Within the mystery of the Bakersfield 3 as disappearances and murders in the spotlight bring in new docuseries

A hair -raising new documentary series is to expose the mysterious Real -Life story of the Bakersfield 3 – Three Friends that were missing in the spring of 2018.

In the course of just 34 days, James Kulstad was shot dead, while Micah Holsonbake and Baylee Despot were missing in Bakersfield, California.

In the beginning it was thought that the cases were tragic but not -connected events, until a series of coincidences of the mothers of the victims revealed that these three cases were entangled.

Hellbent looking for the truth of what happened to their children, the mothers came together to find answers.

The new three -part docuseries of Investigation Discovery – entitled The Bakersfield 3 – maps their journey while they navigate through a labyrinth of instructions, dead end ends and unexpected revelations to find out what really happened – and how exactly they were connected.

In anticipation of the premiere of the docuseries, DailyMail.com takes the victims and their affairs in more detail on the victims.

Who are the Bakersfield 3?

Micah Holsonbake was the first from the Bakersfield 3 to have disappeared. He was missing on April 4, 2018 by his parents, Cheryl and Lance.

Days later James Kulstad was shot dead on 8 April 2018. And finally, on April 25, 2018, Baylee Despot was missing by her mother.

Before his disappearance, the life of Holsonbake was derailed after a divorce and losing his job.

Around this time he started using drugs on prescription and also started to hang around with a man named Matt Queen, with whom he built weapons in his garage.

“He just had such easy access to them, and I think when things were not going well in his relationship he started leaning on those things like many people,” shared Micah’s mother Cheryl about his drug use.

“Micah said we had to get some extra money together. He helped someone in his garage to assemble weapons.

‘We had problems first connecting drug use to the weapon building. Then someone said that Micah was trying to sell to support his habit.

“We have information from them about Matt Queen …”

Cheryl described her son today as ‘irregular’ and ‘paranoid’.

Despot was missing on April 24, 2018 by her mother, Jane Parrent.

At the time of her disappearance, she had had a relationship with Queen and the couple had lived together with his mother, ex-wife and children.

Mam Jane said in the documentary: ‘I think he moved her there so that he could keep her in the neighborhood.

“He didn’t want her to talk to someone because she would tell me:” Mom, I can’t talk about the rest, you have to stop asking me. ‘

“I never really talked to her after that. She couldn’t come and visit me; She would hardly talk to me. He got her in his grip and didn’t let her go. ‘

Twenty -four hours before her disappearance, Despot had a court with queen for arms loading against them from the previous December.

During the hearing, Despot did not argue and received a fine and probation, while Queen was confronted with a jury court and a prison sentence if he was found guilty.

That evening she would see her mother eating.

“When I texted her, she said,” Mom, I can’t eat, the court was really bad, “Jane revealed.

“I even went there that night with a cake as an excuse to see Baylee and met Queen’s eldest son who answered the door,” she went on.

“The son said she wasn’t there.”

When she tried to get in touch with her daughter by telephone, she did not get an answer.

“Even if we had a fight, she would call me,” Jane said. “I was texting, I called, I got nothing. Everything went still. ‘

Kulstad was 38 when someone shot into his vehicle when he rode a dead end road in Bakersfield on 8 April.

As he tried to investigate his death himself, his mother Di Byne remembered how he had been friends with Holsonbake, who was missing only a few days earlier.

She convinced herself that her son was linked to Bakersfield 3.

“I knew that my son and James and Micah had hung around together because Micah was a director of Wells Fargo Bank,” said Di.

“He and Micah met when James came to the bank there. James had helped him move and they hung around, so I was able to get the phone number of Micah’s mother. ‘

At the time of his murder, Kulstad had fought against an addiction of drugs that had started almost 11 years earlier.

“In 2007, after an operation on his leg, he started an addiction to prescription medicine,” Di explained.

“As the laws changed, the doctors did not prescribe much and James then graduated from the prescribed medicines to find what he could on the street.”

What happened to Bakersfield 3?

The mothers only started to get real answers to their children in August 2018, when the severed arm of Holsonbake was found in the core River.

There was a zipper on the wrist, as well as markings that were consistent that it was cut off.

Three years later, on August 21, 2021, his skull was found in Lake Ming, two miles from where his arm was.

In June 2022 it was established that Holsonbake was being tortured and killed in March 2018.

Queen, 45, was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, plus 56 years, for his role in death.

But in a shocking turn in the story, public prosecutors found that Queen and missing person Despot Holsonbake tortured and killed in the Vandecasteele garage.

As part of a plea, Vandecasteele testified during the process.

He said he never saw Holsonbake in the night in question, but Queen and Despot asked to use his garage and Despot had come to his house and helped himself to a knife.

The next day, Vandecasteele said he went into his garage and found a large reddish spot on a shelf.

He said Queen appeared and asked for help throwing something away.

Although Queen did not indicate what he needed help with, Vandecasteele said there was a large trunk in his car.

Vandecasteele did not commit a false prison sentence with violence, possession of a firearm through a criminal and an access to the indictment. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

During his testimony, Queen accused the leg of the death of Holsonbake.

He said that Holsonbake had arrived his garage and had become angry about a joke and pulled a gun on him.

Queen also claimed that Despot entered the room and Holsonbake when the gun focused on her.

After distracting Holsonbake, he claimed that Despot dropped a dumbbell on his head and killed him.

He added that they then tried to get rid of the body and used Vandecasteele’s garage to shoot him.

During the process, Queen told the parents of Holsonbake: ‘I can never make your family again and I am sorry.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about that day, and how I should have done things differently.”

Despot disappeared shortly after Holsonbake was reported missing.

Queen always maintained that when Despot left his house that he did not know exactly where she was going, he only knew she was leaving.

She was not found. She remains accused of torture and murder, including violations.

As far as Kulstad is concerned, until now there have been no arrests in connection with the shooting.

In the documentary, Di voted that he had not yet received any answers regarding the murder of her son.

“I always thought that James’ case of the three cases would have been resolved first and that was not the case,” she said.

‘I have always had the feeling, especially with James’ case, that nobody wants to talk. Many people were afraid of their lives and did not want to get caught in something.

“It’s hard to know that there is a murderer, thinking about the safety of other people in our community.”

De Bakerfield 3 will premiere on Sunday 11 May at 8/7C on ID.