Original subtitles

(ethereal music)

- [Narrator] Tara Calico known to her family

and friends as fiercely independent and outgoing,

was open-minded athletic and passionate

about her place within her own world.

Her deep rooted connection with exploration

and self-discovery, as well as her inclination

to engage with the arts

and make a positive impact on her peers

was cut short by an unexplainable unsolved disappearance

in the late morning hours, of September 20th, 1988.

Leaving all who knew her across Belen, New Mexico,

and the entire country at large, grasping for answers,

in a sea of evidence that drowned us all in doubt.

in the hope of providing more substantial reasoning

built upon observable evidence and situational analysis,

this is an examination of the disappearance of Tara Calico

and the suspicious Polaroid

discovered in Port St. Joe Florida,

that may or may not give a window

into her undetermined fate.

(ethereal music)

Tara Calico, was born February 28th, 1969,

to parents David and Patty Calico in New Mexico.

The land of enchantment in an ordinary world.

Tara was an adventurous young girl

and grew up exploring the great outdoors,

joined by her siblings and friends around the area.

During childhood, her mother and father divorced.

And Tara remained with Patty,

who remarried to John Del and moved to Belen.

Another regular New Mexico suburb.

Belen is the primary seat of Valencia County, New Mexico.

Taking its name from the Spanish translation of Bethlehem.

The legendary biblical town.

It's the transportation hub of the greater Valencia area

and primarily a Catholic and Christian demographic.

When the Doel family moved to Belen,

it seemed like the quintessential place to raise Tara

and her siblings, Michelle and Chris.

It was perfectly quaint without a controversy

or worry in the world.

It's a place described as quote,

"Small Town America, where everyone knows everyone.

Everyone looks after everyone,

and no one is outside the realms of safety."

Its main economic turnstile was ranching,

and it offered many recreational possibilities

across its welcoming landscape.

This meant it was the perfect place

for Tara to engage in her exploratory tendencies

free from the fear of sinister consequences.

As Tara entered adolescents and young adulthood,

she became a beloved member of her high school class

by schoolmates and close friends alike.

They described her as an athletic

yet highly intelligent individual with an innate kindness

not often seen from children her age.

She was admired by her peers and revered by her teachers.

Who noticed her undying responsibility

and knack for extreme organization.

A traits that would be highlighted after her disappearance.

A story told by Melinda Esquibel, a friend of Tara's,

described her, as a friend to anyone.

Melinda had joined the marching band in high school.

And, at the time had no one else to confide in

or hang out with in the band.

When Tara saw Melinda sitting by herself one day,

she took this new girl into her circle of friends,

despite knowing nothing about her,

a selfless act of building a better atmosphere

for her peers.

And a memory that stuck with Melinda, well after the fact.

After high school concluded,

Tara decided to attend college and study psychology.

A subject that always fascinated her.

She chose the University of New Mexico, Valencia branch,

which also happened to be Melinda's

school of choice as well.

The two would see each other frequently

and often spoke during moments of freedom.

It was around this time

that Tara also started dating former high school classmate,

Jack Cole, a captain of their football team,

and well-liked student athlete.

The two met at a social event with mutual friends

after they graduated

and started a relationship soon after.

They always talked about traveling the States

and country together and often stayed active while dating.

This was the preferred lifestyle for Tara

who was a religious biker and outdoor enthusiast.

And sadly, it was the first domino to a fateful collapse.

When on September 20th, 1988, Belen, New Mexico

would forever be transformed

from the idyllic American community

to a dark spots of mystery, tragedy and controversy.

(ethereal music)

In the early waking hours of Tuesday morning,

September 20th, 1988, at around 9:00 am,

Tara Calico wakes up and sets out her clothes

and school books on her bed.

She preps leave her Belen, New Mexico home,

to ride her bicycle along Mexico state road 47.

A daily routine frequented by Calico and her mother Patty.

At this point however,

Patty has quit riding with her daughter

after getting the feeling

a motorist was stalking her during that Trek.

She urges Tara to ride with mace, hidden on her person.

But Tara rejects the idea.

Sometime after 9:15 am,

Tara asks Patty to come pick her up along the highway,

if she hasn't returned by noon.

When Patty asks why,

Tara reveals that she intends to play tennis

with her then boyfriend at 12:30 pm that day.

