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Bryce Laspisa · Justice For

• justice for: Have you ever heard a story where the more you learn about it, the less sense it makes? At first you think you understand where the story's going, then you hear one more detail, and suddenly you have to rethink everything you thought you knew. And then another detail comes along and you're left wondering how so many unanswered questions could possibly come from one story. There are those cases that tend to stick with me. Not necessarily because they're the most shocking, but because you spend hours looking at the timeline, going over what people said and what happened. And still find yourself coming back to the same question. What actually happened? Welcome back to another episode of Justice Four. We are your host. I'm Jackie. And I'm Sam. If that intro sounded familiar to you, it's because this is the episode we did at our live show at Voodoo. Yes. So, if you were not there, now you get to hear it. Welcome. We're sorry that we missed you, but You still get to hear what we talked about. Yeah. And if you happen to be at the live show and you are listening to this now, comment what you said during the show. Yes, please. Everyone needs to hear those comments. We have like the best audience participation for this case and at this live show. Yeah. I mean our other ones have been good, but this This one was different. This one was It did feel like we were all sitting in a living room talking about a case. Yeah. It's for sure. I mean, and that's exactly what we want. That's what we want. Every week when we join you on this couch, that's what we want when we have live shows. Yeah. We love it. And this one specifically, there was a couple of theories brought up that there's some pictures of me and her being like if you go look at our post from like recapping the night, I think it's the third picture in and it's like you can meet at the moment that the theory got presented to us and me and Sam were both like, my god, that makes sense. It's a great time. So thank you whoever took that picture 'cause was that Alicia? I think that was Alicia, yeah. So they're I don't know. Thank you again for the live show, everyone. Like I'm still reliving that high. We're riding that high. It is it was incredible. We cannot wait to do more. Yeah. I know we say that every time, but it was it was truly a great night. And thank you again, Voodoo, for having us. It's always a wonderful evening with them. You guys wanna know something super crazy? When we first started this podcast, we sat on this fucking couch. And we were like, we're never doing a live show. We'll never be able to do a live show because we can't control ourselves. We're too unhinged. But the thing is, like, y'all are also unhinged. Yeah, and it worked out really well. Turns out you guys are just as unhinged as we are. We get to be unhinged together. Yes. so on that note. Please go follow all of our socials Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Audible we're everywhere, man. Everywhere that you can type in Justice For Podcasts and find us, hit that follow. Welcome to all of our new subscribers. I'm really happy you're here. I will not make you sit here and listen to me, bitch, and talk and well you're you're gonna get. But we're we're done with the boring stuff now. Let's get into it. We're going to get into it. So there are some missing person cases where someone vanishes and the mystery begins in that exact moment. Someone leaves work, never comes home, someone goes for a walk and never returns. Or a car is found abandoned somewhere and suddenly everyone is trying to figure out where that person could have gone. But there are cases, like Bryce Lapisa's, where the real mystery starts hours, if not days, before he actually disappears. Because when you look at the twenty four to forty eight hours leading up to D Bryce's disappearance, there are so many moments where the people around him realize that something just wasn't quite right. His girlfriend was concerned about him, his roommate was concerned about him, and his parents were worried enough that they were repeatedly checking in on him. The problem is that nobody knew what any of those things meant at the time. Hindsight's a bitch when you can put everything together and look at it. It really is, genuinely. Nobody knew that they were looking at the final hours before a nineteen year old college student would disappear without a trace. There wasn't one obvious moment where everyone suddenly realized that Bryce was in danger. Instead, there was a series of small, strange decisions. That seemed increasingly difficult to explain. And then Bryce was gone. Bryce wasn't completely isolated. Yes, somehow nobody was able to figure out what was really happening in his head. I still don't know what was happening in his head, okay? Same. There there was a theory put out that we'll probably bring up later that actually makes a lot of sense to me. I think it only makes sense because there's nothing else. I don't know, there's a few theories. We'll we'll we'll get there. We'll get there. Mm-hmm. This case is probably one of the most well-known missing person cases around. There are many podcasts and documentaries on it. Dateline had it at one point. And now it's our turn to talk about it. Because even if many people have talked about it before, it still needs to be talked about to this day. And I'm I'm glad that you know what? It is true. It might be one of the most known and talked about missing persons cases. But at our life no one had heard this. It took me halfway through the show to recognize it because I the name sounded familiar, the pictures were looking familiar, and I just couldn't figure out why other than the fact that Bryce looks like my husband in high school. That was fogging my brain. But only one other listener had heard of this. And of course it's our listener who always knows the case. So every live show she has heard. of our case before, even if she doesn't know it by heart. she's heard of it, but she didn't have like set details on it. No, and that's how I was too. I have listened to one podcast on it and I just like it certain details stuck back out to me as she went through it. Yep, yep, yep, yep. So let me tell you about it, y'all. Bryce La Pisa was born on April thirtieth of nineteen ninety four in Springfield, Illinois. And he was the only child of Karen and Michael Les Pisa. Everyone described him as creative, outgoing. He was someone you could really get along with. And his parents were very proud of him. And they were actually all very close, especially him and Karen. He was like your typical like 2010s teen. First. At this point. Like he the most typical. The pictures, the life, all of it. It's it's very yeah. Normal. Yeah, absolutely. After Bryce graduated from Naperville Central High School in twenty twelve, his parents retired and moved the family to California, settling settling in Laguna Nigel in Orange County. So fancy. Bougie. Bougie bougie area. Bryce eventually moved to Roseville so he could attend Sierra College, where he was studying graphic and industrial design. He absolutely loved the program and was apparently a very gifted artist. He also made a very good group of friends. He seemed like he was like just like a genuinely outgoing person. Yeah, I mean it's the twenty tens. We have I mean, yeah, we have cell phones, but they're not we're not doing everything we're doing on them now. I mean, yeah, your Instagram you're doing that, but we don't have TikTok yet. This is We barely have YouTube shorts. We are still like living in the moment. In twenty digital cameras. This was twenty thirteen twenty twelve is when he graduated and went to his first year in college. Twenty thirteen is when he first started or like this is where this story takes place is twenty thirteen. And Facebook was in its baby days. I mean it was in its baby days. It'd been around for I mean, we're probably like a solid like four or so years out of college kids only being able to use it. Yeah. At this point and Ugh, I was still ranking my friends. yeah. So just he just you know Yeah. This is a time of very much living on vibes. We don't have a Facebook status for everything. We don't have stories on Instagram and Snapchats that were s I mean like we do have Snapchat but it's not like what Snapchat is now. Did we have Snapchat back? Snapchat was right or new I remember twenty twenty new because like Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. I remember I had it in twenty twelve. I have a phone that could do all the filters and I remember really wanting to upgrade my phone so I could do the Snapchat filters on Nicole as a baby. The dog filter. And I didn't have an upgraded phone enough to get the filters on it. So Snapchat was in its its its infancy because I remember I don't have any Snapchat filter baby pictures of Nicole. I didn't get that until she's like one or two. Aww. Yeah. Boo. But just for like the simplicity of what life is, we're not we don't have SnapMaps to track everybody. We're not using Life 360 We're not constantly posting on a story. You know what I mean? Like we're not just so like to give a time. This was the time I feel like Facebook, you were like Sam is watching South Park feels great. Because what y'all don't understand is like originally Facebook wasn't just like a poster status. It would ask you a question. And it would change sometimes like how are you feeling? What are you doing? Like, what's going on? And so you kind of like you're Status was an answer to a question that nobody asked. I love shit. So just keep in mind this isn't the time of like instant connection and knowing where everybody is and having eighteen different platforms to access them. Yeah, we're saying iPhones. Yeah, some people still have flip phones. We're bouncing between cricket's got a smartphone. my god. Team Cobal does. I haven't heard cricket in a minute. Alright, let's keep going. He was also very close with his roommate who was named Sean Dixon. I'm sorry, I do not have a photo of him. but he was also dating another Sierra College student named Kim Sly, which I do have plenty of photos of, you can see here. From his parents' perspective, Bryce seemed to be doing really well. He was excited about going back to school and having his sophomore year in college. He had tons of people around