Bryce Laspisa was the only child of Michael and Karen Laspisa, and he had been born and raised in Illinois. Not long after he graduated from high school in 2012, the family moved across the country to California. Bryce seemed to adjust to life in California without any problems. A gifted artist, he was majoring in graphic and industrial design at Sierra College in Rocklin, and he did very well in school. He was still young, but had already built up an impressive portfolio of work.
Bryce was extremely charismatic, with a friendly and open demeanor that instantly put people at ease. He made a number of friends during his freshman year at Sierra College, and had also started dating another student, Kim Sly. At the end of the school year, he returned to his parents’ home in Laguna Niguel, about 465 miles south of his college. He was close with his parents and seemed happy to be home with them. He spent part of the summer taking an English class at a local college; this gave him a jump start on earning the credits he would need to get his degree.
The fall semester started on August 26, 2013. Bryce attended a speech class and a web design class that day, and he called his mother that night to tell her how much he liked them. As far as Karen was concerned, the conversation had been perfectly normal. Bryce was upbeat and excited about the new semester, and it didn’t seem like there was anything she needed to be concerned about. Those who saw Bryce on a daily basis, however, were worried about him. He hadn’t been acting like himself since his return to Rocklin two weeks earlier, and his behavior was growing increasingly erratic.
Bryce had never been a bad kid; he was a typical teenager in college. His parents knew he was no stranger to alcohol, and had probably tried marijuana a few times. While they didn’t endorse this behavior, they were realistic: it was something almost every teenager did at some point, and their son was no exception. Right after he returned to Rocklin, though, Bryce started drinking increasing amounts of hard liquor on a daily basis. He had never done this before, and his friends were understandably confused and concerned. Bryce shrugged off their concern and wouldn’t admit that there was anything wrong. Things started to spiral completely out of control right around the time that classes started.
On Tuesday, Bryce’s behavior seemed to get even odder. Kim knew that he had been drinking rather heavily lately, but this seemed to be more than just alcohol. Concerned, she asked Bryce what was wrong, but he insisted that everything was fine. When Kim continued to press him, he finally admitted that, in addition to drinking, he had taken the drug Vyvanse.
An amphetamine-based narcotic, Vyvanse is a potent stimulant, and the effect it has on a person is similar to that of methamphetamine. It has become a popular recreational drug on many college campuses, as it provides an energy boost that allows the user to go without any sleep for an extended period of time. Bryce and a friend had stayed up all night playing video games, and they had been taking Vyvanse so they wouldn’t feel tired. Kim was concerned, as this was uncharacteristic behavior for Bryce, but he didn’t seem to think it was a big deal. He seemed to grow frustrated with Kim for questioning him, and finally sent her a text message saying that she would be better off without him anyway. Confused, Kim asked if he was breaking up with her, and he indicated that he was.
Around 11:00 pm that night, Bryce called his mother from Kim’s apartment in Chico. It’s unclear why Bryce decided to visit Kim, as he hadn’t changed his mind about breaking up with her and he still refused to give any reasons for his sudden decision. Worried about his erratic behavior, Kim took his car keys away from him and begged him to get some sleep before attempting to drive home. Bryce told her he wanted to leave, and demanded his keys back. When Kim refused to do so, he called his mother. Complaining that Kim wouldn’t allow him to go home, he insisted that his mom speak to her and tell her to return his car keys to him. After speaking with Karen, Kim gave Bryce his car keys and he left her apartment around 11:30 pm.
The following morning, Bryce’s parents got an automated message from their insurance confirming that there had been a roadside assistance request placed for one of their vehicles. Confused, they tried to call Bryce, wondering if he had some kind of car trouble on the drive home from Kim’s apartment. They were surprised to learn from Bryce’s roommate that he had never returned home the night before.
Karen tried to reach Bryce on his cell phone, but he didn’t answer. Looking online, they were able to determine the name of the auto shop that had come to Bryce’s aid. They learned that Bryce had called roadside assistance around 9:00am that morning from the small town of Buttonwillow — more than 350 miles south of Kim’s apartment. It was clear that Bryce must have driven non-stop throughout the night to get there.
Repeated calls to Bryce went unanswered; either he had turned his phone off or he was purposely ignoring his parents. Michael had better luck when he called the small repair shop that had responded to Bryce’s call for roadside assistance. Christian, the employee who responded to the call, told Karen that Bryce had gotten as far as the Buttonwillow Rest Area before running out of gas , and he had delivered three gallons of gas to him around 9:30 am. When he learned Karen had been unable to get ahold of her son, Christian offered to drive back over to the rest area to see if Bryce was still there.