Followed by college classes, at 3:30 pm.

At about 9:30 am, Tara leaves her house

on her mother's bicycle, a 10 speed pink Huffy brand,

due to her own bike, having a flat tire.

The neon bike also came

with yellow control cables and sidewalls.

Very distinguishable characteristics.

This would be Tara Calico's last confirmed contact,

with her friends or family.

Over the next two hours, between 9:30 am and 11:15 am,

Tara bikes approximately 17 miles

to the Southern railroad tracks outside of town.

Her usual route.

The ride is assumingly normal, without hustle.

And she turns around to start the ride home,

so she can get ready for her tennis date.

At around 11:30 am, Tara is seen on the pink bicycle,

riding northbound towards her home,

by two unidentified ranch hands along State Route 47.

Nearly 15 minutes later at 11:45 am,

three men drive southbound on the other lane of the 47.

They are driving home from a hunting excursion,

and pass by Tara on her bicycle.

However, they noticed something very airy,

as a white pickup truck tales her very closely.

They note Tara is listening to music

on her Walkman with headphones,

and seems ignorant to the pursuant truck behind her.

Not long after the second sighting,

another driver in the South lane passes Tara

and also witnesses the white truck tailing her,

just under five miles away from the Rio Communities.

This driver claims he noticed the ominous truck

contained multiple occupants and not just a solo driver.

This is the last confirmed sighting of Tara Calico.

Five minutes past noon,

Patty Doel stays true to her word

and sets out to pick up Tara per her daughter's request.

She drives up and down the railroad

tracks both ways along Route 47,

that makes no sighting of her daughter, or the pink bike.

Patty even crossing nearby hospital

to check and see if Tara had an accident and was admitted.

But no one matching her description is accounted for.

Patty then rounds up a few of Tara's friends to help search

but not a trace is found.

They finally give in

and call the Valencia County Sheriff's office,

where a police search party begins.

The following day, on September 21st,

the search team discovers a sets of bicycle tracks

on the West side of Route 47,

four miles from the Rio Communities

and even closer to Tara's last sighting.

The bike tracks via from the side of the road

onto a soft shoulder

and towards a location about a 100 yards away

from the highway.

This new location has actual tire tracks,

as well as a fresh oil slick.

From here, police find a trail of footprints

that leads them to their biggest find in the case thus far.

Tara's cassette tapes of the rock band, Boston,

the broken front plastic window piece to the Walkman device,

and empty beer can strewn about.

Between September 21st and the 23rd,

law enforcement doubles their search efforts

around State Route 47.

On Saturday, September 24th,

investigators find the remaining pieces,

to Tara's broken Walkman

around the entrance of John F. Kennedy campground

at the base of the Manzano Mountains.

The area is remote, unpopulated and only 20 miles away

from the initial discovery.

Throughout that same weekend,

the Ventura County Sheriff's Office

dispatches more than 300 air and land searches,

to patrol the River and Manzano Mountains.

But find nothing out of the ordinary

and retreats on Tuesday, September 27th.

In the following days and weeks,

authority seek out any and all witnesses

to Tara's final bike ride on the 20th.

They find seven people, who claim to have seen Tara.

Five of which also claimed to have seen

the white pickup truck following her.

Four of these individuals are even hypnotized,

in an attempt to pull more details,

but nothing concrete is learned.

Law enforcement also eliminates possible evidence

such as a biking water bottle found in a nearby yard,

a patch of uneven dirt alongside Route 47,

a connection to the September, 1985 disappearance

of Debra Lansdell, and three men,

who were found drinking beer,

in the back of a pickup truck soon after Tara's vanishing.

Their alibis, the beer they were drinking was Budweiser,

and the empty beer cans found near Tara's broken Walkman,

were old Milwaukee.

One month later on October, 25th,

lead investigator sheriff Lawrence Romero,

tells the public their main suspects

are believed to be two males,

based on the report that the white pickup truck

was seen with two men inside.

The driver is described as 35 to 45 years old

white with red hair, standing five foot nine to six foot

and weighing 200 pounds.

And most interestingly with wrinkles

between his eyes and temples.

The truck itself is detailed

as a white 1950s to 1960s Ford pickup model

with a camper shell, Chrome hubcaps, large tires,

and the Ford emblem spelled in smashed red gloss letters.