him that cared about him. And when they dropped him off for the brand new school year, there wasn't anything that made them think their son was about to be the center of a missing person case. But just a couple weeks later, literally two weeks after they dropped him off, Sean and Kim started noticing that Bryce started acting different. They were particularly concerned about how much he was drinking. Bryce had always enjoyed going out and partying, But Sean later described his alcohol use as much more extreme than what he had seen from Bryce before. So kind of like are we more like bordering into like binge drinking a little bit? Yes. Okay. He was also drinking hard liquor, not just like a six second beer tonight or like some Mike's Hard Lemonade. That was a big thing in twenty thirteen. Bro, it's still a big thing. Twisted cheese. But he was drinking hard liquor heavily. And he had also started taking Vivants. If you don't know what Vivance is, it is a stimulant medication normally prescribed for ADHD. I did find out that it is extremely addictive. Yeah, it's a controlled substance. like ADHD meds are. so yeah, it's if you don't need it and you take it Well, we all know the riddling craze of the nineties. Ugh. Or Adderall Ritalin. Same same effects. So. Mm-hmm. I think it was it was the Ritalin for sure. Bryce didn't have ADHD all. And he actually told Kim that he started taking it because he wanted to stay awake and play video games. I mean, typical college boy thing. Okay. But he probably thought it was safer than a monster. But also mixing it with hard liquor. Ooh, yikes. And remember, he doesn't have a prescription for this, so he's just getting this from people, right? Yeah. Since he doesn't have ADHD, he wasn't getting prescription for I'm sure there was like college kids. Selling theirs, selling out theirs. I get that money somehow, you know what I'm saying? According to the people around him, the combination of the drinking and the drug use seemed to be affecting his personality, like Ex extremely shocking. Yeah. He was becoming super anxious and skittish and paranoid. And eventually Sean and Kim both confronted him about what was going on. They wanted to know why he was behaving this way and whether like ha did something happen to him. Like, yo bro, what the fuck is going on? Did something happen? Why are you doing this? We love some concerned friends. Especially you know what? Say something to your friends. I know it's hard and it can be awkward or weird, but like Say it. Say something to your friends when you think you're having a problem with your life. And if you're not friends anymore after you like try to say something to help them, then you aren't as good of friends as you thought you were. Or or I've actually so I'm a very blunt person. I I just come out and say shit. Sorry. I'm not sorry, actually. I've r ruined many of friendships because I call someone out on their shit and many of those people have come back and been like, I was in a bad place, you pulled me out of it. Thank you for that. And I'm friends with a good majority of them again. I've lost a couple of friends. Yeah. Because I'm being a good friend and I'm not gonna let you go down the path you're going down. Yeah. I wouldn't be a good friend if I let you to continue self destruct. So I'm okay with losing a friend because I tried to help them. It I don't lose any sleep over that. Same. I'm not being a bitch to be a bitch the majority of the time. Real friend i if you care about your friends, you say the hard shit. Yeah. That's probably why our friendship has lasted so long. Because we We say the hard shit. We fucking communicate really well. So personally. Bryce's response to them though was essentially nothing's wrong. He told them he's fine, I'm just drinking, I'm having a good time, and doing what he wanted to do. Which I mean, what what can you really do whenever somebody you know, you can only someone can only hurt help themselves if they want to be helped. Precisely. You know, help someone who doesn't want to help themselves. That's what I'm trying to say right there. You know what I mean? But of course, Sean and Kim did not believe him, thankfully. And I think that's important because they weren't people who had just like casually interacted with him. Like these were two of the closest people to him and independently of each other, they were both reaching the same conclusion. That something about Bryce seemed very wrong. So then, August twenty eighth, twenty thirteen, things became even stranger. Bryce and Sean were at their apartment together when Bryce suddenly told Sean that he wanted to give him something. He took out a pair of diamond earrings and handed it to him. I have multiple pictures that you can see him wearing these earrings by just like a rent like was it a specific pair of diamond earrings or just Sean knew these earrings had been giving to br been given to Bryce by his mother. So he questioned why Bryce would give them away. Yeah, that's weird. Mm-hmm. Bryce didn't really have an explanation beyond telling him that he wanted Sean to have them because Sean was very important to him. Yeah. Okay, romance. Level a thousand. Yeah. And before Sean could really figure out what to do with that, Bryce was also like, also, here's my Xbox. That's weird. Yeah. Now, if you were Sean, I could imagine that would be like kind of uncomfortable. You're sitting there with your friend and he suddenly starts handling handing you some of his most valuable possessions. Do they live together or does it Yeah, they live together. They live together. Kim lives elsewhere. But also like, bro, why don't just be like you can use my Xbox whenever you want? No, he wanted him to have it. I know. This is your Xbox now, not my Xbox. That's so interesting. Mm-hmm. It's kind of like I don't know. I know if that started happening with me, it would make me start questioning. Like, are you not telling me something? Is everything okay? Yeah. and you know, Sean did feel that exact same way. And like so they're standing there after Bryce is giving him all this stuff, and Bryce is just texting someone on his phone, like rapid, just rapid. Yeah, and let's be real, it was probably T9 still. T nine, so it was snip sip. Wait. It's twenty thirteen. Yeah. There's a possibility that it was the LG flip phone that had the full keyboard inside of it. Period. Everyone in my life knew that it was serious when I flipped that keyboard open. I understand. I understand completely. Either way, he's going to town on his phone and Sean was like sitting there watching him and Bryce was like, I've just broke up with Kim. Huh. Mm-hmm. that didn't make much sense to Sean either, because like as far as he knew, Bryce and Kim were very close. They recently just spent time together and there was no obvious indication that there was a single problem between them. So what's going on? Right. And before Sean could ask him this, Bryce left. Bryce left their apartment. Okay. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. So Sean's sitting there. Watching his friend give away valuable belongings, suddenly ending a relationship that didn't appear to be in trouble at all, and then just left. wait, hold on. Also, he received a text from Bryce that said, quote, I love you, bro, seriously. You are the best person I've ever met. You saved my soul. End quote. That's a really weird text to send. All I'm saying is if all of these things happened very quickly with someone in my life, something's wrong. I know. I know. 72-hour grippy sock vacation hole? Here, I wore my grippy socks, you guys. Just in case. that's just so weird. Yeah. Something is wrong. And Sean knew it. And that's when he decided to call Bryce's parents. Yeah, don't be scared to call your parents' friends. Your f your friends' parents. I do also call my parents' friends if I needed to. don't be scared to do that. I've had to call my friends' parents before. Same. Do it. Karen answered the phone, and Sean explained that Bryce had been acting strangely. He said his drinking and drug use had become very concerning, and that he didn't think Bryce would be behaving this way unless something was going on. So Karen was basically like, okay, let me call him, let me figure out what's going on. And before Karen could even call her son, Kim was calling her. the now ex girlfriend. Yes. Kim told Karen that Bryce had shown up to her apartment and she was very concerned about his behavior, so she took away his keys because she didn't want him driving anywhere. So now Karen's hearing essentially the same thing. From two completely different people in Bryce's inner circle. So she asked Kim to give him the phone. As any mother would. Yeah. So Karen gets on the phone with him and is like, hey man, what's going on? She also said that he sounded completely normal while talking to him. He told her he had broken up with Kim, that the breakup was messy and he just wanted to go back to his apartment. He told her the reason he hadn't left yet is because Kim just won't give him his keys. But Karen wasn't like completely convinced. So what do you mean? You know, she knew her son. She just found it strange that these two people had independently contacted her because they were worried about him. Yeah. So she asked Bryce to stay where he was and told him she was gonna fly north the next morning so she could see her see him herself. And he was far apart is their house in California to school. So from school to Laguna Nigel. was about ten hours. Like driving? Yes. Okay. So flying up is definitely a quicker option. Correct. I will have some maps up later. Not right now. Later. You guys can see it. So she's like, I'm coming up there. Stay where you're at. I'll be up there in the morning. And Bryce was like any mom would. hopefully. Yeah. Yeah. And Bryce was like, no, no no no, I'm fine. It's fine. Everything's fine. It's fine. Don't come up here. One more Ross and I'll believe Huh? One more, Ross, and I'll believe it. I'm fine. Why is my voice so high? He told his mother he did actually have a lot to talk to her about, but he didn't want to discuss it over the phone with her, so he would see her later and talk about it. Bryce and Karen apparently had a very open relationship. They talked about Everything. She knew her son very well. So for Bryce to tell her that he had something important he needed to talk about while refusing to also tell