Christian didn’t really expect to see Bryce; it had been almost three hours since the roadside assistance call, and he assumed that Bryce had most likely continued on to wherever he was going. He was surprised when he pulled into the rest area and saw Bryce sitting in his car in the exact spot he had been in that morning. Bryce seemed surprised to see Christian as well, even more so when Christian handed him his cell phone and told him his mother wanted to talk to him.
Karen was relieved to hear her son’s voice, but was confused about the situation in general. When she asked Bryce what he was doing, he didn’t have an answer. Although Bryce offered little in the way of information, his voice was clear and there was nothing to indicate he was intoxicated. Since Bryce was only about three hours away from Laguna Niguel, Karen decided that the questioning could wait. All Bryce had to do was get back on Interstate 5 and he would be home in a matter of hours. She reminded Bryce to fill up his gas tank, and said they would expect to see him at home around 3:00pm. Bryce agreed.
When Bryce hadn’t arrived at their home by 3:30pm, his parents started to get worried. They had no luck calling Bryce, as once again he wasn’t answering his cell phone. They tried to tell themselves that Bryce was probably stuck in traffic somewhere, but as the hours ticked by and there was still no word from him, they knew they weren’t dealing with a simple traffic jam. Worried that Bryce may have been in a car accident, they called the police and reported him missing.
Wisely, the first thing the police did was call Bryce’s cell phone provider and have them ping his phone to see if they could come up with his location. Once they did, it didn’t take long to find him. Almost 10 hours after he had made the call to roadside assistance, Bryce was still in Buttonwillow.
Once they learned Bryce’s location, two Kern County deputies were dispatched to check on him. He had filled up his gas tank like his mother instructed, but rather than get on Interstate 5, he had simply parked near it. If he was surprised to see the deputies, he hid it well. He was polite and cooperative, and told them he was just trying to blow off some steam before continuing his drive home. It was a reasonable explanation, but deputies wanted to make sure he really was okay to drive. They had him get out of the car and performed some field sobriety tests on him; he passed easily. He told them they were welcome to search his car, and they didn’t find anything: no drugs, no alcohol, no weapons.
Bryce wasn’t a minor, and he hadn’t committed any crimes, so the police had no reason to detain him. Before they let him go, however, they told him he needed to call his mother. They were surprised when Bryce seemed reluctant to do so, even after they told him that she had been extremely worried about him. Finally, one of the officers took Bryce’s phone and called Karen himself. He assured her that Bryce had passed their field sobriety tests and appeared to be fine. They had no qualms about him being on the road, and this reassured Karen somewhat. She then spoke briefly with her son, telling him that he needed to get himself something to eat and then get back on the road. He said that he would. After Bryce spoke with his mother, the deputies left, satisfied that he was finally ready to make the drive home.
Despite his assurances that he would be on his way shortly, Bryce was still sitting in the same spot a few hours later when Christian drove by. He called Karen to tell her that Bryce was still parked on the side of the road, and told her that he would follow Bryce to the interstate to make sure he got on it. Bryce seemed to realize that he wasn’t going to get away with lingering any longer, especially if the police had to come back. He bought a soda at a nearby gas station and told Christian he was going to start driving home. Finally, more than 13 hours after he arrived there, Bryce left Buttonwillow and got on Interstate 5. Christian followed him for about 10 miles, and didn’t observe anything unusual about his driving. He called Karen back to let her know that Bryce was finally on Interstate 5 and heading south in the direction of Laguna Niguel.
Around 1:50am, Bryce told his mother that he had briefly detoured off of the interstate. While he said he couldn’t say for sure where he was, he was using his GPS, and it estimated that he would arrive at the house at 3:25am. Bryce called his parents again at 2:09am to say that he was simply too tired to drive anymore, so he had decided to get off the interstate and take a nap.
Karen and Michael knew that they wouldn’t be able to sleep well, but managed to get a few hours of rest. When they heard the doorbell ring at 8:00am the next morning, they looked at each other in relief. They opened the front door expecting to see Bryce, but found a California Highway Patrol officer standing on their front steps. Bryce’s car had been found, wrecked and abandoned, on a paved access road leading to the Castaic Lake main boat ramp. It had plummeted down a 25-foot embankment before smashing onto the road below. All of Bryce’s belongings were still in the car, but there was no sign of Bryce. For the second time in 12 hours, Michael and Karen had to report their son missing.
