Latest / Crime and Horror / His family never saw it coming... - MrBallen

Transcript

His family never saw it coming... - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

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Speaker 1: Today's story covers one of the strangest and most hotly
0:02
Speaker 1: debated mysteries on the Internet. But before we get into
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Speaker 1: today's story, if you're a fan of the strange, dark
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Speaker 1: our weekly uploads. All right, let's get into today's story.
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Speaker 1: In mid August twenty thirteen, Mike and Karen last Pisa,
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Speaker 1: helped their beloved only child, nineteen year old Briceless Pisa,
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Speaker 1: get all of his things packed up and into the
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Speaker 1: family car. Bryce had just spent the summer with his
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Speaker 1: parents in their home in Laguna Negel, Cali, which is
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Speaker 1: one of the nicest places to live in the entire country.
1:03
Speaker 1: But now that the summer was coming to an end,
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Speaker 1: it was time for Bryce to head back to Sierra
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Speaker 1: College in Rockland, California, where he was set to start
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Speaker 1: his sophomore year. Once all of his things were packed
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Speaker 1: inside the trunk of the car, all three of them
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Speaker 1: hopped inside and then made the seven hour drive north
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Speaker 1: to his campus. Once his parents had moved him into
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Speaker 1: his apartment, they gave him a hug and a kiss
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Speaker 1: and wished him luck, and then they left. On their
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Speaker 1: ride back home, Mike and Karen talked about how well
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Speaker 1: their son seemed to be doing. He loved his school,
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Speaker 1: he loved the program he was in. He was in
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Speaker 1: graphic design. He was a very gifted artist. He had
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Speaker 1: lots of friends, he had a wonderful girlfriend. It just
1:37
Speaker 1: seemed like he was living his best life and he
1:39
Speaker 1: was on the path to success. So nothing could prepare
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Speaker 1: them for what their son did. Two weeks later, just
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Speaker 1: a couple of days after getting dropped off at school,
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Speaker 1: Bryce's very close friend and roommate Sean and Bryce's girlfriend Kim,
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Speaker 1: noticed Bryce was acting erradically. Specifically, he was drinking a
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Speaker 1: ton of hard alcohol. Now Bryce was no saint, He
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Speaker 1: liked to drink can party like many other kids his
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Speaker 1: age did, but the amount of alcohol he was consuming
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Speaker 1: was concerning. Also, Bryce began experimenting with a drug called Yvance,
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Speaker 1: which is a very powerful stimulant that's normally used to
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Speaker 1: treat attention deficit disorder. Now Bryce didn't have attention deficit disorder.
2:16
Speaker 1: He was taking it in order to stay up late
2:18
Speaker 1: at night and play video games. But between the heavy
2:20
Speaker 1: drinking and the drug use, it seemed like Bryce's personality
2:24
Speaker 1: was starting to change. He was becoming anxious and skittish
2:27
Speaker 1: and kind of paranoid. And so finally Sean and Kim
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Speaker 1: confronted him about his substance abuse and asked him, you know, like,
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Speaker 1: what's going on, what's causing you to act this way?
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Speaker 1: And Bryce would say nothing, guys, I'm fine. I'm just
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Speaker 1: you know, drinking and doing whatever I want to do.
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Speaker 1: It's not a big deal. But Sean and Kim they
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Speaker 1: weren't buying it. They were convinced that something bad had
2:46
Speaker 1: happened to Bryce and the way he was coping with
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Speaker 1: it was by drinking really heavily and taking this drug.
2:51
Speaker 1: On August twenty eighth, so about two weeks after Bryce
2:54
Speaker 1: has been dropped back off at school by his parents,
2:57
Speaker 1: Bryce and his roommate Seawan were alone in their apartment together,
3:00
Speaker 1: and at some point, as they're sitting there just kind
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Speaker 1: of mining their own business, Bryce says to Sean, hey,
3:04
Speaker 1: I want to give you something, and he takes his
3:06
Speaker 1: diamond earrings out and he gives them to Sean. And
3:08
Speaker 1: Shawn's looking at these earrings and he's like, you know,
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Speaker 1: didn't your mom give these to you? Aren't these important
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Speaker 1: to you? These are expensive? And Bryce just says no,
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Speaker 1: I want you to have them. And so Seawan is
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Speaker 1: looking at these earrings, looking back at Bryce, wondering what's
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Speaker 1: going on here. And then before he can even refuse
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Speaker 1: the gift, Bryce is grabbing his Xbox and putting it
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Speaker 1: on the table and telling Sean, I want you to
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Speaker 1: have this too, take my xbox. And so Sewan is like,
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Speaker 1: I can't accept these two things. These are expensive, these
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Speaker 1: are valuable to you. You know what's going on here.