her what it was was understandably kind of unsettling. Me personally, you can't tell me things like that. Also, like I feel like there's this unwritten rule in the true crime world that if you need to tell somebody something, you need to tell them. Because every person who goes, I have to tell you something important, but I have to tell you later in person never makes it to the in person time. Yeah. Like if anyone ever messages me, Hey, we need to talk about something, I'm gonna throw up if you don't tell me what it is right now. And same Z's This is why we have group chats and Snapchat and because texting is too much sometimes. My boss will legit be like, Hey, I need to talk to you about something and then follow it up with you. You're not in trouble, I promise. I have learned to start doing that with people at work too. Yeah. So Okay. I just want to talk to you. Yeah. It's in the way you say it too. Don't don't send that to people. Just tell them. Just just legitimately tell them real quick. It's fine. Like I'll send some messages to her and be like, my God, I can't believe this. Go check Snapchat. Yeah. So do that. Do that. Karen did eventually put Michael on the phone and he also spoke with Bryce. Michael came away believing his son was totally okay. Bryce continued to say the problem was simply the breakup and he just wanted his keys back so he could leave. So Karen got back on the phone and reluctantly asked Kim to give Bryce his keys, and she did. And Bryce left. Okay. He left at about eleven thirty that night. He was in his Highlander getting ready to leave, and Karen called him one more time. She told him to go home and asked him to call as soon as he arrived so she was no she knew he would be safe. Bryce was like, okay. About an hour and a half later, at one AM in the morning, Bryce called his mother and told him that that or told her that sh he was home safely at his apartment. Also I don't he he didn't she didn't live that far away. No. And so I'm like I'm really curious about why Karen didn't call him back in the time before one AM. Yeah. To be like, did you make it home? Mm hmm I don't know. Karen and Michael were relieved though. Yeah. Knowing Yeah, he's home. He's safe. It's fine. They had been worried about him all night, and now their son's telling him that he's home and safe, and as far as they knew, the such the situation had completely settled down. They'll talk to him in the morning, and maybe whatever had been going on would make more sense after everyone has slept. Then around eleven AM on August twenty ninth, so the very next morning, Karen received an automated call from her car insurance company telling her that roadside assistance had recently been used for the family's 2003 Toyota Highlander, which is Bryce's car. Yeah. And Karen immediately knew that something didn't add up. The last time she had spoken with Bryce, he told her that he was safely back at his apartment. And as far as she knew, there was no reason that he would have needed roadside assistance. So she calls him. Yeah. And he didn't answer. So then she called Sean and he answered. But when Karen asked to speak with Bryce, Sean was like, he's not here. He didn't even come home last night. But he called her and said that she he was at home. What do you mean? What do you mean he didn't come home last night? Yeah. Karen and Michael were obviously alarmed, but before immediately assuming the worst, they started looking into ways to find out where Bryce could have gone. Like, smart enough, they checked. the credit card that they had given him and found a recent charge at a car repair shop in Button Willow, California. Where the heck is Button Willow, California? Mm Button Willow is a small town along Interstate Five, roughly halfway between Sierra College and the La Pisa's family home. I just cut something. His mom told him to go home and then come whenever he got home. I wonder if he was he didn't go to his apartment, he went home. He started heading to the To like his house house. Well why would he have called them? I don't know. Probably 'cause he's like, it's late. I should tell them I'm home. I don't know, maybe I don't know. I don't know. And it's mostly because Sean said that he never came home. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So suddenly, Karen and Michael had a little bit of a possible explanation. Maybe he hadn't actually gone home, even though he said he did. And maybe he had simply gotten into his car and started driving south because he wanted to come Home to their house. Okay, so you know, having the same thought process his parents are having and talking to his parents in person about whatever it was that he said he needed to tell them. And you know, maybe his car broke down. Does that make sense? Okay. So Karen, being the little detective she is, called the repair shop and spoke to a man named Christian who explained that he is the one that responded to Bryce's roadside assistance call. Bryce had run out of gas and Christian had brought him three gallons so he could go to the gas station and then continue driving on. Makes sense. Yeah. I have also run out of gas many times. Many times and called Triple A and they bring me a little A little gas can, they fill it up, and then you get to your gas station. Yep. Yep, that has happened to me. So Karen asked Christian whether he knew where Bryce was going next, because men talk. you know, conversations, I guess. but he didn't. He did actually offer to drive back to the rest stop where he has seen Bryce to j just see if he still happens to be there. It had already been a few hours, so Christian didn't really expect Bryce to still be there. But like what an offer to. We're in a small are we in like a small town. It's small. Okay. It's a small town. It's a little bit more California hostility than a city. and it's not right on the co like i obviously there's a coast there, but it's not like right next to the ocean. It's inward a little yeah. Farming. There's a lot of farming in the pictures. Christian headed back to the rest stop and he arrived there about noon. And he saw the Highlander. Bryce's Highlander. Still at the rest stop? Still at the rest stop where he had left him. He walked up to it and Bryce was sitting inside. And according to Christian, he wasn't doing anything. He was just sitting behind the wheel, staring straight ahead. Just sitting there staring? Yeah. Just sitting there staring. Okay. I didn't expect to find him, but okay. Especially since it had been hours. Yeah. Christian walked up to the driver's side window and got Bryce's attention. He told him that his parents were very worried and that he needed to like you need to talk to your parents, man. But Christian is actually the one that called Karen and then handed the phone to Bryce. Okay. And when Karen got on the phone, she asked him, What the fuck are you still doing in Button Willow? Why are you still at this rest stop? What is going on? And Yeah. Yeah. And Bryce didn't really give her an explanation. He just kept telling her he was fine. He's just sitting there. Eventually Karen stopped trying to get an explanation and simply asked him just fill up the car with gas and drive straight home. And Bryce said, Okay. Christian watched Bryce leave the rest stop. And as he drove away, he apparently had this impression that Bryce wasn't actually in a hurry to go anywhere. But Christian figured Bryce just talked to his mom. He'll eventually make his way home. Yeah. Mm-hmm. The drive from Button Willow to Laguna Nu Nigel is Only a few hours, about three hours to be exact. Here is a small map. You can see Button Willow, you can see their house, and there's a blurred part, you'll figure out in a minute. So the Lapisas expected their son to r arrive later that afternoon, probably around three. And around three thirty, Bryce still hadn't shown up. So Karen starts calling him. He didn't answer, so she kept calling him and he still wasn't answering. And the longer it went on, the more worried his parents became. Well yeah. And by around six PM that evening, he still wasn't home and he still wasn't answering them. So they officially reported Bryce as missing to the police. The fuck? Yeah. Police contacted by the way, they went friggin' hard, okay, as soon as they got this missing person. The police contacted Bryce's cell phone provider and were able to use cell phone tower information to determine that his phone was still in the Button Willow area. What the fuck is he still doing in Button Willow? The phone was only a few miles away from the rest stop where Christian had last seen Bryce, but now it was in the parking lot of a hotel. The police went to go check the parking lot of the hotel, and sure enough, there was Bryce's Toyota Highlander sitting in the parking lot. They walked up to the window, and wouldn't you know it? Bryce is inside, alive and well. They knocked on his window and he rolled it down and spoke to him. They told him that I'm sorry, the police told him that his parents were very worried about him, but he also seemed normal. He was friendly. Because obviously we're not being normal. Yeah, yeah. But he was being friendly and lucid. He was answering all of their questions. There's there's actually a report that he told police that he was quote, just blowing off steam, end quote. By by sitting in a in a in a parking lot and staring straight out the windshield? For hours. It's been hours. But yeah. Just mm hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. So from the officer's perspective, Bryce wasn't saying like I'm in trouble. I don't know what I'm doing. He was essentially saying he just needed to get away for a while. They did actually eventually perform field sobriety tests on him, which he passed all of them. they also searched his vehicle and found no drugs, no alcohol, and nothing suspicious. Interesting. So once again, the people who were worried about Bryce were faced with a very confusing situation. His friends thought something was wrong. His girlfriend thought something was wrong. His parents thought something was wrong. But then the police find him. Mul multiple people, including the police. I've never seen a missing person be found so many times. Yeah. Before they go missing. Yeah. But they found him and he wasn't obviously intoxicated or injured or any type of physical crisis. He was just sitting in his car. Which isn't a crime, but