I was doing searches through the missing person files tonight on the www. (Doe network and the like) and I found a site which has a rather unique profile of Tara Calico. Unlike the DOE NETWORK or CHARLEY PROJECT, the author of this site actually goes into an editorial of sorts on his theories about what happened to Tara Calico.

He does not believe that Tara is the abducted girl in the photo found in Port St. Joe, Florida and instead focuses on the items Tara discarded after she was apparently abducted while riding her mother's bike. These items included a walkman and the author attempts to prove some connection between where the items were placed and the possible destination of where Tara's abductors were taking her.

While the wording and logic the author uses is a times a bit meandering, it still allows the reader to look at the case from a different perspective.

Among other things noted is that Calico's mother Patty Doel sadly passed away this past May. (5-11-06)

http://www.missing-and-unidentified.org/calico_tara.html

okay um that picture just scared the hell out of me, i wasn't expecting them to show it

also they need to show the picture on the train with the girl having her head pushed back with the man's face, why not? somebody may recognize the guy!

this sucks, i'm so sick and tired of seeing people go missing, doesn't anyone ever come home safe!?

sick sick world we live in, America should be a police state, we need to stop this, I am so sad for the families who lose their loved ones. And to never know what happened to them, to never have a body, awful awful awful

^ I've actually seen that "train picture" - the guy looks really creepy but it does look staged. The girl looks more like "Kennedy" (old VJ from MTV) than it does Tara Calico and the two look like they are enjoying a prank from what I remember. The guy actually has a weird smile on his face waving an object in front of the woman's face like you would a small child expecting her to grab it.

It used to be online somewhere but I cannot locate it anymore but to my eye it was staged.

interesting, it must have looked somewhat like her, no? Otherwise how would it be linked to Tara's case. The link didn't say where the train picture came from. where'd they find it?

did you see the second one at all?

Has anyone seen this? It's another candidate for the unidentified boy in the infamous Polaroid...

http://www.forthelost.org/acantrell.html

^ Yeah I've seen that site and I don't believe its actually that boy. The only graphic on that site in my mind that looks anything like the boy in the polaroid is the composite sketch of the kid. Just my opinion.

Do any of you think that she was killed by David Parker Ray? I'm reading this twisted book Slow Death about him and he resided two hours away from her in Truth or Consequences, NM at about the time of her disappearance. There was a white van that was in the Belen area at the time of the disappearance that resembles his white Dodge Ram utility vehicle that contained a red police flashing light hidden under the seat and he had a badge he would use to snatch his victims (that would account for Tara being snatched by a lone man). He probably told her that her bike was stolen and handcuffed her and brought her bike along in the back of his Ram, then took her to that spot where he did what he wanted to her and afterward drove her somewhere out of the Belen area (possibly to the pot farm).
Ray was even born and grew up near Belen, NM where Tara was taken, so he was familiar with the area. He also reportedly had a dungeon on this marijuana farm that his kids were growing pot for him on in the 80s in Fence Lake, NM. His state parks job took him all over the state. The prosecutor investigating Ray for the infamous crimes that he commited from 94-98 in the book even says that he wonders if Ray was the one that killed Tara. Ray died in prison in 2002, so we may never know for sure.
Also, I never thought that the polaroid of the bound girl and boy in the van was a picture of Tara. The girl bound in the photo looks younger and different in the face than Tara, to me.


If you haven't heard of Ray and want to look for info on him, beware. This is one of the worst sadistic serial torture rapists/killers that I have read about. This guy completely dominated and terrorized his victims in such an evil way that it makes you sick. I won't post any of the details here because they are mostly sexual in nature. So google him at your own risk. You have been warned.

Hmm, interesting theory skunk ape. Had he ever been arrested for abductions, rapes or similar crimes before Tara Calico disappeared? If he'd never been arrested before it's no wonder authorities didn't investigate him.

Calico's mother passed away?

How sad. Just like the Nyleen Kay Marshall case - it breaks my heart to know these people went to their graves never knowing what happened to their children. :(

Nyleen's mother also passed away? :(

When was this??

He had never been arrested before his toybox of horrors was discovered in 1999. One of his kidnap/rape/torture victims escaped and they picked him up.

Nyleen's mother also passed away? :(

When was this??

I did a little research and found that Nyleen's mother died in 1994.

I think Skunk Ape has a good lead there. I've wondered about this case for years, but if the guy's dead we're probably not going to know.

