The biological mom of two California brothers alleged to have been killed by their adoptive parents filed a federal lawsuit saying her sons were removed from her care unlawfully, NBC News reported.
According to Ryan Dean, she tried multiple times to regain custody of her young boys, Cinsere and Classic Pettus, but was denied. The two brothers, whose names were changed by their adoptive parents to Orrin and Orson West, were reported missing in December 2020. They were just four and three years old when they disappeared from their adoptive home.
The boys' adoptive parents, Trezell and Jacqueline West, had been charged with murder. While authorities said the two kids were dead, their bodies were not found.
Dean emotional in press conference
At a news conference on June 21, Dean said, "I just feel like I didn't deserve this. I'm not a criminal. I don't have a bad record."
According to the lawsuit, Cinsere, then three months old, was removed from his mom's care in 2016 after Dean said she came home and found him "crying uncontrollably." The child's dad said that he gave the baby two baths and that nothing else had happened that day. The suit, filed on June 17, alleged civil rights violation and wrongful death.
Dean took the kid to the emergency room, where she was informed that both of her son, Cinsere's legs were broken, the Los Angeles Magazine reported. According to the suit, an X-ray did not show any other injuries to her son.
Dean was then told at the hospital that Kern County Human Services would take the kid and place him with a foster family because hospital staff members believed he had been abused. But, no allegations of abuse were lodged against Dean when Cinsere was removed.
Classic was removed days after his birth in 2017 because the human services department said they like to keep siblings together. Dean said in the lawsuit that she fought to get her kids back but that she was repeatedly denied.
Dean sees changes in her kids after moving in with the West family
The boys were removed from their foster home in 2018 and placed with the West family, according to the Bakersfield Californian. Dean was never given an explanation for the move.
Shortly after the brothers moved in with the West family, Dean noted that she started to see a change in her kids. The boys seemed "scared," and both had lost weight. She also noticed her son Classic having scratches on his face. Dean reported her concerns to the human services department, but no action was taken.
After less than a year, the adoptive parents reported the brothers missing from their backyard in the desert town of California City. Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer said in March that the two boys most likely died three months before they were reported missing.