3:34
Speaker 1: But Bryce would just say, look, man, I want you
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Speaker 1: to have these things. You're important to me, and I
3:37
Speaker 1: want to give these to you. And so, as Seawan
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Speaker 1: is sitting there wondering how to handle this very strange offering,
3:42
Speaker 1: he watched Bryce pull his phone out and begin really
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Speaker 1: aggressively texting somebody, and then after a while, Bryce looks
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Speaker 1: up from his phone and he tells Sean, Hey, just
3:50
Speaker 1: so you know, I broke up with Kim. At this point,
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Speaker 1: Seawan knows, okay, something is definitely wrong here. There's no
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Speaker 1: reason Bryce would break up with Kim. They were such
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Speaker 1: a loving couple. They don't on each other, they were
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Speaker 1: very close, they had just seen each other earlier in
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Speaker 1: the day. Nothing seemed to be wrong, and so now
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Speaker 1: Bryce is text breaking up with her. It didn't make
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Speaker 1: any sense. Plus Bryce is now trying to give him
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Speaker 1: all these valuable things. It just wasn't really adding up,
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Speaker 1: and so Sewan decided he needed to get in touch
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Speaker 1: with Bryce's parents because clearly someone needed to intervene, and
4:18
Speaker 1: so Seawan waited until Bryce left. Bryce actually left to
4:21
Speaker 1: go talk to Kim, and at that point, Shawn got
4:23
Speaker 1: his phone out and he looked up Bryce's parents and
4:26
Speaker 1: he called them. Bryce's mother, Karen. She picks up the
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Speaker 1: phone and Sean explains that, you know, your son, he's
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Speaker 1: acting strangely. He's abusing drugs and alcohol, and I wouldn't
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Speaker 1: be doing this unless I thought there was a problem, Like,
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Speaker 1: I'm not trying to get him in trouble. I want
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Speaker 1: you to reach out to him and see what's going on,
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Speaker 1: because I think there's a problem. And so Karen was
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Speaker 1: alarmed by this. She had no idea any of this
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Speaker 1: was going on, and she says, okay, now I'll reach
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Speaker 1: out to my son. Thank you for telling me, and
4:49
Speaker 1: so they hang up, and before Karen can even call Bryce,
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Speaker 1: Bryce is calling her, and so Karen answers the phone,
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Speaker 1: but it's not Bryce, it's Kim, his now ex girlfriend,
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Speaker 1: and she says to Kim, Hey, I'm sorry to just
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Speaker 1: call you like this, but your son he just showed
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Speaker 1: up at my apartment and he's acting so strangely that
5:06
Speaker 1: I actually took his keys. I don't want him to drive.
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Speaker 1: There's something wrong with him. It's hard to describe, but
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Speaker 1: he just seems totally off. And so now Karen's really
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Speaker 1: concerned because just seconds ago, Sean has told her basically
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Speaker 1: the same thing, and so Karen asked, Kim, would you
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Speaker 1: please put my son on the phone. Bryce picks up
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Speaker 1: the phone and he says, hey, mom, and he sounds
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Speaker 1: totally normal, and she asked him, you know what's going on.
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Speaker 1: I keep hearing that you're acting strangely, and you know,
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Speaker 1: what are you doing over at Kim's apartment? What's going
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Speaker 1: on here? And Bryce would tell his mom that, look, mom,
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Speaker 1: I just broke up with Kim. It's a very messy breakup.
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Speaker 1: That's why she's calling you. She's upset, and you know
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Speaker 1: that's why I'm over here. We're talking about it. And look,
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Speaker 1: at this point, I just really want to go home.
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Speaker 1: I want to go back to my apartment, but she
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Speaker 1: has my keys. Can you please tell her to give
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Speaker 1: me my car keys back so I can leave? But
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Speaker 1: Karen wasn't really buying it. She knew her son really well,
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Speaker 1: and it just seemed totally strange that two of his
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Speaker 1: very close friends in his inner circle would say the
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Speaker 1: same thing independent of one another. And so she says,
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Speaker 1: you know what, Bryce, Look, I want you to just
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Speaker 1: stay there, and I'm going to fly out there first
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Speaker 1: thing tomorrow morning, and I'm gonna just see what's going
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Speaker 1: on out there. And at this Bryce immediately says, no, Mom,
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Speaker 1: I have a lot to talk to you about and
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Speaker 1: until I talk to you about it, I don't want
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Speaker 1: you coming out here. And so Karen's like, what do
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Speaker 1: you mean you have a lot to talk to me about.
6:18
Speaker 1: What is it that you have to talk to me about?
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Speaker 1: I don't really understand. But Bryce refused to elaborate over
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Speaker 1: the phone, which Karen thought was very odd because Bryce
6:26
Speaker 1: was remarkably forthcoming with his parents that had a very
6:29
Speaker 1: open relationship. They were very honest with each other. So
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Speaker 1: for him to not even give a hint at whatever
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Speaker 1: it was that was on his mind that in some
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Speaker 1: way had to do with what was going on here,
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Speaker 1: it just seemed very odd and unnecessarily cryptic. And so
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Speaker 1: Karen gave up trying to get more information out of
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Speaker 1: her son, and instead she put her husband on the phone,
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Speaker 1: and he asked, Bryce, Hey, you know what's going on here?
