A young 19-year-old girl named Tara Calico disappeared and left her home in Belen, New Mexico, on September 20th, 1988, to go for a 36-mile bike ride.
Tara Calico asked her mom to pick her up if she could not get home by noon because she had a date with her boyfriend.
Patty unintentionally said goodbye to her daughter. When Tara didn’t come back by noon, Patty decided to take it, But she did not find any clue about Tara. Patty then called the Valencia County Sheriff’s Department to report her daughter’s disappearance as panic set in.
After weeks of investigations, the only sign they found were remnants of Tara’s damaged Sony Walkman and bike trails.
Later seven people informed that they noticed Tara riding back home with her headphones on and an older-model pickup crawling behind her.
Disturbing Clue
In June 1989, an unusual development happened when a woman in Port St. Joe, Florida, found a polaroid photo that showed a young woman and a boy tied in the back of a van with duct tape wrapping their mouths. The police quickly reached the woman and took further information.
The picture was displayed in A Current Affair the following month. Patty Doel (Tara’s Mother) and Henley (a 9-year-old boy who went missing in New Mexico in May of 1988) both affirmed that their children’s image was. Tara had a mark on her leg that was similar to the woman. Patty also highlighted a noticeable copy of My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews’ in the Polaroid, Tara’s beloved book.
The Doels had the photo investigated by Scotland Yard who concluded it was Tara. But the Valencia County District Attorney forwarded it to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, who assumed it wasn’t Tara. FBI analysis came back uncertain.
After almost two decades, the mysterious case of Tara Calico faded. But in the years since 2008, some unusual things have pushed her story back into the limelight.
2008 Tara Calico disappearance case Development
A Valencia County Sheriff, Rene Rivera, who joined the department the year after Tara went missing, declared to comprehend Tara Calico’s disappearance case.
He tells, he discovered that two men, possibly teenagers who recognized Tara, were driving behind her and unexpectedly hit the bike. He believes they panicked, drove off with Tara, and killed her.
He claims that two other men were committed after the murder and has information on the location of Tara’s body.
“We do have a case put together, but we want to make sure that this case is a concrete case to where we’ll be able to effectively do our jobs. We’re just waiting to get a little more evidence — her bicycle, her clothing or Tara herself,” Rivera is cited as saying in the article.
Patty Doel died in 2006. John Doel heard of Rivera’s reports through the media and mocked the announcement, questioning why the Sheriff would comment without enough proof to make an arrest.
As of now, no arrests have been made, and Rivera has not publicly named any suspects. Rivera still owns this theory, going so far as to say that the boy’s families could have been involved in the cover-up.
2009 Tara Calico disappearance case Development
The Port St. Joe Police Chief, David Barnes, got a photograph of a young boy with a black marker painted over his mouth, made to look like the 1989 photo. Barnes was mailed a second letter, including an original image of the boy.
On the day that Barnes’ next letter was postmarked, The Star newspaper in Port St. Joe got a similar picture of the boy with a marker over his mouth.
As The Star was turning their letter over to police, the Gulf County Sheriff’s Department was dealing with another strange event. That day, a psychic called and told having illusions of the case. The woman insisted Tara was concealed in California and reported a blue Oldsmobile car. Authorities suspended her account but perceived the unusual timing.
2013 Tara Calico disappearance case Development
Local and federal agents reopened the case. A six-person task force was chosen that involved agents from Homeland Security, the New Mexico State Police Department, the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office, the Albuquerque Police Department, and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.
A death bed declaration was made by a man named Henry Brown. Brown informed police that his neighbor, Lawrence Romero Jr., and several friends carelessly discussed killing Tara when she went missing. Romero’s father was the Valencia County Sheriff at the time of Tara’s disappearance.
2019 Tara Calico Disappearance Case Development
The FBI declared a prize of up to $20,000 for anyone who had knowledge that would point to the location of Tara Calico or the imprisonment of those accountable for her disappearance.
The FBI issued age progression photos showing what Tara would currently look like.
Final Words
Tara would have reached 51 years of age on February 28th. Her family still has a hope that she will someday be recovered alive, but John Doel and Tara’s brother, Chris, know it’s questionable that she’s still out there.
In 2018, Chris reviewed Patty’s heartache with People magazine, “Mom really did not want to believe she was dead, period.” Patty spent the rest of her life, affirming that the girl in the Polaroid was Tara. It was her light of hope that she would someday be met with her daughter.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7t7XZmpqaZpOkunDAwKuYZpuRobaku4ydoKyZoKWyor7Ap5qeZw%3D%3D