The town of Castaic is located right off of Interstate 5, roughly 90 miles north of Laguna Niguel. Cars traveling on the interstate can exit onto Lake Hughes Road, which leads up a hill to the Castaic Lake Recreation Area. Every car traveling up this hill has to pass by a surveillance camera that takes a photograph of each car’s license plate. At 2:15am, just a few minutes after he told his mother that he was too tired to continue driving, Bryce drove past this camera. Then, at 4:29am, Bryce passed by the same camera a second time. Since there are no cameras tracking cars as they come down the hill, there is no way of knowing how long Bryce remained at the top of the hill the first time he drove up. It’s also impossible to know what Bryce was doing and why he went up the hill a second time.
The exact time of the accident is unknown, but the wrecked car was discovered less than an hour after Bryce’s car was seen heading up the hill a second time. Officers were on scene before 5:30am, and there was no sign of anyone near the car at that time. There appeared to be no witnesses to the crash, so police had to try to piece together what had happened. Once they analyzed all the evidence, they came to the surprising conclusion that what had taken place had not been accidental. It looked like Bryce had been in complete control of the car as it sped towards the ravine, and he continued to hit the accelerator the entire way down.
Investigators determined that Bryce had driven up the hill on Lake Hughes Road, then entered an access area for a cell phone tower. They were able to follow his tire tracks past the tower, which was located at the top of a steep embankment, and then down the embankment itself. The car continued to accelerate until it smashed into the access road below. When police arrived, they found the car lying on its side, banged up but intact. One of the car’s rear windows had been smashed out from the inside, and police believe Bryce had smashed the window in order to free himself from the wreckage. Most of his belongings, including his cell phone and laptop, were found inside the car. Bryce’s duffel bag, which contained clothes and his wallet, was found on the ground outside not far from the broken rear window. The bag had been unzipped and looked as if someone — most likely Bryce — had been rummaging through it.
It had been a violent crash, and Bryce had probably been dazed by the impact with the ground, but investigators do not believe he was seriously injured in the accident. They found a few small drops of his blood in the front seat of the car, but none near the broken window he used to get out of the car. There was no blood found on the road outside the car, and they found no drag marks or any other evidence to indicate that Bryce had been seriously hurt and unable to walk. It appeared that Bryce had been able to walk away from the crash relatively uninjured, but where had he gone?
A massive search of the area took place the same day Bryce’s car had been found. Dozens of deputies scoured the land surrounding the crash site and the shore of Castaic Lake, while helicopters conducted aerial searches. They had a vast area to search — the Castaic Lake State Recreation Area alone covered nearly seven square miles — and the ruggedness of the terrain made it a complicated task. The Santa Clarita Valley Search and Rescue team arrived on Saturday to assist in the search. They spent 10 hours combing through the area but found no trace of Bryce.
Bryce’s parents used social media to spread the word that their son was missing, and the online community immediately rallied behind them. Bryce, with his friendly smile and easygoing manner, had never had any problems making friends. Now, his smile was winning over complete strangers on the internet. Within hours, people started contacting Bryce’s parents to see what they could do to help. Missing posters were printed and distributed by a network of volunteers. A team of search dogs were brought in from out of state, and Kim drove down to the search area with a pair of Bryce’s sneakers and socks so that the dogs would have something with Bryce’s scent. After some of the search dogs tracked Bryce’s scent near Government Cove, divers were sent into that area. They concentrated on the shallow areas near the shoreline, then methodically worked their way out to deeper water. They were unable to find anything indicating Bryce had been in the lake.
While search and rescue teams were scouring the area for any sign of Bryce, detectives began interviewing some of Bryce’s friends and family. Once they determined that Bryce had purposely sped down the embankment and crashed onto the road below, investigators had to consider the possibility that Bryce may have been suicidal. His parents were adamant that Bryce would not have taken his own life, but some of his friends at college weren’t so sure.
Detectives were sent to interview those who had spent time with Bryce in the days leading up to his disappearance, and they learned some unsettling things. Of all his friends at college, Shawn and Kim were the two who had known Bryce the best, and both had expressed concerns about Bryce’s behavior before he went missing. They told detectives that Bryce had begun drinking heavily when he returned to Rocklin for the fall semester. He appeared to prefer hard liquor to beer, and could finish off several bottles in a weekend. They didn’t believe that Bryce was an alcoholic — he had never appeared to have a problem with drinking prior to this — but it was clear something had been going on in his life that was troubling him.
Kim told investigators that she had been extremely worried when she learned that Bryce was taking amphetamine tablets in addition to drinking heavily. His entire personality seemed to change once he started combining the two drugs, and it frightened her. That was why she had taken his car keys away from him that Wednesday night. It had nothing to do with her being upset that he had broken up with her. She tried to keep Bryce at her apartment because she knew he was in no condition to be driving, but no one had wanted to listen to her. Now, it looked like she had been proven right in a horrifying way.
