The Bakersfield 3 /// Part 2 /// 563 | Forensic Files

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in part one we discussed The Disappearance of 34 year old Micah holsenbake The Disappearance of
20-year-old Bailey despot and the drive-by shooting of murder victim age 38 James Carlstadt two missing one
killed all within 33 days of another the families of the three were United drawing media attention and working with
police in mid-2019 police said the cases were in fact connected after the horrific discovery of the arm inside the
duffel bag murder victim Micah his father Lance holsenbake said that the family thought that they would feel
better once they knew what happened to Micah but the knowledge that he was dismembered was hard to take his mother
Cheryl said quote it's really difficult to not only know that your child was killed but that someone thought so
little of them that they dismembered them and threw them out like trash the other question is they're not able to
tell us whether he was dismembered when he was alive or post-mortem one year after she last heard from her
daughter Bailey Jane said quote I cry more I go to counseling it's just hard not knowing where your kid is and
thinking she's possibly chopped up like Micah end quote James's mother said that the three moms
had become very close during their time together and they lifted each other up the three had lobbied the Kern County
Board of Supervisors to fund the secret Witness Program of the Kern County Sheriff's Office to facilitate anonymous
tips Jane was determined to find her daughter Bailey and suspicious of Bailey's boyfriend that she was living with
Matthew Queen Jane was right to be concerned and suspicious as just mentioned Queen had
two pending criminal cases against him at this time and both were for being a felon in possession of a firearm these
charges were brought after bayley and Micah disappeared and he would soon rack up more charges well let's take a look
at what one FBI profiler said about this case yes Captain as we mentioned an episode of Dr Phil of the Dr Phil show
which aired in January 2019 brought national attention to the Bakersfield 3 case now a former FBI profiler named
Candace De Long addressed the case positing that one person killed Micah and was also involved in Bailey's
disappearance and someone else connected to that same killer shot James quote there is a connection between the three
they ran in the same circles they knew some of the other parties involved and those other parties were involved in
criminal Behavior gun running illegal gun sales and drug sales end quote that's what Delong said she also said
that she believed bayley knew what happened to Micah and that in turn put her in danger the same man probably
ordered the hit on James Ms Delong must have had inside information because her profile of the
killer was eerily accurate she said he was a white male 35 to 40 who cohabits with a woman and also has kids quote
he's a violent guy and people know that he's a scary guy he's also smart and dangerous and quote he likely drives a
macho car well I'm no expert I'm just a captain but it sounds to me as if the profiler is describing Matthew
Queen I think that spot on my friend by January 2019 some information started to
trickle out about the Bakersfield 3 case which was being worked by Bakersfield Police Department at the time with the
assistance of the Kearns County Sheriff's Office so in June of 2018 the Sheriff's Office executed a search
warrant the news agency KGET reported that the search warrant revealed that law enforcement was investigating bayley
Micah and Matthew queen as well as three others for manufacturing and selling illegal guns remember Micah had told his
dad that he was providing guns for people before he went missing James was shot and killed leaving the home of a
doctor who was arrested on illegal gun charges Bailey had been arrested with Matthew Queen in December of 2017 on gun
charges the guns that were found in Matthew Queen's vehicle when they were pulled over it was beginning to look
like one big gun conspiracy for the baker's field three Jane told KGET quote the stuff they were involved in these
people know they all know each other it's a big circle of criminal activity over here in Rosedale in July of 2019
your boy Matthew Queen Captain was arrested again charges unrelated to bayley but these
are still very serious and scary charges they were kidnapping burglary manufacturing and assault weapon
possession of a firearm by a felon and resisting arrest and those weren't all there were also charges of assault on a
person with Force causing great bodily injury making threats with intent to terrorize and brandishing a deadly
weapon other than a firearm that last charge is particularly frightening to me I don't know exactly what that means but
here's a rundown of that incident captain while out on bail he's already in trouble now he's out on
bail and he's still up to no good after the December 2017 gun arrest in January Matthew Queen and two others
went to the home of Caleb sealer sealer was involved in illegal gun manufacturing and drug dealing along
with Matthew Queen Matthew Queen and his cronies were granted access to the home by sealer's
roommate somehow they either pushed their way in or the roommate let them in my guess here Captain is
that the roommate felt extremely threatened or saw guns and said you know what I'm not getting killed today
Matthew Queen is wearing a bulletproof vest he's now in sealer's room Caleb sealer's bedroom right and he's waving a
gun and yelling sealer when Matthew Queen walks into this room is actually asleep with his girlfriend
so he starts to wake up he wakes up to see this dude and a couple guys with him Matthew queens in a bulletproof vest
waving a gun and shouting threats at him and his girlfriend Matthew Queen accused Caleb sealer of
snitching to the cops about Queens possessing guns resulting in the December arrest so
here's one thing that's really would be very interesting to know about this story because this situation of Matthew
Queen and Bailey despot getting pulled over in that car and all those guns being found