His license plate starts with WBY or WBZ

and ends in the number six.

Again, weeks go by, and hundreds of calls

and hotline tips pour in regarding the suspect

and the vehicle announcement made by police.

Leading to a few interviews, but no arrests are made,

and the case begins to grow cold.

On June 15th, 1989, an unnamed woman in Port St. Joe Florida

comes to police with a Polaroid photograph

she found in the parking lot of the convenience store.

The picture displays a young female adults

and a young boy duct taped at the mouth

and bound at the wrists, laying in the back of a van.

This Polaroid is broadcast across the country,

and relatives of Patty Doel called her to inform her

that the girl in the disturbing photograph

bears a striking resemblance to Tara.

Patty flies to Florida to take a closer look

and agrees that the woman in the short,

looks like her daughter.

Over the next year, two more photographs

are submitted to authorities that show a young female

bound and gagged in a similar fashion.

But feature a different woman

than the one in the original Port St. Joe photograph.

While all three are believed to potentially

involve Tara Calico,

non have ever been confirmed to contain her image

and their status has left its debates

among government agencies

and amateur sleuths alike.

Decades pass and Tara Calico's

disappearance remains unsolved.

Despite endless searches around New Mexico

by countless investigators and private contractors,

little evidence has ever uncovered surrounding the case.

In September of 2008, 20 years after the fateful morning,

the then sheriff of Ventura County, Rene Rivera

comes out with a statement alleging he knew

who kidnapped and killed Tara,

but without any incriminating evidence or bodies to exume

the conclusion could only remain a theory.

His wasn't the only hypothesis circulating the news.

And as his peculiar confession wears down

on the followers of the case,

so does the coverage of Tara's mystery.

In 2013, a task force was created by six

different federal and local agents

to reopen the investigation.

But over seven years later,

nothing new has surfaced regarding Tara Calico

or her mother's pink neon Huffy bike.

When people familiar with the Tara Calico disappearance

think of her cold case.

The first image that pops into their head

is the suspicious Polaroid photograph,

found by a woman at the Port St. Joe's convenience store

in June of 1989.

As previously mentioned,

the picture appears to show a young woman

and a little boy held against their will.

trapped in the back of a van without an identity or story.

After the woman turns the Polaroid into the police,

She mentioned that the parking spot

where it had been found,

was actually occupied by a white Toyota van

when she arrived at the store.

Leaving seconds before her return to the parking lot.

The woman was able to catch a quick glimpse of the driver

and stated he was middle-aged and mustached,

probably in his late 30s.

Immediately the suspicions of the photo began to click.

The white van could easily be the van

that houses the bound woman and child from the image.

Could this van be the source?

Could the driver be the kidnapper?

Or could this all be a prank?

The woman, authorities and local newscasters

didn't think so.

They started investigating right away

and sent the Polaroid to a current affair,

where it was nationally televised.

Now here comes the connection to Tara Calico.

Friends of the Doel family, watched a current affair

and felt that the Port St. Joe pictures female subjects

bore a striking resemblance to Tara.

They telephoned Patty and John

who didn't hesitate to study the picture themselves.

Patty slowly but surely came to understand

that the lady in the photo was her daughter.

The biggest clue, she stated Tara had been in a car accident

as a girl and battled a leg injury that left her with a scar

along her thigh.

And pointed to a discolored streak

along the bound woman's thigh in the Polaroid.

Not only that, but if one looks closer at the image,

one can make out a book sitting next to the woman.

The book in question was, "My Sweet Audrina" by VC Andrews,

coincidentally, or maybe not,

one of Tara Calico's favorite books

by one of her favorite authors.

Investigators on Tara's case agreed

that there were enough similarities

to warrant professional analysis

and multiple agencies took a closer look.

However, out of three detailed inspections,

the results were inconclusive.

Scotland Yard said the bound woman was Tara.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory said it wasn't Tara

and the FBI could not make an official conclusion.

The naysayers had plenty

of their own physical traits to emphasize.

First and foremost, the bound woman's facial features

didn't quite match Tara's.

Their eyebrows are of distinctly different shapes,

as well as their overall draw lines.

That being said, we must consider

the drastic changes in settings.

The Polaroid could not have been taken

any sooner than May of 1989.

