BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Emotions ran high as many showed up to the highly anticipated sentencing hearing for Trezell and Jacqueline West, the adoptive parents of two little Bakersfield boys who disappeared in December 2020.

Those in attendance then learned the defense asked the court to postpone the sentencing for the couple. The judge honored the request and postponed the sentencing to Sept. 28.

“They sit in there and act like parents of the year. No, they’re murderers, they’re murderers,” Rosanna Wills, biological cousin to Orrin and Orson West, said. “They’re animals. Trezell and Jacqueline, y’all animals. Tell us where the babies are, no deal, no nothing.”

In May, a jury reached guilty verdicts on five of seven charges after a weeks-long trial.

The couple was accused of murdering their two adopted sons, Orrin and Orson West, who went missing in 2020. Jurors found the couple guilty of murder for the death of 4-year-old Orrin and child cruelty for 3-year-old Orson’s death. Now, the Wests face life terms in prison.

However, the biggest question still remains: “Where are the boys?” Orrin and Orson’s bodies have not been found. It’s why the news of the delay in sentencing the couple drew an immediate reaction from many.

“We have to relive this every time we come to this courtroom, every time this is a reliving, the mom, the dad, this is hurtful stuff, and people need to think about if it was your children. Including the judge or whoever is behind whatever. They need to think if this was your kids and you would feel the same, we feel the same way we feel,” said Keisha Stevenson, a family friend of the biological family.

Family and friends of the Orrin and Orson’s biological parents fear sentencing for Jacqueline and Trezell West could be postponed again and feel they must continue to make their presence felt to ensure that does not happen.

“We don’t sleep without thinking about it, we’re waiting for justice […] we’re not leaving, we’re going to be here every day,” Rosanna Wills said. “Every time they have court, we’re here. No matter what, we’re here. That’s applying pressure, our presence is applying pressure.”

Those close to the biological family said the sentencing still won’t bring them closure, but finding out where Orrin and Orson will.