in the vehicle seems to be a really big kicking off point or one of the kicking off points in this
whole case right the information I would like to know and I know this is probably
going to come out sooner rather than later and we'll get into that here in a minute
but the information I would like to know is why were they pulled over why was that vehicle pulled over because
it's pulling them over that leads the cops to finding all those guns in the car now we have to look at this through
Matthew's perspective Matthew Queen he again is either paranoid because he's up to all this criminal activity or
paranoid because of the criminal activity and drugs it gets very difficult to say but what what the issue
is here Captain is that we don't know why that vehicle is pulled over and I would love to know why
because Matthew Queen seems to believe that his car was targeted and he was targeted because somebody snitched on
him that ratted him out that hey this guy's got all these illegal guns and maybe they just pulled him over
willy-nilly or found a reason to pull him over because they knew guns were inside yeah if if somebody calls in a
tip to law enforcement yes you can't just they can't just go pull over that vehicle but they can follow you and they
can nitpick any little thing that you do wrong oh yeah you turn and he didn't use
your turn signal oh we thought you got a little too close to that curb you're not
wearing your seatbelt right you sneeze the wrong way yeah you're picking your nose a little too deep so again it would
be interesting to find out why he was pulled over because that whole incident is what leads us to
this portion of our story where he's now in this Caleb sealer's bedroom waving a
gun wearing a bulletproof vest threatening this dude it's because he accuses Caleb of
snitching to the cops about him possessing guns that resulting in his December arrest
he also accused Caleb of ratting him out about the location of a gun safe he then forced Caleb into a Chevy
Silverado at gunpoint where Matthew Queen sat behind him holding a gun to his head during the drive and
perbakersfield.com one of the victims roommates said he looked scared to death that Caleb looked scared to death as he
was forced into this Chevy Silverado it's said that they drove around the city with Matthew Queen interrogating
Caleb about all kinds of different things threatening him and saying things like he was going to smoke him right now
one topic that seemed to be of concern to Matthew Queen was the identity of an individual whose name was redacted in
police reports Matthew Queen had these police reports in his hand while he's in the back of the Silverado gun to Caleb's
head threatening him he's got the police report and it says who snitched on him but that name has been blacked out he
can't see he who snitched on him well he's of the belief that Caleb possibly could have been the person
whose name was blacked out from those police reports Matthew Queen tells Caleb that the snitch could only have been one
of two people it was either him Caleb or it was who he was then referring to as his ex-girlfriend Bailey right so they
eventually drove to the river on a van down by the river and Matthew Queen forced Caleb to walk into the river
with the gun muzzle pressed against his head but for whatever reason Matthew didn't shoot Caleb it's not
clear why he would let him go but first he took the cell phone batteries from both Caleb and his
girlfriend remember she was in the the bedroom with Caleb he took the cell phone batteries out of both of their
cell phones Caleb this guy he was so scared he later told investigators that the two of them left town he and his
girlfriend just left town he stated that he did not want to stay in Bakersfield for any reason at all because he was
afraid of what Matthew Queen could do to him this is a scary situation right and
this and this information is going to get back to law enforcement yeah somehow it's not clear who reported it I have a
hard time believing that it would be Caleb or the girlfriend because they clearly just wanted to get out of Dodge
and it may be fact it may be the truth that somebody else filed this report and later police found Caleb and or the
girlfriend and interviewed them at that time but somehow this whole kidnapping threatening to kill Caleb story makes
its way to the police and in July the police decide well we're going to go talk to this Matthew Queen guy about
this specific incident so when they showed up at a construction site that Matthew Queen was working at he sees
police he decides to run he's jumping fences and scrambling over obstacles we have uh pieces of the charging
documents here that say he being Matthew right disregarded numerous commands from officers climbed
over several fences onto the roof of a business and ultimately entered the river where he continued to ignore
officers commands for more than one hour it almost sounds like a little bit of a
standoff here right Captain so this Matthew guy he's he literally jumped into the river and he's clinging to one
of those concrete pillars later charging documents allege that while resisting arrest he tried to he's like egging the
officers on trying to get them to shoot him oh come on if Queen was a black man they would have shot him when he's first
started running and jumping those fence and now he's taunting them there should be like a taunting penalty like there is
in the NFL you taunt the police too much they get to hit you with their billy clubs this Matthew Queen is a lunatic
yes yes the lunatic in in amongst other things as well now Matthew Queen knew that he was cornered he eventually
surrenders in this situation afterward they searched his home in his car and of course they found a handgun like that
described by Caleb a non-registered semi-automat Matic rifle was also found and a loaded 30 round high capacity
magazine and they found drugs as well now as a felon Matthew Queen was not supposed to be in possession of any guns
and he was already on bail for the December 2017 weapons arrest this guy gets in trouble he continues to get in
trouble and even when he's threatened with jail time prison time he's going to continue to get in trouble because