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Speaker 1: You okay? And your mom tells me there's some problem,
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Speaker 1: like what's going on here? And Bryce again just reiterates, look, Dad,
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Speaker 1: I just broke up with my girlfriend. That's all that's
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Speaker 1: going on here. There's no need to be concerned. I
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Speaker 1: just need one of you to tell Kim to give
7:01
Speaker 1: me my keys back so I can go back to
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Speaker 1: my apartment. That's all I need right now. And so
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Speaker 1: Mike felt convinced that his son was totally fine, even
7:08
Speaker 1: though it did seem odd. That two of his friends
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Speaker 1: had said he was acting erratically, but from Mike's perspective,
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Speaker 1: Bryce seemed just fine, and so he said as much
7:17
Speaker 1: to Karen and thought, you know, let's just get Kim
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Speaker 1: to give him his keys back and he can go
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Speaker 1: back to his apartment and we can talk to him
7:22
Speaker 1: later about whatever it is that's going on. And so
7:24
Speaker 1: reluctantly Karen gets back on the phone and she asked
7:27
Speaker 1: to speak with Kim, and she says, hey, Kim, would
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Speaker 1: you mind giving our son his keys back? He'd like
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Speaker 1: to leave, And so Kim says, okay, I'll give him
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Speaker 1: his keys, and then they hung up, and then Kim
7:35
Speaker 1: got the keys out, she gave him to Bryce, and
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Speaker 1: Bryce left. At about eleven thirty pm that night, Bryce
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Speaker 1: was in his car. He was getting ready to leave
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Speaker 1: when his mom called him back and said, Okay, look,
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Speaker 1: I want you to go home, but as soon as
7:47
Speaker 1: you get there, just give me a call so I
7:48
Speaker 1: know you're safe. And Bryce said, no problem, I'll give
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Speaker 1: you a call. About an hour and a half later,
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Speaker 1: at one am, Bryce called his mom back to let
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Speaker 1: her know that he was home safe at his apartment,
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Speaker 1: and Karen and Mike are totally relieved and they older son, Okay,
8:01
Speaker 1: you know, we'll talk to you tomorrow morning. Ten hours later,
8:03
Speaker 1: at eleven am on August twenty ninth, Karen received an
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Speaker 1: automated phone call from her car insurance company letting her
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Speaker 1: know that roadside assistance had been used on their two
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Speaker 1: thousand and three Toyota Highlander car. That was Bryce's car,
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Speaker 1: And so Karen's totally confused because the last she spoke
8:19
Speaker 1: to her son, he was at his apartment. He was
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Speaker 1: home safe, he did not have any car problems, and
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Speaker 1: so she's thinking, you know, did he get up early
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Speaker 1: this morning and get into an accident and call roadside assistance,
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Speaker 1: or maybe last night he got into car problems and
8:31
Speaker 1: just didn't tell her about it, but they were minor,
8:33
Speaker 1: And so she calls Bryce, but Bryce doesn't pick up,
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Speaker 1: and so she dials his roommate, Sean. Sean does answer
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Speaker 1: the phone, and she says, hey, would you mind putting
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Speaker 1: Bryce on the line, but Sean says, Bryce isn't here
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Speaker 1: and he didn't come home last night. Considering the general
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Speaker 1: weirdness around their son's recent behavior, this really shocked Karen
8:51
Speaker 1: and Mike. At first, they thought, we need to call
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Speaker 1: the police because something horrible has happened. But then they thought, well,
8:56
Speaker 1: wait a minute, let's go into his bank statements because
8:59
Speaker 1: he has a credit car that we gave him, and
9:01
Speaker 1: let's see if there's any recent purchases that will allow
9:03
Speaker 1: us to track where he is. And so they pull
9:05
Speaker 1: up his bank statements and his most recent charge was
9:08
Speaker 1: only a few hours earlier, and it was that a
9:10
Speaker 1: car repair shop in Button Willow, California, which is the
9:14
Speaker 1: small desert town right off of the I five Highway,
9:17
Speaker 1: located about halfway between his school campus and their hometown
9:21
Speaker 1: in Laguna Nequel. And so Karen and Mike assume their
9:24
Speaker 1: son last night must not have gone to his apartment
9:27
Speaker 1: but instead just kept on driving south in an attempt
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Speaker 1: to drive all the way back home to his hometown
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Speaker 1: of Laguna Nicel. I mean, after all, he did tell
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Speaker 1: his mom he had a lot to talk about and
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Speaker 1: he didn't want to talk about it on the phone,
9:39
Speaker 1: and so they assumed he must be driving here to
9:42
Speaker 1: talk about whatever it was in person. And perhaps he
9:44
Speaker 1: ran into some car problems in Button Willow, California, that's
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Speaker 1: why he pulled over. That's why there's this charge at
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Speaker 1: this auto repair shop, and so Karen calls the auto
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Speaker 1: repair shop in Button Willow and a man who worked
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Speaker 1: there named Christian answered the phone, and so Karen asked him,
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Speaker 1: you know, have you seen my son. He's got red Harry,
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Speaker 1: he's got a tattoo in his arm. He's driving a
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Speaker 1: two thousand and three Toyota Highlander. And Christian says, oh, yeah, yeah.
