CA CA - Bryce Laspisa, 19, Castaic, 30 Aug 2013 - #10

[Sweetluv]

caron...may I ask how you know Bryce? Ever since I seen this story on Disappeared, I check this thread often for updates. I can't imagine what the family must be going through....the uncertainty of it all! Many possibilities and scenarios....
caron, can you share your opinion on what may have occurred to this young man?

 

[caron]

caron...may I ask how you know Bryce? Ever since I seen this story on Disappeared, I check this thread often for updates. I can't imagine what the family must be going through....the uncertainty of it all! Many possibilities and scenarios....
caron, can you share your opinion on what may have occurred to this young man?

caron...may I ask how you know Bryce? Ever since I seen this story on Disappeared, I check this thread often for updates. I can't imagine what the family must be going through....the uncertainty of it all! Many possibilities and scenarios....
caron, can you share your opinion on what may have occurred to this young man?

My daughter lived in the dorms the room right next to Bryce their first year. They were very very close. I knew Bryce very well also. My daughter is Jessica. I also know Kim. Karen checks in with my daughter all the time just to say hi. Bryce always spoke so highly of his mom. why he just vanished is something that haunts everyone. There is no way he would just make a new life and ignore and hide from his mom. He partied and had fun but not more than the group he hung out with in the dorms. College was so much fun for him, and he strived to be successful. Having 4 adult children myself, that all went to college at Sierra or are now, instead of In Stockton.. Both my sons really struggled emotionally at 19-21. My son now is 20 at Sierra and figuring out his life is tough. Anyway, my daughter is in several photos with Bryce on his Facebook. I feel soo bad for Karen and Mike (his parents) they are just devastated today as much as they were the day he went missing.

 

[Sweetluv]

caron..thank you for sharing! Sounds like Bryce's disappearance has impacted not only his family, but friends and the community. As a parent myself, to have your child vanish must be gut wrenching.....I wish you and your family strength...and that one day, his parents will have the answers they so desperately need.
Someone must know something...

 

[rosesfromangels]

My daughter lived in the dorms the room right next to Bryce their first year. They were very very close. I knew Bryce very well also. My daughter is Jessica. I also know Kim. Karen checks in with my daughter all the time just to say hi. Bryce always spoke so highly of his mom. why he just vanished is something that haunts everyone. There is no way he would just make a new life and ignore and hide from his mom. He partied and had fun but not more than the group he hung out with in the dorms. College was so much fun for him, and he strived to be successful. Having 4 adult children myself, that all went to college at Sierra or are now, instead of In Stockton.. Both my sons really struggled emotionally at 19-21. My son now is 20 at Sierra and figuring out his life is tough. Anyway, my daughter is in several photos with Bryce on his Facebook. I feel soo bad for Karen and Mike (his parents) they are just devastated today as much as they were the day he went missing.

Caron: Thank you for joining us and sharing your insider insights. Your daughter, along with all of Bryce's friends and family must have ongoing grief about his disappearance.

You posted, (bolded by me), that: "...There is no way he would just make a new life and ignore and hide from his mom..."

I agree with your assessment, with the exception that if Bryce was experiencing disordered thinking by some unverified trigger, he could have fled. However, it is likely he would have been spotted, reached out, or found by now.

I think it's important to rule out what many people on this thread think is the most likely....he is in Caustic Lake.
I strongly suggest another search be conducted, and perhaps even Adventures With Purpose could be leveraged. They specialize in finding vehicles under water, but perhaps they could be helpful with their specialized sonar.

Surrounding Bryce's loved ones in prayer

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[caron]

Caron: Thank you for joining us and sharing your insider insights. Your daughter, along with all of Bryce's friends and family must have ongoing grief about his disappearance.

You posted, (bolded by me), that: "...There is no way he would just make a new life and ignore and hide from his mom..."

I agree with your assessment, with the exception that if Bryce was experiencing disordered thinking by some unverified trigger, he could have fled. However, it is likely he would have been spotted, reached out, or found by now.

I think it's important to rule out what many people on this thread think is the most likely....he is in Caustic Lake.
I strongly suggest another search be conducted, and perhaps even Adventures With Purpose could be leveraged. They specialize in finding vehicles under water, but perhaps they could be helpful with their specialized sonar.

Surrounding Bryce's loved ones in prayer

Amateur opinion and speculation

Remembering they spent a ton of time when Bryce went missing at Castaic with sonar searching the water. Also one group of dogs traced his trail out of the park where there was a trace near the water… Is Adventire with Purpose find bodies under water or are they more experienced with vehicles ?