he's a career criminal he's a person that's just going to offend and reoffend again and again and what we're also
seeing here Captain is this dude is going to go and enforce amongst others when he is threatened
with punishment he's going to threaten punishment on those that he think may have led police to him right a very
dangerous person because they they have nothing in their life they have nothing to lose and they have no care in the
world nor do they have any empathy for anybody or these career criminals like this they're almost a just a different
breed of human right it's almost like they're not really human at all right um they don't share the same brains or
Souls that the rest of us do so Matthew Queen he ends up being held on bail of over one million dollars thankfully on
two firearm possession charges and one charge of ammo possession more charges were piled on this in December late
December December 31st to be exact including two counts of possession of an assault rifle and two counts of
possession of a firearm and ammo by a felon police still had not charged Matthew Queen in any of the Bakersfield
three cases though nor had they even named him as a suspect or a person of interest by this point now that he was
locked up they could take their time and the families felt more at ease now that they
could help work the case with police and that this Matthew Queen could not hurt anyone
else yeah and because he's behind bars that you also that hope that other people then come forward with more
information yes and it that's when you Circle back and you start questioning people that you have tried or attempted
to interview before and you're starting off the new conversation with going you do know we
have Matthew Queen in custody and he's not getting out now we need to talk to you about this
this and this yeah because you could give us more information that keeps them away from everybody else and keeps
everybody safe and and possibly locks them up for the rest of his life and you may the risk of retaliation by Matthew
queen that has diminished greatly now the problem though captain that the uneasy feeling that many are still going
to have is clearly what we're seeing here by this point in our story it's obvious to
everyone that a lot of these people are running in these circles that involve a lot of criminal activity
and so you have Matthew Queen who obviously seems to be some kind of enforcer some kind of psychopath
but you know he might not be the only one Within These circles that you need to be afraid of so it's a really it's I
mean it's just really a horrible horrible situation that no one would want to find themselves in the middle of
in May of 2020 there was a huge announcement from the Kern County's DA's office a massive investigation including
DNA testing cell phone triangulation wiretaps prison call recordings multiple search warrants social media review and
scores of interviews resulted in many criminal charges here is the press release in its entirety on Wednesday May
27 2020 district attorney Cynthia Zimmer was joined by Bakersfield Police Department chief Greg Terry and
announcing the filing of first-degree murder charges against Matthew Queen and Bailey desk spot for their alleged roles
in the 2018 killing of Michael holsenbake James colstad Michael holsenbake and Bailey despot have been referred to as
the baker's field three as they were a group of connected people who were either killed or went missing in 2018.
the murder charges are part of criminal filing that includes 34 criminal charges
encompassing alleged criminal conduct that ranges from December 2017 through July of 2019.
in addition to the alleged first-degree murder of holsenbake Matthew Queen and Bailey despot are both charged with a
conspiracy to murder and torture wholesome Bank as well as with the actual torture and kidnapping of
wholesome Bank despot and queen are also jointly charged in with the unlawful manufacturing of assault weapons the
majority of the additional charges pertain to Queen and include criminal threats kidnapping assault with a
firearm and other unlawful and other unlawful weapons charges although bayley despot has been reported missing since
2018 there is no known physical evidence that definitively confirms her possible
death as a result of the filing of charges an arrest warrant will be issued for bayley despots arrest Matthew Queen
is already in custody and will be arraigned on new charges some of the file charges against Queen are
duplicative of several filed cases for which he is already in custody awaiting trial the filing of this case
incorporates all of Queen's pending charges into the current filed case district attorney Cynthia Zimmer offered
a reminder that an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty in the court of law and commented about the
dedicated work that led to the filing of charges and this extensive investigation
saying quote this year's Long investigation was made possible by the combined efforts of the
Bakersfield Police Department and the District Attorney's office our common goal is to never stop searching for
answers on homicide crimes and our combined dedication to solving this case has never wavered end quote so this
press release seems to indicate that not only do police have no clue what happened to Bailey right they seem to
think it's possible that she is alive that she is on the run after being an accomplice to murder my customer
[Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] all right we're back hey Queens shout out to Jonathan Van Ness one of my
favorite people in the world he's back I'm back good to be back cheers to everybody
the other thing that we learn here Captain is what prosecutors are basically alleging well we learn a
couple things don't don't do drugs don't sell illegal weapons don't be friends with somebody that
sells illegal weapons don't be friends with somebody that sells illegal drugs the prosecutors are alleging that
Matthew Queen procures and manufactures AR-15s using you know connections that he has
in equipment at his disposal Bailey's involved in being involved with him and possibly advertising that this
