CA CA - Bryce Laspisa, 19, Castaic, 30 Aug 2013 - #1

[UCLAEigenguy]

I saw an article that said the burning body was found "a few miles above the Castaic Lake main boat launch area".

Yes. It isn't clear though. 3 miles north of Lake Hughes Rd would be the middle of the brush between the road and the lake.

This seems like homicide but I am having a hard time buying into it. Why would someone kill him??? It is unlikely he was into anything risky, And this was his first trip home on I5 so I doubt he could find that much trouble. If this were a robbery or carjacking, his valuables would be missing.

Had he been followed it doesn't make sense to drive to the lake and just stay there because it is a dark and desolate area. The entire route between Grapevine andCastaic is pretty freaky at night. This sounds staged if it is homicide. Then there is the scent by the water. It could be picked up from the dumpsite or the killer tried to dump the body in the water. If this is homicide it feels like more than one person was involved.

I don't think suicide should be ruled out. Suicide by fire is very rare I think. But he said he had a lot to talk about with his mom. Also his behavior was very weird. If he discovered his sexuality and felt his parents would hate him perhaps that was a trigger. Or if he crashed because he was drunk or high and figured his life would be over and he was already on the edge. The phrase "burn in hell" comes to mind and I can't get it out. It makes me feel like perhaps he was disgusted with himself and perhaps wanted to go painfully.

Common sense points to homicide but behavior and lack of evidence (not including the other vehicle) points me to suicide.

 

[Runlove]

If the crash was staged and the body is Bryce, he must have had injuries that were obviously not self-inflicted and inconsistent with the crash. Perp tries to carjack, rob or abduct him, Bryce puts up a fight, perp kills him and disposes of the body. The car circling around three times, maybe the perp looking for a place to put the body? Search gets close to the body location, perp returns to burn it?

This is about where I've landed obsessing over this all morning. So terrible.

 

[2Hope4]

Family says they are postponing foot searches until they hear from LE. That was on the facebook page. So sad.

 

[LinasK]

Sorry, here is the link: http://www.signalscv.com/section/36/article/104204/

Some interesting things from this article: Despite this morning's discovery, the search for Laspisa was continuing, Sutton said. A helicopter was searching overhead at the scene of the body this morning, and Sutton said divers were searching Castaic Lake, as well.
The burning body was discovered shortly after 6 a.m. today by a cyclist. It was on the north side of Lake Hughes Road about five miles from Interstate 5 just southeast of the lake near an emergency access road.
The first call went to the Fire Department.
“Shortly after 6 (a.m.) we got a call of a brush fire,” said Supervisor Bernard Peters of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
“When we got out there, we found it was a body. The Sheriff’s (Department) are now handling it.”
“Investigators said they are unable to determine the age or gender of the burning body,” Sutton said.
“A cyclist was riding by this morning and saw what he thought was a brush fire. The Fire Department extinguished the fire, which was obviously a human body burning,” Sutton said.
The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office was notified of the body shortly before 8 a.m., an official confirmed.
Both a coroner&#8217;s investigator and the two detectives on the Laspisa missing persons case were sent to the scene. <snip>
Bomb technicians are called in when bodies are burned to hunt for accelerants or other evidence of arson.

 

[LinasK]

Yes. It isn't clear though. 3 miles north of Lake Hughes Rd would be the middle of the brush between the road and the lake.

This seems like homicide but I am havinga hard time buying into it. Why??? It is unlikely he was into anything risky, And this was his first trip home on I5.

Had he been followed it doesn't make sense to drive to the lake and just stay there because it is a dark and desolate area. The entire route between Grapevine andCastaic is pretty freaky at night. This sounds staged if it is homicide. Then there is the scent by the water. It could be picked up from the dumpsite or the killer tried to dump the body in the water. If this is homicide it feels like more than one person was involved.



Common sense points to homicide but behavior and lack of evidence (not including the other vehicle) points me to suicide.

I think it was a crime of opportunity by a stranger. He was a vulnerable young guy- mentally and wherever he chose to sleep in his car. I personally agree with you, I'd never stop in the Grapevine/Castaic area at night, especially when there are populated areas very close by- the town of Castaic, Stevenson Ranch, truck stops at Frazier Park, Gorman, and Lebec, and there are also towns between the Grapevine and Buttonwillow if you need food/gas/lodging.

 

[UCLAEigenguy]

If the crash was staged and the body is Bryce, he must have had injuries that were obviously not self-inflicted and inconsistent with the crash. Perp tries to carjack, rob or abduct him, Bryce puts up a fight, perp kills him and disposes of the body. The car circling around three times, maybe the perp looking for a place to put the body? Search gets close to the body location, perp returns to burn it?

