Facebook Official - EPISODE 2 (The Bakersfield Three) | Forensic Files

when it comes to a detective being assigned a homicide case it's pretty similar to a reporter being assigned a
story and it's not that sexy usually it boils down to if it's your shift or not if I'm on the clock sitting in The
Newsroom when a shooting happens my producer would tell me to get out to the scene and cover it therefore it becomes
my story such is the case with a detective on the day it's their rotation if a crime happens they go out to the
scene and it's their case but with both news stations and police departments sometimes a crime happens when all the
on duty reporters and detectives are already assigned so producers and homicide sergeants have to scramble if
the news station calls you when you're off it's not to ask you how your day is going same thing for
cops on April 8th 2018 it was already a very busy night for the Bakersfield Police Department the oncall homicide
detectives were already assigned to other cases when gunshots rang out in a quiet community
around 1:00 a.m. I was the fortunate person to answer my phone short and easy and responded out and then I became the
lead in coad's case Sergeant Chad Garrett then a homicide detective was fast asleep at
home next to his wife I imagine him groggy blurry eyed getting dressed in the dark on his day off having no clue
that he wasn't just taking a case when it wasn't his shift he was taking what many would consider one of the most
complex cases the police department department has ever seen and nothing surprised me in this case put it that
way every time I talk to somebody they would say something and I'm like that never happened there's no way and then I
could prove it [Music] happened I'm Olivia Lavo and this is the Bakersfield 3 [Music]
[Music] on the surface the murder of James colad seemed simple enough a drive by shooting
in a culdesac with Witnesses but that changed a little over a week into the investigation when detective Garrett got
a call from James's mother die asking to meet right after Cheryl and I got together and talked in person I made an
appointment and we both went to BPD together and she said well I have a homicide detective I'd like for you to
come with me by this point Micah's mom Cheryl was dealing with a missing person's detective as Micah was just
considered missing not a victim of Foul Play The Missing person's detective was not very positive at all he
was uh nobody's going to talk to us it's not illegal for him to be missing you know you'll probably hear from him in a
couple weeks he's probably just ducked out cuz he had girl trouble kind of attitude in that sense the idea of
getting to talk to a homicide detective seemed like a gift and Cheryl came prepared I had 11 typewritten singles
based pages of I saw mik or you know we I left Micah here I talked to Micah here this person
said this this person said that just gave him just a lot of information and phone numbers for
everybody even though Micah was a grown man and most adult missing persons are found perfectly safe Sergeant Garrett
had a feeling this wasn't one to brush off there were some strange circumstances in that case
so despite being a homicide detective he found found himself somewhat unofficially investigating Micah's
missing person's case as he investigated James's murder and looking into Micah's
case very quickly pointed to Bailey and her disappearance basically any time I was
doing this investigation I was actively investigating three cases so anytime I did all these
interviews I was asking about all three the three cases were naturally intertwined seeing as they not only all
knew each other and either dis appeared or were murdered within 30 days they also had so many mutual friends and
acquaintances which is where the three moms zeroed in on what they called the circle they did a deep dive on every
person their kids had in common and made sure to send everything to Sergeant Garrett which was a lot how crazy do you
think you've driven some people in law enforcement my gosh pretty crazy oh bless his heart Sergeant Sergeant
Garrett he's a sergeant now bless his heart he gets lots of messages from us still weekly for me I know weekly from
you in the beginning the emails weren't weekly they were daily sometimes several
times a day and there were phone calls and impromptu visits to the police department it could be a challenging uh
task or Endeavor but uh all their hearts in the right place the leg work they were putting in is obviously a
appreciated they they did a lot of hard work on their end they talked to a lot of people Garrett would often joke you
guys need to open up your own detective ageny you're pretty good figuring out all the key players and how they
connected to the three was significant but so was really understanding the ins and outs of Bailey Micah and James
relationships with each other Micah and James's friendship seemed pretty straight forward James was 38 when he
was killed Micah was 34 when he disappeared so they were fairly close in age and there's no mysterious
circumstances behind how they met a couple years before his disappearance Micah worked as a financial adviser at
Wells Fargo which is where James did his banking Bailey and James it seemed were
probably more acquaintances than actual friends in terms of they weren't hanging
out oneon-one more so just attending the same parties social Gatherings and whatnot but in terms of how Bailey and
Micah knew each other that was a little more complic [Music] ated Police Department can you hold
please kind of how can I help you I need to get an officer out to my house there's a woman
that won't not stop coming in my house I keep trying to throw her out made four entries into my home with me tell
her 4611 Rushmore Drive what is her name I don't know you don't know what her name is and