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Speaker 1: We saw him a couple of hours ago. We responded
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Speaker 1: to his roadside assistance call. He ran out of gas
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Speaker 1: on the I five Highway. He pulled into a rest
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Speaker 1: stop and we drove to that rest stop and we
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Speaker 1: gave him gas, and so Karen asked Christian, you know,
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Speaker 1: did my son indicate where he was going next? And
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Speaker 1: Christian said, no, he didn't. We just gave him the
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Speaker 1: gas and then we left. But if you'd like, I'd
10:25
Speaker 1: be more than happy to just drive over to the
10:27
Speaker 1: rest stop, it's only about fifteen minutes away and see
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Speaker 1: if he's still there. It's unlikely because it's been a
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Speaker 1: couple of hours, but you know, maybe, And Karen and
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Speaker 1: Mike are like, oh my gosh, thank you so much.
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Speaker 1: Would you do that? That would be great, And so
10:37
Speaker 1: Christian hops in his car and he drives the fifteen
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Speaker 1: minutes over to this rest stop, and he's not really
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Speaker 1: expecting to see Bryce in this parking lot. It had
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Speaker 1: been almost three hours. But he pulls into the lot
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Speaker 1: and there is the two thousand and three Toyota Highlander
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Speaker 1: with Bryce sitting inside of it. He's just sitting behind
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Speaker 1: the wheels, staring out into nothingness. And so Christian walks
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Speaker 1: up to the driver's side and he looks down to
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Speaker 1: get Bryce's at tech and Bryce kind of snaps out
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Speaker 1: of it and looks up and he's surprised to see
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Speaker 1: Christian again. He rolls the window down and Christian says
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Speaker 1: to him, Hey, I just talked to your parents. They're
11:08
Speaker 1: really concerned about you. You got to talk to him.
11:11
Speaker 1: And so Christian actually pulls out his phone and he
11:13
Speaker 1: calls Karen and says, hey, he is still here. Here
11:15
Speaker 1: he is, and he hands the phone to Bryce. And
11:18
Speaker 1: as soon as Bryce puts the phone to his ear
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Speaker 1: and he says hello, Karen's like, what are you doing?
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Speaker 1: What are you doing just sitting in this rest stop
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Speaker 1: in the middle of Button Willow, California. We're so worried
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Speaker 1: about you. And Bryce didn't really have an answer. He
11:30
Speaker 1: just kept telling his mom, I'm not doing anything. I'm
11:32
Speaker 1: just I'm just sitting here. And so finally his mom
11:35
Speaker 1: stops trying to get information from him and just says, look,
11:38
Speaker 1: please just fill your car up with gas and comes
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Speaker 1: straight home, please. And Bryce says, okay, yeah, that's what
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Speaker 1: I'll do. I'll do that right now. And so Bryce
11:45
Speaker 1: hands the phone back to Christian. Christian pulls it up
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Speaker 1: to his ear and he says, hey, Karen, it looks
11:49
Speaker 1: like he's leaving now, so I'm going to take off.
11:51
Speaker 1: Karen thanks him, and they hang up. Christian goes back
11:54
Speaker 1: into his car. He leaves the lot, and as he's driving,
11:57
Speaker 1: he looks over at Bryce and it didn't really look
11:59
Speaker 1: like Bryce was getting ready to leave. It looked like
12:01
Speaker 1: he had just gone back to sitting and blankly staring
12:04
Speaker 1: out of his car. But Christian figured, you know what,
12:06
Speaker 1: he just talked to his mom. He said he was
12:07
Speaker 1: going to go home. I'm sure that's what he's going
12:09
Speaker 1: to do. The drive from Button Willow, California, south to
12:12
Speaker 1: Laguna Neguel, California, where Bryce's parents were, was about a
12:15
Speaker 1: three hour trip, and so those pisas were expecting their
12:18
Speaker 1: son to arrive around three pm. By three point thirty pm,
12:22
Speaker 1: when he still hadn't shown up and he still hadn't called,
12:24
Speaker 1: Karen began calling her son, but he wasn't answering the phone.
12:28
Speaker 1: And as much as Karen and Mike wanted to believe
12:30
Speaker 1: their son had just gotten stuck in traffic or something
12:32
Speaker 1: like that, they knew deep down something was wrong, something
12:36
Speaker 1: was off about his behavior. They just didn't understand what
12:38
Speaker 1: it was. For the next several hours, they continuously tried
12:42
Speaker 1: calling their son and he never answered the phone, and
12:44
Speaker 1: so finally, by six pm that night, when he still
12:47
Speaker 1: hadn't shown up and they still couldn't get in touch
12:49
Speaker 1: with him, they called the police and they filed an
12:51
Speaker 1: official missing person report. The police began their search by
12:54
Speaker 1: contacting Bryce's cell phone provider AT and T, and they
12:57
Speaker 1: asked them to use their cell phone towers toying Bryce's
13:01
Speaker 1: cell phone basically triangulate where his phone is located. And
13:04
Speaker 1: once they did that and they have the actual location
13:07
Speaker 1: of his phone, the police and Bryce's parents were shocked
13:10
Speaker 1: at where it was. It was still in Button Willow, California.