I fully believe that the bound and gagged girl in the Post St Joe Polaroid is Doreen Jane Vincent.
Here is a side by side comparison;
http://i4.tinypic.com/2419tsm.jpg
Everything except the hair (which changes) matches: The Chin curve, the jaw curve, the nose, eyebrow lines, eye shape, overall face shape. The circumstances and timing also match.

DD, Thank for writing about the case from my website. :)

I fully believe that the bound and gagged girl in the Post St Joe Polaroid is Doreen Jane Vincent.
Here is a side by side comparison;
http://i4.tinypic.com/2419tsm.jpg
Everything except the hair (which changes) matches: The Chin curve, the jaw curve, the nose, eyebrow lines, eye shape, overall face shape. The circumstances and timing also match.

DD, Thank for writing about the case from my website. :)

13 years old certainly doesn't match.

Wavy hair doesn't match.

Plus there's no indication of a long narrow neck in that photograph from the van.

And the apparent long legs from the girl in the photograph suggest she's taller than 5 foot 4.

There is no guide for the long narrow neck because in the polaroid the head is leaning forwards and covering the neck.
The lens on a polaroid camera is a wide angle lens and as the legs are closer to the camera than the face and body, it distorts perspective making them appear longer than what they are.
Anything wider than a 50mm lens (the human eye field of view) distorts perspective.

I've always thought that the girl in the van looked a lot younger than Tara, who was 19 when the went missing. As someone else has said, the girl also appears taller than 5'4".

That picture is definitely not Tara. The picture was also staged because no one would leave a picture like that anywhere, because it could be used to convict criminals. It was probably a hoax. I would venture to say that Tara was probably murdered the same day she disappeared, and the suspects that they have in mind are probably the ones guilty. While I do wish she would be found safe, we all know that 98% of people who are abducted are quickly murdered. Sad case.

That picture is definitely not Tara. The picture was also staged because no one would leave a picture like that anywhere, because it could be used to convict criminals. It was probably a hoax. I would venture to say that Tara was probably murdered the same day she disappeared, and the suspects that they have in mind are probably the ones guilty. While I do wish she would be found safe, we all know that 98% of people who are abducted are quickly murdered. Sad case.

I agree it's most likely not Tara, based on sheer probability. But this case is intriguing since you've got to consider the mindset of the people who took the picture, if it was phony.

That was 1989, long before the internet was in vogue. Tara Calico was hardly a high profile missing person, until that picture surfaced and was linked to her on A Current Affair. Not like the Nancy Grace of that era was smacking the case in our face every day on cable TV. So what did the people who took the picture expect? Did they see a picture of Tara and say, hey, our friend Jennifer looks a lot like that, let's have some fun. Then they throw in a kid just for the hell of it, or was he supposed to "be" someone himself?

Then they toss it in a parking lot 2000+ miles away, hardly a guarantee of any publicity. Just as likely someone runs over it with their pickup.

If it was staged, you wonder why they never came forward and admitted it years later. I doubt there would have been charges. How can you be charged with dropping a picture in a parking lot? It always amazed me no one pinpointed themselves or their friends as the subjects of those photos, if indeed they are tame. I'm not convinced it wasn't a true case of kidnapping, perhaps different victims than have ever been publicly speculated.

I just came across Tara's profile on the Doe Network. On the profile, it says the book that was seen in the photograph dropped off at the convenience store parking lot was by Tara's favorite author: V.C. Andrews. I did a search on the boards and it looks like Awsi touched upon this subject in a post last year. Does anybody know if V.C. Andrews is a popular author, or more obscure? I personally haven't heard of him/her. If V.C. Andrews is a more obscure author, the odds that it's Tara in the picture might go up a tad.

Here is the link if anyone is interested:

http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/257dfnm.html

I just came across Tara's profile on the Doe Network. On the profile, it says the book that was seen in the photograph dropped off at the convenience store parking lot was by Tara's favorite author: V.C. Andrews. I did a search on the boards and it looks like Awsi touched upon this subject in a post last year. Does anybody know if V.C. Andrews is a popular author, or more obscure? I personally haven't heard of him/her. If V.C. Andrews is a more obscure author, the odds that it's Tara in the picture might go up a tad.

Here is the link if anyone is interested:

http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/257dfnm.html

V C Andrews or Virginia Andrews was a popular author.
That particular book is about a parents strangulating love and Incest.

