Sounak Sengupta
NBC’s ‘Dateline: Blood Ties’ chronicles how Lisa Seabolt was murdered inside the apartment she shared with her spouse in Bakersfield, California, in mid-August 1996. While the authorities are yet to locate her remains or additional details regarding her slaying, the bravery of the victim’s twin sister resulted in a murder conviction within a couple of years of the homicide. The episode features interviews with Lisa’s family members and investigators involved in the case.
Lisa Seabolt’s Remains Have Never Been Recovered
Amid the rugged hills of Bakersfield, California, oil derricks loomed over the shrinking black lake below. Growing up in the 60s, inseparable twins Teresa and Lisa Seabolt formed a bond amidst family troubles. After their parents split, their three older brothers stayed in California with their grandfather, while the twins, then three, were sent away to live with relatives in Oklahoma. There, they diverged —Teresa diligently pursued education while Lisa’s wildness prevailed, yet their unbreakable connection endured.
Teresa recalled, “Lisa liked hanging out with the guys and going outside all the time, whereas I liked staying in my room and reading books and doing my homework.” Teresa worked hard, putting herself through college, while Lisa drifted. One of the twins’ brothers, Rick Seabolt, reminisced, “Teresa was like a mother figure to help her through the hard times and help her along in school. And she was just always there to help Lisa.” Adversity persisted — in 1985, Lisa’s suicide attempt signaled turmoil after a failed romance and their mother’s passing.
Two years later, Lisa, then 25, met Leonard Bryce Thomas, who worked in Bakersfield’s oilfields. Unlike her former boyfriends and lovers, he seemed like a beacon of stability. Teresa stated, “I think he kind of helped her settle down, and she seemed to be enjoying life. Everything seemed to be picture-perfect.” They married, and Lisa gave birth to Christine and Breanna in 1987, four years later. Even Teresa married and had two children, finally steering the twins’ lives toward positive trajectories.
However, tragedy struck in mid-August 1996 when Lisa failed to pick up her children from Teresa and Rick, who were babysitting her kids. When the siblings did not hear from her even after a few days, they decided to break into the apartment she shared with Bryce and look for her. While Lisa’s body is yet to be found, the abundant blood under the mattress and blood spatters on the wall the authorities had discovered indicated she had been brutally killed. However, since her body has not been located to date, the exact cause of her death remains unknown.
Lisa Seabolt’s Husband Was Involved in Her Murder
After Lisa married Bryce and settled down, Teresa finally felt she “didn’t have to be her parent anymore or worry about her.” She treated him not only as a brother-in-law but also as a close friend, adding, “He was just like a really close brother. We were able to, you know, open our hearts up about all the personal things that you can’t always even talk to a brother about, but I was able to talk to him about.” However, Rick felt something was amiss in Lisa’s marriage and explained, “Bryce would have this way of demeaning Lisa.”
The brother alleged Lisa’s husband treated her like “she was stupid or didn’t understand how to give Christine guidance or discipline.” In the mid-1990s, Lisa’s life took a dramatic turn as she began seeking solace in the company of other men, ostensibly due to dissatisfaction with her marriage. The spouses decided to end their relationship in the 1996 summer — a surprisingly peaceful decision despite their troubled history of infidelity and jealousy. However, Teresa last heard from her sister on August 11 while babysitting her kids.
Lisa mysteriously disappeared shortly after expressing her intent to leave Bryce and failed to pick up her children on August 13. Teresa felt an eerie certainty that something was wrong, fueled by her unshakable twin’s intuition. Despite skepticism from others, her conviction led her to break into Lisa and Bryce’s apartment, where a horrendous odor hit her. Inside, she discovered a blood-soaked mattress and evidence of violence, prompting her to believe that her sister had been killed within those walls.
Teresa’s discovery gave the authorities enough probable cause to obtain a search warrant for the home. Yet, the investigation into Lisa’s disappearance became complicated after they found her past involvement with drug use and ties with dangerous individuals. Bryce was initially considered a prime suspect due to their tumultuous history, but the lack of a body, weapon, and conclusive DNA evidence made it challenging to proceed with an arrest. As the police grappled with finding leads and evidence, the search for Lisa’s body dramatically turned.
Bakersfield’s history as an oil-rich region added complexity to the search, with numerous abandoned oil wells and aqueducts presenting potential hiding spots for Lisa’s remains. As various search efforts yielded no results — leaving Teresa frustrated and anxious — the determined sister decided to go undercover as Lisa to uncover the truth. When the police could penetrate Lisa’s dangerous circle of acquaintances, Teresa adopted her identity and ventured into the murky underbelly of Bakersfield’s bars and hangouts.
Posing as her sister, Teresa befriended criminals and drug users and managed to gain information from the drug dealer who had spent time with the victim the night before she vanished. His account suggested Bryce’s involvement, but Teresa’s cover was compromised, and she became a target herself, narrowly escaping an attempt on her life. Finally, DNA results from the blood spatters confirmed it belonged to Lisa, and Bryce was arrested from Anchorage, where he had fled and extradited to California.
Bryce Thomas is Currently Imprisoned
During the trial, the defense portrayed Bryce as a diligent husband and father, emphasizing his wife Lisa’s alleged descent into recklessness. They contended that he woke up one day to find her vanished while the prosecution countered, asserting that seemingly composed Bryce harbored intense anger over Lisa’s infidelity. Testimonies from friends revealed his threats against her life and a chilling offer of $5,000 to kill her boyfriend. Teresa’s testimony was particularly incriminating, as she vividly described her experience.
Despite no body or murder weapon, the jury found Leonard Bryce Thomas guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced him to 15 years. Nevertheless, a jury’s accusation gave rise to the probability of a mistrial while he remained in prison and even tried to solicit a hitman to kill his sister-in-law, Teresa. Unbeknownst to him, he was communicating with the erstwhile Sheriff’s Deputy J.R. Rodriguez, who posed as the hired killer. The undercover sting eliminated the possibility of a re-trial and added 12 years to his sentence. Therefore, today, at the age of 63, Bryce is incarcerated at the high-security Folsom State Prison in California, where he’s expected to remain until at least his next parole hearing in February 2029 – we say “next” because he was recently denied parole for 5 years on February 08, 2024.
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