she's coming into your house I know her name is Bailey I don't know what her last name is is she white Black Or
Hispanic she's white 5 foot is she about how old is she sir she's I'm on the phone to you
she's 20 years old okay well I I asked you three times what color clothing is she wearing well she's trying to grab in
my pockets while you're doing it I'm trying to get her away away from her just walk away from I did walk away from
I've been walking away from her for 20 minutes yeah what is your name my name is Micah m i
ah and your last name hson b h o s o n b a k e Micah's 911 call came in July 2017
about 10 months before he disappeared and 9 months before Bailey also went missing their friendship never made
sense to me that's Bailey's older sister Caitlyn which brings out another connection Caitlyn and Micah were
friends but she isn't the one who introduced Micah to her sister in fact she had no clue they even knew each
other until the night Micah called 911 I was friends with Micah while he was still doing good while he was the broker
at a bank um had a house over here on this side of town we would just watch TV hang out nothing more and I know there's
all those rumors about how Micah and I dated and those aren't true I mean they're
they're not but after he started getting real bad was when I distanced myself and that
that was at the same time I found out him and my sister were hanging out and it didn't make sense to
me it was pretty jarring for Caitlyn to find out the way she did trying to figure out how they knew each other
while also trying to make sense of Micah calling the cops on Bailey she had came
home and was telling my mom and I the story about it and so I reached out to him asked him what was going on Micah
told Caitlyn Bailey was over with a group of people and had too much to drink and got belligerent and then
wouldn't leave I go okay well thanks and I figured that was the end of their friendship when it came to light that
the two had hung out with each other it seemed strange to both Bailey and Micah's loved ones Micah was 34 when he
disappeared Bailey was just 20 years old so the age Gap was a bit startling here's mik's mom Sherl Micah was very
much not someone who would be hanging out with a 19-year-old he really I would say would
play more of a big brother role in if he was talking with young women that age after Micah went missing I heard from
two different young women who told me Micah helped them get out of trouble and ultimately out of town whether it was a
bad relationship or they were hanging out with the wrong crowd it seemed to be a part of his personality most people in
his life knew about though not everyone described it in the nicest terms here's Jeremy Bell who was friends with Micah
James and Bailey and he would always try to play like Captain saaho and go like rescue these girls and that's what I'm
assuming happened with Bailey what is that mean just exactly how it sounds a girl's in trouble with you know a girl
is gets into an argument with a guy or the guy that she's with is being mean to her so she calls one of her guy friends
to come and get her out of the situation and that was Micah I've been told Bailey once called
Micah for help when she was dating a man she'd eventually get a restraining order
against but not long after they both went missing and a few weeks into me looking into the case
I found another possible connection between the two it came in the form of a search warrant with their names right
there in black and white the warrant was for phone records that would show text messages between
Micah Bailey Matt Queen who was dating Bailey and his friend Matt vand Castile they were looking for messages about the
manufacturing of high power assault rifles that are illegal in California here's a clip from a video laun
enforcement says shows Matt queen test firing one of the guns the warrant also mentioned the term
ghost guns meaning the guns don't have serial numbers on them which makes them untraceable I was selling mine for
$1,500 a pop I included a silencer it was 2,000 here's a guy we'll call Sam who said he had some involvement with
making these guns with the the mats and Micah we didn't sell them as ghost guns we didn't sell them as
untraceable uh we just buil them but is the point of these guns to sell them to people who can't purchase them legally
absolutely it's so that people like me who I've been a felon since I was 18 years old I can't go in the store and
buy a gun but I was able to go and buy parts and build my own Sam says at the time he was a drug dealer from a rough
part of town so in that sense his involvement in this type of thing wasn't all that surprising but what was Micah
doing involved in this and Matt Queen who worked full-time as an electrician but he was reading Bailey's name that I
think threw me off the most and now in addition to Micah and Bailey being friends according to the search warrant
it was possible they were also involved in criminal activity together and Matthew Queen was no longer
just the boyfriend of a missing woman according to the search warrant he had ties to Micah too I was dying to talk to
him but when I got Queen on the phone he was quick to say no to an interview but
before he hung up he added there is much more to this story than you know the next time I tried to speak with him was
in person I walked up and asked if he was Matt Queen to which he said no and quickly walked away but based on his
Facebook post from the next day I'd had the right guy the post was a photo of me
with a lengthy caption that reads in part Olivia I know you're young but be sure to do your homework before you
decide to Ambush somebody Jane parent has a mental disorder you're only regurgitating the fantasized life of
Bailey despot I don't doubt her concern for Bailey's whereabouts but I'll tell you this much Bailey ran away Bailey
cannot tolerate her mother it's mindless sheep like yourself and the sheriff's department that allow this paranoid to