guy's making and selling weapons and Micah is the one that is believed to have actually sold
these weapons or at least some of them now this is going to bring us to another person who ultimately is a third
defendant because remember the state is charging Matthew Queen and missing Bailey despot both with murder
charges so those are two defendants right now we have a third defendant and his name is Matthew Vandy Castile who was
also charged with kidnapping and conspiracy prosecutors allege that Vandy cast steel was part of a criminal
Enterprise with Matthew Queen with Micah and with Bailey they were illegally manufacturing guns including AR-15s and
as you said selling drugs now when this guy was charged with conspiracy in connection with Micah's murder
well Matthew van and Castile struck a deal with prosecutors he spoke to detectives while in Wasco State Prison
serving time on unrelated charges here's what he had to say about what happened to Micah and what happened to Bailey
this is all according to KGET who we've cited multiple times who we've said have
done gangbusters work on this very complicated case they found the following through court documents and it
says that Micah holsenbake was in way over his head he was dealing cocaine according to informants and he was also
in debt to various dangerous groups like the Hell's Angels and air quotes the cartels he had made some seriously
dangerous enemies then he allegedly stole a gun from Matthew Queen probably maybe even for self-protection
and then this Vandy Castile told investigators that Micah had lifted a 44 revolver off of Matthew Queen and
queen knew about it and was pissed one night toward the end of March 2018 Queen asked Vandy Castile if he could use his
detached garage at his home this is an apartment at 3029 North Half Moon Drive in Bakersfield
Matthew Queen and Bailey remember she's his living girlfriend at this time kidnap Micah at gunpoint they take him
to Vandy castile's house where they had already prepared the garage for his arrival if you will right the
plan here is to get information or get whatever they want from Micah and they might have to torture him in the process
to get him to confess to the gun theft and tell them what they want to know so Bailey and Matthew Queen they zip tied
Micah in this garage and they're questioning him in the garage for several hours Vandy
Castile said he didn't see the victim and said as far as he knew they were just going to torture Micah to get him
to talk he didn't know that they were going to kill him but he admitted that at one point Bailey
came into the apartment where he was grabbed a paring knife and then returns to the garage then a second time she
comes into the apartment grabs a pair of scissors now here we are quoting from KGET it says quote eventually despot
this is Bailey re-entered vandicast Steele's apartment and was visibly shaken pale as a ghost and seemed
flustered and responded to a back bedroom to change her clothing the documents say before despot and queen
left queen told Vandy Castile that he had cleaned everything up and it was okay to go inside the garage
Vandy Castile entered the garage and noticed a red grapefruit sized spot the Kern Regional crime lab later
concluded the stain tested positive for blood that was a DNA match to Micah holsenbach the day after the garage
incident Vandy Castile told police Matthew Queen returned to his residence and said he needed help disposing of
Something Matthew Queen had a large black plastic storage container with a yellow lid in the rear of his SUV Vandy
Castile stated he believed the storage container had a body inside but does not know that for a fact he told Matthew
Queen he didn't want to leave his home and so Matthew Queen leaves good idea Vandy Castile yeah yeah don't leave
don't go help dispose anytime somebody says I need help disposing of something the answer is always no nope it's Gotta
Be always no I don't even want to know what you're disposing of well some people just need to dispose of old like
TV set or maybe some video games or some comic books or baseball cards unless it's a
large sum of cash I'm not helping you dispose of it you can dispose of it right into my account yeah so Queen
returns to Vandy castille's residence several hours later this is after he left after you know Vandy Castillo won't
help him dispose of something when he returns this is several hours later Matthew Queen's SUV was muddy as if he
had driven It Off Road and Vandy Castile then finds out about Micah holsenbake missing two days later
or at least what that's what he told the police now so let's be clear here it seems certain that Vandy Castile knew
more about what was going on in his garage than what he's telling police right it seems like he was either lying
about the extent of his involvement or he had deliberately looked the other way while this torture and murder occurred
he says at least he tells police that hey I thought they were just going to torture Micah but what kind of freaking
sentence is that what kind of statement is that to the police when you hear or have knowledge of torture doesn't any
psycho reasonable logical psycho half intelligent person psycho know that that could end in Murder Psycho Killer right
you don't just go oh they were just they were just going to torture him for a little bit no big deal no you always got
to assume the possibility of that ending in Murder what if Micah or whoever the victim is doesn't tell them what they
need to know or what they're looking to find out right or doesn't know the information there you go but police had
no choice but to cut a deal with this vandicast deal guy and this is because they needed to
secure his testimony so without it they might never have been able to put together a case against Matthew Queen
now what's weird though is that they also charged Bailey according to Vandy Castile she was
equally involved as Matthew Queen in this murder but it's odd right it's kind of a weird
thing charging a missing person for murder seems as though it could be like some kind of tactic to get other
jurisdictions to be on the lookout for this Bailey person dead or alive uh or maybe they're right maybe they