Shawn had also been worried about Bryce. He told detectives that, in addition to drinking and taking Vyvanse, Bryce had done something extremely odd: he had been giving away some of his possessions. He had given Shawn his Xbox console and some of his games, as well as a pair of diamond earrings that had been a gift from his mother. It made Shawn very uneasy, and he tried to refuse, but Bryce wouldn’t take no for an answer. For the investigators, this was a huge red flag. When someone starts giving cherished possessions away out of the blue, it’s usually a sign that they don’t believe they’ll be around much longer. It can be a precursor to committing suicide, or they could be planning to run away and start life over somewhere else. Giving away their belongings is a way for them to cut ties with their current life.
If Bryce had been suicidal, his high-speed drive down the embankment may have been a failed suicide attempt. It’s possible he was surprised to find himself relatively unharmed at the bottom of the ravine. It could explain why, after freeing himself from his mangled car, Bryce had simply walked away without taking any of his belongings. Some of the investigators thought Bryce might have left his car and walked the relatively short distance down to Castaic Lake and drowned. Divers spent days in the lake searching for any sign of Bryce, but were unable to find anything to suggest he had ended up in the lake. Eventually, the search was called off, and detectives concluded Bryce was almost certainly not in the lake. In fact, they didn’t believe he was going to be found in the area at all.
While some of the investigators believed that Bryce had been suicidal, the fact that they had been unable to locate his body forced them to consider other possible scenarios. Some thought Bryce had chosen to just walk away from his life. It was a theory that Karen and Michael refused to contemplate; they were adamant that Bryce loved them too much to even consider voluntarily disappearing. Yet when bloodhounds were brought in to see if they could pick up on Bryce’s scent, their actions backed up the theory that Bryce had chosen to go missing. The dogs were able to pick up on Bryce’s scent and track it as it moved away from the crash site. They followed the scent trail down to a dam on Castaic Lake, then continued down the roadway on top of the dam. Once they crossed over, the dogs went south to a spillway on the western side of the lake before finally heading towards a truck stop.
Investigators believed it was possible that Bryce, after crashing his car, made his way through the park and ended up at the nearby truck stop. If he had decided to hitch a ride with a long-haul trucker, he could have been long gone before the search for him even got started. While it was certainly possible, there was no logical reason for Bryce to have done so. He wasn’t in any kind of legal trouble. He was a good student who had been excelling at college, and there were no problems at home. He had always maintained a close relationship with his parents, and he knew he could always count on them to support him no matter what.
Of course, even if Bryce had gone to the truck stop, that didn’t necessarily mean he was walking away from his life. While it didn’t appear that Bryce had been badly wounded when he crashed his car, it’s possible that he was suffering from a head injury and wasn’t thinking straight. He may have headed towards the lights of the truck stop in an effort to get some help, only to have something happen to him there. It was also possible that a head injury had left him unable to remember his own name. He had walked away from his car without taking any of his belongings. Without his wallet, he had no access to cash, and no way of proving his identity. Without his phone, he had no way of contacting anyone.
After two weeks, police announced that the official search for Bryce was being scaled back. They had thoroughly searched all the areas where they thought Bryce could be, but found nothing. They had no evidence pointing in any one direction, and no idea if Bryce was alive or dead. With his bright red hair and blue eyes, Bryce would stick out in a crowd. Police received numerous calls from people who believed they had seen him, but investigators were unable to confirm any of them as being legitimate sightings.
There may never be a definitive answer to what happened to Bryce, though it seems likely that he is no longer alive. He has been missing for over seven years now, and there has not been a single confirmed sighting of him. If he had chosen to run off and start life anew somewhere else, it’s hard to believe that he would have been able to keep his identity a secret for very long. His information has been entered into the national missing person database, and his fingerprints, dental records, and DNA are all on file. His parents have never stopped their search for him, and hope to one day know what happened to their only son.
Bryce Laspisa has been missing since August 30, 2013. At the time, he was 5’11” and weighed around 170 pounds, with blue eyes and bright red hair, which he normally kept very short. He was last seen wearing a blue and white checkered shirt, a pair of white cargo shorts, and white Nike sneakers with red trim. He had a large tattoo on his right shoulder of a bull’s head and his birthdate in Roman Numerals. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department is still actively searching for Bryce’s whereabouts. If you have any information, please call them at 323–890–5500.