become harmful to others Micah and Bailey are not as they're being portrayed Jane parent is going out of
her way to cast suspicion upon me false testimony is a punishable crime is it not do your homework Olivia you keep
barking up the wrong tree and I'm going to embarrass you for having none of the answers soon after Queen's Facebook page
caught my attention once again and got a lot of people talking but before I get into that I
have to rewind a little bit remember Bailey's friend Sarah the one who commented on my first story
about Bailey and Micah and said she and Bailey knew him as more than an acquaintance well when Bailey
disappeared Sarah was dating Matt vananda Castile who was good friends with Matt Queen it gets confusing
because of the two Matts I know but the important thing to remember is Bailey and Sarah were close friends dating
another pair of of close friends the two Matts and 2 days before Bailey vanished
Matt Vanda Castile was arrested this came after Sam the guy who spoke previously in this episode about ghost
guns called 911 to report Matt Vanda Castile for trying to attack him with a gun there was another guy with vand
Castile but Sam didn't get a good enough look at him to ID him here's Sam describing what happened that
day Bailey snapchatted me saying let's meet up and as I sure you know that I've been
gone for a while I'd love to meet up when she finally showed up it wasn't her I saw Matt run out of the car with an AR
running towards the motel room so I slammed the door shut and called the police they were trying to kick in the
door um and the window was cracked and I heard Matt go it's just me it's just me I just want
to talk I'm hell no I saw you run up with the gun what did you think they were going
to try to do I thought they were going to kill me you don't run at somebody with the AR
like that unless you're going that's not a robbery a robbery you try to be sneaky
about it they weren't wearing masks or nothing they didn't have no sneak in them Sam says he doesn't really know why
Vanda Castile and the other guy he couldn't recognize at the time were doing this he said heard something about
a missing license they thought Sam may have stolen regardless it was clear someone else was using Bailey's phone
pretending to be her to lure Sam into a trap of sorts flash forward to the end of May
2018 Matt Vander Castile had been sitting in jail and Bailey had been missing for about a month he and his
girlfriend Sarah who was also Bailey's friend talked on the phone [Music] constantly what's up baby hey love gu
what happened to me today what you detective me really I'm say it right now remember my phone calls
are recorded they're trying to implicate me in Matt what they investigated me for murder
today what the [ __ ] for for who what the [ __ ] who who what kind who's murdered like
who the [ __ ] died you know it's okay it's a murderd person oh what the [ __ ] yeah Bailey was missing Bailey was the
last seen two days after you were already incarcerated that's not even right no that's what I said there
wouldn't be nothing like that that would piss me off right if I was to like if I
saw messages between you and that right no why because like they brought like the detective
brought all that [ __ ] up just a few days prior to this call between Matt Vanda Castile and Sarah
Matt Queen was arrested after he was seen in the surveillance video with a gun in his waistband this was the
incident from episode one where dropped off Bailey's belongings at a friend's house anyhow when detectives went to
Queen's house to arrest him they saw a young woman there with long brown hair reportedly an officer actually asked are
you Bailey but it wasn't it was Sarah like who's your girlfriend me I was like Sarah and she's off the Tex is like well
you know she was uh she was at Mr Queen's resident the day you said yeah I know I know I said yeah I know be like
you don't think that's weird I say what's weird about it like well I wouldn't want my girlfriend having a
relationship like that with another guy who I was incarcerated um they don't understand
they're just trying to make it they're just trying to piss you off the talk you know
I that's stupid the conversation shifted briefly to what may have happened to Bailey maybe the same person that took
my take Bailey Maybe for real like they're two people connected with all the same people they both
agreed Queen was being unfairly scrutinized for Bailey's disappearance Matt Vander Castile told Sarah that he
told the detectives Queen loved Bailey more than anything do anything for and put up fers and [ __ ] he was T up
dude he was so tore up he started initiative to try to find her not her family I know but her family's just trying to
like cause drama between everything but like he was actually tore up about this [ __ ] like he was he like started crying
to me the first time I went and hung out with him like and I knew she had been missing because of like this like what
he had told me like over the the first time you guys hung out baby we've hung out a couple times you've never told me
that yes I did yeah you haven't I was like I saw Queen today you know when I told you talk to him never that you hung
out oh my goodness it wasn't like that but um it was just a baby it was just a talk about things like
this okay whatever dude Vanda Castile knew Sarah was with Queen when he got arrested but it seems he was taken off
guard upon hearing Sarah say she'd seen Queen multiple times and used that term hanging out but he brushed it off he
wasn't going to let those detectives from earlier get in his head by the end of the call Sarah and Vanda
Castile were their normal lovey-dovey selves I just think about you and I think about our future okay I I love you
the SK deep as the ocean I love you across the world and back exactly 1 month later Matt Vanda
