Possible update on Tara Calico

[zack007attack]

I came across a new article about a possible update on Tara's disappearance. Apparently, a photograph of a boy gagged showed up in the mail to Port St Joe (where the first polaroid was found) postmarked Albuqurque. The boy looks very similar to the boy in the polaroid, but it can't possibly be Michael Henley. But it is probably the same boy in the polaroid, and although we don't know who it might be, it is still another lead in finding out about Tara Calico. Here is the link:

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/crime_krqe_belen_possible_clue_in_tara_calico_case_200908211800

What do you guys think?

Another thing, is it possible that Tara may have been one of the many victims of David Parker Ray, who claimed to have murdered over 40 women? I see this as a strong possibility because Tara disappeared along Route 47, which is very close to Interstate 25, a direct way south to Truth or Consequences, where Ray lived. Even though that would be a long trip (about 110 miles), he still could have kept her quiet until he got home and tortured her and killed her. But if that is the case, then the girl in the Polaroid most likely isn't Tara, because Ray chose women, not boys.

[hostedbyrobertstack]

It seems very strange...almost as if someone is trying to bring this story back in the spotlight, a guilty conscience maybe? It reminds me almost of the backyard bones segment, someone sends in a letter (in this case a picture) and nothing really happens, they then send another letter more specific (in this case, w/ the gag drawn over his mouth.) Someone knows what's happened. The thing I don't understand, is now that there is that picture of the boy, I wonder if parents of his will come forward and will that add more to the case? I hope some closure comes from this revelation, someone wants something to happen.

[wiseguy182]

IMO, the boy in the pic doesn't look like the boy in the other pic 20 years ago, Michael Henley or Antreas Cantrell. this is such a confusing case.

[bugnpinky]

Holy carp. I don't even know what to think. I really don't. I can't tell if it's the same boy or not.

[Apostapler]

IMO it doesn't look like the boy in the original photo. But hey, I'm going to sit back and watch this stoke the fires for the original case.

Just had a thought, if it's not related to the original photo, they've got another sicko on their hands. Joy.

[DMP88]

Been lurking this board for a while now and this is one of the cases that's really interested me. Usually when you see an "update" thread like this, it's something from five years ago that someone just bumped to discuss the case so I was pretty shocked to see that this has all happened in the last week. Here's a link to an article I found from a Port St. Joe newspaper about the photo:

http://www.newsherald.com/news/joe-76835-port-rekindled.html

There's a couple of intersting things in the article that I had never heard before. There's a description of the man who was driving the white van as being a white man with a mustache in his 30s. It also mentions that the Port St. Joe police set up a roadblock the day the polaroid was found in 1989 to intercept the van. Also, if anyone's interested, you can see the convenience store where it was found on google street view. The address is 701 Monument Avenue in Port St. Joe. It's now an Express Lane Mart located at an Exxon station.

Personally, I no longer believe the girl in the photograph was Tara Calico and I think the fact that Henley's remains were found in the mountains near where he disappeared make it extremely unlikely that he was the boy in the photograph. Right around the 20th anniversary of Tara's disappearance last year there were several articles in the Albuquerque newspapers updating the investigation into her disappearance. The Valencia County sherriff seemed quite sure that she never left the county and in fact was killed by local boys who hit her with their vehicle and either accidentally killed her or injured her and then killed her in a panic and buried her. I don't think he has any physical evidence but it sure sounded like he knew exactly who the killers were and has circumstantial evidence (i.e. they may have bragged to someone over the years about what they did.)

As for the new photo, it doesn't look to be the boy in the original polaroid. In fact, the gag has just been drawn on the picture with marker it would appear. The fact it was sent from Albuquerque and was postmarked almost to the same date as the 20th anniversary the polaroid was found makes it obvious that whoever sent it wants to draw attention to the case. I'm glad LE is taking this serious and is investigating to find out who sent it. I realistically see only 3 motives for why the photos were sent:

1) The person who sent it could be mentally disturbed and likes the idea of messing with the investigators.

2) The person could just have an interest in the case much like we do and think they are helping by forcing the police to look at this cold case and bring it back into the public eye.

3) It was sent by the person/people who actually killed Tara to throw investigators off. I think that original polaroid was a lucky red herring for Tara's killers in that in the early years of the investigation it forced the attention away from local suspects and had investigators focused on the possibility of an interstate abduction. Now that the sherriff seems to think Tara's killers were local and still live in the area, they may have wanted to try and throw police off because they fear they may be close to being caught.

Hopefully, investigators find whoever sent these new photos and we find out why they were sent. I'm not going to get my hopes up that this leads to anything substantial. Just another strange twist in this case. Can't wait to see the update with Dennis Farina, oh wait.........