it's weird. It's a little weird. When the officers did ask him what he was doing, he didn't really have an answer. He just said he was going home, but he didn't seem like particularly eager. to go. And I mean he's nineteen, so like they can't really like make him Yeah. Or do any you know? It's just free will isn't absolutely a thing. You can sit in your vehicle. Yeah. I actually love my vehicle time my car time. Yeah. By myself. I love that shit. N not for that long though. he also did not seem particularly eager to call his parents. And the officers encouraged him to call his mother. And he hesitated. So one of the officers actually had him dial his mom's number and took the phone so he could speak to Karen himself. I like this officer. Mm-hmm. The officer told Karen that Bryce was okay, he was sober, and there was nothing obviously happening that would explain why he's still in Button Willow. He then hands the phone to Bryce. Karen asked him, Bruh What the fuck? What are you doing after all of these hours? Why are you still there? What is going on? And again, Bryce didn't have an explanation. He just told her that he was fine and he would be home soon. And eventually Karen decided to change c tactics. Instead of continuing to ask him what was wrong, what's happening? She just finally decided to simply ask him, Please go get something to eat. Get some coffee. Pull yourself together. Pull yourself together. Your yesterday. Yes. And drive home. Please. And Bryce said, Okay. Like he does, yep. The officer was satisfied that Bryce wasn't in immediate danger and left. It's just so weird. Yep. So at this point, Karen and Michael are now under the a assumption that he's getting some food, he's getting some coffee and driving home. Yeah. He keeps saying he's gonna do it. Why wouldn't you believe him? Because he hasn't done it up to this point, but he's okay. About an hour later, Christian, the roadside assistants guy, decided to call Karen to check on Bryce, make sure he was okay. Also, how fucking nice is that? Right. Like that's such a that's such a small town thing to do. Like To call and check back on that. That must have been like sitting on his heart, you know? Like most people would never do that unless they like genuinely felt that something was wrong. Yeah. But Karen told him that the police found him and that she was confident he was finally on his way home. Christian did offer to drive back over just to make sure that Bryce had actually left. And Karen like, No no no, it's not necessary. It's fine, he's on his way home. But good guy Christian Decided to go anyway. And when he arrived at the hotel parking lot, Bryce was still there. What the fuck? He was still sitting in his Highlander and still staring straight ahead. Blowing off that steam. Yeah, he was. This time, Christian goes up to him and was a little bit more direct with him. He told him, Bryce, Bro, your parents are fucking worried about you. You need to leave. He even told Bryce that he would follow him on the highway to make sure he was actually heading home. And Bryce agreed. Bryce said, Okay. Christian followed him on the highway and stayed behind him for about an hour. my gosh, that's a long time. It also just dawned on me that means he did get gas. Also. Yeah. So he went and got gas. He did actually go get gas. Yeah. So. But yeah, he stayed on the highway with him. for about an hour. And during that drive nothing seemed particularly alarming. Bryce wasn't driving erratically, he wasn't swerving, he wasn't doing anything that would suggest that he was about to intentionally hurt himself or someone else. So like it was fine. It was a normal drive. Yeah. And eventually Christian felt comfortable enough that he pulled alongside him, waved goodbye, and turned around and headed back to Button Willow. For the first time in hours, it seemed like Bryce was actually going home. And then Karen called him again and Bryce answered. Finally also, finally. Yeah. Wait, wait, wait a finally answer her phone call, buddy. Mm-hmm. She wanted him to give her landmarks along the way so she could make sure he was really driving towards their house, but Bryce couldn't or wouldn't tell him, tell them where he was. He just told her it's Too dark outside, he couldn't see anything outside of his vehicle. His parents were frustrated and worried, but eventually they stopped pushing. And around two in the morning, Bryce told them he was simply way too tired to keep driving and that he needed to pull over and sleep. Which is, I mean, a good safe choice. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And initially Karen and Michael wanted him to keep going because he was getting closer to being home. Yeah. But then they realized something important. Bryce had been awake for almost 24 hours. If he was exhausted, maybe stopping really would be the safest thing that he could do. So they agreed it was a good idea for him to stop and sleep a bed. They told him to pull over, get some sleep, call them as soon as he woke up, and Bryce said, Okay. His favorite response? Yep. Unfortunately. That was the last time Karen and Michael ever spoke to their son. Around eight in the morning, Karen and Michael were still waiting. They hadn't heard from Bryce, but they tried to convince themselves that he was simply sleeping. After everything that happened, maybe he was just completely drained, completely exhausted, and had just slept longer than he ex had expected to. I mean, he had been up for twenty four hours. He was driving, doing all of this. So yeah, I mean I get that, you know, not Probably not setting an alarm or something else. You're just gonna sleep until you wake up. Absolutely. And then their doorbell rang. And for a second they were like, it's probably Bryce. It was not. It was a police officer, and the officer asked them whether they owned a 2003 Toyota Highlander. I'm pretty sure they're tired of this question being asked to them in the past twenty-four hours. Do you have a 2003 Toyota Highlander? Do you own one? Karen and Michael immediately knew something was wrong. The officer told them that their son's vehicle had been found near Costaeg Lake at the bottom of a ravine. And the details of what investigators found would make the situation even more confusing. As if it's not confusing enough as it is. I know, right? The Highlander had gone about fifteen feet down the ravine before coming to rest on its passenger side near Main Ramp Road and just a few hundred feet from Lake Hughes Road. The vehicle had apparently been discovered somewhere between four twenty AM and five fifteen that morning by law enforcement officers who were actually in the area doing a training exercise. So like just a couple hours after he got off the phone and said that he was gonna pull over to go to sleep. Yes, 'cause it was about two AM so two and a half to three hours. Afterwards they found the vehicle like this, okay. Yep. But Bryce wasn't inside the vehicle this time. That that's surprising, 'cause he's been in the vehicle up to this point, every single time. Yeah. His cell phone, wallet, laptop, and clothing were reportedly still inside the vehicle. According to Bryce's family, it appeared that he had used an emergency tool to To break the rear window and then climbed out through that opening. So investigators were looking at a crashed vehicle, a broken rear window, and a missing 19 year old who had somehow gotten out of the SUV and is now disappeared. Yeah, so interesting. So of course, the first immediate question, where the fuck did Bryce go after he climbed out? And they officially made him a missing person again. Okay. Mm-hmm. The search for Bryce was massive. Deputies and search and rescue teams searched the area around Castac Lake and the surrounding mountains, both on foot and using UTVs as well as ATV V ATV V ATV's literally has vehicles. In it. All terrain vehicles to get into more remote trails. Yeah. Search dogs were actually brought in. Helicopters search from above and mounted deputies search the rough terrain on horseback. I always love a good mounted deputy. She really does. I do. She really does. They searched the lake itself by boat and divers went underwater along the shoreline. They were checking roads, trails, the lake, surrounding mountains, like I said, local businesses, hotels, and even hospitals looking for any sign of Bryce. And they kept doing it day after day. But nothing. That's crazy. Yeah. No Bryce, no clear trail, no answers. Days went by, then more days, and still there was no sign of him. As investigators starting pulling together a timeline, they found something very strange. There was a surveillance camera on Lake Hughes Road near Kastaic Lake that was set up to photograph the license plates of vehicles traveling up the road. Okay. So it's only on like one side of the road? Correct. It's not both directions, only one way. And when investigators went back to look through those images, they found Bryce's Highlander. Okay. The first image was taken at about 2 15 in the morning. So six minutes after Bryce had told his mom that he was going to pull over and get some sleep. And then they found another image from the exact same camera. at four twenty nine AM and it was Bryce's Highlander again travelling up the same road in the same direction. That's just so weird. Like is this like an area that's like a loop? No. Like is it like you can make like a loop around the lake? You can make I mean maybe but he would still have had to have turned around. at some point, like not just doing a big loop. To come back on that road again. Yeah. With that. And especially where his vehicle was, like the road that it came down from? Yeah. I don't believe was a loop. Okay. Where was he for those two hours? I don't know. so to piggyback off what you just said, there was more than two hours between those two images. So like what the fuck was he doing? We genuinely don't know. For somebody who likes to sit in a parking lot and just stare through the windshield, now we have two hours of a lot of movement we can't explain. Yeah. Was he driving around? Did he stop somewhere? Was he circling the area? Like we don't we don't know. Did he take a wrong turn and then come back through on that road? I have a thought. Okay. But we're gonna come back to it when we get into theories. And but like what we do know about the four twenty nine in the morning is that Bryce was still