Castile and Sarah had another call that started out normal enough how you feeling I'm feeling okay I'm watching
Game of Thrones I [ __ ] love that show I am Daenerys Targaryen I have no idea said I am Daenerys stor
targarian oh now I understand my tummy hurts I'm sorry if I was there I'd rub it I
know I do love you I hope you know that I know I love you too but a few minutes later I have to to live my life and I
don't want you to worry about what I'm doing yeah but you know what I mean when we're supposed to be living a life
together but your life is on hold and I can't do the same for me I'm 20 years old I
guess this is what God wants he took you away from me for a reason CU you can't be in my life right
now the tone suggested Sarah was saying for now they should both move on so are you really living at your
aunts aunt and uncles yeah for real for on your yes on your sister's life and swear to
God Matthew just say it no where you staying then with a friend who it doesn't [ __ ] matter
Matt no swear to God Matthew swear to God no that seemed to confirm to Matt vand
Castile it was in fact his friend Matt Queen she was living with tell that [ __ ] he's a dead
man when I get out I swear to God you need to stop I'm coming for him like if you even
love me why do you talking me like that I'm just saying if you love me why the [ __ ] would you move in with
him I'm telling you I didn't yes you did Matt calm down okay you know I love you yeah but you love you probably love
the person you're living with more than me though no I love you but less than two weeks later Sarah
updated her Facebook relationship status it now said in a relationship with Matt
Queen which led to the last time Matt Vander Castile spoke to his old friend leaving him this
voicemail I'm boy so you thought it was a good decision to hook up with my girl while I
was locked up well what goes around comes around just remember that we had our suspicions that they
were dating for a while Bailey sister Caitlyn when Bailey first went missing the post that Sarah would make in
regards to queen and the way she would word everything was worded as if they were
together but keeping it private I mean we have the screenshots detectives have it of her saying I know Queen's heart is
in the right place we were just the last two people to have seen her or been with her
and I'm just like okay well if you guys are the last two people that have been with her then what
happened Sarah's Facebook post Caitlyn is referring to doesn't say exactly that but close her exact wording in the post
is quote we were just two of the last people to see her anyhow when Bailey's Mom Jane heard the news about Queen and
Sarah I even messaged her mother saying you need to get your daughter away from that Queen but she never messaged me
back Bailey's friend Jessica who lived down the street from her and queen recalls Queen telling her he was dating
a new girl named Sarah not long after Bailey went missing she moved in um actually really quick because I remember
when this whole thing was all fresh and and you know I was still like everyone was still looking for Bailey everyone it
was just so fresh Jessica was surprised he'd be dating anyone new so fast but initially she didn't realize that
Sarah was Bailey's friend Sarah when I did find out that was her friend like after seeing them post
pictures on Facebook together I was like what the heck is going on this girl Sarah she talked highly of I mean she
considered her one of her best friends and it's just I don't know mind-blowing to mean Bailey's good friend Maddie says
she was in shock when she heard about the new couple not even 2 months after your supposed best friend at the time
disappears you're now moved in with this 43-year-old man sleeping with him carrying on a
relationship and the um Tides have turned in how he feels about Bailey's disappearance it went from I miss you
please come home to me where are you I love you to she left me she chose go to do this she got in some black sedan with
a Mexican guy and drove off I haven't seen her since and it's like hm you know it just really makes you stop and wonder
what are you talking about where did your thought process go on that you you got some new Nookie and now you just
don't care anymore not only did they look alike but they're both the same age it appeared Queen had a type but
before dating Bailey and then Sarah Queen was married to a woman his age they had children together they went to
football games had family parties from the outside they seemed like a normal Suburban couple with fine jobs living in
a nice house photos online show it has four big bedrooms and bathrooms big walk-in closets a spacious new kitchen
and a big well manicured backyard but eventually their marriage fell apart and they're living situation
morphed into an arrangement of sorts when detectives interviewed her she said she and queen separated about 8 years
into their marriage because Queen had an affair but they decided to keep living together as a family they also lived
with Queen's mother and then in late 2017 the house got a little more full when Matt Queen moved in his new
girlfriend Bailey Bailey's Mom Jane said the entire situation was difficult to comprehend
I'm like why are you moving in with his wife and kids that's not a normal thing to
do Jane begged her not to but Bailey's mind was made up she told her mom it was all fine not as weird as it seemed
Bailey's friend Jessica who lived down the street from queen says she could never understand it what do his kids
think you know are they like mad or you know it just seems weird to me like I don't know I wouldn't be able to do it
and she was like no you know we all get along here and I'm wife understand their
situation and I just had a feeling the wife didn't like her the whole time because it was just awkward it was just
awkward when they were all there together and just the age difference between her and his oldest son and