Well it's looks like I'll be in the minority on this one, but I am going to say I think it is Tara in the photo. I just rewatched the segment, and a professional on the subject said she was 85% certain that it was Tara and Michael in the photograph, and all of the parents are positive that it's them, and nobody would know better than the parents. Michael doesn't seem to be discussed as much, anybody know anything about him? I had heard somewhere that his remains were eventually found in the park he disappeared from, but I'm not sure if that had been confirmed or not. It could be that he was abducted, and his remains were placed there, perhaps to make it seem he died from the elements or something. If it's not Michael and Tara in the photograph, I wonder who it is. It seems like they intentionally left the photograph. I'm also wondering why they chose somehwere in Florida as the location.

Well it's looks like I'll be in the minority on this one, but I am going to say I think it is Tara in the photo. I just rewatched the segment, and a professional on the subject said she was 85% certain that it was Tara and Michael in the photograph, and all of the parents are positive that it's them, and nobody would know better than the parents. Michael doesn't seem to be discussed as much, anybody know anything about him? I had heard somewhere that his remains were eventually found in the park he disappeared from, but I'm not sure if that had been confirmed or not. It could be that he was abducted, and his remains were placed there, perhaps to make it seem he died from the elements or something. If it's not Michael and Tara in the photograph, I wonder who it is. It seems like they intentionally left the photograph. I'm also wondering why they chose somehwere in Florida as the location.

They are now 100% sure it isn't Michael, because they found his remains a few yards away from where he originally went missing.

This picture doesn't seem staged to me for the simple fact that the boy looks to be in horrific fear. Look into those eyes; that's no act.

I've seen plenty of horror movies, but nothing "staged" like a horror movie has ever sent chills down my spine like that picture does.

Not to be argumentative, but I think that the discovery of Michael's body goes to prove that the girl in the picture is NOT Tara Calico. Michael's own mother said that she was sure that it was her son in the picture... yet she was wrong. Even though the girl shares some resemblances with Tara Calico, I don't think it's her.

Looking at the two pictures closer, the ears appear to be different shapes in each. Look at the rounded lobe on the bottom and compare it with the picture of Tara up top. Appears to be totally different.

Also I don't know if it has been posted here before, but sadly, Tara's father is also deceased:

62. Nov. 2. [2002] APD. David Calico, 64, was ambushed by two men
> after he left an Albuquerque bar. Among the stole items were
> his nitroglycerine pills for his heart condition. He died at
> his home hours later. Calico was the father of Tara Calico of
> Belen, who was 19 when she disappeared in September 1988
> while bicycling. Motive: robbery. Case status: OPEN.

What horrible fortune befell this family :-(

I agree with you 100% RightOnDude. It might not be Michael in the picture, but whoever that boy is, it looks like he went through heck. I feel so sorry for him, and of course I fell equally sorry for the girl also, be it Tara or whoever. At least this particular photograph does not appear to be staged. I have not seen the other ones, (including one on a train), but it was speculated that those were staged. Does anyone know what caused Michael's death? It is possible that it's neither Tara or Michael in the photo. But if it isn't, I wonder who it is.

Not to be argumentative, but I think that the discovery of Michael's body goes to prove that the girl in the picture is NOT Tara Calico. Michael's own mother said that she was sure that it was her son in the picture... yet she was wrong. Even though the girl shares some resemblances with Tara Calico, I don't think it's her.

It's certainly more evidence of the unreliability of eyewitness identification, or the argument that family members will know for sure.

Of course, it's not exactly 50/50. There is tons more evidence to work with in the picture of the girl than the boy. You've got only the torso and perhaps 80% of the face with him, while not much isn't viewable of the female other than her left arm and lower legs.

I know damn well my parents, relatives and friends would have be able to identify me at that age, from a picture with that much in view. So it is puzzling if Tara's parents could have been fooled. Although no doubt emotion takes over and you want to believe it is her, alive and apparently in good health.

I agree with CRicci, similarities but I've usually doubted it's Tara. For one thing, her face looks wider than the girl in the photo, especially in the cheek area. More of a lantern shape. So I thought well maybe she lost weight while captive, but the description lists Tara as 5-7, 120 so she didn't have much to lose. I hope those pictures were representative of her weight and appearance at the time. The one with the black V-cut dress and small necklace looks to be a senior year or high school graduation picture, which would have been recent, perhaps a year earlier.