 

[Valiant]

Remembering they spent a ton of time when Bryce went missing at Castaic with sonar searching the water. Also one group of dogs traced his trail out of the park where there was a trace near the water… Is Adventire with Purpose find bodies under water or are they more experienced with vehicles ?

Only vehicles

 

[rosesfromangels]

Remembering they spent a ton of time when Bryce went missing at Castaic with sonar searching the water. Also one group of dogs traced his trail out of the park where there was a trace near the water… Is Adventire with Purpose find bodies under water or are they more experienced with vehicles ?

There expertise is finding cars (and bodies in them), however, they are volunteer and if they are willing to look for remains, I'd let them. They will tell you if they can help...or not. Worth asking?

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[Sweetluv]

Bumping!

 

[chaddylex]

From the Find Bryce Laspisa Facebook Page

FIND BRYCE LASPISA

FIND BRYCE LASPISA. 30,787 likes · 52 talking about this. Bryce Laspisa has been missing since 08/30/2013. His Toyota Highlander was found crashed in Castaic, CA with all his personal belongings but...

www.facebook.com

8/30/2023 marks 10 years of Bryce being missing.
Every day a loved one goes missing. We share the pain with parents who have a missing child.
We grieve, while having hope for a miracle that Bryce will be found.
Age progression photo provided by NCMEC.

 

[10ofRods]

I truly believe I saw Brian near the Santa Clara riverbed, maybe 20 miles from where he went missing. This was 3 years ago. Person was begging for food (and local LE said probably also drugs) near a freeway exit, near the riverbed where lots of homeless live.

He did not look like this picture any longer. His sunburned skin had aged a great deal. He is much thinner. I did an age progression picture and posted it at businesses near that intersection (no response that I know of - but of course the numbers on the flier did not lead to me). I called police, of course (and they said that unless I still had him in my line of sight, which I did not, they could not respond).

I contacted the family's missing person page and the response was the same - was he currently in my line of sight? Then I should call police. They also said that he had been sighted a couple of years before in the same area.

So I look for him all the time. I have convinced several family and friends to do the same. I have shown his picture to students (closer to him in age).

I believe he is likely still alive. It's such a sad case. How I wish I'd reacted more quickly when I thought I saw him (part of a rushing flow of traffic at the time - went back an hour later after checking here to see his picture - he wasn't there). LE said that this particular freeway offramp spot was commonly used for panhandlers in the control of local drug dealers and told me where to look for the drug dealers' car. Meantime, that intersection has been torn up for major constructions (and the homeless encampment was disrupted by the construction and has moved upstream a bit - they aren't there in the rainy season at any rate).

So frustrating. The smile was still there, although inappropriate to the situation - panhandlers rarely have a big grin, which is what made me stare at him. I can give more details if contacted, of course.

IMO.

 

[chaddylex]

I truly believe I saw Brian near the Santa Clara riverbed, maybe 20 miles from where he went missing. This was 3 years ago. Person was begging for food (and local LE said probably also drugs) near a freeway exit, near the riverbed where lots of homeless live.

He did not look like this picture any longer. His sunburned skin had aged a great deal. He is much thinner. I did an age progression picture and posted it at businesses near that intersection (no response that I know of - but of course the numbers on the flier did not lead to me). I called police, of course (and they said that unless I still had him in my line of sight, which I did not, they could not respond).

I contacted the family's missing person page and the response was the same - was he currently in my line of sight? Then I should call police. They also said that he had been sighted a couple of years before in the same area.

So I look for him all the time. I have convinced several family and friends to do the same. I have shown his picture to students (closer to him in age).

I believe he is likely still alive. It's such a sad case. How I wish I'd reacted more quickly when I thought I saw him (part of a rushing flow of traffic at the time - went back an hour later after checking here to see his picture - he wasn't there). LE said that this particular freeway offramp spot was commonly used for panhandlers in the control of local drug dealers and told me where to look for the drug dealers' car. Meantime, that intersection has been torn up for major constructions (and the homeless encampment was disrupted by the construction and has moved upstream a bit - they aren't there in the rainy season at any rate).

So frustrating. The smile was still there, although inappropriate to the situation - panhandlers rarely have a big grin, which is what made me stare at him. I can give more details if contacted, of course.

IMO.

I feel like he is alive too, I am thinking mental illness and drugs combo and he is now homeless. I wonder if someone else has seen who you have seen also and reported him as potentially being Bryce? I wonder if his family still comes to the area of the homeless/panhandlers to see if they recognize him since its been 10 years.