stuff Bailey was just a few years older than Queen's oldest son and somewhat adding to the strangeness of it all Jane
Bailey's mom worked at his high school there was no doubt that Matt Queen had an odd love life and if the case had
just been Bailey going missing it would have all seemed pretty textbook a guy's girlfriend vanishes and then he couples
up with her friend most people would agree it looks suspicious but this wasn't that simple
it wasn't just Bailey missing it was also Micah and then this alleged Ghost Gun Ring they were involved in and their
friend James had just been murdered it was a lot to untangle and try to figure out what connections were significant
and what were red herrings and if it wasn't already complicated enough myself and fellow crime reporter at 17 News
Jason katowski started hearing things like this it's one of the few times in my career where I've kind of almost been
warned hey you don't want to dig too deep on this one which was unusual for me and and a little scary too you know
when you get told that it's like I remember one person just telling me hey these are really bad guys they are you
know they just make these are the type of guys that make people disappear so I was kind of warned and it was a friendly
warning it was from someone who I I know very well it wasn't you know hey you better not look into this it was a hey
just be careful what you're doing here because from what we're hearing there's there could be there's the potential
that all sorts of different violent groups are involved in this at this time Jason was still
working at the newspaper at the Bakersfield Californian I considered him almost a rival of sorts mostly I was
just jealous of his excellent reporting and Rolodex of sources and like any good
reporter you never reveal your sources but I'm pretty sure we had at least one source in common because I was hearing
the exact same things the whispers about violent dangerous people being involved
came around the same time Matt Queen decided to delete his Facebook page which had been my only window into his
life and his thoughts he announced he'd be taking down his account with a very long perplexing message I I've taken out
a few chunks to shorten it even so it's lengthy it reads quote a very smart very
beautiful person once told me that if I'm always angry then I'm living in the past if I'm always stressed I'm living
in the future that if I wanted to be happy then I need to live in the present I'm so tired of being angry and stressed
I just want to go back to being happy so here's what I'm going to do I'm going to
delete this profile along with all the rest of my social media I'm going to stop listening to all the gossip and the
rantings of the weak-minded sheep with nothing better to do than bump their gums with [ __ ] they don't know about I'm
going to do my very best to ignore the insults and allegations made by The Bitter the ignorant The Arrogant the
envious the lonely the scared and the delusional I'm pretty sure anybody actually reading this knows what I'm
talking about which brings me to the hardest part of this it's time for me to let go Bailey I'm sorry I couldn't
protect you I'm sorry I failed you but the more I try to dig into what happened the more I discovered who the real
Bailey was I don't know if you'll read this I don't know if you even care but I'm Letting Go remember this though you
didn't fail me and you were enough before I go I thought I'd drop a little knowledge on all of you sleuthing drama
junkies I have heard an unlimited amount of theories as to what happened to Bailey is she missing did she leave is
she dead or alive if she's dead who did it is she connected to Micah is Micah Dead or Alive how'd they know each other
well none of it matters to Jane parent all of her theories lead back to me being the bad guy the truth is you hated
me from day one because of my age and because I gave Bailey a way out a way to get away from you Jane let's be honest
with everybody Bailey ran away for the third time now Jane not at all to say she is not being looked for some
something is not right about all of this but it's been made very clear to me that
none of it is my business I have learned all I need to about this mess and as far
as her connection to Micah goes yes they knew each other long before I met either
of them so are their disappearances connected I don't [ __ ] know but I will say this the only reason I ever
involved myself with mic and Bailey together the connection that exists between us is that Micah knew about the
bad [ __ ] that's happening to Young women in Bakersfield he knew about girls getting
drugged raped abducted he knew names of people doing it and names of people helping Micah tried playing both sides
of the fence which I believe ultimately led to his disappearance so here I stand next to
the only one brave enough to speak the truth I love you Sarah everybody thinks I'm the boogeyman because I knew both
Bailey and Micah and they're both missing my point to all of this is is simply to say I'm not your bad guy I'm
simply Jane's Boogeyman Jane parent I'm sorry your daughter is missing you should have done a better job of being
an actual parent and maybe she wouldn't have ran away acknowledge your faults your disorder and your disease then get
help stay away from me my friends my family and pray after reading this rambling
declaration I looked down at a Bakersfield 3 flyer on my desk under the glossy photos of the three of them
smiling read connect the dots for three friends all I could think was what the hell was going on
[Music] here just seemed like an episode of The Sopranos who hears that we're just
middle inome Suburban family and our young adult son is telling us about people locking him in their drunk and
holling him into an orchard and holding the gun to his head that's next time on the Bakersfield
3