As that specific stock of film,

hadn't been produced and released

until spring of that year.

Thus, the photo must be depicting Tara at least seven months

after her disappearance and alleged kidnapping.

A lot of physical change can happen in that time span

including weight loss that affects the jawline

and a lack of hygiene and eyebrow maintenance.

But perhaps more importantly,

the Polaroid scenario would include months

of being lodged in a tight space.

Months of anxiety, months of stress,

of course, there will be noticeable differences

to studio let's make up and styled portraits

most used to compare Tara to the bound woman.

These are arguments to both sides of the equation.

But ultimately, there is too little information

in the Polaroid to make an affirmation, regarding Tara.

Of course, there is an entirely separate mystery

in the Port St. Joe photograph as well.

The little boy laying next to the bound woman,

deserves equal attention.

When the Polaroid first made waves around Belen, New Mexico

and the State in general,

many people wondered if the male subjects

was Michael Henley.

A young boy who went missing five months before Tara

in April of 1988.

He too disappeared in New Mexico,

during a hunting trip with his father.

He had wandered away from the camp site

one day, and vanished.

With searching crews, unable to find a shred of evidence.

While he had no personal relationship with Tara

or the Doel family,

his physical characteristics also matched the bound boy

and relatives of the Henley family agreed,

it was probably him.

How or why they'd be together was cloudy.

But if a serial kidnapper was a bound in New Mexico,

it wasn't outside the realm of possibility

that they'd been secluded together, across the country.

However, this theory went mute a year later in June of 1990,

when Michael's remains were found buried

in the Zuni mountains of New Mexico.

A forensic analysis found that Michael had most likely

died of exposure in the wilderness

after wandering off from the camp sites.

Which was seven miles from the excavation zone.

The camp site was also only 75 miles away

from Tara's disappearance.

But when Michael's fate was learned,

the connection to Tara dissolved

and the bound boy in the photograph,

remained unidentifiable.

Just another unexplainable story,

associated with the strangers

in the mysterious Port St. Joe Polaroid.

While the Polaroid controversy

spawned thousands of theories on its own,

number weighed as more probable,

as the one that surfaced in 2008

by law enforcement themselves.

After years of stale leads and a spiraling investigation,

the then Valencia County sheriff, Rene Rivera,

said he actually knew what happened to Tara

that September morning in 1988.

The Valencia County news bulletin reported

on the 19th anniversary of the disappearance

that Rivera, "Received information over the years

that two men, who were teenagers

at the time of Tara's disappearance,

found her riding her bike on the rural road that day

and had help afterwards disposing of her body."

He continued detailing his theory

through a play by play of the morning itself,

that the two men were taunting Tara

in the back of a pickup truck,

hit her bike, causing her to lose control and fall,

kidnapped her and then killed her,

when she threatened to contact authorities out of panic.

Rivera went on to say that the reason

he couldn't act on the tips or arrest those responsible,

was because there was no concrete evidence to convict

specifically, Tara's body or place of burial.

However, he did believe

that it was likely still in Valencia County

and most likely in the general area

of those railroad tracks.

Rivera wouldn't even release the names he had

in relation to the theory

making many citizens, including stepfather, John Doel,

curious why he would make the claim in the first place.

Rivera counted and said that he made the announcement

in hopes it would persuade the perpetrators

or anyone with information about Tara's resting place

to come forward and bring legal closure

to the Calico and Doel families.

Yet, no matter how much the sheriff pleaded,

no one came forward and his desperate conclusion,

ended up causing more pain than it relieved.

With this in mind, sheriff Rivera's theory does match,

a recorded incident left behind

in Tara Calico's case documents.

Now available in the public record.

Inside of the document,

a section contains an interview

with Henry Brown, New Mexico citizen,

who was since perished due to failing health.

The interview, which some label is more of a confession,

is held by Sheriff Deputy Frank Methola,

who was specifically requested by Brown,

when he was asked to come in and share his side

of the Tara Calico story.

Frustratingly there is no date connected to this events.

But it is believed to have taken place

years after the disappearance.

In the interview, Brown recounts his times

hanging around fellow Valencia County teenagers,

led by troublemaker Lawrence Romero, Jr.,

The son of the old sheriff Lawrence Romero, Sr.

He said Lawrence Jr. was a drug peddler

and interested in dating Tara Calico.