13:14
Speaker 1: It was located just a couple of miles down the
13:17
Speaker 1: road from that rest stop where Christian had last seen Bryce.
13:20
Speaker 1: It was now in this parking lot of this hotel,
13:23
Speaker 1: and so the police around Button Willow were alerted to
13:25
Speaker 1: the fact that Bryce was a missing person and his
13:28
Speaker 1: phone was apparently in this parking lot, and so police
13:30
Speaker 1: were sent over there to see if Bryce was there too.
13:33
Speaker 1: And so the police arrived in this hotel parking lot
13:35
Speaker 1: and sure enough, right in the middle is the two
13:37
Speaker 1: thousand and three Toyota Highlander with Bryce sitting behind the wheel,
13:41
Speaker 1: just sitting there staring out the front. And so an
13:43
Speaker 1: officer walks up and he knocks on the glass and
13:45
Speaker 1: Bryce rolls the window down, and the officer would say,
13:48
Speaker 1: Bryce acted totally normally. He was friendly, he was lucid.
13:52
Speaker 1: He answered all their questions when he got out of
13:54
Speaker 1: the car, and they conducted field sobriety tests. He passed
13:57
Speaker 1: all of them. He even said, hey, if you want
13:59
Speaker 1: to search my car, go for it. I'm not doing
14:01
Speaker 1: anything out here. And so the officers did search his
14:04
Speaker 1: car and there were no drugs, no alcohol, There was
14:06
Speaker 1: nothing suspicious in his car. And when they asked him,
14:08
Speaker 1: you know, what are you doing out here? Your parents
14:10
Speaker 1: are so concerned about you. Bryce would tell them that
14:12
Speaker 1: he was just sitting there. He didn't really have much
14:14
Speaker 1: of an answer, but he told them he planned on
14:17
Speaker 1: going home soon, and so one of the officers said
14:19
Speaker 1: to him, hey, you really need to call your mom.
14:21
Speaker 1: You need to call home and let them know that
14:23
Speaker 1: you're okay. And when they told him to do that,
14:25
Speaker 1: Bryce suddenly became really apprehensive, like he did not want
14:29
Speaker 1: to call home. And the officer picked up on it
14:31
Speaker 1: and he said, hey, you got to tell your family
14:33
Speaker 1: what's going on. They're the reason we're out here. They're
14:35
Speaker 1: concerned about you. So get out your phone and dial
14:38
Speaker 1: your mom. And so Bryce reluctantly pulled his phone out.
14:41
Speaker 1: He dialed his mother's number and he hit call, and
14:43
Speaker 1: the officer said, give me the phone. So Bryce hands
14:45
Speaker 1: over the phone. The officer picks it up. Karen answers
14:48
Speaker 1: the phone and the officer tells her, Hey, look, I'm
14:50
Speaker 1: with your son. He's just fine. He's sober, there's no drugs,
14:53
Speaker 1: there's no alcohol. I don't really know what he's doing,
14:55
Speaker 1: but he says he's going to go home pretty soon.
14:57
Speaker 1: But there's nothing wrong about the situation. And I can
15:00
Speaker 1: tell you need to talk to your son and figure
15:02
Speaker 1: out what's going on, and so he hands the phone
15:04
Speaker 1: over to Bryce. Bryce picks it up, and Karen says
15:07
Speaker 1: to him, what's going on. Why are you still in
15:10
Speaker 1: Button Willow. It's been like nine hours. And Bryce really
15:13
Speaker 1: didn't give her an answer to any of her questions.
15:15
Speaker 1: He just kind of deflected all of them and said
15:17
Speaker 1: he'd be home soon and don't worry about it. I'm
15:19
Speaker 1: just sitting here. There's nothing to worry about. And so
15:22
Speaker 1: finally Karen just stopped trying to pull information out of
15:25
Speaker 1: her son. She could tell that again he was not
15:28
Speaker 1: going to tell her what's going on, and so she
15:30
Speaker 1: changed her tactic and she told her son very gently, Bryce,
15:33
Speaker 1: please just go get a bite to eat, get a
15:35
Speaker 1: cup of coffee, kind of get yourself together here, and
15:38
Speaker 1: then please just drive home. It's only a few hours away.
15:42
Speaker 1: Drive home, and we can talk about whatever problems you have,
15:45
Speaker 1: but you just got to drive home. You gotta leave
15:47
Speaker 1: Button Willow. You've got to come home. And at this
15:49
Speaker 1: Bryce says to his mom, you know what, Okay, I'm sorry.
15:52
Speaker 1: I'll be home in a few hours. And so they
15:54
Speaker 1: hang up, and the officer, who was kind of eavesdropping
15:56
Speaker 1: intentionally on this conversation to make sure everything was fun.
16:00
Speaker 1: The officer was satisfied that everything was fine and Bryce
16:03
Speaker 1: was sober that he would head home, and so he says, okay, Bryce,
16:06
Speaker 1: you know, best of luck, head home to your parents,
16:08
Speaker 1: and the officer left. An hour later, Karen received a
16:11
Speaker 1: call from Christian, the car repairman, who had checked on
16:14
Speaker 1: Bryce earlier, and he was actually returning one of Karen's calls.
