Hearing underway against man charged in death of one of the Bakersfield 3

Stacey Shepard, The Bakersfield Californian
·3 min read

May 6—A half-dozen witnesses took the stand Wednesday in a hearing to decide if a local man will stand trial for the murder of Micah Holsonbake, who is part of the Bakersfield 3.

Matthew Queen, 44, was charged one year ago with murder, torture and kidnapping in Holsonbake's death, and for being a felon who possessed and manufactured firearms. He faces a total of 34 charges in the case, which is the first and only prosecution so far in the disappearance and deaths of Holsonbake and two other young adults.

Holsonbake was in his mid-30s when he went missing in March 2018 and his severed arm was later found in a bag floating in the Kern River. He is presumed to be dead.

In court Wednesday, prosecutors showed photographs of the black bag and decaying arm inside it, which had a black zip tie around the hand.

Caleb Sieler, a man who said he was once friends with Queen and made guns with him, testified that Queen had once tied him to a chair using zip ties and put an electric dog collar around his neck as part of "a sick joke." He described another incident when he woke in the middle of the night to Queen pointing a gun to him and then forcing him into a vehicle. Sieler said Queen later dropped him off in another part of town.

Hoslonbake's mother, Cheryl Holsonbake, broke down in tears in court after the images of her son's decaying arm were shown.

Photos of the bag containing the arm found in the river also showed a piece of orange and black rope tied to the bag that matched a spool of rope later found inside Queen's home, several law enforcement officers testified. The same type of rope was also shown in a separate photo attached to a purse that had belonged to Baylee Despot, Queen's former girlfriend.

Despot, who has been missing since early 2018, is one of the Bakersfield 3 but she is also charged with Holsonbake's murder, torture and kidnapping. The charges against Despot, Queen and a third man were announced last year by the Kern County District Attorney's office.

Court records that include police investigative reports indicate that a possible motive for Holsonbake's murder was a gun he stole from Queen, whom he associated with to deal drugs and fabricate and sell illegal guns.

According to the charging documents, Queen allegedly asked to use the garage of his friend Matthew Vandacasteele's apartment on N. Half Moon Drive in Bakersfield to extract information from Holsonbake in March 2018. Queen and Despot are alleged to have placed zip ties on Holsonbake's arms at the residence and Despot allegedly retrieved a knife from inside the apartment. The document further alleges that either Queen or Vandacasteele researched how to dissolve a human body.

A woman who was Vandecasteele's girlfriend at the time and later had a child with Queen testified that she recalled Holsonbake and Despot being at Vandacasteele's house on a night in mid-March 2018. The woman, who was not identified in court, said it was the last time she saw Holsonbake.

Queen is being held without bail. The hearing continues Thursday and is expected to wrap up on Friday. He is being represented by attorney Timothy Hennessy.

Despot, Holsonbake and James Kulstad make up the Bakersfield 3, the name their mothers came up with when they banded together to find out what happened to their adult children, all of whom died or went missing in early 2018. The mothers were in court on Wednesday.

Kulstad died in an unsolved drive-by shooting in April 2018. Police have said they believe the three ran in the same social circles.

Despot was 20 when she went missing more than two years ago. Her whereabouts are unknown.

Queen faces 50 years to life in prison if convicted on all the charges. Despot faces 25 years to life in prison and Vandacasteele faces 16 years in prison if convicted of the crimes.

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