Also, I remember noticing years ago that her eyebrows didn't appear to match, particularly the right eyebrow. Both known pictures, from different angles, indicate Tara's eyebrows were rounded. But in the van photo the right eyebrow goes almost straight across, until it reaches the outside of the eye. Maybe that's a function of the angle of the photo, or squinting slightly, or plucked differently, but I've noticed it every time I examine the photos. The left one does appear to be rounded similar to Tara's.

This is a little bit awkward but I've also wondered if the breasts of the girl in the photo could be said to be similar to Tara's, in size and what she would have looked like in a T-shirt. The parents should have been able to estimate in that regard.

One thing that troubled me about the parents' judgement was an article I read from maybe 2002, just as they were preparing to move to Florida. It was a long article and they were in denial that the remains discovered were actually Michael Henley.

Looking at the two pictures closer, the ears appear to be different shapes in each. Look at the rounded lobe on the bottom and compare it with the picture of Tara up top. Appears to be totally different.

Also I don't know if it has been posted here before, but sadly, Tara's father is also deceased:

62. Nov. 2. [2002] APD. David Calico, 64, was ambushed by two men
> after he left an Albuquerque bar. Among the stole items were
> his nitroglycerine pills for his heart condition. He died at
> his home hours later. Calico was the father of Tara Calico of
> Belen, who was 19 when she disappeared in September 1988
> while bicycling. Motive: robbery. Case status: OPEN.

What horrible fortune befell this family :-(

Jeez, no kidding. I read the father died of a heart attack but I had no idea it was caused by an incident like that.

Last night I read an account of the mother's final months in Florida, after moving there, and it was equally sad. She suffered dehabilitating strokes and was still watching bicyclists ride by, thinking it might be Tara. Her husband, Tara's stepfather, had to explain to her the person was too old or young to be Tara. David Calico was the natural father.

Here's the info on the mother's final years: http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_columnists/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19856_4762524,00.html

first off that second girl doesn't look anything like Tara Calico LOL

as for the hostage picture, I think it's TC. It looks like her and the book...what are the chances the book, which happens to be her favorite novel, would be next to a random other girl? No way, it's a million to one. Also the scar on her leg, TC had there too. No one's brought this up yet but perhaps the one who took the picture didn't leave it where it was found. Maybe somebody dropped it there when they had a chance, when nobody was looking. It's that book that's awfully fascinating. Why would the kidnapper have that in the picture? Why did she have that book with her?

also something nobody mentioned, why did TC's parents move to Florida, the city where that photo was found? Doesn't that seem a little odd to anybody else?

first off that second girl doesn't look anything like Tara Calico LOL

as for the hostage picture, I think it's TC. It looks like her and the book...what are the chances the book, which happens to be her favorite novel, would be next to a random other girl? No way, it's a million to one. Also the scar on her leg, TC had there too. No one's brought this up yet but perhaps the one who took the picture didn't leave it where it was found. Maybe somebody dropped it there when they had a chance, when nobody was looking. It's that book that's awfully fascinating. Why would the kidnapper have that in the picture? Why did she have that book with her?

also something nobody mentioned, why did TC's parents move to Florida, the city where that photo was found? Doesn't that seem a little odd to anybody else?

Well, it's not a question of the second girl looking like Tara Calico. It's whether she looks like the girl in the picture. I didn't think she did, either. She certainly didn't resemble the known pictures of Tara Calico.

I agree the book is the intriguing aspect, and it's why I can't discount the girl as Tara. Normally I'll seize no with the whole world of similar looking people in my favor and one probably deceased person working against me. But here the book with the specific author diminishes that certainty. Frankly, I don't know the author or how popular she was. Maybe a decent percentage of girls Tara's age liked that author and specific book. But even a decent percentage might be a few percent.

You've got to wonder if the info about the favorite book and author came from the parents before the photo was found. Or did they exaggerate that aspect, in an attempt to convince themselves it was Tara, and for the police to pursue the picture(s) lead?

Someone in this thread said I referenced the book in a post last year. I think it was a guess that Tara didn't have the book with her during the bike ride; it could have been purchased by her abductors after she indicated it was her favorite.

Are kidnappers that tidy? The girl has shaved legs, hair that is hardly a filthy mess, no stains on the T shirt. Same with the boy's shirt. Hell, even the tape looks fresh cut and pristine. The white pillow appears clean along with the striped pillowcase. Maybe they faked everything in time for the picture otherwise that's another skeptical aspect for me. We've seen pictures of basements and other places where victims have been held for extended period. They don't look like the inside of that van. Just imagine what Angela Hammond's environs would have looked like, based on the description of the guy who abducted her, plus his vehicle.

