Police are hunting for Austin Bryant and his brother Dylan after it emerged the two adopted boys had disappeared from their Colorado family home almost a decade ago. It is thought that Austin may have disappeared as early as 2003, when he was 7, and Edward in 2001, when he was 9. Adoptive parents Edward and Linda Bryant are accused of continuing to claim welfare payments for the two boys.
Police said Edward Bryant, 58, and his 54-year-old wife Linda had not told authorities Austin and Dylan had mysteriously vanished from the family home.
Both Mr and Mrs Bryant are in jail on $1 million bail each, although they have not yet been charged with the disappearance of the children.
The Bryants lived in the Monument area near Colorado Springs between 1999 and 2005 and most recently lived in the Dallas area.
Website KKTV.com reported how on January 22, 2011 the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office took a report of a suspicious incident involving the alleged disappearance of Austin Bryant.
Further investigation revealed Austin was last seen sometime between 2003 and 2005.
After speaking with family members, it emerged the couple had another adopted son, Edward, who had not been seen since 2001.
The website reported a neighbour saying: ‘I don’t really remember them, but they seemed like shady people.
‘Something just wasn’t quite right.’
The website added that Linda and Edward Bryant have been contacted and arrested in Texas for receiving an ongoing financial subsidy from the El Paso County Department of Human Services despite the fact both children no longer live with them.
They have since been extradited to back to Colorado.
Police are now undertaking a massive search to try and locate Austin and Edward who would be 15 and 18-years-old by now.
It is still unclear why it took authorities 10 years to discover the alleged disappearances.