 

[Deleted member 50844]

I contacted the family's missing person page and the response was the same - was he currently in my line of sight? Then I should call police

This shatters my heart. I have been watching Bryce’s story forever. My gut says he’s still alive, for so many reasons.
Family is maybe tired of false leads? Yikes that your tip was disregarded.

 

[Teche]

I feel that of all the missing, Bryce is one of the few who could still be alive, mentally ill, homeless, and panhandling. IMO, his mental illness and self-medication got the best of him when he was traveling home.

 

[Sweetluv]

August 30, 2013....10 years later, where is Bryce!!??

 

[10ofRods]

I have grown to understand the family's reasoning - and the police, too. There's just no way to detain these people by oneself (I thought a lot about what I'd do next time). I do sometimes see a homeless mentally person from "my" neighborhood in some other part of time, doing similar things. But mostly, I see a person just one or two times.

LE say that these people will just start walking if LEO's come up - and they have no right to detain them just because some lady says they look like a guy on a missing poster (this is the very definition of voluntarily missing - person is *not* in need of immediate assistance, such as that offered by police - that's the theory, anyway).

I was hoping that someone closer to Brian's age would see one of the posters and maybe strike up a conversation while contacting police (who would take forever to come in this non-911 situation - as it would likely have happened at the Burger King near where this kid was standing).

But what would I do? I could park and press the crosswalk button and hope he stayed on the middle strip of the road till I could get there and strike up a convo? I don't know what I'd actually do, as an older woman on a busy road near really fast moving cars, in an area known for drug dealing?

And his poor family likely knows all this plus more. The river bed is enormous. It's never been more habitable - flows fresh water year round. Is close to fast food and there's a food bank near it as well. It supplies a network of trails and sandbars that connect up with lagoons, oceans, creeks, barrancas. And there are lots of homeless here.

It's so frustrating. I wish I had at least gotten a picture - if I had, I would have started calling resource officers at local PD.

 

[rosesfromangels]

The reality is that despite youth being on his side, if Bryce was living on the rough and taking street drugs, he likely passed some time ago. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[Sweetluv]

Looks like the ID channel will be re running the show Disappeared this morning in regards to Bryces disappearance...titled Road To Nowhere.

 

[cnmccarthy]

I truly believe I saw Brian near the Santa Clara riverbed, maybe 20 miles from where he went missing. This was 3 years ago. Person was begging for food (and local LE said probably also drugs) near a freeway exit, near the riverbed where lots of homeless live.

He did not look like this picture any longer. His sunburned skin had aged a great deal. He is much thinner. I did an age progression picture and posted it at businesses near that intersection (no response that I know of - but of course the numbers on the flier did not lead to me). I called police, of course (and they said that unless I still had him in my line of sight, which I did not, they could not respond).

I contacted the family's missing person page and the response was the same - was he currently in my line of sight? Then I should call police. They also said that he had been sighted a couple of years before in the same area.

So I look for him all the time. I have convinced several family and friends to do the same. I have shown his picture to students (closer to him in age).

I believe he is likely still alive. It's such a sad case. How I wish I'd reacted more quickly when I thought I saw him (part of a rushing flow of traffic at the time - went back an hour later after checking here to see his picture - he wasn't there). LE said that this particular freeway offramp spot was commonly used for panhandlers in the control of local drug dealers and told me where to look for the drug dealers' car. Meantime, that intersection has been torn up for major constructions (and the homeless encampment was disrupted by the construction and has moved upstream a bit - they aren't there in the rainy season at any rate).

So frustrating. The smile was still there, although inappropriate to the situation - panhandlers rarely have a big grin, which is what made me stare at him. I can give more details if contacted, of course.

IMO.

Wait so he was smiling as he was panhandling? That’s super eerie.

 

[rosesfromangels]

Wait so he was smiling as he was panhandling? That’s super eerie.

Perhaps (whomever it is), that they learned smiling results in better donations? Alternatively, it could be an indication of diminished capacity; a childlike mind.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[10ofRods]

Wait so he was smiling as he was panhandling? That’s super eerie.

Absolutely. That's what caught my eye and he immediately looked SO familiar. Red-headed, freckled, big goofy smile, looked so vulnerable.

I did manage to give one of my age progression posters to an ER worker at the local county hospital - it was serendipity that I had one with me when I ran into them, but I had gotten it out due to you all!

I figure that might be a good place for people to know his face. Very sun damaged by now (as in, skin peeling, very sunburned).