16:17
Speaker 1: She'd called him sometime and he didn't get back to her,
16:19
Speaker 1: and so he was calling back and he wanted to know,
16:22
Speaker 1: you know, had Bryce made it home safely, because now
16:23
Speaker 1: it's been several hours from when he saw him last.
16:26
Speaker 1: And Karen would tell Christian, actually, no, after you left,
16:30
Speaker 1: my son did not leave Button Willow. He just went
16:32
Speaker 1: down the road to a parking lot. But you know,
16:34
Speaker 1: the police actually were just over there that checked on him,
16:36
Speaker 1: and now I'm certain he's making his way home. Christian,
16:39
Speaker 1: who felt kind of invested in what was happening with Bryce,
16:42
Speaker 1: would say to Karen, Hey, I don't mind driving over
16:44
Speaker 1: there and just confirming he has left this parking lot.
16:47
Speaker 1: But Karen would say, you know what, I'm confident he's
16:49
Speaker 1: on his way. Don't worry about it, You're too kind.
16:52
Speaker 1: So they hang up, and afterwards, Christian, even though he
16:54
Speaker 1: didn't have to, he decides, I'm going to go over
16:57
Speaker 1: there and make sure Bryce really has left, because obviously
16:59
Speaker 1: something's range is going on here, and you know, if
17:01
Speaker 1: there is some problem, maybe I can assist. And so
17:04
Speaker 1: he drives over to this hotel parking lot and he
17:06
Speaker 1: really was not expecting to see Bryce there, but he
17:10
Speaker 1: pulls into the lot and who's still in the middle
17:12
Speaker 1: of the lot but Bryce in his two thousand and
17:15
Speaker 1: three Toyota Highlander, just staring out the front of his car.
17:18
Speaker 1: And so this time Christian pulls up right next to him.
17:20
Speaker 1: He parks the car, he walks right up to the window,
17:22
Speaker 1: and he's a little bit more forceful, friendly, but forceful
17:25
Speaker 1: with Bryce. He hasn't rolled the window down, and Bryce
17:27
Speaker 1: obviously is very surprised to see Christian again. It's the
17:30
Speaker 1: third time he's seen this car repairman. And Christian says
17:33
Speaker 1: to him, Hey, Bryce, you need to go home. Your
17:36
Speaker 1: parents are so worried about you. You need to leave
17:39
Speaker 1: right now. In fact, I'm going to watch you leave,
17:42
Speaker 1: and then I'm gonna follow you onto the highway to
17:44
Speaker 1: make sure you're going home. And so Bryce was a
17:46
Speaker 1: little bit taken aback and how forceful he was being,
17:48
Speaker 1: but he would ultimately say, okay, yeah, all right, let's leave.
17:51
Speaker 1: And so Christian gets back in his car and he
17:53
Speaker 1: goes right behind Bryce, and after a few seconds, Bryce
17:56
Speaker 1: pulls out of the lot and he starts driving onto
17:58
Speaker 1: the road and Christian follows him. For the next hour,
18:01
Speaker 1: Christian would just remain behind Bryce and watch him drive
18:04
Speaker 1: towards Laguna Noguel. And while he was driving, Christian would
18:07
Speaker 1: actually call Karen and Mike back and he would say
18:10
Speaker 1: to them that your son had not left. But now
18:12
Speaker 1: he's good. He's on the highway. I'm right behind him.
18:14
Speaker 1: He'll be home soon. And so when Christian and Bryce
18:17
Speaker 1: made it to the last leg on the way to
18:19
Speaker 1: Laguna Noguel, Christian was confident that Bryce was fine and
18:22
Speaker 1: he would get home under his own steam. He wasn't
18:25
Speaker 1: driving erradically. Everything seemed normal, and so Christian pulled up
18:28
Speaker 1: alongside Bryce. He kind of waved to him to say,
18:30
Speaker 1: you know, I'm leaving, and then he turned around and
18:32
Speaker 1: he headed back to Button Willow. Shortly after this, Karen
18:35
Speaker 1: called Bryce. Bryce picked up the phone. He's still driving,
18:38
Speaker 1: and Karen tells him, Okay, you're gonna give me landmarks
18:41
Speaker 1: of the things you're seeing as you're driving, so that
18:44
Speaker 1: I know you're actually driving home. But Bryce refused to
18:47
Speaker 1: give them to her. He would say, oh, I can't
18:50
Speaker 1: see anything out my window. It's too dark, and I
18:52
Speaker 1: don't know where anything is. And so despite Karen and
18:55
Speaker 1: Mike getting so frustrated with him saying, come on, tell
18:58
Speaker 1: us something, give us a sign, a roads, anything, tell
19:00
Speaker 1: us anything around you, Bryce didn't give them any information.
