- Date of birth: April 30, 1994 (19 at time of disappearance.)
- Parents: Karen and Michael Laspisa
- Graduated from Naperville High, Naperville IL in 2012
- He is an only child .
- Was attending Sierra College at the time of his disappearance.
- His parents where living in Laguna Niquel, California at this time.
- There is approximately 450 mile distance between the college and his parents.
- Last seen in person August 30, on CCTV August 31
August 27
Right before his disappearance, people close to him had noted what has been generalized as "odd behavior." Apparently this shift in behavior was notable enough to be a cause for concern to his girlfriend, Kim Sly. At some point he told her that he had taken a pill called Vyvanse. It's sort of a newer medication but is similar to taking something a long the lines of Adderall. It appears he was not prescribed this medication.
Stimulate medications are something that is frequently abused, especially by college students. However, it might go a little deeper than that. Bryce apparently had a history of using various substances.People who knew him have spoken out to say that he did have some drug issues. Substance use had been a part of his life as early as high school.
His roommate, Sean Dixon, stated that the two of them had taken the medication while staying up all night to play video games. He also said they had been drinking liquor that day. Honestly, this doesn't sounds like anything unusual for two college aged boys to do. I wouldn't consider this statement as indication of anything odd. So on this day, it seems to be only the girlfriend observing out of character behavior.
It is also to note that it is said that he was giving away items to friends, one item being a pair of diamond earrings. These earrings had been a gift from his mother. I did not see any confirmation as to what day this occurred.
Giving away items of value is known to be a precursor for suicide attempts. This is one of the info bits that indicated he possibly was planning to kill himself. Of course, this could also be because he was planning to leave. The diamond earrings seem to be very significant.
August 28
At some point, the roommate Sean was concerned enough with the behavior to the point where he contacted Bryce’s mother. Sean also said that Bryce had also broken up with his girlfriend the night before. So this is the point where we can see that the roommate is also seeing an odd side to him and was concerned. And a break up is considered a stressor, especially for young college students. The break up seems to me to almost be the catalyst. Things were building up for Bryce and perhaps this was the final thing.
Later that evening, Bryce contacted his mother. At this time he was at the home of his girlfriend. Kim also spoke to Karen and informed her that Bryce wasn’t acting himself. She also stated she thought that he wasn’t safe to drive.
His mother told him that she could be there the next day to talk to him about things, but Bryce declined the offer. At the end of this call, Karen told Kim to give Bryce his keys back on the condition that he promised to call her in the morning.
This is where I start to get frustrated and concerned with the mother's actions. She's been called by the roommate, and the girlfriend. Both are saying something is odd. The girlfriend who is with him thinks he is not safe to drive. However the mother basically controls the situation and gets the keys returned to Bryce.
August 29
Karen missed a call around 1 am in the morning. At this time she disregarded this. She was under the impression at the time that her son had already made it back to her apartment. It would later be discovered that Bryce had actually made this call from an area about an hour way from Rocklin, where his apartment was located.
I can’t imagine being in her shoes. She was at home assuming everything was fine while he son was clearly going through something.
Personally I don’t understand how she wasn’t freaking out and blowing his phone up after the events earlier in the day. But, we don’t know her. (most of us, anyway.)
August 30
About 11 am the Laspisa family were notified that Bryce had used their roadside assistance plan. He had ran out of gas just west of Bakersfield. Three gas cans where delivered to Bryce at his car. Bryce paid for this gas with his parent’s credit card. At this point Bryce was about 3 hours away from home.
These gas containers where brought by a man named Christian who was employed by Castro Tire and Gas.
Several hours passed and their son still had not arrived home. The called Castro Gas and Tire and Christian went back to check on Bryce. He was still where the gas had been dropped off and was just sitting in his car which had not moved. The family continued to wait several hours for Bryce to make it home. At some point he started ignoring his family’s phone call.
At the end of 9 hours, Bryce had only made it 8 miles. California Highway Patrol where contacted at this time. His car was check at this time. No drugs were found, and Bryce passed a sobriety test. The police dialed his mother from Bryce’s phone. The time was 10 pm.
At 11 pm, Bryce was still in the same general area. He bought a drink from a gas station. He informed his mother he was on the I-5 South, but would not elaborate further. He also purchased gas at a Valero. He later would contact the roadside assistance again. He had been in this same area for around 13 hours at this point. It was at this point Bryce was followed onto the interstate and is was seen that he was going in the right direction finally.
August 31
At 1:50 am Bryce made a call to his mother saying he had gotten off the interstate but had got back on.
2:08 Bryce spoke with Karen again. It is at this point he stated he was getting off the interstate again. He also informed her he was planning to sleep in his car. At this point, he said he had been awake for 48 hours. Karen did not press this issue. She did not know that this would be the last time she would speak to her son.
The Laspisa family where visited hours later at 8 am by an office with California Highway Patrol. The office wanted to confirm that they owned a Toyota Highlander, beige, 2003.
This vehicle had been found abandoned at 5:30 am at Castaic Lake, not far from an access road to the State Recreation Area. This located was only two hours away from the family home. The car had crashed and was on it’s side at the bottom of an embankment. Bryce was not located in or near the vehicle.
It appeared he may escaped from the car by breaking out the back window, as it had been broken out. Some blood was noted on the passenger side and backseat but not in amount indicative of serious injury. His unzipped duffle bag was located in the vehicle, along with his laptop, cellphone, and wallet.
Apparently there was some CCTV footage of Bryce making three separate trips up and down the road near Castiac lake. The the times for this footage appears to be 2:15 am, right after he spoke with his mother, and 4:29 am. This leaves about an hour of time between the discovery of the car wrecked and the vehicle last seen in operation. It appears that he came off the embankment at a high rate of speed and also didn’t hit the breaks. It was assumed that Bryce had tried to kill himself by driving into the lake.
Aftermath
Search parties began for Bryce. During the search, a fire was reported and a man’s body was found burning. This man was not Bryce. The man had been shot multiple times and was set ablaze over a debt. He was identified as Lamondre Deon Miles. He was 35 years old. I have some thoughts on this and will discuss further in future posts.
On day 9 of the search, bloodhounds were able to track Bryce’s scent from the car to a truck stop. There have been no confirmed sightings of Bryce and the official search ended. In the next few posts, I'll be going into the possible theories.
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