TRUE CRIME
Nineteen-year-old Bryce Laspisa was the only child of Michael and Karen Laspisa. They were a close-knit family who got along well and enjoyed spending time with each other.
Bryce's parents raised him in Illinois. However, after he graduated from high school, the family decided to move to California together. Bryce was a talented artist and decided to major in graphic and industrial design at Sierra College in the town of Rocklin, located in Northern California. His parents chose to settle in the coastal city of Laguna Niguel in Southern California.
During Bryce's freshman year of college, he excelled in school and started dating a young woman named Kim Sly. With the end of his first year wrapping up, he was looking forward to going home to his parent's home and spending the summer with them. It wasn't long before he made the 465-mile drive home.
While at his parent's house for the summer, he made good use of his time. He took an English class at a local college to get ahead in credits in hopes of graduating from college early. He also enjoyed just spending some quality time with the two people he loved most in the world.
Return to School
Bryce returned to school in Northern California in late August 2013. On August 26th, he attended his web design class and called his mother. By all accounts, all appeared to be normal, and his mother had no reason to be concerned about him. However, his friends and girlfriend saw a different side of him.
Those who saw Bryce on a daily basis started to notice a change in him, and what they saw was worrying. Bryce hadn't been behaving like himself since coming back to school just two weeks prior. His girlfriend, Kim, and his friends felt he had become unstable.
Kim and Bryce's friends started to notice he had begun to drink heavily on almost a daily basis which was out of the norm. Bryce also admitted to taking the popular study drug Vyvanse, an amphetamine-based narcotic and powerful stimulant that allows a user to stay awake for an extended amount of time. Despite Bryce's drinking and drug use, he insisted he was fine and didn't need help.
The Argument
Bryce visited Kim at her Chico apartment on the night of August 28, 2013. Kim was concerned about Bryce's well-being and encouraged him to take a nap, but instead, her unease led to an argument. Kim took Bryce's keys so he'd have no choice but to stay off of the road and get some rest as she felt he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Bryce did not respond well to Kim's ploy and called his mother, Karen. Bryce told his mother he wanted to go home and asked her to convince Kim to return his car keys. After Karen and Kim discussed the situation Bryce was given his keys and left the apartment at 11:30 p.m., presumably returning to Rocklin.
The Next Morning
The following morning Bryce's parents received an automated message from their insurance company that roadside assistance had been requested for one of their vehicles. Karen called Bryce to check on him believing he must have had car trouble that morning. However, when his roommate answered the phone, he stated Bryce had never made it home the night before. When Karen called Bryce on his cell phone, she didn't receive an answer.
When Bryce's parents found the shop, Castro Tire & Truck Repair, who had responded to Bryce's call for help on the internet, they called to inquire what they knew about Bryce's situation. His parents discovered Bryce had called for help at 9:00 a.m. from the town of Buttonwillow, which was 350 miles south of his girlfriend's apartment.
An employee from the repair shop named Christian was the one who responded to Bryce's call. He had gone to a local rest area and had provided Bryce with three gallons of gasoline as Bryce had an empty tank.
Christian agreed to go back to the rest area to look for Bryce, but it had been three hours since he had initially received the call. Christian was shocked to find Bryce still sitting in his vehicle in the rest area. Christian called Karen to let her know what he had seen and then handed the phone over to Bryce so his mother could speak to him.
When Karen asked her son why he was so far from school and his apartment, he didn't answer her. He was only three hours from his parent's home, so they told him to come home, and they'd discuss the situation later.
Ten Hours Later
Hours had gone by, and Bryce had still not arrived at his parent's home, and they became increasingly worried about him. Bryce was not answering his phone, and his parents wondered if he had been in a car accident. They decided to contact the police and report Bryce as missing.
The police pinged Bryce's phone and found he was still in the town of Buttonwillow. When two Kern County Sheriff's Deputies approached Bryce, he claimed he wanted to blow off some steam before heading home. The deputies felt that was a reasonable explanation but wanted to make sure he was safe to drive. He passed a field sobriety test, and he voluntarily consented to allow deputies to search his vehicle for drugs, alcohol, or weapons. None were found.
The deputies informed Bryce he needed to call his mother, but he looked hesitant to do so even after the deputies told him his parents were worried about him. One of the deputies decided to call Karen himself to let her know her son was all right and would be on his way home shortly.
A few hours later, Christian saw him in the same place the deputies had found him, so he called Karen to let her know. Once again, Bryce was told to go home to his parent's house. Realizing he had run out of options, Bryce got on Interstate 5 and headed south toward Laguna Niguel. Christian followed him for ten miles before calling Karen and letting her know everything seemed okay with Bryce.
At 2:09 a.m., Bryce called his parents to let them know he was tired and would pull over for a while to rest. It would be the last time Bryce's parents would ever hear from him.
Missing
On the morning of August 30, 2013, Michael and Karen awoke to find a California Highway Patrolman at their door. Bryce's silver 2003 Toyota Highlander had been located. It appeared to have been in a single-car crash and careened off a 25-foot embankment, but Bryce was not in the vehicle.
Camera footage caught Bryce's car driving up a hill towards the Castaic Lake Recreation Area only minutes after calling his parents. Two hours later, the cameras captured his vehicle headed in the opposite direction. His wrecked car was found less than an hour later by law enforcement officials who had arrived at Castaic Lake for a training exercise.
The Investigation
Since Bryce was nowhere to be found, the police had to try and piece together what had happened on their own. It had appeared the accelerator had been pushed down the entire time during the accident, and there had been no attempt at braking.
The car was found on its side, and glass was broken from the inside leading the police to believe Bryce had survived the accident and broke the window as a means of escape. There was very little blood at the scene. However, Bryce had left all of his personal belongings, including his cell phone, behind at the location of the crash.
The police searched extensively for Bryce, including a ground, aerial, and water search of Government Cove. Search dogs had led police to the area, and authorities felt it was the most likely place to find Bryce. Expert divers swam through the cove but came up empty-handed. It was as though Bryce had vanished.
There were no indications of foul play, so the police did not believe Bryce had been murdered. Upon further investigation, the police found Bryce had given his friend Shawn his X-Box gaming system and a pair of his diamond earrings. Pairing this with his recent odd behavior, the police felt his mental health might have been compromised, and they suspected Bryce had committed suicide.
Authorities believe Bryce likely died shortly after the car accident as there have been no verified sightings of him since his vehicle was found. However, his DNA, fingerprints, and dental records have been registered with the National Missing Persons Database.
Present Day
Bryce's family is hopeful he is still alive and may just not want to be found. However, they haven't given up the search for their beloved Bryce. Bryce's parents, Michael and Karen, have created a Facebook page, hoping it will help them be reunited with their son.
If you have any information on Bryce Laspisa's whereabouts, please don't hesitate to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department at (661) 255–1121.
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