they are correct and she is indeed On The Run running from future charges or potential charges of murder or possibly
running from them right you just saw we don't know what her involvement is they they must have some kind of
evidence I don't think they would just take this individual's words uh they might have Fingerprints of hers they
might have her DNA if they know she's involved in this it's not that far out of the realm of possibility that she got
spooked herself and then took off and she knows one if I if you if I come forward
you're going to arrest me but if I come forward there's a possibility that somebody's going to hunt me down and
torture me and murder me as well well and the other thing that I gotta believe too here Captain is you have a situation
where you probably have all the circumstantial evidence against Matthew Queen for at least the murder of Michael
holsenbake but if you're if your number one weapon for putting this guy away is Vandy castile's testimony
well according to what he's telling you is that he not only witnessed Matthew Queen there in his detached
garage but he also witnessed bayley there as well so if that's going to be your your
number one Avenue for putting this guy away well you're going to need to imply that on the other person that he's
saying was present as well right because if we're going to have a jury believe his story well then we need to
believe his story and if we law enforcement believe his story then we better be charging everyone that he's
naming as guilty parties so of course a warrant was issued for her arrest for Bailey's arrest but
knowing what we know about Matthew Queen and what violent dangerous piece of [ __ ]
this guy is it's really difficult for me to believe that Bailey got to walk away
I agree and remember we have this other guy Caleb sealer who's saying when Matthew Queen was threatening me he
had police documents he had the incident report that had a name blacked out of the person that ratted on Matthew Queen
and this name is blacked out and Matthew Queen Is Telling Caleb as he's threatening him gunned to the Head
standing in the river like dude all I got to do is pull this trigger and right where you drop is right where the body
will be disposed of you will fall right into the river and hopefully the current
will take you away that's a pretty big that's a pretty big threat we have this individual saying to police
that Matthew Queen told me that the name could only be one of two people me or Bailey so very difficult to believe that
Bailey got the opportunity to walk away here or that Matthew would let her walk away and
I think that a lot of this stuff that we've already discussed is indications that he didn't let her walk away well
like you said I mean they're they're suspicious of her but we have no evidence that she's still
alive they obviously don't have law enforcement doesn't have any evidence that she's dead but
that's where I'd lean towards and you're right they also don't seem to have evidence that she's alive either so
according to KGET Bailey was freaked out by the murder of Micah which she either
witnessed or actively participated in and Matthew Queen was worried that maybe Bailey was going to crack and rat him
out and then we have Vandy Castile who's going to testify against Matthew Queen he's telling police that everyone
including Matthew Queen believed that Bailey was a snitch and that she cooperated with law enforcement in
connection with the December 2017 case where she and Matthew Queen were arrested on those Firearms charges so
this Fanny Castile guy stated that after the murder bayley started falling apart
mentally and Matthew Queen probably thought she could not be trusted Fanny Castile told police he believed bayley
was disposed of because she knew what had taken place in Vandy castile's garage Matthew Queen denied any
involvement in Bailey's disappearance and it's not just that he said I didn't do it he told investigators that Bailey
had cartel connections through her father and that they probably did something to her and he suspected her of
working with law enforcement he said perhaps turning on him but he's not saying that she went into like some
Witness Protection Program he's saying that she had some connections with the cartel and once everybody figured out
that she uh snitched on everybody that somebody murdered her because of that exactly he's he's not giving any hope
that she's alive in fact he's saying that his belief is that she's dead but somebody else killed her no when you see
these shows like Ozark you just don't think this stuff is real and this is a real life case that could this could be
a Netflix series in a very recent case too as well and so these charging documents that we went through they
contain some more information about what possibly happened to Micah because remember at this point we only have the
arm recovered in the duffel bag so according to some informants his body was largely dissolved in acid others
reported that he was buried somewhere outside of Taft and remember how we said it seems likely that Vandy Castile
probably knew more or was more involved than what he's telling police well according to KGET detectives searched
Vandy castile's Gmail account and found it contained searches during the week of wholesome bake's
disappearance for lie chemical formula or lie for sale and how long does it take to dissolve a human body
specifically Vandy Castile or of course someone with access to his computer searched how long does it take to
dissolve a human body could you imagine being this type of individual and then deciding that you need a Gmail account
okay let's uh how about uh guns drugs boats and hoes at gmail.com well these charging documents also seem to imply
that Micah was not just killed over this little beef between him and Matthew Queen about a stolen gun
rather it seems possible that Matthew Queen was working for someone else or at least
acting on behalf of someone else when he took Micah out and this again per report
says several people told investigators that wholesome bake was dealing a large amount of cocaine the court filings say