But it was never considered

because according to Brown,

Tara was dating a man, by the name of Jeff Abita.

Brown continued, recalling that he was at a party

attended by Lawrence Jr.

and his other mischievous friends,

in the basement underneath Lawrence Junior's trailer.

And that Lawrence told him he and the guys

had hit Tara on her bike with their truck,

raped her and murdered her.

Lawrence Jr. informed Brown

that they had originally just tossed the body

in some nearby bushes.

But became paranoid in light of the police searches

and transferred her body to the makeshift trailer basements

and later to a nondescript pond.

Funnily enough, Henry Brown was not the only person

to tell this story to authorities.

Another man, named Donald Dutcher,

also informed police in 2013,

that a suspect had confessed their heinous crime to him,

but he didn't have an exact location on the body, either.

Coincidence, law knots, neither Brown nor Dutchers stories

could be confirmed by Lawrence Jr or his friends themselves,

because they had all in fact died

by the time of the interviews.

Lawrence died of a self-inflicted gunshot wounds

and conspirators claimed there was a suicide note

with a confession to Tara's murder.

But if it did exist, Rovera never entered it into evidence.

Another questionable decision.

The case documents also failed to mention reliable sources

of the names of the other criminals.

But Belen residents and others with knowledge of the case

confirm that the legitimate suspects did indeed die

before they were able to be called forward.

So the question remains, if this theory holds serious weight

is it truly a lack of physical evidence,

keeping police from taking it to the prosecutor's office?

Or is there a coverup in play

by the Valencia County's Sheriff's Office?

Obviously the main suspect

being the son of a Former Oheriff,

raises a major red flag.

And the cloudiness of a written confession,

raises speculative suspicion.

But it goes without saying,

the two separate interviews with the same story,

have to be considered legitimate.

It's a shame the suspects themselves are no longer with us.

And the amount of time that has passed

since Tara's disappearance,

does not bode well,

for an unknown accomplice to randomly come forward

and share for the details.

But it does match multiple witness testimonies

regarding roughriders in a pickup truck, tailing Tara

during her bike rides.

Certain details are clunky, such as the information

that Tara was seeing a man named Jeff

and not Jack Cole, a drug dealer, nonetheless.

And the last person on earth

any of her friends could see her dating.

But the theory does give a thorough reasoning

why Tara's body was never recovered,

being hidden amongst the vast New Mexico wilderness

and ignored by those with the ability to recover her.

This is a truly dastardly, active injustice

and corruption, if true.

Of course, there are plenty of other hypotheses

surrounding Tara Calico.

Like any prominent missing persons case

broadcast on national networks,

plenty of possible sightings came into law enforcement

and television networks.

Regular people claiming they've seen Tara

with suspicious individuals

or walking freely among the streets.

However, most of these sightings came in Florida

after the Polaroid mishap.

Most likely the results of phenomenon bias.

People were much more willing to believe they had seen Tara

after thinking she was held hostage somewhere

in the Sunshine States.

A combination of wanting a solution

to be born of a possibility,

and to play the hero in an unsolvable mystery.

They thought Tara may have fled on her own,

explaining the added vanishing of her bike

and the breadcrumb trail to nowhere

made up by her broken Walkman.

Yet the theory made no sense

when considering her healthy home life,

relationships and drive to finish school.

There were absolutely no warning signs of abandonment.

And Tara had plans in place

to make sure she wouldn't get lost,

a far cry from a scheme to dissolve into the far away world.

Another prominent theory,

put Tara's fate in the hands of an elaborate kidnapper,

a serial criminal with a twisted mind

and a knack for public attention.

This idea was born, not just from the one

Polaroid found in Port St. Joe's,

but from a series of photos found by outsiders

and received by Florida police.

In addition to the first picture,

another Polaroid image was discovered

out of construction sites, in California.

Depicting a young woman gagged and seemingly under distress.

The picture was up close and blurry,

but the woman once again, bore a few similarities to Tara

and the fabric in the background

could have been a match to a fabric seen

in the Port St. Joe's Polaroid.

The third image came from an unconfirmed location,

but depicted a woman tied to an Amtrak

sitting next to a male figure, laughing.

This female showed even fewer comparisons to Tara

and the entire situation was widely believed to be staged,

and never seriously considered by investigators.

