The Unexplained Disappearance of Bryce Laspisa
His wrecked vehicle was located and his scent was tracked to a truck stop, but Bryce has never been found
A Mystery Begins
Bryce Laspisa, 19, vanished under mysterious circumstances following a troubling and abrupt shift in his personality.
Shortly before his disappearance, and after alluding to his family that he had something important to tell them, he began driving to his parents’ residence in Laguna Niguel, California—a trip that should have taken approximately seven hours. Yet something was holding him back and, for unknown reasons, he pulled over for several hours.
He would speak to his parents multiple times on the phone in these final hours before he went missing and would ultimately agree to finish the return journey to their home. However, he would never arrive.
On the morning of August 30th, 2013, the Laspisas were informed that their son’s overturned vehicle had been located near Castaic Lake. There was no sign of Bryce at the scene and it appeared that he hadn’t taken most—if any—of his belongings with him.
His scent would be tracked to a nearby truck stop, suggesting that he had made it out of the area, but from there his trail goes cold.
What happened to Bryce Laspisa?
Bryce David Laspisa
An only child, Bryce David Laspisa was born on April 30th, 1994, to parents Karen and Michael. He grew up in Naperville, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
Intelligent, happy, and outgoing, Bryce was a gifted artist from a young age and loved drawing. He was an avid gamer as well and particularly enjoyed playing the Xbox.
Bryce excelled in school and was well-liked by his peers.
“He is such a social guy. He had lots of friends and would hang out with them often,” recalled his father Michael.
“He would talk to [us] about any subject,” his mother Karen added. “An open book. We always say that he gets that from his mom because I’m an open book and it was always just very easy.”
The Laspisa family was said to be very close, and Bryce felt comfortable sharing anything with his parents—or so they thought.
The Laspisa Family’s Cross-Country Move
After retiring, Karen and Michael decided they wanted to move to California. And when Bryce graduated high school in 2012, that’s just what the family did, ultimately settling in Laguna Niguel, an affluent beach town in Orange County.
Shortly thereafter, Bryce left home and began attending Sierra College in Rocklin—approximately seven hours north of Laguna Niguel—to study graphic and industrial design. During his first term, he met and began dating a fellow student named Kim Sly.
Troubling Shift in Bryce’s Personality
In the summer of 2013, Kim and Bryce’s close friend and roommate Sean noticed his frequent heavy drinking and started to worry about him.
The 19-year-old Bryce also began using Vyvanse, an amphetamine commonly used to treat ADHD and binge-eating disorder. Where he obtained the medication, for which he didn’t have a prescription, is unclear, but he reportedly started taking the psychostimulant because he wanted to stay up later playing video games.
The potential side effects of Vyvanse include headache, dizziness, racing heart, hallucinations, nausea, trouble sleeping, and irritability. Unsurprisingly, its combination with alcohol proved problematic.
By late August 2013, Bryce began to display troubling and uncharacteristic behavior.
Concerning Behavior
Bryce abruptly gifted his Xbox and a pair of diamond earrings (a gift from his mom) to Sean followed by a heartfelt yet cryptic text that read: “I love you, bro, seriously. You’re the best person I’ve ever met. You saved my soul.”
Later that day, Bryce broke up with Kim, telling her that she’d be better off without him.
Bryce apparently had something he wanted to tell his parents and was planning to drive home. Worried, Kim took his keys and called the Laspisas to tell them she was concerned and didn’t think he should be driving.
Bryce got on the phone and claimed that Kim was simply upset that he’d broken up with her.
Bryce’s mom Karen later recalled part of their conversation:
“I said ‘Bryce, I’m worried. Let me come up there tomorrow. Let me fly up there tomorrow,’ and he says ‘Mom, no. Don’t make any airline reservations until I talk to you because I have a lot to talk to you about.’”
Sadly, Karen and Michael would never find out what Bryce wanted to discuss with them.
Bryce maintained that he was fine and Karen convinced Kim to give him back his keys. He left at 11:30 p.m., claiming that he was going back to his apartment.
The Mysterious Road Trip
In the early morning hours of August 29th, Karen missed a call from Bryce. She assumed that he was just calling to let her know he was back in his apartment. However, it was later revealed that his cell phone pinged hours away from his apartment.
At 11:00 a.m., Karen and Michael received a phone call from their insurance company, notifying them that Bryce had called roadside assistance earlier that morning. As it turned out, Bryce needed help because he’d run out of gas in Buttonwillow, the halfway point between his apartment and the family’s home in Laguna Niguel.
Christian, an employee of Castro Tire and Truck Services, had delivered three gallons of gas to Bryce at 9 a.m.
At this point, his parents assumed that he was on his way home.
But by noon, when Bryce still hadn’t shown up, Karen called the insurance company and asked to be put in touch with Christian. Much to Karen’s relief, he kindly offered to return to Buttonwillow and check on her son.
Oddly, Christian found that Bryce was in exactly the same spot he was hours before and his eyes looked a bit red. He agreed to talk to his mother and assured her he would be home by 3 p.m.
When Bryce again failed to show up, Karen called him multiple times but received no response. At 6 p.m., after several hours with no word from Bryce, his parents reported him missing.
A Wellness Check
When police pinged Bryce’s cell phone, they learned he was still in Buttonwillow and found him parked on the side of the road, just eight miles away from his last known location.
Deputy Hernandez spoke to Bryce and let him know that his parents were very concerned about him and had reported him missing.
Bryce seemed lucid and perfectly fine, explaining that he was simply relaxing and letting off steam by sitting there. He even passed a field sobriety test. When asked if he had any drugs or alcohol in his Toyota Highlander, Bryce said he didn’t and agreed to have his vehicle searched.
