year ago, and again, the AP should be able to provide all pertinent info about their children to LE so it can be checked out/verified.

With that said, can it be inferred that 2 1/2 months in, LE hasn’t been able to rule out/clear TW & JW, they are no longer cooperating, and with the knowledge that LE typically doesn’t name suspect(s) until an arrest is made, TW & JW are possibly?, currently the main poi/suspects?
Or??

IMHO

 

[Ontario Mom]

I caught that after listening to the full interview between BPD Detective & Bayan Wang. I also caught the clue at the very end of the interview, when Bayan asked if there was a recent development that prompted the change to Lead Agency. IMO, something recently developed, time will tell if that's true ...

I actually had to google it. "historical nexus" is not language I hear everyday so, I wasn't sure what he meant either. It does seem like they've uncovered something rotten in Bakersfield, that's for sure.

jmo

 

[Frodosdojo]

With that said, can it be inferred that 2 1/2 months in, LE hasn’t been able to rule out/clear TW & JW, that they must no longer be cooperating, and are the main poi/suspects?
Or??

IMHO

I thought Chief said they had a lawyer ? I do recall a reporter stating they will not do any more interviews with media, possibly Bayan reported that.

 

[fcavanaugh]

I thought Chief said they had a lawyer ? I do recall a reporter stating they will not do any more interviews with media, possibly Bayan reported that.

In Chief’s recent interview with Perla, she asked him if the AP’s had a lawyer and iirc, the Chief answered, paraphrased-I don’t know if they have a Lawyer/not that I’m aware of, something along those lines.....

IMHO

 

[Frodosdojo]

In Chief’s recent interview with Perla, she asked him if the AP’s had a lawyer and iirc, the Chief answered, paraphrased-I don’t know if they have a Lawyer/not that I’m aware of, something along those lines.....

IMHO

Sorry, I thought he said it.

 

[fcavanaugh]

Sorry, I thought he said it.

No worries at all! There’s been quite a few interviews these past couple months, hard to keep track of everything sometimes.

 

[Frodosdojo]

No worries at all! There’s been quite a few interviews these past couple months, hard to keep track of everything sometimes.

I found a transcript of the interview with Perla and this is what he said (which led me to believe the adoptive parents have a lawyer):

KGET.com exclusive: Interview with the California City police chief on Orrin and Orson West disappearance | KGET 17

Q: Are the members of the birth family cooperating as well?

A: Uhh they- yes. Yes.

Q: And have they retained a lawyer?

A: Not to my knowledge.

Q: And when was the last time you spoke with them or or interviewed them?

A: Personally, the last time I spoke with the biological mother, it was a conference call the day after the boys went missing.

Q: Ok so its been quite a while since you last spoke with a biological mother?

A: I personally, yes. Other people have been in contact with her, but I have not.

Q: Has anyone been instructed not to speak to the media? Like the adoptive parents biological parents…

A: Not by us. Maybe by their attorneys, but not by us.

 

[fcavanaugh]

I found a transcript of the interview with Perla and this is what he said (which led me to believe the adoptive parents have a lawyer):

KGET.com exclusive: Interview with the California City police chief on Orrin and Orson West disappearance | KGET 17

Q: Are the members of the birth family cooperating as well?

A: Uhh they- yes. Yes.

Q: And have they retained a lawyer?

A: Not to my knowledge.

Q: And when was the last time you spoke with them or or interviewed them?

A: Personally, the last time I spoke with the biological mother, it was a conference call the day after the boys went missing.

Q: Ok so its been quite a while since you last spoke with a biological mother?

A: I personally, yes. Other people have been in contact with her, but I have not.

Q: Has anyone been instructed not to speak to the media? Like the adoptive parents biological parents....

A: Not by us. Maybe by their attorneys, but not by us.

Thank you for this. My apologies, I probably should have taken notes.
So the “Not to my knowledge” was his response to Perla’s inquiry about whether the Birth family have retained a Lawyer. And then, pretty much confirmed in his later response to Perla’s inquiry about anyone being instructed not to speak to the media, that the AP’s have possibly retained Attorneys.
Good to know.

Thanks again @Frodosdojo.

 

[Frodosdojo]

Thank you for this. My apologies, I probably should have taken notes.
So the “Not to my knowledge” was his response to Perla’s inquiry about whether the Birth family have retained a Lawyer. And then, pretty much confirmed in his later response to Perla’s inquiry about anyone being instructed not to speak to the media, that the AP’s have possibly retained Attorneys.
Good to know.

