A body found Wednesday near Castaic Lake in California may be 19-year-old missing man, Bryce Laspisa. Authorities have yet to confirm the identity of the body however and Lt. Wes Sutton reported, “At this point, there is no way I can connect the two because we don’t have a positive identification on the body.”
The body was found close to an area where searches have been conducted for the man. Firefighters found the burning body when called to a brush fire just after 6am (PT) that a cyclist reported. Fire crews fought toward the blaze for 18 minutes, says Los Angeles County fire supervisor Bernard Peters. The location is about three miles north of Lake Hughes Road off the “Grapevine,” a section of California’s state-long I-5 highway.
Authorities have been searching for Laspisa since Friday. He was involved in an accident, authorities infer; his 2003 Toyota Highlander was found on its side around 5:30am Friday on Main Ramp Road near Castaic Lake. The man was southbound, en route to his parents’ house in Orange County. He called his parents from Buttonwillow in Kern County, just north of the Grapevine, several hours before his vehicle was found. Under normal conditions, the drive between Buttonwillow and the location Laspisa’s SUV was found would take about an hour and a half.
Laspisa makes his home in Roseville, Placer County. Authorities described him as a white male with red hair and blue eyes, 5’11” and weighing about 170 lbs. He was last seen in white cargo shorts, a blue-and-white checkered shirt and white-and-red Nike’s. On his left shoulder, Laspisa has a tattoo of a bull’s head with a Roman numeral.
Deputies, search dogs and helicopters were employed Tuesday to search San Francisquito Canyon and surrounding areas while rescue divers searched the Lake, with no apparent results.
Anyone with information about the body or Bryce Laspisa is asked to call Det. Chris Carns at (323) 890-5500.
[Image via YouTube.]