Law enforcement turned up nothing either illegal or suspicious among Bryce’s belongings. They felt he was okay to continue on his way, but asked him to speak with his mother first.
Karen asked Bryce what he was doing and he responded that he was merely putting his things back into his SUV because the officers had just searched it.
According to Karen, her son claimed he was only there because he’d planned to meet up with friends. Who these friends were or why he’d have to wait so long for them was yet another unknown.
The deputies left, assuming that Bryce would soon drive home.
Missing: Bryce Laspisa
That night Christian noticed that he’d missed a call from Karen earlier, so he called her back and learned that Bryce still wasn’t at home. He offered to once again look for him and report back.
Ultimately, he found Bryce right where the police officers had left him.
Christian told him that he needed to start driving home, offering to follow along behind him in his own car. Bryce agreed with this plan and Christian followed him for 10 miles before pulling over to let Karen know that her son was now on Interstate 5 and headed their way.
Bryce stopped to get gas and a soda at 12:30 a.m.
Twenty minutes later, Karen called him. He didn’t answer.
At 1:50 a.m., his parents called him again and this time, he picked up. However, he was evasive in his responses to their questions and refused to give them any clues to his precise location, claiming that there were no signs in the area and that it was too dark to see any landmarks.
As if to provide one piece of information to allay their worries, Bryce told Karen and Michael that according to his GPS, he would arrive home at 3:25 a.m.
He spoke to his parents one final time, at 2:09 a.m., and told them that he was tired and planned to pull over and take a nap. They thought this was a good idea considering that he hadn’t slept for at least a day.
A Mysterious Crash
The Laspisas woke up the following morning to the sound of their doorbell. Assuming that Bryce was finally home, they rushed to the door to greet him.
However, they were surprised to find a police officer from the California Highway Patrol standing there instead. He asked them if they owned a 2003 beige Toyota Highlander and they explained that it belonged to their son.
The CHP officer went on to tell them that it was found abandoned at the bottom of a 25-foot embankment near Castaic Lake at 5:30 a.m. It was discovered lying on its side with a broken rear windshield. The authorities believed that Bryce had broken the window after the crash in order to get out of the SUV.
His wallet, cell phone, and laptop were still inside.
Two small drops of what turned out to be Bryce’s blood were found as well—one on the passenger’s seat headrest and the other in the backseat. This seemed to indicate he may have sustained only minor injuries, though it’s possible he also incurred internal injuries.
The only element notably absent from the scene was Bryce himself. An unzipped duffel bag was found nearby. They felt that he had opened it up to grab something before leaving. However, what he may have taken with him—and why he left so many important items behind—is still a mystery.
An examination of the tire tracks revealed one of the more troubling aspects of the accident: Bryce had actually accelerated while descending the hill, leading many to wonder if he intentionally caused this crash.
The Search
The search operation included officers on foot, horseback, and four-wheelers, as well as divers, bloodhounds, and cadaver dogs.
K9 search teams tracked Bryce’s scent down Lake Hughes Road to a gas station and truck stop. Interestingly, that’s where it ended. So was he picked up by someone?
After several days of thorough searching in and around Castaic Lake—which has a maximum depth of 300 feet—neither the divers nor law enforcement found any sign of Bryce.
The only other information they had to work with was security camera footage that showed Bryce driving down Lake Hughes Road at 2:15 a.m., just minutes after telling Karen he was about to take a nap. He was seen again, at 4:29 a.m., driving down the same road.
His vehicle didn’t appear on camera again after this.
Discovery of Charred Remains
On September 4th, 2013, just days after Bryce went missing, police responded to reports of a fire near Castaic Lake, close to Bryce’s last known location. When they arrived, they were shocked to find charred human remains.
Though many expected these remains to belong to Bryce, it was ultimately determined that they did not. The murder victim was revealed to be a man named Lemondre Miles, 35. Miles’ assailants were eventually apprehended.
The search for Bryce Laspisa continued.
Later Developments and Theories
Displeased with the handling of their son’s case, the Laspisas hired a private investigator. Unfortunately, her efforts failed to turn up any new evidence.
The private investigator concluded that Bryce likely suffered a head injury during the accident and that the resulting amnesia or fugue state led him to wander away disoriented.
In 2015, Karen and Michael hired a sonar specialist to conduct another search of Castaic Lake. But the effort yielded nothing relevant to Bryce’s case.
There have been many unconfirmed sightings of Bryce over the years, reported from states like Oregon, California, and Texas.
However, in the years since he vanished, there has been no activity on Bryce’s bank account, credit cards, Social Security number, or passport.
The police initially believed Bryce took his own life, as his behavior in the days leading up to his disappearance indicated the possibility of suicidal thoughts. They also believed it was possible he decided to walk away from his life and start over elsewhere.
His parents never entertained the theory that their son willingly chose to flee his life and family.
“He never ran away from home. There was never any problem big enough that would make Bryce literally want to walk away from his life. He loved us too much and we love him too,” said Karen.
Bryce Laspisa Update 2023
The Find Bryce Laspisa Facebook page reported a sighting of Bryce in Missoula, Montana, in 2022. A photo of the man, who appeared to be a carbon copy of an older, disheveled Bryce, went viral online.
Detective Ethan Smith investigated the lead, tracking the doppelganger down.
“I was able to verify his identity and it’s not Bryce,” Smith later said. “I believe the photo being circulated of the young man on the bike in Missoula who looks like Bryce is this guy, but sadly, it isn’t Bryce. I was astounded by the resemblance between the two.”
What happened to Bryce after his accident—as well as what was troubling him in the days leading up to his disappearance—remains a mystery.
Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to call 949–292–4400. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department can be reached at 323–890–5500. You can also send photos to his family at findbrycelaspisa@gmail.com and get updates on the Facebook page.
Additional Sources
(This article was originally published on HubPages)