driving. And about an hour later, his Highlander w would be found crashed at the bottom of the embankment. And we don't know if that crash happened right after, if it happened later on or when. We just know when it was found. Correct. Like but it happened somewhere between two nineteen Right? Was when that camera caught him. Or two fifteen or whatever. It happened somewhere between two fifteen. Two fifteen and four twenty nine. Twenty nine. When the two images happened. And his vehicle was found somewhere between four twenty nine to five fifteen in the morning. So less than an hour. So that ha happened after four twenty nine. Okay. Correct. So that's crazy. On the n that just like I I don't know how quickly these officers started their search either. Because if it I doubt they would have started a search right away. who knows, maybe. I mean, obviously they're gonna start a search of the area because Someone could have. I'm gonna I'm gonna get a little ahead of you on here. That's fine because you haven't mentioned it yet. But they did find blood inside the vehicle. Yes, I did meant I forgot to mention that actually in here. So his blood was on the inside of the windshield. So And it was confirmed to be his blood. Clearly they're gonna do a small scale search of around the area to find who the occupant was inside this because even if you could be injured. You didn't do accident and run. Yes. You know, because people will do that if they have DUIs and they've been drinking and driving. Yes. But So I know that they did like a small search around the area and it probably turned into a larger scale search whenever they showed up at the parents' house and then discovered that he had already been reported missing and now we're on a really big thing. Yeah. I'm just saying I personally believe at this point that the crash happened very quickly after that second image was taken. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. Cause he booked it quick. Yeah. I'll tell you that. So on the ninth day of searching, investigators bought brought in bloodhounds, sorry, one, one singular bloodhound to see whether they could determine which direction Bryce had gone in after leaving the vehicle. The dog did pick up his scent at the crash site and followed it down towards the lake. The trail continued around the lake, across a bridge, and then up an access road towards a nearby truck stop. And then the scent stopped. Completely stopped. Okay. That's strange enough on its own, but investigators weren't willing to assume that a dog had simply made a mistake with that, so they decided to bring in a second bloodhound. And the second dog reportedly followed essentially the exact same route from the crash site down toward the lake, around the lake to the bridge, across the bridge. Up the road towards the truck stop and then once again the trail ended. Okay. There was no obvious explanation for where Bryce had gone after that. I don't know, in my mind personally, I kind of feel like there's an obvious explanation. That he got into a a semi truck and hitched a ride either with them knowing or not knowing. Precisely. And then after about two weeks of searching Costaic Lake. something did change. Bryce's parents announced that they believed their son had actually left the wreck area. They had spoken with detectives and said that the search evidence and investigative findings were pointing them away from the lake and the surrounding area. In other words, after spending days looking for Bryce as if he would still somehow be near the crash site, they were now being told the real possibility is he's gotten out of there. No fucking way. Which is crazy. I mean, makes a lot more sense because there's no signs of him turning up and the scents do leave right there, so it would point to him leaving either hitchhiking with a semi truck or them not knowing that he is on their truck with them. Yes, yeah. So basically his parents are saying he survived the crash. No shit. clearly there wasn't a body, so of course he survived it. What if he had climbed out of the Highlander, walked away from the scene, and made it out of the area. His parents even said he could have been confused, troubled, or embarrassed, but they still believed there was a chance he was out there somewhere. So the search began to expand and that's where the ATVs and the U T Vs and the mounted officers 'cause they started searching the mountains and everywhere else around. They did also start looking at shelters, hospitals, other organizations, and following possible sightings whenever they did come in. Then, a few days into the search, something happened that had everyone wondering if they were about to get the worst possible answer. A cyclist reported what looked like a brush fire near Lake Hughes Road, about three miles from where investigators were searching for Bryce. When firefighters arrived, they realized it wasn't a brush fire at all. It was a Burned human body. Okay. And you can imagine what that did to Bryce's family. Yeah. They were already desperate for any sign of their son, and suddenly human remains had been found miles, not even a like in the same area where they're searching for him. Yeah. For a moment there was real fear that this could be Bryce. Unfortunately, investigators eventually determined that the remains belonged to someone else and they were not connected to Bryce's disappearance. The burned remains were ultimately identified as thirty five year old Lamondre Miles, a Los Angeles homicide victim rather than Bryce. Yes, this is now on my list for a future episode. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So I mean I mean at least they figured out who that person is. but we still don't know where Bryce is. Correct. This is also a point, you guys, during the live show that someone brought up. What if Bryce killed this guy? And I was like, I don't think so. Let's say But you also can't rule it out. But I also d have not deep dived into this episode, so I don't know for sure. Some of y'all's theories about this body was Taking us out and we loved it. This is the kind of participation we want. we'd love to know what y'all are yelling at the screens when you're listening at home. But this theory, y'all, y'all took this one and ran with it at the live and it was great. I liked it. I have not looked into it, but I will and we will confirm hopefully this theory in a later episode. I will let you know. The search continued roughly three weeks before it was eventually called off. And even though the official search had ended, Bryce's family was not giving up. Exactly one month after Bryce disappeared, fifty family members and friends gathered for a candlelight visual called Light the Way Home for Bryce. The main visual was held at Castag Lake, just a short distance from where Bryce's Highlander had been found. And at the same time, people gathered in Rockland, California, where Bryce had been attending Sierra College. And in Naperville, Illinois, where he had grown up and attended high school. That's really cool though. I like how coordinated that all was. Like it was happening all at the same time too. I love that. Yes, absolutely. They lit candles and glow sticks for Bryce. They shared memories of him. They talked about the person they knew before he disappeared. His mother even said this. Quote, We all hope and pray and we know we will be able to rejoice one day. End quote. And I think that the name of the visual says a lot about where his family and friends were emotionally at that point. They weren't gathering to say goodbye to Bryce. They were gathering to light the way home. Yeah. They still believed he could be out there somewhere, and they wanted people to keep looking. And this is where the theories really begin. One possibility is that Bryce intentionally drove off the road. Investigators reportedly believe the evidence from the crash, including the tire tracks and the damage to the vehicle, suggested that he had deliberately driven over the embankment. That led some investigators to believe the crash may have been a suicide attempt. I mean, and when you take into account him giving the earrings and the X cards to Sean and breaking up with Kim. And telling his mom that he had something important tell her. I don't know what that part's about. We got a theory from the live we'll talk about in a second. that one's wild. But it's a good theory though. I mean, honestly, take into account him sitting there staring off in the distance each time he's found. Is he sitting there building up to it? Is he working up to it? everything being left in his car. He didn't take anything with him, so was that his end game afterward? You know, and just That one is probably one of the best theories. Yes. That follows everything that led up to this, but also still doesn't make sense because we can't find him. Yes. And we've had so many different searches and the bloodhounds. Yes. So this is where I think the pictures from that camera come in. I think he drove by once, probably circled like I think he was circling around to try to find a good place, and when he circled back That's where he found the spot that he wanted. Yeah. Like he was maybe canvassing the area on where he wanted to it. I was just wondering if was a loop. Because then not only that, I wonder if he'd like driven out. Mm-hmm. It's not around lake, also. And there's like mountains around lake. Because he like walked around the lake to get to the truck stop. So obviously he knew there was a truck stop over there. Yeah. So I would be willing if he probably scoping out this area that he doesn't really know very well. And either accidentally went off the road or whatever, but him walking away to that truck stop still doesn't even like give you he was trying to kill himself. I agree. That's the that's that's where like that part ends for me is because they don't lose a scent in the woods somewhere or to the lake. They lose it at the truck stop. So like I I don't know. Like there's been many people who have tried committing suicide before and when it like it was unsuccessful that they re like they have this like what am I trying to say? Like a new friend like for life and like near death experience and it opened your eyes and made you think differently. Yes. And maybe he could have been going through that. I personally don't think that because of he's still gone. He's literally still missing. But at the same time maybe it Like it could have caused another mental thing of like whatever he's going through. But also we do have blood on the inside from the windshield. We could have had a head injury. Absolutely could. So therefore we could have a Lars Matank type situation where he could have a head injury and doesn't even know who he is. Right. And is out there wandering around and walking around and hitched a ride at the truck stop or something. sense to one part of it, then you add in the other parts and then suddenly that doesn't make sense. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's crazy. I this brings us back a little bit. he was like let's stay on the suicide okay theory here, okay? He was giving away his belongings. He broke up with his girlfriend unexpectedly. And some common warning signs of suicide can include withdrawing from friends and family, dramatic changes in mood and behavior, which was happening. All of this is happening. Increased use of alcohol and drugs, giving away important possessions, saying goodbye in an unusual way. It's like he printed off the checklist. Talking about feeling hopeless or like other people would be better off without him. Or suddenly seemingly seeming unusually calm after a period of distress. None of these signs automatically means someone is suicidal, but when several happen together, especially when they represent a significant change in someone's normal behavior, they can be a reason to take a closer look and ask that person how they're really doing. No, and I I totally agree. We definitely we're we're going down this checklist. And I and I feel like him sitting in the car as his build up. It's just everything after the crash, it doesn't line up with what happened before the crash. Correct. Bryce's parents didn't believe this at all. They did not believe that he would try to commit suicide. They pointed back to the person they knew before the strange two weeks. When they had dropped Bryce off of school, he was happy. He was excited about his classes and his future. They had never, ever considered him to be suicidal. So they couldn't understand what could have happened in those two weeks leading up that would have caused such a drastic change. Also, remember, one of the big things that Bryce told his mother his mother that he never explained, he said he wanted to talk to her about something. Something that was bothering him bad enough that he didn't want to discuss it over the phone. Was that something connected to his disappearance? We don't know. And this was when someone else brought up. That maybe he was gay. Yeah. And that's what he was trying to build up towards, or maybe he didn't feel good enough, and that's why he tried to commit suicide and he still it that part just still doesn't make sense to me though, considering how close he was with his family. Like that part only makes sense if he were to be coming out to his mom and wanting to do that and like didn't maybe he thought he was gonna lose Sean because Veter thought he was gonna move lose Kim from it. So he broke up with Kim, he gave Sean things that he would want Sean to have. But then like nothing else adds up. Him sitting in the car and like I mean him sitting there trying to gather like his stuff to go home, but then you add in the fact that he like wouldn't call his parents, he wouldn't move, he wouldn't keep driving. You know, like it's just like as soon as you can make sense of one part and match it to a theory doesn't match the first Another the rest of it doesn't match. So like I think another part of it is it we don't know how Karen and Michael are behind closed doors. So even if you are very close with your family, maybe they are 'cause she clearly is religious. Yeah. Based off of her statement. But like was it too much? Were they v I'm not saying they are this is very s much speculation, but maybe they are even when your parents are still understanding and stuff like that, this is the one subject that kids still feel weird about coming. Talking about and doing no matter how much you think your parents love you, like the teenage mind is just absolutely a little different in that. But like who knows if they've made comments to him. Maybe they may have been homophobic. Like I don't we don't know. We don't know that for sure. And I'm not saying he was gay. We don't know that. This was just theory. Somebody threw out of the live show that made us go. Yeah. Huh. And this is kind of what I was piecing together as I was staring off was around this time, especially in California, rest stops, hotels, these were big places for truckers and did we have grinder then? I don't think grinder was a thing. I don't think we had grinder yet. It may have been in its baby phase too because I we just didn't know about it yet. Yeah, I worked with a guy at Crave in twenty fifteen who had grinder and he loved that shit. So I mean, honestly, I had I had brought that up at the live too that we could have had a little lot lizard situation going on. but we don't know. Like these are thoroughies. These are because there's nothing else to go off of But it it's good. Like that part pieces together the I have to tell you something and the giving such shot and the text message of like you saved my life, like I love you, bro. Yeah. And why he would break up with Kim randomly. He said, You saved my soul. Yeah. but that could have maybe he was in love with Sean. Yeah, and he didn't want to tell him, and that's why he broke up with Kim and wanted him to have all the I don't know. This is all just speculation. It's stuff that people have brought up that we didn't even think about. I that was not even a thought in my cabeça. Another theory is that Bryce survived the crash, walked away from the vehicle, followed the same path that dogs later tracked, and eventually got a ride from someone at the truck stop. If that happened, it's possible he intentionally disappeared and is living somewhere else ever since. Which is where I think the head injury would come into play in order for that part to happen. Because he really didn't seem like he was trying to disappear without a trace and leave all this because if he was, he wouldn't have still been sitting in the same spots and like He would have been gone. Yeah. Cause he was found multiple times. He also answered his mother's call. Yeah. couple of times as well. So like, I don't know. there was actually a report that I found that I was later able to debunk. So there was a report that his bag like his duffel bag of clothes, and something else. I don't remember if it was his laptop or his wallet were sitting outside of the broken window. But that was only one and I could not find anything like I found more things that obviously. Yes. But from everything I personally read onward was that all of his stuff was inside of the vehicle. Yeah. So I don't I don't know. Like he i since he left all of his belongings behind, that is kind of a clear plan to disappear, but everything leading up to it doesn't isn't isn't part of that plan. Especially 'cause he was literally on his way back. It's like there's two paths. There's two thought processes before the crash and after the crash. Yeah. And they almost have to be treated separately, which is where I think I had injuries coming into play. Mm-hmm. It's very, very, very possible. There is also a possibility that Bryce was experienc experiencing some kind of psychological crisis. His heavy drinking, his use of vivants, the lack of sleep, the breakup, his increasingly unusual behavior, and the strange decisions he was making before the drive and then during the drive could possibly potentially have affected his judgment. I mean, this is the age in men where mental issues can break out. I mean, I hate to throw out the schizophrenia. That's a very important one that hits men in their like early to mid twenties. There's other ones that can like bipolar, stuff like that. And some of this does have the markings of that leading up to it. Mm-hmm. But I'm gonna counteract us a little bit with that though, is multiple, multiple people, including his parents, spoke to him. And said he all he seemed normal. He was lucid. He was answering questions. He sees So was Sydney Powell. Yeah. He was being totally normal. Yeah. And that's another thing. Back to like our discussion on like mental health. Like just because it doesn't look the way you think a psychotic episode should, or doesn't mean Hollywood makes them appear to look, doesn't mean it's not happening. And I feel like that needs to be reassessed that like Masking is a real thing. my gosh. And another thing that comes with psychotic episodes is that and we've learned this in the Lindsay Clancy trial lately, if you have done something before a psychotic episode, you can do it during a psychotic episode. So if you've driven To a place and back before, you can drive to that place before. If you've made this phone call, if you've folded this piece of origami, you can do that again. But if you're trying to do something new that you've never done before, that's when people are gonna notice that things are weird and things are different. