Del Mar

Two small boys, both of whom had apparently been badly beaten, were abandoned in a hotel, a sheriff’s spokesman said Sunday.

Employees of the Del Mar Inn, 720 Camino De Mar, discovered the boys playing in a hallway about 6 p.m. Saturday. Hotel employees at first assumed the parents were around, but no one came to claim the boys, who are approximately 2 and 3 years old. Police were called when the employees realized that both boys had extensive bruising on their faces and necks, which someone had tried to cover with liquid makeup, Sheriff’s Lt. Bob Trevino said.

Further investigation showed that the boys also had bruises on their backs and stomachs, said Detective Mary Stables. One had facial injuries so severe that “we thought he had a broken jaw at first,” Stables said. The boys were taken to Children’s Hospital.

The boys’ names were still unknown Sunday night. “Both youths have told the investigators they are not to give anyone their names.” Trevino said.

Sheriff’s detectives were searching Sunday for clues to the identity of the boys’ parents. The children, described as white males with brown hair and brown eyes and who are believed to be brothers, may have been left at the hotel by a man who checked in Saturday, according to a sheriff’s spokesman.

Stables said the investigators were working on a few leads, but still did not know who abandoned the children. “We’re just playing it by ear and asking any citizen who knows anything to please call us,” Stables said.