Tara Leigh Calico, born on February 28, 1969, vanished near her home in Belen, New Mexico, on September 20, 1988.
It's widely believed that she was kidnapped.
Disappearance
On the morning of Tuesday, September 20, 1988, Tara Calico left her home around 9:30 A.M. for her usual bike ride along New Mexico State Road 47.
This was a daily routine for her, often shared with her mother, Patty Doel.
However, Patty had stopped following Tara on these rides after feeling that a motorist had been stalking her.
She had suggested that Tara should carry a self-defense spray for protection, but Tara refused.
That morning, Tara told her mother to come look for her if she wasn't back by noon, as she had a tennis date with her boyfriend at 12:30.
When Tara didn't return home on time, Patty went out searching along Tara's regular bike route but found no sign of her daughter.
Worried and unable to locate her, Patty contacted the police.
During the search, pieces of Tara's Sony Walkman and a cassette tape were discovered scattered along the road.
Patty believed that Tara might have dropped them intentionally to leave a trail.
Multiple witnesses reported seeing Tara riding her bike that morning, but her bicycle was never found.
Although nobody directly witnessed her abduction, several people recalled seeing a light-colored pickup truck, possibly a 1953 Ford with a camper shell, trailing closely behind her.
Investigation
The police began their investigation, but no leads emerged immediately.
About a year later, they finally got a break in the case.
On June 15, 1989, nearly a year after her disappearance, a Polaroid photo emerged showing a young woman and a boy, both gagged with black duct tape and apparently bound.
This unsettling image was discovered in the parking lot of a local convenience store.
The woman who found it recalled seeing it in a spot where a white, windowless Toyota cargo van had been parked.
The van was driven by a man with a mustache, who looked to be in his 30s.
Despite police setting up roadblocks, the man was never found or identified.
Polaroid officials determined that the film used in the photo was only available after May 1989, meaning the picture had to be taken sometime after that date.
When the photo was broadcast on the TV show "A Current Affair" in July, viewers quickly drew connections.
Friends of Patty Doel, Tara Calico's mother, recognized the young woman and alerted Patty, believing it to be her missing daughter.
Meanwhile, relatives of Michael Henley, another New Mexico boy who disappeared in April 1988, thought the boy in the photo resembled Michael.
Both families, desperate for answers, met with investigators to scrutinize the Polaroid.
Patty was convinced it was her daughter, noting a scar on the woman’s leg that matched one Tara had from a car accident.
Additionally, a paperback copy of V.C. Andrews' "My Sweet Audrina," one of Tara's favorite books, was visible beside the woman in the photo.
Despite the initial optimism, the investigation hit several roadblocks.
Scotland Yard analyzed the photo and concluded the woman was indeed Tara Calico.
However, a subsequent analysis by the Los Alamos National Laboratory disagreed.
Also, the FBI's analysis of the photo provided no conclusive results.
Henley's mother was nearly certain the boy was her son, but this identification became uncertain when Michael Henley's remains were discovered in June 1990 in the Zuñi Mountains.
This discovery was made around seven miles from his family's campsite and very far from where Tara disappeared.
It was concluded that Michael had likely wandered off and died of exposure.
Over the years, two additional Polaroid photographs surfaced, potentially showing Tara.
The first, found near a construction site in Montecito, California, was a blurry image of a girl's face with tape over her mouth and light blue striped fabric behind her.
It was very similar to the original photo from the Toyota van.
This photo was taken on film that was not available until June 1989.
The second photo depicted a woman loosely bound in gauze, her eyes covered with more gauze and large black-framed glasses, with a male passenger beside her on an Amtrak train.
This film was available only after February 1990.
Tara's mother believed the first photo was of Tara, but thought the second might be a hoax.
Her sister commented on the striking, unsettling resemblance of these photos, stating that while many photos had been ruled out, these three had not.
In 1998, Tara Calico was officially declared dead, with a judge ruling her death a homicide.
Recent developments
A decade later, in 2008, Rene Rivera, the sheriff of Valencia County, revealed a chilling lead.
He received information suggesting that two teenagers accidentally hit Tara with a truck, panicked, and ultimately killed her.
According to Rivera, these boys, who knew Tara, drove up behind her, leading to some form of accident.
The boys, in their panic, covered up the crime.
Rivera claimed he knew the identities of those involved but stated that without Tara’s body, he couldn’t build a solid case.
He didn’t release the evidence supporting his conclusion, which sparked criticism from Tara’s stepfather, John Doel.
John argued that if the sheriff wasn’t ready to make arrests, he shouldn’t have made such public statements, insisting that strong circumstantial evidence should be sufficient for a conviction.
In 2009, two letters arrived at the Port St. Joe police chief's office from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The first letter, postmarked June 10, contained a photo of a young boy with sandy brown hair, printed on copy paper with a black band drawn over his mouth to mimic tape.
The second letter, postmarked August 10, included an original image of the same boy without the marker.
The Star newspaper in Port St. Joe received a third letter, postmarked on August 10, depicting the same image with a black marker drawn over the boy's mouth.
None of these letters contained any clues to the boy's identity, and the police believed they might be related to Tara's case.
These letters coincided with a call from a self-proclaimed psychic who claimed to have met a runaway in California, believed to be Tara, who worked in a strip club and was eventually murdered.
Despite searches, no evidence was found to support this claim.
The photos were handed over to the FBI for further investigation, hoping for fingerprints or DNA evidence.
In October 2013, a task force of six was established to reinvestigate Tara's disappearance, a sign that authorities were still committed to solving the case.
However no arrests had been made, and the case remained open, keeping hope alive but answers elusive.
The FBI made a significant move on October 1, 2019, by offering a reward of up to $20,000 for precise details leading to Tara's identification or location and information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for her disappearance.
This step was aimed at encouraging anyone with crucial information to come forward.
In September 2021, there was a new development.
The Valencia County Sheriff's Office and the New Mexico State Police issued a statement about a fresh lead in the case.
They mentioned that a sealed warrant had been issued for a private residence in Valencia County, though they provided no further details, leaving the public in suspense.
Two years later, a major breakthrough was announced on June 13, 2023.
Sheriff Denise Vigil of the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office, along with other law enforcement officers, held a press conference about Tara's case.
Sheriff Vigil revealed that there was now sufficient evidence to submit the investigation to the district attorney's office for review of potential charges.
She stated that the identities and specifics of the persons of interest were sealed by the court and would remain so until a court order dictated otherwise.
This string of developments, from the initial heartbreaking loss to the recent breakthrough, paints a picture of relentless pursuit for justice.
Each step brings a mix of hope and frustration, but the quest to uncover the truth about what happened to Tara Calico continues, driven by the promise that one day, answers will finally emerge.
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