No ID on burned body near Castaic Lake; search on for missing man
The Los Angeles County coroner completed the autopsy on the burned body found in Castaic Lake but would not disclose the report Tuesday.
Coroner Ed Winter said that the results were put on security hold pending authorization by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The autopsy was completed on Saturday.
Meanwhile, search crews in Castaic Lake continued looking for missing college student Bryce Laspisa. A team of divers scoured the lake and sheriff’s investigators on motorcycles traversed the area near where the 19-year-old’s SUV was found.
The burned body was discovered early Wednesday morning three miles north of Lake Hughes Road by a cyclist who initially thought it was a brush fire, said Los Angeles County fire supervisor Bernard Peters. When fire crews arrived, they instead found a burning body.
Frank David told CBS that the body was “more than likely” that of his nephew, Laspisa, whose 2003 Toyota Highlander was found a few days before on the Main Ramp Road near the lake.
“I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to go there,” David told CBS. “That’s more than likely him, but I don’t really want to face that right now.”
Laspisa was traveling home from college to visit family in Laguna Niguel before disappearing Aug. 30. According to authorities, Laspisa had called his parents several hours before his SUV was discovered about 5:30 a.m.
His mother, Karen Laspisa, told KTLA-TV that he had pulled over in a residential area.
“He said, ‘I got off the 5 [Freeway]… I’m tired, I’m going to sleep in my car,’” she said.
She then told him to lock his doors and to call her when he awoke.
“And that’s the last time I talked to him,” Karen Laspisa said.
Deputy Johnie Jones, spokesman for the department’s Parks Bureau, said neither homicide detectives nor the coroner would release additional information about the burned body.
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