[browneyes106]

I don't think the girl in the other Polaroid was Tara. I do hope Tara and Michael's families get closure at some point.

[marlins3]

I don't think the girl in the other Polaroid was Tara. I do hope Tara and Michael's families get closure at some point.


Henley's remains were already found. Police believe he was accidentally shot by a hunter.

[nohwheregirl]

I agree with a of what you guys have already said. I think the most probable scenario here is that someone wants to remind law enforcement and the media of the 20th anniversary of the photo's discovery.

One thing that constantly bothers me about this case, with regard to the original photo: there is near-definitive proof that the boy is not Michael Henley and there is a lot of evidence that the girl is not Tara Calico. With no disrespect to Michael and Tara's families, what do they have to do with the photo? That theory is old no longer the best one. The media keeps bringing their names back into the story and there's no focus on finding out the real identities of the children in those photos.

And now, who is the child in the most recent photos?

The reason why I think this is a publicity stunt is that I don't think there is any real connection between the Albuquerque crimes and the Port St. Joe photo. But I believe someone from Albuquerque thinks there is a connection, or wants to put that connection in people's minds.

One thing we know for sure is that this latest development is SUPER CREEPY.

[justins5256]

Police believe he was accidentally shot by a hunter.

Do you have a source for this? I've never read or heard this claim before.

[justins5256]

One thing that constantly bothers me about this case, with regard to the original photo: there is near-definitive proof that the boy is not Michael Henley and there is a lot of evidence that the girl is not Tara Calico. With no disrespect to Michael and Tara's families, what do they have to do with the photo? That theory is old no longer the best one. The media keeps bringing their names back into the story and there's no focus on finding out the real identities of the children in those photos.

Eh, I'm not sure how I feel about this issue. I do get what you're saying though.

From the beginning, the media has played up the Calico/Henley theory. Many of the more recent articles on the case do mention the discovery of Henley's body, but it's almost in passing. I suppose modern day journalists could safely drop the Henley angle at least. It's been 20 years, we know he couldn't be the boy in the photo.

Tara Calico is still missing though. I feel that having her name come up in the media, regardless of context, isn't a bad thing. If her case is ever going to be solved, it's exposure that is probably going to do it.

I think Calico/Henley are probably always going to be linked to the photo. It's probably not them, but it was, at one time, the most prominent theory in the case. There has been at least one other candidate suggested for the identity of the boy but you barely hear about it. At least I didn't until I read this forum.

Not sure where I'm going with this. Just some thoughts.

[wiseguy182]

I know that since Michael Henley was found dead in the woods he disappeared from, it's probable that he died in there, of expsoure or whatever. And I don't think he looks entirely like the boy in the photo, but I'm not totally ready to dismiss that Henley can't the boy in the photo. for these reasons.

1. If Tara Calico is the other person in the photo, that means both children were abducted from New Mexico. So it seems that whoever was doing this was targeting children in that state.

2. Perhaps the adbuctor/killer placed Henley back where he disppeared from in an attempt to hide the fact that a crime was committed. Though Calico's remains (if they exist) haven't been found yet, it's possible they might turn up in the area she disappeared from and again the adbuctor/killer might be trying to hide up that a crime was committed if she's found in the area she disappeared from. And while the photo turning up may seem that the adbuctor has a guilty consience, we don't know alot about why the photo appears. Who placed it there? Was it the adbuctor who wanted police to think the kids were in the area, or was it the kids themsleves who wanted to be found, or was it a friend or family member of the abductor who felt bad for the kids and left a hint for the authorities? And if the adbuctor left the photo, was it intentionally or accidental?

3. we really don't know a whole lot about Michael Henley's situation, in fact, it's pretty glossed over when compared to Tara Calico. Perhaps Henley was very farmiliar with the area and it was unlikely for him to get lost, increasing the chances he was abducted and/or met with foul play.

here is a link to a picture of Henley that is different than the one UM showed, and IMO, looks more like Henley

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GeYVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZRQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6831,838836

I know Antreas Cantrell has been mentioned as another possibility, any others? Here is a link to David Borer, and I think he bears a strong resemblance to the boy in the photo.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/borer_david.html

[DMP88]

Here's another article from the Panama City Herald from 1989:

New Mexicans seek ray
of hope in Port St. Joe

LAURA CASSELS

Staff Writer

PORT ST. JOE -- Pat Doel, whose daughter disappeared from New Mexico a year ago, said Tuesday it is her child who is glaring angrily in a photograph that shows the girl and a younger boy bound and gagged inside a white van.