Thanks again @Frodosdojo.

No problem ! I think I had an "A ha !" moment when he said that so it stuck out to me but I couldn't quite recall who he said it to so I had to dig a little for it.

 

[MoeInVA]

I found a transcript of the interview with Perla and this is what he said (which led me to believe the adoptive parents have a lawyer):

KGET.com exclusive: Interview with the California City police chief on Orrin and Orson West disappearance | KGET 17

Q: Are the members of the birth family cooperating as well?

A: Uhh they- yes. Yes.

Q: And have they retained a lawyer?

A: Not to my knowledge.

Q: And when was the last time you spoke with them or or interviewed them?

A: Personally, the last time I spoke with the biological mother, it was a conference call the day after the boys went missing.

Q: Ok so its been quite a while since you last spoke with a biological mother?

A: I personally, yes. Other people have been in contact with her, but I have not.

Q: Has anyone been instructed not to speak to the media? Like the adoptive parents biological parents…

A: Not by us. Maybe by their attorneys, but not by us.

If you go up a couple lines in the transcript you’ll catch a key section you missed here.

Q: And are the Wests still cooperating, Jacqueline and Trezell, have they retained a lawyer?

A: Yes they are still cooperating. I don’t know if they’ve retained counsel or not.

Q: OK so you’re still in contact with them. Can I ask when was the last time they were interviewed?

A: Formally interviewed, I think it’s been several weeks.


....

Thanks for link to transcript. Some interesting lines in here I didn’t catch in the cross talk!

 

[Frodosdojo]

If you go up a couple lines in the transcript you’ll catch a key section you missed here.

Q: And are the Wests still cooperating, Jacqueline and Trezell, have they retained a lawyer?

A: Yes they are still cooperating. I don’t know if they’ve retained counsel or not.

Q: OK so you’re still in contact with them. Can I ask when was the last time they were interviewed?

A: Formally interviewed, I think it’s been several weeks.


....

Thanks for link to transcript. Some interesting lines in here I didn’t catch in the cross talk!

That makes it sound like he contradicted himself.

 

[rosesfromangels]

Things are accelerating, and I would say someone has a very small, *very small* window of opportunity left to go cut a deal with the D.A. in exchange for testimony. They had better hurry....

As for LE, well it seems like they must be very busy with all the warrants in Bakersfield. I think LE will solve this crime by following the money trail. It wouldn't surprise me if this leads to something even bigger than the two missing boys. But as usual, this is just amateur opinion and speculation

 

[PommyMommy]

MAR 1, 2021
“Large amount of case development”: Bakersfield Police Department discusses taking the lead on the California City missing boys case | KGET 17
[...]

“I believe there’s a large amount of case development in this investigation,” said Sgt. Robert Pair, with Bakersfield Police Department. “But unfortunately due to the nature of this type of work, we just cant put that information out there.”

[...]

BPD says there are several reasons for this change.

“A large part of the interviews and follow-up needs to be conducted in Bakersfield,” Pair said.

There are also many parts of this story that lead back to this city.

[...]

Sgt. Pair wouldn’t say whether he believes the boys are still alive or where they could be.

“I’m not going to speculate on where the boys are, and I don’t have more information indicating they’re in Bakersfield versus some place else,” Pair said.

[...]

 

[Alethea]

If you go up a couple lines in the transcript you’ll catch a key section you missed here.

Q: And are the Wests still cooperating, Jacqueline and Trezell, have they retained a lawyer?

A: Yes they are still cooperating. I don’t know if they’ve retained counsel or not.

Q: OK so you’re still in contact with them. Can I ask when was the last time they were interviewed?

A: Formally interviewed, I think it’s been several weeks.


....

Thanks for link to transcript. Some interesting lines in here I didn’t catch in the cross talk!

To confuse things even further, there are different degrees of having “retained a lawyer.” You can retain a lawyer to give you advice but not pay for their services to represent you everywhere, show up to every meeting, etc. I have clients where I am technically retained as their attorney for years but they only actually call me occasionally for me to tell them something is a bad idea.

Then you have the more all-inclusive type of representation that we think of when someone invokes their right to counsel and refuses to be questioned or participate without their attorney present. If you are accused of a crime (or you think you will be accused of a crime), your attorney might step in forcefully to decline interviews and refuse to let you be questioned. Once someone is represented by counsel another attorney or LE cannot contact them directly.

So yeah it’s not clear to me who has an attorney but I would suggest anyone in this situation consult an attorney!