Tara Calico

Tara Leigh Calico (born February 18 1969) disappeared near her home in Belen, New Mexico on September 20 1988. Her case, believed to be a kidnapping, received extensive coverage on "A Current Affair ", "Unsolved Mysteries", and "America's Most Wanted". It was also profiled on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and 48 Hours.The Unsolved Mysteries segment on Tara's disappearance is available for viewing on You Tube.

Disappearance

On September 20, 1988 Tara left her home at about 9:30 in the morning to go on her customary bike ride. She told her mother, Patty Doel, to come and get her if she wasn't home by noon. Patty went searching for Tara along her usual bike route but could not find her and contacted the police. Part of her Sony Walkman and a Boston cassette tape were discovered along the route and Patty believed that Tara may have left these items in an attempt to mark her trail. Several people saw Tara riding her bicycle, which has also never been found. No one witnessed her presumed abduction, although several witnesses did observe a 1953 or 1954 Ford pickup following her, but it is not known if this vehicle was connected to her disappearance. All efforts to locate the pickup have failed.

The photograph

On June 15 1989, a Polaroid photo of an unidentified young girl and boy, both bound and gagged, was found in the parking lot of a convenience store in Port St. Joe, Florida. It was theorized that the girl in the photo was Tara and that the boy was Michael Henley, also of New Mexico, who had disappeared in April 1988. According to investigators the picture had to have been taken after May 1989 because the particular film used in the photograph was not available until then. Despite much conjecture, the identification of the boy in the photograph as Michael Henley seems unlikely because his remains were discovered in 1990 in the Zuni Mountains where he had disappeared. (Foul play is not suspected in his death). The Zuni mountains are about 75 miles from where Tara disappeared. Nonetheless, her mother believed the girl in the photo was indeed her daughter due in part to what appeared to be a scar on the girl's leg similar to one Tara received in a car accident. However, the FBI was unable to conclusively prove that it was Tara in the photograph.

Two other Polaroid photographs, possibly of Tara, have surfaced over the years, but they have yet to be released to the public.

There were several reported sightings of her in 1988 and 1989, mostly in the southern half of the U.S. However, none of these sightings could be confirmed.

Tara's disappearance remains unsolved. Patty Doel died in May 2006 due to a complications from a series of strokes. She had been in poor health for several years prior to her death.

Tara's biological father, David Calico, died of a heart attack in 2002.

Tara Leigh Calico would today be 39 years old.

External links

*http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2006/Jun/08/joline-gutierrez-krueger-patty-doel-waited-for/
*http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/calico_tara.html