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So like That is something I kept in my mind. It was that he could have been in a psychotic episode, but nobody noticed it because you can't still appear normal on the outside with massive chaos going on on the inside. Yeah. my next line was literally some people have suggested that he may have experienced a psychotic episode or some kind of severe mental health crisis. and I actually want to touch on this because I know we didn't earlier, but like What if he was drinking heavily and the viance before he even went back to college? His parents probably just didn't notice. And it or he was doing that when he left college, came home and continued to do that. And so his parents recognized this as his new normal. And by the time he went back to school, Sean and Kim hadn't really been seeing him as much. And so he was there for really like to them, his usage had amped up. But to him it it was his new baseline and to them he was acting weird and it was being different. But to his parents, this is what he'd been all summer, so it was fine. Maybe it seemed amped up because he was finally able to not have to hide it 'cause he wasn't at his parents' house anymore. You know what I'm saying? Honestly, I think that's this is something we didn't talk about the live show, was that just now and kind of just occurred to us while we're doing this. but no, I think that's probably a really good key piece of this. Yeah, maybe he was doing all of the drinking and Maybe he wasn't using five ants, maybe he was using something else and it just like turned into Vivance. Like maybe he was using other type of medications. And like I said, this wasn't his prescription that he was abusing. Correct. So that means that he's buying this from people. So this last whatever he bought, mm-hmm, there's a chance it wasn't even Vivance that it was something else. Yeah. And this is before the fentanyl is really kicking off insanely. Yeah. with fentanyl being inside everything. So Honestly, like there is a chance that he wasn't even on Vivance and he was on something else. I did also mention maybe he was overdosing on Vivance. Yeah. Because maybe he had built up a tolerance, took more, and was having Or like maybe when he thought that he was falling it like he was too tired and he couldn't keep going and he was like, I'll just take a few more of these and then he ended up wrecking. Yeah. There's so many possibilities. There is. Like we don't know what was happening inside of Bryce's head. And I think that's important to say because it can be very tempting in a case like this to look at every single strange behavior like we're doing and use it to create some type of explanation. Maybe he was having a mental health crisis. Maybe the combination of alcohol and medication, exhaustion and emotional stress affected him. Maybe he was dealing with something completely unrelated that nobody knew about. Or maybe something happened to him after the crash or during the crash that we still haven't discovered. We simply don't know. We only have theories. We only have speculation. Can we talk about the best speculation from the live now? Yeah. Okay, you guys. Y'all. Be so doing this whole episode without making a single comment about this. So we get through all of this. We're talking about theories, and then out of nowhere wasn't I believe it was Danny. Danny. Okay, Danny. Like she's the one who always knows the episode, at least on some level at a live. We love you so much. Thank you for being there. Because without you, we would have never had Christian called out. No. You know, good old homeboy small town Christian who Who showed up three separate times showed up separate times and and by the way, Kathy, a correction for you, he didn't wave to Bryce on the opposite side of the road, he waved to him on the same side of the highway before he got off and took his exit. That makes a lot more sense now. Cause when he was turning around and waving on I five, we had some more speculation going on at the show. But the biggest theory from the live show was that Christian actually killed Bryce. Yeah. And disposed of him. And disposed of him. And either Christian and Bryce together killed the LA homicide victim and burned his body. Or just Christian. Or Bryce did this before Christian killed him. One of the combos. But at the end of the day, a big theory was that Christian was a main player in this because they never investigated him. They never investigated him always and he was always there and And he was the very last person to see him alive. But also at the same time Only Bryce's blood was found. Like and I like, Well maybe he killed Bryce and then drove his car through the cable the second time. Maybe Christian and Bryce were lovers. Yeah. And they were trying to plan their but at the end of the day, only Bryce's blood was found in the vehicle. Nobody else's was. Bryce was driving it. We don't think Christian had anything to do with this, but it it was Christian's vehicle was not photographed on that road that I know of. That we know. They've never investigated They never investigated them. So that was just a fun theory that came out of the show. Do not put any weight in that whatsoever. It's kind of a good theory though. But that is the theory that happened when our faces did that face thing and we went Huh. So Danny, good job with that one. That that that was a good theory to throw out this. It is a good theory when we say we want participation. We want the energy. We want y'all to be a part of this. This is what we mean. I want you to scramble my brain so much that I start rethinking what I think happened. My own theories. And that is make me question what I'm thinking. Please. That's what I love. I don't know. I'm gonna debunk the Christian thing even a little bit more. So not only was his blood found in his own vehicle, there was not a scent I mean, not that they investigated, but his scent was still found. Going away, but then again Christian could have been the one at the rest stop. I don't know, maybe I'm I'm not debunking shit now. See, and that's why this case, every time, every time that you find a theory, it only works for part of it. It doesn't work for everything in it. So it just It's just so interesting. It is. Because nothing works for every piece of evidence we have. Makes c like we could piece together evidence all day long and none of it fits together properly. No, and if you have a theory that we didn't come up with and the live shouldn't come up with, put that in the comments. Put it in a review on Apple. There's comments on Spotify now, there's comments on YouTube. Inbox us. Write it on our Facebook wall. I don't know. Let us know. Yeah. Please. Six months later, on the anniversary of his disappearance, his family and friends held another series of visuals at the exact same communities. Okay. Continuing to remind people that Bryce is still missing and that they're still searching for answers. So we had a vigil in at his hometown in er we had a visual where he lived in Illinois. Yes. We had a visual where his car was where the car w the ravine. Yes. And then we had one at the college. Correct. At the live show. I was a little mean to Kim and Sean. I very heavily speculate spec speculated. Speculated. Speculated that they were together behind the scenes. And were and were you know? All of that. It just it occurred to me earlier when you were talking about the visuals. I must not have heard this at the live when you said the places. They held his vigil at the college. They arranged that. So of course they're I was a little mean about them. I had my speculations. I had assumptions. I was standing ten toes down on that though. I was tunnel visioned into Kid and father. She's cheating on him with his roommate. And they were talking behind the scenes and calling the parents and no, they're good humans. They helped a lot. They searched and now they held two different visuals for him. So I take it all back. And I told her, I said if Bryce knew about it, he wouldn't have given all of this stuff to Sean. Yes. And sent him that nice message. That's where it really blew all the holes in my theory there was that part. there have been other clues over the years, including other human remains and the discover like the one I told you about the discovery in the area that was later ruled out as rice. There have been other reported sightings over the years, but none that have been confirmed. One of the most recent and interesting reports came from Missoula, Montana. A photograph began circulating online of a young man riding a bicycle Who looked remarkably similar to Bryce. The Find Bryce Las Pisa Facebook page reported this possible sighting, and detective Ethan Smith actually followed up on it. Okay. On April twenty fifth, twenty twenty two, Smith located the man in the photograph and was able to verify his identity. And unfortunately for Bryce's family, it wasn't him. Smith reportedly said the man could have been Bryce's twin because of how striking the resemblance was. But after verifying his identity, investigators were able to rule him out. So while the photograph undersp understandably sparked hope and attention online, it wasn't the break that everyone was hoping for. And it's something that has happened repeatedly throughout this case. A possible sighting appears. People wonder if it could finally be Bryce. Investigators follow up and eventually the lead goes nowhere. I'm glad that the investigators at least follow up on these leads in like this case 'cause how many cases have we talked about where they don't they just don't follow it or they don't send anybody out to it or whatever? So that's very impressive. Mm-hmm. August thirtieth, so recently, marked thirteen years that Bryce had been missing. It's what makes this case so difficult for me to wrap my head around. It's not that he just disappeared. It's everything that happened before he disappeared. And then everything that happened while he was disappearing and after he disappeared. Like you said, there's two parts of this before the crash and after the crash. Yeah is what it feels like. And I just I genuinely cannot wrap my head around it. I can't wrap my head around how many times we found this man before he actually went missing. And with how many people were concerned about him calling his parents, taking his car keys, his mom offering to fly up to him because she was so worried about him. Yeah. Of course, good guy Christian check calling and checking on him because he was so worried and like he went out To s he saw Bryce three separate times. Yeah. You know, and then he followed him on the highway. Like we don't even have a case of like, I wish I would've checked on them, or I wish I would have done this, or I should have called them, or I wish we had cameras here. It's like it's proving that you can have so much footage and so much information, so much contact leading up to someone going missing, but still not be able to figure anything out. And literally the police the police were there speaking to him. Like that's supposed to be your last like Paul is the cops. And they did it. And he was f fine, quote unquote fine. I mean, and he passed the field sobriety test. I mean, everybody in the situation did everything right. Yes. I think his parents maybe should have driven to one of these locations. But like we said in the beginning, hindsight is a bitch. Yes, it is. It really is. When you're going through all these emotions, you don't think that this is gonna end the way it is. You can look back on any situation and go Yeah, I should have done something sooner, but you don't know