and a couple witnesses surmised that he was killed over drugs and that there was
cartel type involvement so I mean who knows how how big this thing could get according to several witnesses Matthew
Queen had quite the reputation that's I mean I think it goes without saying at this point statement right I guess he
was known as The Boogeyman of Bakersfield booger everyone agreed that he was dangerous terrifying and not to
be messed with and ABC 23 reports that Witnesses told investigators that Micah was afraid of Matthew Queen and that
Matthew Queen may have kidnapped and threatened Micah in the past before he was kidnapped tortured and then
murdered so a separate incident so one witness says that in early 2008 she and Micah were hanging out at her mom's
house Matthew Queen shows up picks them up but instead of driving them to his house as I guess the plan was
he takes them to an orchard out in the sticks somewhere off of Renfro Road what a nice day she knew
that Matthew Queen had a beef with Micah not only had Micah stolen a gun from him
but he also owed Matthew Queen money Micah was worried that Queen was going to kill him so as Queen's driving Micah
jumps out of this moving vehicle and runs away he calls his friend Caleb sealer remember him we've already talked
about him and asked Caleb to come and pick him up but ended up getting arrested by a passing police officer and
it's I don't know exactly what the charges were Micah told Caleb after this incident that Matthew Queen had
kidnapped him at gunpoint once Micah was out of the car Matthew Queen takes the female we still have the girl that was
with Micah he takes her to that Orchard and he forces her to her knees while pointing an AR-15 at her
and asking her how she would like her child to grow up motherless he threatened to kill her if she didn't
tell him whether Bailey was faithful to him just Days Later police allege that Bailey and and Matthew Queen murdered
and dismembered Micah God this this guy's a real dangerous [ __ ] bag but we know that the bakerfields three are all
connected in some way but how does James's murder the drive-by shooting relate to the the other two right and
that's difficult because we have law enforcement that eventually do say that they believe that all three cases were
related and you know it it doesn't seem unlikely that Matthew queen or someone he knew
possibly took James out but charging documents State the detectives found no evidence linking
James's murder to that of Micah or to Bailey's disappearance so this is a newer development in this case now they
have said that the three of course traveled in the same circles and knew many of the same people so while it's
still possible these charging documents clearly State the detectives found no evidence linking
those two cases remember captain that we talked about how the families were an integral part of setting up that secret
witness hotline remember because we have possible Witnesses we have people that know these victims know the perpetrators
that probably do not want to talk to police because either they're worried about losing their own lives the threat
of violence or being tortured in the garage they may be committing crimes of their own even if they're just lower
level crimes they may not want to have much involvement with law enforcement because of the circles they run in well
one thing that these documents maintain is that once the secret witness hotline was set
up in in this case in the baker's field three case actually Matthew Queen was phoning in false tips
to the secret witness hotline right so he's basically throwing out their misinformation and false tips and trying
to lead police down different avenues that do not lead to him and they were able to put this together
based off of language that was used during the course of those tips and the times that they interviewed him where he
would use similar words similar statements and they were able to make that connection and I mean it really
seems it's a little dumb but it's also quite diabolical when you think about it it's
it's this this career criminal this enforcer this person that's going to retaliate against you
and he's going to go to all these efforts to cover up his crimes look at look at the efforts that were made in
the Micah wholesome bait case and that leads us back to back to Michael wholesome bake
on August 19 2021 another piece of this man was found a skull was found near an overflow parking
lot at Pyle's boys Camp off of Henry Mayo Drive in Valencia disgusting the Santa Clara River it
flows nearby the skull was determined to belong to Micah holsembake some sick [ __ ] and per news outlets
we have the family again stating quote we want to bring Micah home but bringing him home one piece at
a time is just unbearable and it could last for years that's his father's statement and his father goes on to say
because every time there's something else found it's a good thing but it's also a very very difficult thing one of
the things that makes this case a little more interesting to me this week is Matthew Queen the trial of Matthew Queen
is basically happening as we speak yes it is so this is very much a live and an active case still to this day while
we're covering it now in September of 2021 last year Matthew Vandy Castile who again he was already in prison
he entered a no contest plea on charges of being an accessory to murder false imprisonment and felony possession of a
firearm he also admitted to a robbery he had committed in Washington in return for a four-year sentence on
all of those charges and remember he agreed to testify at the upcoming trial of Matthew Queen the
trial that we are has either started by the time this hits your ear balls or it is in the process of starting so we will
be interested to hear what Matthew Vandy castile's testimony is against Matthew Queen now Caleb sealer
the guy that was threatened by Matthew Queen at gunpoint he's in his own trouble and this is
because he was engaged in all kinds of illegal activities with Matthew Queen in October of 2021 he pled no contest to
possession of a firearm by a felon and in June of 2021 this is stemming from an incident in June of 2021 when probation