19:04
Speaker 1: And so finally, at about two am, when Bryce really
19:07
Speaker 1: should have been in Laguna Neguel, or very close, he
19:10
Speaker 1: tells his parents over the phone that he's too tired
19:13
Speaker 1: to continue and he needs to pull over and take
19:15
Speaker 1: a nap. At first, his parents urged him to just
19:17
Speaker 1: keep on going, come home. You can sleep as long
19:20
Speaker 1: as you want when you get here, But as they
19:21
Speaker 1: were saying it, they realized their son had been awake
19:24
Speaker 1: for nearly twenty four hours at this point, and it's
19:26
Speaker 1: the middle of the night, so it does kind of
19:28
Speaker 1: make sense for him to pull over and take a nap,
19:30
Speaker 1: and so they say, okay, pull over, but as soon
19:32
Speaker 1: as you wake up, you need to call us so
19:35
Speaker 1: we know you're back on the road. So Bryce says,
19:37
Speaker 1: no problem, I'll do that, and they hang up. Several
19:39
Speaker 1: hours later, at eight am, Karen and Mike have still
19:42
Speaker 1: not heard from their son, and they're telling themselves that
19:45
Speaker 1: he's probably just sleeping. He's totally exhausted. I'm sure he's fine.
19:48
Speaker 1: And then they hear their doorbell ring and they're immediately
19:51
Speaker 1: so relieved because they're thinking Bryce is here. He's finally arrived,
19:54
Speaker 1: Thank goodness. They run to the door, they open it
19:56
Speaker 1: up and it's not Bryce. It's a police officer in
19:59
Speaker 1: the op or ask them do you own a two
20:01
Speaker 1: thousand and three Toyota Highlander car? And so Mike and
20:04
Speaker 1: Karen's heart sank and they say, yes, our son Bryce
20:07
Speaker 1: drives that car. The officer told them that the car
20:09
Speaker 1: had been located a few hours earlier at the bottom
20:12
Speaker 1: of a twenty five foot cliff near Castaic Lake. The
20:16
Speaker 1: Staic Lake is about halfway between Button Willow and Laguna Neguel.
20:19
Speaker 1: They told the parents that there was no sign of
20:21
Speaker 1: a driver. Bryce was not there. They did find two
20:24
Speaker 1: small drops of blood inside the vehicle, but beyond that,
20:27
Speaker 1: there was no indication that Bryce had sustained life threatening
20:31
Speaker 1: injuries from this crash. They said the back window of
20:33
Speaker 1: the vehicle had been broken from the inside, indicating that
20:37
Speaker 1: Bryce had escaped the wreck by punching out that window.
20:40
Speaker 1: His laptop and phone were still in the vehicle, and
20:42
Speaker 1: his wallet and duffelbag were outside the vehicle on the
20:45
Speaker 1: road and looked like they had been rummaged through before
20:48
Speaker 1: they were left there. After an examination of the damage
20:51
Speaker 1: to the car, the final tire tracks that led down
20:54
Speaker 1: to where it had been found, and traffic cameras in
20:56
Speaker 1: the area, it was concluded that Bryce had actually intention
21:00
Speaker 1: driven off this cliff, and he had actually hit the
21:02
Speaker 1: accelerator right before he went over the edge. After Mike
21:06
Speaker 1: and Karen headed out to the crash scene and had
21:08
Speaker 1: a chance to talk to some of the investigators that
21:10
Speaker 1: had been looking for Bryce, they informed the parents that
21:13
Speaker 1: most likely what they were looking at with this crash
21:17
Speaker 1: was a failed suicide attempt, But Mike and Karen they
21:20
Speaker 1: just couldn't buy that. That was not like their son,
21:23
Speaker 1: and just two weeks earlier when they dropped him off,
21:25
Speaker 1: he was happy, He was excited, to be at school.
21:28
Speaker 1: He was talking about the future. He was not someone
21:30
Speaker 1: that was suicidal, and so what situation could he have
21:33
Speaker 1: possibly gotten himself into in just those two weeks that
21:37
Speaker 1: was so bad it would lead to something like this.
21:40
Speaker 1: It made investigators and the parents wonder, you know, was
21:43
Speaker 1: Bryce hiding something? What did he mean when he said
21:45
Speaker 1: he had a lot to talk about? Did that have
21:48
Speaker 1: something to do with this thing he was hiding. A
21:51
Speaker 1: huge search was launched in and around the area where
21:54
Speaker 1: the car had been found, with hundreds of people on horseback,
21:57
Speaker 1: on atv, on foot. There were helicopters in the air.
22:00
Speaker 1: They put divers in the lake. I mean, they looked
22:02
Speaker 1: everywhere for days and days and days, but nothing was
22:06
Speaker 1: found of Bryce. On the ninth day of the search,
22:09
Speaker 1: they brought a bloodhound out to see if it could
22:11
Speaker 1: pick up Bryce's scent, and sure enough it did right
22:14
Speaker 1: at the crash site, and the dog followed the scent
22:17
Speaker 1: all the way down to the lake. It walked around
22:19
Speaker 1: the lake to this bridge. It was actually a dam
22:22
Speaker 1: that went across the lake. It followed his scent right
22:24
Speaker 1: across the bridge to the other side, and then it
22:27
Speaker 1: kept on following it up this small access road until
22:29
Speaker 1: it reached a truck stop and then a scent just stopped.
