Grieving moms dig with ‘bare hands’ to unearth the dark truth behind their missing and murdered children

In the blistering summer heat, Cheryl Holsonbake found herself driving two hours from her home to California’s rural Kern County, where she would search with her “bare hands” any land that appeared like a shallow grave.

The matriarch was joined by two other mothers in search of answers for their children.

“We took shovels and looked for my son there,” Holsonbake recalled to Fox News Digital. “I would think if I could just search with my own hands and find him, I could bring him home. I could bring him back to his family. That’s what we would do on weekends.”

HARRIS FAULKNER HOSTS ‘AMERICA’S MOST WANTED: MISSING PERSONS’ ON FOX

“People have sent us information when they wouldn’t speak to detectives,” she shared. “They’ve sent us what they think are clues. We’ve opened our phones before and had pictures of human remains. ‘Does this look like it might be part of your son?’ Who lives that life? But we stick together.”

Holsonbake is one of the mothers of the “Bakersfield 3.” It represents three cases that were entangled with each other. The quest for answers is being explored in a new Investigation Discovery [ID] true crime docuseries premiering Sunday, “The Bakersfield 3: A Tale of Murder and Motherhood.” Fox News Digital contacted the Kern County Sheriff’s Office for comment.

“One of my son’s favorite shows as a kid was ‘America’s Most Wanted’ and shows where they would look for missing people – he loved them,” said Holsonbake. “As long as people listen to the story, we’re going to tell it. And it brings information to our detective.”

The tale of tragedy started in March 2018 when Holsonbake’s 34-year-old son, Micah Holsonbake, went missing. He vanished the same month as Jane Parrent’s then-20-year-old daughter, Baylee Despot, whom he knew. Then, in April 2018, Diane “Di” Byrne’s 38-year-old son, James Kulstad, was shot to death in his car. He shared a social circle with Micah and Baylee.

Holsonbake said it was Byrne, who died in 2024 after a battle with ovarian cancer, who realized that the cases may be connected.

“She called me out of the blue and said, ‘I heard your son is missing. My son was murdered. They knew each other,’” Holsonbake recalled. “I had no idea.”

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X

About two to three weeks later, Baylee went missing. Holsonbake realized that her son knew her. Her husband, who had spotted missing posters for Baylee, texted the number listed. It was her mother.

“He told Jane, ‘You don’t know me, but I think our son and daughter knew each other,” said Holsonbake. “Then we banded together.”

Parrent still vividly remembers the last time she saw Baylee.

“I gave her a quick hug in front of Matthew Queen’s house [the man she was living with],” she tearfully told Fox News Digital. “I just wish that hug was tighter. But in hindsight, you never know what’s going to happen. But that last day, I saw her, touched her, smelled her, heard her voice.”

The children were all going through personal struggles during those final months. James, once obsessed with surfing, became addicted to drugs after being hit by a car in 2007 and prescribed opioids, Marie Claire reported. 

According to the outlet, Micah, who enlisted in the Navy after 9/11 and later became a stockbroker, also became addicted to drugs after surgery. Baylee was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and survived an overdose. She also endured domestic violence in a previous relationship.

SIGN UP TO GET THE TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER

Holsonbake still grapples with guilt over the last time she heard from Micah.

“He called me and asked for money,” she said. “I didn’t have it. He got angry with me. He raised his voice at me.

“I hung up on him, and I never talked to him again. I’ve replayed that moment a million times. . . .  The last time I saw him was about two weeks before that. He was teasing me and joking. I try to focus on that because he was more himself. . . .  But I don’t hang up on people anymore. Be careful hanging up on your kids.”

According to the docuseries, the women became frustrated by the lack of information they received from the police. The investigators argued that, like with any case, they withheld key details from the public to prevent any potential evidence tampering or alerting potential suspects.

The mothers took matters into their own hands. Whenever they received a tip on social media or through a phone call, they went searching. Parrent put up missing posters daily, even after they were taken down and poles were greased. If she drove by a strange-looking black plastic bag, she wondered: Could human remains be inside?

“I’m not a very religious person, but I have gotten closer to God, and I haven’t walked this path alone,” said Parrent. “But it’s just so painful to relieve this every day. And you get so frustrated. You tell law enforcement, ‘We got a tip to go look here.’ Well, we can’t go search there on a tip, because that costs money and time. OK, we’ll go do it ourselves. And we’ve been told to go to so many places. I’ve always said, ’I have nowhere to look and everywhere to look.'”

GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB

In 2018, a woman’s leg was found in a Kern County lake, about 25 miles southwest of Bakersfield, Marie Claire reported. Parrent was certain it was Baylee’s. It belonged to 64-year-old Santa Ana resident Shirley Mae Cassel. 

A month later, a severed arm was found in a bag, weighed down with rocks. According to the outlet, Holsonbake read an article about ANDE, a company that offers DNA testing in less than two hours.

The outlet noted that while bone fragments had been sent to Sacramento for DNA through the State Department of Justice, results could have taken a year or more. But just before Christmas in 2018, Holsonbake learned through ANDE that the arm belonged to her son.

In 2020, Queen and Baylee were charged with Micah’s kidnapping, torture and murder, Marie Claire reported. According to the outlet, investigators believed that Queen and Baylee brought Micah to Matthew Vandecasteele’s garage in 2018 to question him about a firearm. Micah was accused of stealing the gun from Queen.

The Bakersfield Californian reported that several people interviewed by police who knew Micah said he had grown increasingly paranoid of Queen leading up to his disappearance. Others claimed Micah owed debts to various people for drugs.

The outlet noted that police had interviewed Vandacasteele while he was serving time on separate convictions. He claimed Queen asked him to use his garage to extract information from Micah. Queen and Baylee were alleged to have placed zip ties on Micah’s arms, and Baylee retrieved a knife from inside the apartment. Afterward, Baylee looked shaken.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The outlet also noted that police discovered Vandecasteele had searched for how to dissolve a body online, days after Micah was suspected of being killed.

Parrent told reporters that Baylee wasn’t capable of doing anything that horrific unless “her life was in danger, or she was threatened.” She argued that her daughter should be found to get answers.

Prosecutors alleged that Micah had been dismembered, and that his remains were scattered throughout Kern County. His skull, found inside a bag, was retrieved in 2021.

Some thought that the news would break the mothers apart. It didn’t. They continued to lean on each other.

“I have done things I’d never thought I would do before,” said Parrent. “This has made me a different person. I hope I’m a better person. I know not to be afraid to speak up and call people out on what’s wrong and broken. . . .  I’m stronger now, but sometimes you don’t want to be strong. You just want to crash into the waves and have it be over. But you can’t give up hope.”

In 2022, Queen was convicted of second-degree murder in Micah’s death. KGET reported that he had been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, plus 56 years.

The rest of Micah’s remains have never been found. James’ killing remains unsolved and is not believed by authorities to be directly connected to Micah or Baylee, Marie Claire reported. Baylee is still missing.

MISSING WOMAN FOUND AFTER MORE THAN 60 YEARS, SHERIFF REVEALS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED

Today, the surviving “Bakersfield 3” moms are urging anyone with information to come forward.

“We need people to think to themselves, ‘Could this tip help a mom find her daughter, find a shallow grave?’ ‘Would I want someone to do this for me?’” said Holsonbake. “Just come to us. We’ll sit and listen to you, because I’ll always be searching. We’ll take it from there.”