Missing Person Photos
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Resources for Missing Persons
According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day.
Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends.
Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.
Missing Person Photos
Baylee Cheyanne Despot
Despot, date, approximate 2018; Sleeve tattoo on Despot's arm; Closeup of sleeve tattoo; Tattoo on Despot's finger; Micah Holsonbake; Matthew Queen; Matthew Vandecasteele
Date Missing 04/25/2018
Missing From
Bakersfield, California
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 06/03/1997 (25)
Age 20 years old
Height and Weight 5'4 - 5'7, 105 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A green shirt, black leggings, possibly black or white Adidas or Converse sneakers, and possibly leather anklets and oversized sunglasses. Possibly a backpack and a crossbody purse.
Medical Conditions Despot may have been pregnant at the time of her disappearance.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, green eyes. Despot has a mole on the right side of her nose by her eye, a mole on the back of her neck at the hairline, and a large scar on her left knee. She has the following tattoos: a peace sign and an alien head on her fingers, the phrase "For those I love I will sacrifice" on the right side of her torso, stars on the right side of her torso, a black rose on the inside of her left wrist, and a sleeve with lotus flowers, an eye, a red gem and a tribal band going down her right arm. Photos of some of Despot's tattoos are posted with this summary. She may use the last name Parrent.
Details of Disappearance Despot was last seen in Bakersfield, California on April 25, 2018. She was in the front yard at the residence she shared with her boyfriend, Matthew Queen, at the time. She has never been heard from again. Prior to her disappearance, her life had been troubled.
After her divorce in the spring of 2017, Despot began hanging out with new friends and using drugs. She was arrested that summer for drunk and disorderly conduct, but the charge was dismissed. In August 2017, she was drugged and sexually assaulted at an apartment complex, and in December, she was arrested on felony weapons charges. She pleaded guilty to reduced misdemeanor charges and was sentenced to three years' probation. Afterwards, she moved in with Queen. She disappeared months later.
In late March 2018, one of Despot's acquaintances, Micah Blaine Holsonbake, disappeared from Bakersfield. On April 8, another Bakersfield resident, James Kulstad, was shot to death in his mother's car. Despot went missing two weeks after Kulstad's murder. In December 2018, one of Holsonbake's arms was found in a duffel bag at Hart Park in the Kern River. The rest of his body has never been located.
The two men knew each other and Kulstad had helped Holsonbake move just weeks before Holsonbake's disappearance, and both men were friends with Despot. Her disappearance and the two men's murders were associated in the media; Despot, Holsonbake and Kulstad were referred to as "the Bakersfield Three."
In May 2020, Despot and Queen were charged with murder, torture and conspiracy to commit murder; the victim in the was Holsonbake. Queen's whereabouts are known and he was already in jail on unrelated kidnapping and weapons charges when he was charged in Holsonbake's death. Another man, Matthew Tyler Vandecasteele, was charged with kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder in the .
According to authorities, Despot, Queen and Holsonbake had all initially conspired to commit an unspecified crime together, and then, for unspecified reasons, Despot and Queen decided to murder Holsonbake. They asked Vandecasteele if they could borrow his garage in southwest Bakersfield to hold Holsonbake captive and extract information from him. The pair arrived at the garage with Holsonbake and zip-tied his hands, and Despot went inside Vandecasteele's house for a knife. Shortly thereafter, Queen and Vandecasteele researched how to dissolve a human body.
Photos of Holsonbake, Queen and Vandecasteele are posted with this summary. Queen and Vandecasteele are awaiting trial in connection with Holsonbake's murder. Investigators do not believe his murder has any connection to Kulstad's death.
Despot's whereabouts remain unknown and the circumstances of her disappearance are still unclear; she may have fled the area after Holsonbake's murder, or may have met with foul play herself. Her mother says she believes Queen had a role in her daughter's disappearance, and that Despot was reportedly pregnant and trying to leave Queen when she went missing.
She remains listed as a missing person, but now has warrants out for her arrest in Holsonbake's death.
Investigating Agency
Kern County Sheriff's Office
661-861-3110
Other
NamUs
California Attorney General's Office
Bring Our Missing Home Inc.
The Bakersfield Californian
KGET
Facebook Page for Baylee Despot
23 ABC News Bakersfield
Facebook Page for the Bakersfield 3
KBAK Fox 58 Bakersfield
Missing Person Photos
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Resources for Missing Persons
According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day.
Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends.
Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.
Missing Person Photos