Mike and Marty Henley, also of New Mexico, said the boy in the photo appears to be their 10-year-old son, Michael Paul, but they were not as certain as Doel.

Investigators now presume the photograph, found here in June, is not a hoax, but they do not know the identity or whereabouts of the apparent kidnapper.

Doel and the Henleys appealed to the kidnapper through the media to free the children, whoever they are, and thanked him or her for keeping the captives healthy.

The parents flew to Bay County Monday night on a plane chartered by Fox Television Stations Inc. (which also is paying for their rooms at Marriott's Bay Point Resort). They drove here Tuesday morning to take a closer look at the original photograph, which was found June 15 in a convenience store parking lot where a white van had been parked minutes before. They learned about the photograph Friday when it was broadcast on A Current Affair, a Fox network show that is nationally syndicated.

``The picture was flashed, and then everything started hitting like bullets,'' said Mike Henley. ``I was scanning the channels and only saw it for a second, and I recognized Tara. Then I realized there was a boy in the picture, and I thought it was Michael.''

Henley said he and his wife, of Milan, N.M., did not know Pat Doel, of Belen, N.M., before they met her last Sunday. However, they knew about Tara.

``We had followed her case. When you have a missing child, you follow all the cases,'' Marty Henley said. ``At least, we try. There are so many.''

Doel's sister-in-law in Big Pine Key, Fla., also saw the show, as did friends of Pat and John Doel in New Mexico.

``They called and said, `Tara was on TV,''' Doel said, adding that her family saw the show later that night on tape and recognized the girl in the photograph.

Port St. Joe Police Chief Bucky Richter gave Doel and the Henleys enlargements of the Polaroid photo that was found here, and the parents brought snapshots of their children to compare with the bizarre picture.

In the photo, the girl, who Doel said is Tara Calico, 20, and the boy appear to have been bound with their arms behind them, their mouths sealed with duct tape. They are in the rear section of a white van, and the photo was taken through the open side door. Both appear healthy.

The young woman seems to be glaring angrily at the photographer.

``It's her -- her eyes, her ears, her nose, her hair,'' Doel said, adding she was relieved to see that the girl's spirit apparently is not broken. ``That angry look made me feel good. She's a very strong individual.''

The Henleys, however, appeared shaken Monday. The boy in the picture, who may be their son, appears terrified.

``He's scared to death,'' Marty Henley said. ``But he looks healthy, not abused or anything terrible. He must be getting fed and taken care of.''

She said her son was strong-willed, but she could not predict how he might be reacting to being held captive for so long.

``That's something we'll have to deal with when we get him home,'' she said.

Michael, then 9, disappeared in April 1988 from a wooded campsite in Cibola National Park, in the Zuni Mountains of New Mexico.

``It happened so fast,'' Mike Henley said. ``We were still unloading the truck, and he vanished.''

The only clue to Michael's sudden disappearance was that a pickup truck was spotted in the area.

The Henleys said the boy in the photograph looks like their son, but they were not rejoicing Tuesday.

``I don't want to get my hopes up too high,'' Mike Henley said, explaining that they repeatedly had investigated reports that involved look-alikes. ``We know what it's like to be let down.''

Henley said he did not know what to hope for.

``Hope? This thing could blow up on us,'' he said, explaining that publicity could alarm the kidnapper. ``All we wanted was to look at the picture.''

Doel's daughter, a tennis player and avid bicyclist, disappeared last September while biking on a remote road near her hometown of Belen, N.M. Doel said her daughter was smart and cautious and would not have run away or hitchhiked.

``I'm positive she didn't run away,'' Doel said, later adding, ``She had had bike trouble a week before and had walked seven miles home.''

Police Chief Richter said the family photographs of Tara Calico and Michael Paul Henley will be processed by the FBI and compared with the Polaroid snapshot of the captive boy and girl.

``The FBI is going to assist us, and hopefully prepare an analysis,'' Richter said. ``Up to now, we really didn't know what we had. ... It's a good lead as far as determining a positive identification ... and as far as determining they were alive and well in the month of April.''

Richter explained that his investigation revealed that the film used to make the photograph was delivered to retailers in mid-March and probably was offered for sale in April.

Doel, her friend Mary Martinez and the Henleys did not learn as much as they had hoped from visiting Port St. Joe but applauded investigators for intensifying the search for the missing children.

They appealed to the public to look carefully at fliers showing pictures of missing children and to report any possible sightings.

``We were ignorant of this problem until it happened to us,'' Mike Henley said.

