Teams of divers and a sheriff's helicopter searched Tuesday for a 19-year-old college student whose SUV was found on its side near Castaic Lake. The young man's cellphone, laptop and wallet were still inside the vehicle.
Bryce Laspisa was driving from Sierra College, north of Sacramento, to his parents' home in Laguna Niguel, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
According to his parents, he called his mother around 2 a.m. Friday to say he was pulling over to get some sleep, officials said.
His overturned 2003 Toyota Highlander was found about three hours later that day near Lake Castaic on Main Ramp Road, about 100 feet from Lake Hughes Road, leading to the Upper Castaic Lake Recreation area on the lake's north side, officials said.
Laspisa was not in the vehicle when it was found. According to a Facebook page established by his parents to help spread the word about the search, Laspisa likely got out of the crashed SUV through a broken rear window.
Sheriff's officials conducted a search of the area, using dogs and a helicopter, and dive teams with an underwater camera searched the lake on Friday, to no avail.
The search continued through the weekend and today a sheriff's Special Enforcement Bureau Dive Team conducted an underwater search of the lake. A helicopter and canine units assisted in the search, officials said.
Deputies from the sheriff's Santa Clarita Station also searched San Francisquito Canyon, according to the sheriff's department.
“Bryce, we love you, we want you to come home,” his father, Michael Laspisa, told NBC4. “Just like any other thing that you might have done, we love you unconditionally. We support you, and that's all we want is for you to come home.”
Laspisa was the subject of an earlier missing persons report, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
His parents called the Orange County Sheriff's Department on Thursday to reported him missing, but Kern County sheriff's deputies found him in Buttonwillow and that's where he was when his parents last spoke with him, officials said.
Laspisa is white with red/orange hair and blue eyes. He is about 5-foot- 11 and 170 pounds and has a Taurus bull head tattooed with a Roman numeral on his left shoulder. When last seen, he was wearing white cargo shorts, a blue and white checkered shirt and white and red Nike shoes.
Anyone with information about Laspisa's whereabouts was urged to contact Sheriff's Missing Persons Detail Detective Chris Carns at (323) 890-5500.
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