This is making me feel very ill.

Wouldn't they have stolen his stuff if this was a carjacking or robbery?

Why drive his body around in his own car? If the murderer could burn the body, he sure as heck should have also burned the car with evidence all over it. It's possible, but that would be a really dumb murderer. My point being that nothing makes sense, especially any of the stuff that happened at Castaic Lake.

 

[lillygator]

what a dtrange case. I just read all 7 pages and was hoping for a better outcome.

 

[inarcadia]

I have no idea about this stuff really, I'm just speculating.

But what good would his stuff be, if the perp tried to use the credit cards or cell phone it would lead right police back to them, wouldn't it? Same with the car. I feel like a stolen car/cell phone/laptop investigation would go much differently if it wasn't part of a homicide investigation. Maybe the perp hoped that they'd never find the body, and would rule it as a suicide (as seemed to be the case until the body), but panicked when the search got close and it was far too late to burn the car.

None of it really makes sense if the body is his IMO least of all suicide.

 

[LinasK]

Has anyone created a map of all of the locations on his route along with starting and destination locations? TIA

I just tried with mapquest, but I have a brand new laptop, can't find the Shift-Printscreen keys to get a screenshot and mapquest didn't give me a specific link and gave all the driving directions...

Got links!:http://mapq.st/13eNyiu

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=...nxGGnCKnrCgDFGTMan3K63LA&oq=Ca&t=h&mra=ls&z=6

 

[2Hope4]

At this time, we do NOT know whether the burned body they found 3 miles down the road from where Bryce's car was found Friday is or isn't Bryce's. The detective has not contacted us. We are just waiting in limbo at home. The tv report just stated they are waiting for the coroner's office to arrive on scene. Please, I beg of everyone to keep the faith.

https://www.facebook.com/FINDBRYCELASPISA

 

[AstroKitty]

I have no idea about this stuff really, I'm just speculating.

But what good would his stuff be, if the perp tried to use the credit cards or cell phone it would lead right police back to them, wouldn't it? Same with the car. I feel like a stolen car/cell phone/laptop investigation would go much differently if it wasn't part of a homicide investigation. Maybe the perp hoped that they'd never find the body, and would rule it as a suicide (as seemed to be the case until the body), but panicked when the search got close and it was far too late to burn the car.

None of it really makes sense if the body is his IMO least of all suicide.

his laptop was found in the car along with his wallet. i think a thief would have taken something but nothing has been noted as missing. i think that rules out carjacking. carjacking = car taken to chop shop or the contents stolen. nothing was taken.

interesting that a body is to turn up where it did.

this is roughly 4 days later, when decomp notoriously is so bad that most people decide to dispose of bodies.
but who steals a car to wreck it, leaving valuables inside (not even bother staging a robbery) but steals a corpse, holds onto it for 4.5 days and decides to burn it?

makes zero sense. none.

i wouldnt be shocked if:
this is someone else entirely and a person decided to burn the body in that area in order to throw *that* case off and hope that they assume it's bryce.

total coïncidence

it is bryce but he's been there since the day he went missing and the perp went back to burn the body - with that

wouldn't they fear being seen?

wouldn't the weather and the vultures have essentially sped up decomp in such a way that burning wouldn't be necessary?

wouldn't animal activity have alerted le that something was there?

wouldn't le smell a deceased person in that time frame?

*there is wind near water and the odor of a dead body travels and there's been dogs!

this sounds more to me like a person was depending on bryces' case to help keep their crime concealed or rendered in some way. imo

 

[2Hope4]

Wondering if something was used to speed up decomposition, would it get hot enough to start a fire?

 

[CALSAR]

It's not very often that I am completely paralyzed by the outcome of a case... This one almost puts me in need of group therapy. I am totally shocked, and I should not be as I have seen this, or similar outcomes to many times to count!

I wish I could HUG the family right now!

 

[sarx]

My thoughts are with whomever knew this person. Someone out there just lost a loved one.

 

[LinasK]

It's not very often that I am completely paralyzed by the outcome of a case... This one almost puts me in need of group therapy. I am totally shocked, and I should not be as I have seen this, or similar outcomes to many times to count!

I wish I could HUG the family right now!

We're that group until we get further word- my day is kinda paralyzed anyhow, exhausted from insomnia and my neighbors are jackhammering all morning!!! We need a scanner thread for this case. (((group hug)))

 

[inarcadia]

snip

this sounds more to me like a person was depending on bryces' case to help keep their crime concealed or rendered in some way. imo

I had that thought too. You may be 100% right.