officers found a short-barreled AR-15 style rifle two nine millimeter handgun frames two silencers ammunition and high
capacity magazine in Caleb's home and of course as a felon he's prohibited from having any of these items I would
like to commend the probation officers for checking in on this guy a lot of times these guys
they they go off to prison or they get probation and they might have to go check in with their po
but a lot of times the POS are not doing house checks and I don't know what exactly led the
the probation officers to Caleb in this incident but I like when I hear that POS
are going to going to the uh the individuals out on probation going to their homes and checking in on them
in in their own setting now Matthew's as the captain pointed out Matthew Queen's trial was originally
scheduled to start February 28 2022. um there has been a recent hearing that may have changed
that may change this date so we're kind of waiting for this thing to fully kick off here uh and and just a buyer beware
that when you're listening to this again his trial may have already started by the time that this hits your ear balls
now Matthew Queen unfortunately you know the captain and I don't mind a little prison justice but Matthew Queen to me
seems like the type of guy that will thrive in prison and may even have some connections already may already have
some friends before he even gets there well rumor has it he has very soft hands as for the
baker's field three moms the news that one of the kids was alleged to have killed another
you know with the Bailey being involved in Micah's death yeah thankfully it did not tear the group apart right
you know they they're a United group they're going through something together none of them signed up for this they're
still none of these moms none of these parents none of these families signed up for this they're all finding themselves
in a situation that no one would sign up for and I'm very glad to report that it
seems that none of this information has torn them apart from one another they remain strong they made a video together
thanking everyone for their support this case is finally coming to an end getting
some closure here the charity they form together it's called the Bakersfield 3 charity they worked with
the Kern County Board of Supervisors to provide seventeen thousand dollars towards new sonar equipment for the Kern
County Sheriff's Office and search and rescue unit right the three moms told ABC 23 that their mission is to bring
victims of violent crimes missing persons and their families together to build hope and strengthen Kern County
through Community engagement and Victim Advocacy now sadly Captain you know we're often asked to give our opinion
and give our conclusion and our final thoughts on these cases and really what I see here long story short to me it's a
very sad situation that I'm sure is unfortunately repeated in other great cities throughout this great nation
but here I see all indications that point to three individuals that came from good backgrounds and had their
whole lives ahead of them and they were leading good lives at one point but they
got mixed up in drugs and became seriously addicted to opiates and or meth meth addictions that led to their
associations with some Psychopathic hardcore criminals yeah and you feel bad for the parents because they raised
these kids essentially and then at some point there are good people they're on the right path then they get hooked on
pain pills which leads them to become drug addicts and that sends them down a whole life of criminal activity and
you just feel bad because they they didn't have a chance to get better and to do something productive with their
lives and live the lives that they were probably meant to live and just because we have Matthew Queen who is facing
trial we need to remind everybody that this thing ain't over right we still have Bailey who is missing
we also have James colstad no one has been charged in his murder so the police still need your help still
need information from the public and look I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but it's easy for me to suspect
that there's probably other individuals that are involved in this overall situation but you're a tool and again a
lot of those individuals as you've seen as we go through name after name after name they're all involved in lengthy
months and years of criminal activity there's a lot of bad people in this story and the police still need your
help this community needs your help in getting these bad people off of the streets so if anybody has any
information this case is not over James callstead's murder not solved nobody charged the
secret witness hotline is still available for you to submit information there is a reward in this case and I
urge anybody with information Now's the Time to come forward the threat has diminished
the threat is a lot less than it used to be please call 661 322-4040 [Music] down
I want to thank everybody for listening thanks for joining us here in the garage
thanks for being our friends and thanks for smelling so good now like flowers Colonel do we have any
recommended reading this week this week we are recommending the latest from one of my favorite True Crime authors and of
course long time friend of the show I'm talking about author Brian Whitney Brian
has several great true crime books out there for you to check out but pick up his latest it's titled storefront sting
an ATF agent's life Undercover the ATF agent is badass Lou velozzi this book is about a fictitious business run by
undercover agents that enable the ATF to infiltrate major criminal organizations
and Carry Out secret operations many of you will remember author Brian Whitney from his other books Supreme gentleman
killer my son the killer the shaw cross letters and the Son of Sam and me Brian has been a guest several times on the
nastiest show on any radio dial that of course is the true crime garage off the Record podcast that's avail available on
Stitcher premium check out all of Brian's work including his new book storefront sting available in Kindle and
paperback and until next week be good be kind and don't litter [Music] thank you

