FRESNO, Calif. (KMPH) -
The children at the center of the bizarre case apparently told Mexican police they're from Fresno.
But they've been staying with their grandma in Guadalajara for the last seven months after their mom dropped them off for a visit.
Now, police are investigating if they could actually be victims of human trafficking.
The boys were found by Mexican police outside a store in Guadalajara Tuesday.
The boys, Romeo and Damian Diaz Martinez, told Azteca Noticias they'd been kidnapped from their grandma's house by "very mean people" and then taken to another house.
Later on, they were put in a car and dropped off in front of a store.
But when reporters tracked down "Grandma", she told them she's actually the adoptive grandma and she hadn't noticed the boys were gone until the next morning.
She said the boys were beaten up by other kids outside the house.
But neighbors have a different take.
One said the woman has at least five kids in her house and that she works them all day long.
That neighbor says she's terrible to them, raising suspicions that the kids are not family members, and in fact, something much different.
We contacted the Mexican consulate in Fresno.
They tell KMPH News, in these situations, they can't discuss individual cases. They'll leave that up to the family members, because of the confidentiality issue.
We also contacted the State Department who released this statement: "The U.S. Consulate General is aware of the reports of two abandoned U.S. children found early this morning in Tlaquepaque. The consular section is actively working with Mexican authorities including the local police to assist these citizens. Due to privacy regulations, we are unable to comment further."
There are also reports of a third brother.
The kids told Mexican reporters, they have a 15–year–old brother, Michael, who was beaten to the point of being unconscious when they were kidnapped and he was left behind at the alleged grandma's home.
The State Department says they're unaware of that child.
And now, they're working with the Attorney General's office to try and locate the boys' family.
The doctor who checked out the kids in Mexico told reporters the children had beating marks all over their bodies, and it appeared they'd been beaten with some kind of stick.