My original idea was the potential carjacker/robber/whatever didn't mean to kill Bryce but when he fought back the perp killed him, then freaked and tried to dispose of the body and stage the wreck. Maybe that's too TV-movie to really happen, but this whole case is like that.

I'm very close to this case, I don't know what to think honestly. Still hoping he is somewhere safe...

 

[UCLAEigenguy]

his laptop was found in the car along with his wallet. i think a thief would have taken something but nothing has been noted as missing. i think that rules out carjacking. carjacking = car taken to chop shop or the contents stolen. nothing was taken.

I agree, but if the person panicked, then maybe.

interesting that a body is to turn up where it did.

this is roughly 4 days later, when decomp notoriously is so bad that most people decide to dispose of bodies.
but who steals a car to wreck it, leaving valuables inside (not even bother staging a robbery) but steals a corpse, holds onto it for 4.5 days and decides to burn it?

makes zero sense. none.

Feels sort of like a crime of passion, but that seems so unlikely.

i wouldnt be shocked if:
this is someone else entirely and a person decided to burn the body in that area in order to throw *that* case off and hope that they assume it's bryce.

total coïncidence

That wouldn't be surprising at all. Though I wouldn't put Castaic Lake at the top of my list of places to hide a body, even if I wanted to throw off the cops.

it is bryce but he's been there since the day he went missing and the perp went back to burn the body - with that

wouldn't they fear being seen?

I feel like the murderer (whether or not the body is Bryce) is someone that is somewhat familiar with the area, but not intimately familiar with it. Perhaps a casual fisherman or someone that worked at the lake in passing (lifeguard etc.). They knew where to hide the body such that they wouldn't be seen, but didn't know enough about the area to make it totally unfindable.

Both discoveries: the car and the body occurred sometime after 2am (the car crash) and before 6am (the latest time the car crash could have occurred, and also the time the body was found). This does not say a whole lot, but a lot of fishermen try to arrive at 5 or 6am and there are people camping in the area. Since the body was still burning, the fire may have started around 4-5:30 or so. I don't think the timing is a coincidence aside from the obvious fact that it is very dark at night.

A crazy theory: Bryce's scent was picked up at the water's edge, and also near Government Cove Rd. Why was it at the edge of the water? Could his body (if his) have been loaded onto a boat? The murderer may have thought he could reach a secluded dump area by boat and got unlucky. Government Cove Rd. is near where the body was found as well.

wouldn't the weather and the vultures have essentially sped up decomp in such a way that burning wouldn't be necessary?

wouldn't animal activity have alerted le that something was there?

wouldn't le smell a deceased person in that time frame?

Depends on what kind of evidence was on the body. I think DNA would still be intact even in the sun after a few days. Definitely still enough evidence to ID the body.

*there is wind near water and the odor of a dead body travels and there's been dogs!

My understanding is that search dogs are different than cadaver dogs. The search dogs were following his normal scent rather than following the odor of human decay.

 

[alreetlike]

I feel like I'm sitting here desperately waiting for more information. I can't imagine what Bryce's poor family/friends must be going through.

 

[cluciano63]

I just can't think of a motive for a crime, without robbery being a factor. Unless...some kind of sexual encounter went bad?

 

[mayelf]

After reading the theories I think if this is to be Bryce I would think suicide too. You all are kinda right that murder doesn't make much sense - maybe if it was a rapist/murderer type and Bryce just was in the most unluckiest situation ever. The murderer left his body and then saw search teams and got scared so he didn't want his DNA showing up on the body and burnt it? But why the crash, why the circling with the car...

It just seems like erratic behavior you would see in someone very outside of themself. (I know that feeling). Maybe he was out there this whole time just spiraling into a low enough place that his only way out felt like he had to burn himself. I can't imagine he would have a lot of "materials" readily available to him being out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe he was hungry/thirsty possibly injured and already feeling so miserable it made it easier for him to do it. When I read the comments he made to others on his youtube (his youtube video is somewhere linked but too lazy to look for it) he seems to have some anger. Maybe it has formed into depression or even drugs that then formed into depression.

I also really like Astrokitty's post theory about maybe someone was trying to dispose of a body and make it look like it was Bryce. It seems like a stupid good idea so that is very possible.

Sorry just ideas that came to mind. I don't mean any disrespect to Bryce in any way. I know how hard life can be and with all my heart I hope he is okay and this isn't him.