that in the moment. So we can't fault them for not driving to their son. And the thing is, like if they would have called him and been like, stay in Button Willow, knowing he was gonna be there anyway. drive the three hours up to him, being like, Hey, I'm literally coming to you, would that have sped along this process? Or would it have saved him? I don't know. We don't know. And there's no way to know. Yeah. I don't know, there's just there was so many people trying to help him. It's like Brandon Swanson and Lars Matank. Like there's so many questions and so much unanswered and these three cases have so many similarities. Yes. As I was writing this, my mind instantly kept going back to Brandon Swanson. Yeah. But the thing is Brandon was trying to get help. He was trying to go home. Yeah. Whereas Bryce didn't seem like he was. Yeah. And that's where Lars comes into place. Yeah. You know, like head injury. Yeah. There's so many similarities between all three of these cases. And I don't fucking know. And it's driving me insane. It really is. But like even with how many people were trying to help him, nobody knew exactly what they were trying to prevent. And that's the part of Bryce's case that I think stays with people. You know, hindsight obviously makes everything obvious. We'll s yeah. Hindsight's a fucking bitch. We've said it I don't know how many times in this episode, someone tally it was. Let's do it. Let's do it. We hear about the belongings he gave so he gave away, the things he said to his friends, the drinking, the medication, the breakup, the hours he spent in parking lots just staring off the strange statement about having to tell his mom something. Like when you put all of those together, it's incredibly easy to say, like, someone should have known. Someone could have handled this. But like the people around Bryce didn't have that in like they knew. They knew. But they didn't No what it was. Yeah. And how do you handle something that you don't even know what it is? Yeah. Until it happens. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I it's just I don't know, it was a lot. And I think I just I f I feel for all of them 'cause like they were trying to help and they had no idea that they were never gonna hear from him again. Yeah. And somewhere between the final phone call And the discovery of his car, like something happened that changed all of their lives forever. Yeah. And we can't tell you what it was. Hopefully one day we will though. God, I hope so. Bryce Les Pisa would be thirty-two years old today. Before we end today, I think it's important to remember that Bryce was so much more than a mystery surrounding his disappearance. He was a son, a friend, a boyfriend, a roommate, and a young man who had a life and a future that people who loved him were excited to see unfold. He was described as creative, artistic, outgoing, and someone who meant a lot to the people around him. His family and friends knew Bryce as the person. he was before all of the final days. They had never stopped loving him and wondering what happened to him. After all these years, they aren't asking for much. They just want answers. They want to know where Bryce is, what happened to him, and most importantly, they want to know that he's okay. Whether Bryce is alive somewhere and has no idea how many people are still looking for him, or whether something tragic happened and his family has yet to learn about it. They deserve the chance to know the truth. Until they have that answer, Bryce's family and friends will continue to remember him, talk about him, and keep his name out there. Because Bryce isn't just a missing person. He's someone who is loved and missed very deeply. His parents have spent more than a decade searching for answers, and despite the searches, the reported sightings, the possible clues, and all the theories surrounding his disappearance, they still don't know what happened to him. The truth is, we don't know. And I don't know if we're going to know. Hopefully one day we do. Hopefully one day his parents do get answers for this. Absolutely. Like I I do think that is a big thing that stays with us with this as well, is that there are so many clues. Almost too many, maybe. The problem is that none of us none of them gives us an answer. We know where he was, we know who he talked to, what he told them, we know where his car was. Yeah. Everything he left in the car We know so much information. And out there there might be someone who does know. Maybe someone saw Bryce after he left his vehicle. Maybe someone gave him a ride. Maybe someone remembers encountering him that morning and never realized that the young man they saw would become the subject of one of California's most enduring missing person cases. This could be a whole Brian Laundry situation with that lady who gave him a quick ride. You know, and didn't even know until everybody says something. And that's that's why we do these cases, is because you never know No piece of information is too little. Mm-hmm. Because even if you think it's just a very small little piece of information, it could be the piece that makes everything make sense. And in this case, it is going to be a small piece of information that's going to make everything make sense because we have all the big pieces. Correct. Correct. And if you want to learn more about Bryce and help keep his story in front of people, there is a Facebook page called Find Bryce Last Pizza. And it was created to keep his disappearance in the public eye. We will have it linked below for you. Yes. I have it. Bryce's family has continued to use the page over the years to share information, updates, and reminders that he is still missing. They say happy birthday to him every year. Every year on his anniversary happen we were recording on the an the thirteenth anniversary of it, and she texted me after she left 'cause I told her what case I was doing. Because hitt the Facebook for him showed up in my for you page. I was like, Yeah. That happened. So they're still posting. It's not frequent, but they still post. They're still trying to keep his memory alive. And I think that's important with cases like this because as the years go by, it's so easy for a missing person's name to disappear. And Bryce's family has never allowed that to happen. And they have continued to hold on to hope that someone will eventually come forward with the information that they've been waiting for. And if you have legitimate information about what happened to Bryce, Even if you're not sure how important that information might be, you can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department at 818-984-0630, which is the number currently listed by the California Department of Justice for Bryce's case. You can also find his official missing person listing through the California DOJ Department of Justice, if you didn't know what that was. Sometimes people assume that they don't have the entire answer. That there's no reason to come forward. But that's not necessarily true. A small detail, a memory, or something that seemed insignificant at the time could potentially be important after all these years. And if anything we've talked about today hits close to home for you, please don't sit with that alone. If you're struggling, feel hopeless. Or having thoughts of suicide, you can call or text 988 and reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. It's free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You do not have to be at the point of an emergency to reach out. Sometimes just having someone listen can make a huge difference. And if you think someone you love might be struggling, don't be afraid to check in on them and ask them how they're really doing. And as always. Tell your people you love them because sometimes the hardest cases aren't the ones where there are no clues. They're the ones where the clues were there all along and nobody knew what they meant until it was too late. And that is all I have for you guys today. And that was a really good case. Like I I don't know how it's still unsolved, but I know how it's still unsolved. You know what I mean? Yes. Like there's so much information, but no information at all. It's just so crazy. You guys got to see sit here in real time watching us try to process our theories and get stopped. Like it doesn't make sense. It doesn't. It doesn't and I don't think it will ever make sense until we find him. Yeah. on that note, yes. Like, follow, subscribe everywhere. Get us to a thousand followers on YouTube. I cannot believe we blew past five hundred the way we did. Like, let's get us here. Okay, guys. Let's go. make sure you do check out our website for all of our resources, including the ones that we just gave you. Yes. our Facebook and everything will have the information on Bryce and his Facebook page, his missing info and who to call if you do have any information. As long as you can reach out to us for that information as well. Absolutely. If you do not feel comfortable reaching out, Send us the information, we will reach out for you. I have no problem with that. Also, if you do not feel comfortable reaching out to the suicide crisis hotline, reach out to us as well. Yeah. I got you, Beb. and if you have serious FOMO and you're super jelly because you miss out on hearing this at our live show, don't worry. October 30th, we will be having another live show, The Summit Painting with a Twist. We're doing a candle making. there's a link below in the description for you to go ahead and get your tickets. There are only about forty seats available for these shows. and we're gonna have a bless. It's gonna be a great time. We have a case for it. Always they take such good care of us and you get to go home with a little something, something. So And a costume contest. Who doesn't love the Don't forget the costume contest. Period. Anything else you got? I have so much to say. Also keep an eye out. Make sure you go follow all of our socials and stuff because we're currently working on an interactive Live event. Live event? It's gonna be amazing. It's gonna be so cool. It's gonna be legit. So make sure you're following so you can get all the updates on that. Other than that, I I'm good. I'm good too. I'm ready to go nap, y'all. Stop killing each other. Lock your damn doors. Don't leave your fucking friends. We'll catch you guys next week. Okay. Love you. Bye.