The Bakersfield 3 /// Part 2 /// 563

Part 2 of 2 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

In the Summer of 2018 recreational swimmers found a duffel bag containing a severed arm in the Kern River near Bakersfield California. Around the same time three families had come together in an effort to locate their loved ones or find justice for them. The three were Micah Holsonbake, James Kulstad and Baylee Despot and were either missing, dead or missing and feared to be dead. These cases are all related. Please help. There is a reward set up for information.

Call Secret Witness @ 661-322-4040.

Beer of the Week - Warm Hand Splash by Dancing Gnome Brewery

Garage Grade - 4 and a half bottle caps

Our show - True Crime Garage “Off the Record” is available only on Stitcher Premium. For a FREE month of listening go to http://stitcherpremium.com/truecrimegarage and use promo code GARAGE

Brief Summary

The episode discusses the Bakersfield 3 case, focusing on Micah Holsenbake, Bailey Despot, and James Colstad's connections and the role of Matthew Queen.

Key points

The Bakersfield 3. Three individuals went missing or were killed within 33 days, drawing media attention.
Matthew Queen's Criminal Activity. Matthew Queen's escalating criminal behavior leads to serious charges, including kidnapping and assault.
Charges Filed Against Queen. Matthew Queen faces first-degree murder charges related to the Bakersfield 3 case.
Prosecutors' Allegations Against Matthew Queen. Prosecutors allege Matthew Queen is involved in illegal arms dealing and murder.
Vandy Castile's Testimony. Vandy Castile reveals details about Micah's kidnapping and murder.
Discovery of Micah's Skull. A skull belonging to Micah Holsenbake is found, confirming his death.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I cry more. It's just hard not knowing where your kid is.

Jane, mother of Bailey, expressing her grief and uncertainty.

3:47WatchOct 27, 2022

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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