In a strange twist, 20 years after the Polaroids were found

another set of printed pictures entered the case.

Chief David Barnes of Port St. Joe's police department

received two envelopes.

Postmarks June 10th and August 10th, 2009

from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The first envelope contained a photograph

of a Brown-haired boy

with a black Sharpie-drawn band of tape over his mouth.

The second envelope contains the original unaltered photo

of the same boy.

Then two days later on August 12th,

Port St. Joe newspaper "The Star"

received a third envelope.

Again, postmarked August 10th in Albuquerque.

It contained another photo of a boy

with more black Sharpie drawn over his mouth.

It's unknown if the boys were the same person

in each mailing, but investigators initially wondered

if they were somehow connected to Tara Calico's case

due to the same locations matching her profile.

Unfortunately, there were no letters in the envelopes

containing identities or any clues at all.

But perhaps strangest of all,

these envelopes were obtained the same time,

a self-proclaimed psychic

was calling into Port St. Joe PD,

talking about dreams she had of Tara dying

and being buried in California after running away.

She also mentioned, she met a girl at a strip club

who claimed to be Tara.

But that girl was located and mistakenly identified.

Conspiracy theorists think that both incidents are connected

that either the psychic caller

was also the person sending in the envelopes

as a means to find attention,

or the work of a serial kidnapper,

playing a Zodiac killer level prank,

on local authorities and new stations.

They believe Tara was kidnapped

and driven around the County in the back of a van.

And that she was the girl

in at least the Port St. Joe photograph

and possibly the girl in the other Polaroids as well.

Could the psychic have been a legitimate suspects?

Multiple agencies ruled them out, calling it a hoax,

but many have their doubts,

pointing at the piling circumstantial evidence

to be more than a mere coincidence.

(ethereal music)

Before we divulge our hypothesis

of Tara Calico's unsolved disappearance,

we want to make it known our conclusions

prevented in cold case Detective,

are purely logical speculation,

based on evidence, circumstance and factual subtext.

We are only privy to the same information

presented in each video.

And we do not attempt to promise certainty

or an expert guarantee on the findings we reach in closing.

We simply observe, research and report.

We believe that while the Port St. Joe Polaroid

bears a haunting look alike of Tara Calico,

she was most likely never photographed

after her disappearance.

And if she was, it never made it

into the hands of investigators

like the three prominent photographs did, after 1989.

In fact, it's hard to imagine Tara ever made it East

of the Mississippi River in general.

Most likely staying in the general vicinity,

of her original vanishing site.

In fact, we strongly consider the testimony

of Henry Brown and Donald Dutcher to be real,

if not completely, 100% accurate.

It is hard to fabricate the truth

when told from multiple uncoerced sources

and even harder when most of their details

matched the circumstances around the case itself.

However, it is greatly disturbing

that the police received such confirmation

yet never acted upon it.

Citing a lack of evidence

despite in-depth knowledge of the crime.

Was it a full blown Valencia County

sheriff department coverup?

It can't be said for certain.

But when considering the main perpetrator

is the son of a former sheriff,

this is not a good look for Valencia County.

Thus, we believe that the white pickup truck tailing Tara

was indeed full of the suspects,

who would have knocked her to the ground,

taken her and either killed her

or sent her off with the other accomplices

and fled the Rio communities area.

If Tara did survive that morning's kidnapping,

where she ended up is as good a question as any.

But chances are she perished at the hands

of those who initiated the crime.

And was buried in a location

nearly impossible to be certain of,

as the expense of New Mexico's wastelands are vast

and funds to carry out complex searches,

are at a low points.

Hopefully, the FBI agents assigned

to reopen Tara's case, can find new leads

and maybe even a surviving suspect.

But until then, the cold binds the mystery,

with a harrowing lack of clarity.

In the meantime, we will remember Tara,

not for the morning of September 20th, 1988,

but in all the moments leading up to that fateful day.

We will remember her undying compassion

and empathy for the human race.

We will remember her ability

to make anyone and everyone feel welcome,

regardless of background.

We will remember her humanity

and dreams to thrive in an open unique

and interesting community.

We will remember Tara Calico,

not for a controversial Polaroid

found in a parking lot 2000 miles away from her home,

but for the light she shined over her community

and all those she knew.

This is "Cold Case Detective."