BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Detective John Ryan testified Friday that when looking for surveillance video of the Wests’ California City home, he found video of the day Trezell and Jacqueline West took their children to stay with Trezell’s parents on December 19, 2020. Ryan said in the video, he only saw four children get into the van.
The prosecution has alleged that Trezell and Jacqueline reported Orrin and Orson missing on Dec. 21, 2020 to cover up for the two boys being dead for months. During the trial, the prosecution has argued that no one can specifically remember every seeing the boys in Cal City.
During the trial, video recordings of an interview conducted between authorities and Jacqueline have shown Ryan, along with a special agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Cal City Police Officer Brian Hansen, accusing Jacqueline of not telling the truth.
“I think you’re a great person,” Ryan told her in the recording. “But I can see that you have a lot on your shoulders and I know you want to tell us.”
Ryan continuously pressed Jacqueline, claiming that her statements didn’t match what Trezell and others have told them. He says repeatedly that he believes she knows something she’s not saying. Even as she becomes more frustrated, Jacqueline responds every time that there’s nothing more.
“There is no story,” she said in the recording.
The prosecution also called Phillip West, Trezell’s father, to testify Friday.
Phillip told the defense during cross that when officers first arrived to their home the night the boys were reported missing, he was “mind-boggled” by what the officers said.
"Because it doesn't reflect the Trezell you raised," Defense counsel Timothy Hennessy asked.
"No," Phillip said.
When officers arrived, they said the Cal City home looked like a compound and the children were sleeping in cots on the floor. Phillip said when he first heard this, he thought that perhaps the family just hadn’t fully put the house together since moving in.
Phillip testified that while the couple lived in Bakersfield, they’ve visit on occasion. He said they would watch the kids at their home on Potomac Avenue, but it was mostly his wife who would babysit. Phillip said he’d mainly be working in his cane shop when the boys visited, and wouldn’t be involved much more than a brief greeting.
After the couple moved to Cal City, Phillip said he didn’t see the boys. He testified that he hadn’t helped the couple in moving and told officers he believed the last time they were all together was around the 4th of July.
“Did you have plans to visit?” Prosecutor Eric Smith asked.
Phillip responded that he had been planning to visit the home after they moves. Smith asked if they planned to visit for Christmas and Phillip said that he believed they discussed it.
During the video interviews between Jacqueline and investigators, Ryan claimed multiple times that he believes the couple reported the boys missing because they knew family would be arriving for Christmas and didn’t know what to say. Jacqueline, again, denied this in the recording.
The trial is in recess for the weekend. It will resume Monday morning at 9 a.m.