His wife added: ``I wish people would really look and call the toll- free numbers if they think they've seen one of these kids. Even if it doesn't help us find Michael, it could help find another little boy.''

The national hotline for missing children is 1-800-843-5678. The Florida hotline is 1-800-342-0821

[radiohead33]

I always here talk about the photo and if it is tara or not. But no real talk about the actual photo itself. The original one.

Where do you think it was taken? In a van? in a house?

What do you think happened to the two kids in the photos?

Has there ever been another case like this or Johnny Gosch?

What do you think was the purpose of the photos in both cases?

What happened to the kids?

It doesnt seem like the perpetrators in both cases would necessarily be into murdering, because it seems like maybe they were going for the scare factor, in these cases. The first photo remains one of the most disturbing photos I have ever seen. Maybe that was the entire reason for the taking of it.

[justins5256]

I always here talk about the photo and if it is tara or not. But no real talk about the actual photo itself. The original one.

Where do you think it was taken? In a van? in a house?

What do you think happened to the two kids in the photos?

Has there ever been another case like this or Johnny Gosch?

What do you think was the purpose of the photos in both cases?

What happened to the kids?

It doesnt seem like the perpetrators in both cases would necessarily be into murdering, because it seems like maybe they were going for the scare factor, in these cases. The first photo remains one of the most disturbing photos I have ever seen. Maybe that was the entire reason for the taking of it.

Some thought provoking questions.

My two cents...

I believe it was clear in the original, uncropped version of the first Polaroid that it was taken in the back of a white van. Every account I have read of the discovery of this photo indicated that a white van was parked in the space prior to the photo being found. I suppose this could be a coincidence (assuming the van was unrelated to the photo). Or, this could be the same van. I don't know how this could truly be verified either way. I suppose we could infer that it was the same van. If so, the photo could be a taunt to the witnesses who had spotted the van in the parking space earlier. Like the perpetrators are saying "hey, look what we had in our van this whole time, and you had no idea".

I think the placement of the photos was likely intentional. You have to keep in mind that there were several "Tara Calico" photos submitted after the discovery of this initial picture. Most were obvious fakes. There was a second picture found that showed the woman bound and taped and that same blue striped pillow from the first photo was visible. I think it's likely these two photos came from the same source.

The purpose of the pictures? I don't know. I don't think anyone can say with any certainty. If the photos are indeed of Tara Calico, it could indicate that she was abducted and kept alive, possibly for prostitution/slavery purposes. Some have suggested that the inclusion of the V.C. Andrews "My Sweet Audrina" novel may be a crucial clue - Tara's mother claimed that it was Tara's favorite book. It could be a way of signaling to authorities that the woman is indeed Tara Calico. Or it could be a coincidence.

If the woman isn't Tara, it's possible that the unidentified children in the photo were the victims of some kind of bizarre sexual abuse at some point and the photo is a remnant of that. Why it was left behind is a question. It could have been intentionally left by the perpetrators trying to flaunt their crime. Or, it could have been misplaced. Of course, if the photo was misplaced, then you have the discovery of the second photo to contend with, which, in my view, points to the pictures being planted intentionally.

The photos could also be some kind of strange hoax. I think this is a likely possibility too and shouldn't be ruled out. It's so hard to say. You would think the pranksters would eventually come forward, but who knows? On the flip side, it's not like any adults have come forward in recent times claiming to have been sexually abused by a parent or relative or whoever and the photos being a byproduct of that.

As far as similar cases, I am aware of a few. I know there was an instance 2 or 3 years back in which a photo of some bound and gagged young boys was left at the doorstep of Noreen Gosch. If you go to her website, several similar photos that she has discovered over the years are on display. She seems to think that many of the photos depict her missing son. I think this is unlikely and highly speculative at best. Some of her theories are pretty "out there", to be kind.

[marlins3]

Do you have a source for this? I've never read or heard this claim before.


I read this a couple years back but can't remember where. It may have been on websleuths.

[UnsolvedMystFan]

I've always understood that the manner of Michael Henley's death was ruled accidental, with the cause attributed to exposure. Though it was little used when the bones were found, it would have been nice to have had DNA tests done for absolute certainly. I dread to think it could've been the remains of some other young boy who might have actually run into foul play.

As for someone's question as to why a predator would keep a picture like that, it is well established that sick-minded men who are into child kidnapping / murder, love keeping something to 'savor' the moment. This way they can repeatedly go back and get off the on the memories of it rather than go out and do a fresh deed all over again every single time. Sadly there are people that sick in this world. Therefore, I wouldn't rule the photo out as authentic; many child predators have been found with mementos i.e. clothing, photos, etc.