EPISODE 2/15

Facebook Official The ties between The Bakersfield Three are explored as new revelations, including a love triangle, come to light.

When two friends go missing back-to-back, and in between their disappearances, a third friend is murdered, their mothers begin their own investigation. As the connections between the three cases are explored, the mothers navigate devastating twists and turns, including one revelation that shakes the community to its core.

-----

The Bakersfield Three Podcast https://casefilepresents.com/the-bakersfield-three/

----- CREDITS

Writing & Narration – Olivia Lavoice Audio Editing - Anthony Telfer Production and Music – Mike Migas Animation - Mat Rydzik, Paulina Szymanska

Special thanks to the mothers and family of the Bakersfield 3 & KGET News Station

-----

Brief Summary

The episode covers the intertwined cases of James, Micah, and Bailey, revealing complex relationships and criminal activities in Bakersfield.

Key points

The Complex Case of James Colad. What seemed like a simple drive-by shooting quickly spiraled into a complex investigation.
Connections Between the Missing. The intertwining cases of Micah and Bailey reveal unexpected connections and complexities.
A Disturbing 911 Call. Micah's 911 call reveals troubling details about his relationship with Bailey.
Matt's Voicemail to Sarah. Matt confronts Sarah about her relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Bailey.
The Complicated Love Triangle. Bailey's relationship with Matt Queen raises eyebrows after her disappearance.
A Warning to Investigators. A reporter receives a chilling warning about dangerous individuals involved in the case.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I was the fortunate person to answer my phone.

The narrator reflects on being called to a significant case.

1:00WatchMay 20, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from Casefile

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.