22:32
Speaker 1: And so police and the parents and everyone involved in
22:35
Speaker 1: this investigation was really surprised at this discovery, and so
22:39
Speaker 1: police got another bloodhound, a separate bloodhound. They brought it
22:42
Speaker 1: out to see if it could do the same thing
22:44
Speaker 1: to prove that this really was his scent trail, and
22:47
Speaker 1: sure enough, the bloodhound picked up his scent. It went
22:49
Speaker 1: down to the lake and went around to the bridge,
22:51
Speaker 1: went over, went to the truck stop, and then it
22:53
Speaker 1: just stopped. But after the cent trail was discovered, there
22:56
Speaker 1: was no other leads for anyone to follow, and so
22:59
Speaker 1: after three weeks of looking everywhere for Bryce, the search
23:02
Speaker 1: was called off. Some say Bryce was suicidal, that's why
23:05
Speaker 1: he drove off the cliff, that was a suicide attempt,
23:08
Speaker 1: and despite the bloodhounds picking up his scent, Bryce was
23:11
Speaker 1: most likely in the lake somewhere. Others disagree and say
23:14
Speaker 1: Bryce is still alive, that after this crash, he gets
23:17
Speaker 1: out of the car and he walks down to the lake,
23:19
Speaker 1: he walks around to that bridge, he goes up to
23:21
Speaker 1: the truck stop, and then he hitches a ride with
23:23
Speaker 1: someone and vanishes. And now he's living off the grid somewhere.
23:26
Speaker 1: And still others believe Bryce's drug and alcohol use caused
23:30
Speaker 1: a psychotic break and that was what was causing all
23:32
Speaker 1: this strange behavior, and that was what led him to
23:35
Speaker 1: drive off the cliff, and perhaps when he landed, he
23:37
Speaker 1: sustained a vicious head wound that caused him to forget
23:40
Speaker 1: who he was. And so now he's just kind of
23:42
Speaker 1: wandering around somewhere, not knowing who he is or knowing
23:45
Speaker 1: that he's a missing person. As for his parents, they
23:48
Speaker 1: say he would never do this on purpose. He would
23:51
Speaker 1: never cause this much pain to the people that love him,
23:54
Speaker 1: and so he must have been a victim of foul play.
23:56
Speaker 1: But regardless of what you believe happened to Bryce, something
23:59
Speaker 1: happened to him, and it's probably connected to whatever it
24:02
Speaker 1: was he said he needed to talk to his mom
24:04
Speaker 1: about that thing that he couldn't discuss on the phone
24:06
Speaker 1: that potentially he was trying to drive home to talk
24:10
Speaker 1: to his mom and dad in person about. But unless
24:12
Speaker 1: we find Bryce and he's still alive, it's unlikely we'll
24:15
Speaker 1: ever know what it was. Since August thirtieth, twenty thirteen,
24:19
Speaker 1: when Bryce went missing, no one has heard from him
24:21
Speaker 1: and no one has seen him. If you think you
24:23
Speaker 1: have information about Bryceless Pisa, please call this number now
24:28
Speaker 1: let them know what you know. Because his parents volunteers
24:31
Speaker 1: the police. There's so many people still looking for him
24:34
Speaker 1: and so any bit of information could crack this case.
24:37
Speaker 1: So please, if you have information, call this number below.
24:39
Speaker 1: So that's going to do it. Guys. If you found
24:41
Speaker 1: the secret in today's episode, let us know in the
24:43
Speaker 1: comments what it is and where you found it. So
24:45
Speaker 1: give us the timestamp and if you're the first to
24:47
Speaker 1: do that, we'll pin you at the top of the
24:49
Speaker 1: comments section. If you got something out of today's episode
24:52
Speaker 1: and you haven't done this already, please offer to help
24:54
Speaker 1: the like button pack up all their things so they
24:56
Speaker 1: can move, but only use weak and old tape so
24:59
Speaker 1: the bottom of the moving boxes falls out as soon
25:02
Speaker 1: as anyone tries to lift them. Also, please subscribe to
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Speaker 1: our channel and turn on all notifications so you don't
25:07
Speaker 1: miss any of our weekly three or four video uploads.
25:10
Speaker 1: If you want to get in touch with me, you
25:11
Speaker 1: can direct message me on Instagram or on Twitter. My
25:14
Speaker 1: username for both platforms is the same. It's John ballin
25:17
Speaker 1: four one six, I also have a ton of content
25:19
Speaker 1: over on TikTok, where my username is mister Ballin. I
25:22
Speaker 1: also have a second YouTube channel called mister Ballin Shorts,
25:25
Speaker 1: where I post random short videos and lost episodes. If
25:29
Speaker 1: you have a story suggestion, please submit it to our
25:31
Speaker 1: subreddit just called mister Ballin. It's linked in the description below.
25:34
Speaker 1: So whether I see you on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, reddit, YouTube,
25:37
Speaker 1: or some combination, just know that I really appreciate your
25:40
Speaker 1: support and until next time, that's going to do it.
25:42
Speaker 1: See you