Baylee Despot was 20 years old when she disappeared from Bakersfield, California on April 25, 2018. Her disappearance is tied to two other deaths from the same period — together, the three are known as the "Bakersfield 3." Baylee remains missing, and she has also been charged with murder in connection with one of those deaths.
In the spring of 2018, three friends — Micah Holsonbake, Baylee Despot, and James Kulstad — went missing or were killed within about a month of each other. Holsonbake, a 34-year-old Army veteran, was reported missing in March 2018; his remains were later found in the Kern River. James Kulstad was shot and killed in a driveway in South Bakersfield; his case remains unsolved. Baylee vanished from Bakersfield's Palm Avenue area on April 25, 2018, and has not been seen since.
In 2022, the Kern County District Attorney's Office announced that Baylee and her boyfriend at the time, Matthew Queen, had been charged with murder, kidnapping, torture, and conspiracy in Holsonbake's death. Prosecutors allege the two restrained and interrogated Holsonbake in a friend's garage over a dispute about a missing gun, then killed and dismembered him. Because Baylee has been missing since before the charges were filed, an arrest warrant was issued rather than an arrest. Queen was convicted of second-degree murder in 2022 and sentenced to 30 years to life, plus 56 years; he has claimed Baylee was the primary aggressor, a narrative prosecutors have not fully accepted.
No one knows. Her mother, Jane Parrent, has said she believes Baylee may have been coerced by Queen, or may have come to harm herself given the volatility of their relationship. As of the most recent reporting, there have been no confirmed sightings of Baylee since 2018.
Jane Parrent has spent years searching for her daughter, working alongside Cheryl Holsonbake and Diane Byrne — the mothers of Micah and James — to share leads and press for answers across all three cases. Their story is the subject of the Investigation Discovery docuseries The Bakersfield 3: A Tale of Murder and Motherhood.
Whatever happened to Baylee Despot after April 2018, her family still doesn't have an answer. If you have information about her whereabouts, or about the deaths of Micah Holsonbake or James Kulstad, please come forward.
How to report a tip:
Kern County Sheriff's Office / Bakersfield Police Department: contact your local department to reach investigators on the Bakersfield 3 case