Meanwhile, the reports when Tara was abducted were of a much older, maybe 1953, Ford pickup truck, slowly following behind her. But the van seen in Florida was a late '80s white Toyota cargo van. Definitely a trade up.

One article said the house on the beach in Florida was the mother's dream home, that they planned that move when they got married. It's not the same city or area where the picture was found. The picture was located in Port St Joe, which is in the panhandle. They moved to Port Charlotte, which is hundreds of miles down the coast on the Gulf, not far from Sarasota.

Does anyone where the other two photos might be found?

I had read an article on Newbank indicating that several "Tara Calico" photos showed up after the public release of the first photo. Most were obvious fakes. One allegedly showed a girl being buried alive.

oh okay I thought it was the same place they found the picture

I also would like to find the other two photos, I think it's weird how they were all connected to the Tara Calico case, being so far away. One was found in California, but where was the third one found?


intersting theory, Awsi Dooger, on the book. It's definitely possible the book was over exaggerated by the parents....although the info about it being her fav author/book would most likely be told after the picture, I don't think the poor Calico family expected a picture to show up of their daughter bound and gagged with her favorite book by her side "in case you guys need to know....her favorite book was ____" Nah I think it's legit but your theory can't be discounted at all. Also when I look at that picture I can't help but think TC pushed the blankets down and made sure that book was in full view. Most likely not though, I'd like to believe it's her and that she grabbed one of the sicko's pictures and threw it out when she got the chance. Also white van or whatever where the picture was found may not be responsible for anything, the picture may have been there before the van arrived.

as for the little boy, is it 100% for sure it wasn't those parents also in NM who were sure it was him? They found his remains nearby where he went missing I read. This is confirmed I presume?

The book is everything in this imo. and if it is Tara, why the hell was that picture found in Florida?

damn wish i could go back in time....

Does anyone have this picture of the woman in gauze on the train???

oh okay I thought it was the same place they found the picture

I also would like to find the other two photos, I think it's weird how they were all connected to the Tara Calico case, being so far away. One was found in California, but where was the third one found?

intersting theory, Awsi Dooger, on the book. It's definitely possible the book was over exaggerated by the parents....although the info about it being her fav author/book would most likely be told after the picture, I don't think the poor Calico family expected a picture to show up of their daughter bound and gagged with her favorite book by her side "in case you guys need to know....her favorite book was ____" Nah I think it's legit but your theory can't be discounted at all. Also when I look at that picture I can't help but think TC pushed the blankets down and made sure that book was in full view. Most likely not though, I'd like to believe it's her and that she grabbed one of the sicko's pictures and threw it out when she got the chance. Also white van or whatever where the picture was found may not be responsible for anything, the picture may have been there before the van arrived.

as for the little boy, is it 100% for sure it wasn't those parents also in NM who were sure it was him? They found his remains nearby where he went missing I read. This is confirmed I presume?

The book is everything in this imo. and if it is Tara, why the hell was that picture found in Florida?

damn wish i could go back in time....

Well, I'm originally from Florida so I have an advantage knowing where those cities are. I agree the articles should have specified they didn't move to the same city where the photo was found, especially since the names are similar.

I wonder if the parents stopped in Port St Joe to see the convenience store where the polariod was found? I would guess yes. Heading to Florida from New Mexico takes you on I-10 which goes smack thru the panhandle. Then you can get off the interstate and south to Port St Joe in not much time.

I've never seen the other two pictures. Apparently they were available on the internet but perhaps not anymore. I've never read where the train photo was found, but many listings indicate the second photo was located at a residential construction site in Montecito. That's where a good friend of mine in college was from. It's basically connected to Santa Barbara, but slightly east, a very wealthy community with sprawling western style homes on big tracks of land in the foothills.

That's an interesting theory, that Tara or whoever it was, intentionally displayed the book and also threw the photo out. I might put more stock in that if it happened once and not apparently again, or twice more. Hard to say, without seeing the other photos and if the girl is the same one. That first photo made news in fall '89 so if the captors didn't "lose" the photo intentionally as part of a game, I'm not sure they would be sloppy enough to allow it to happen again.

Why wasn't this case given more cable TV time in the '90s? Now 18 years removed and with the parents deceased, other than the stepfather, I doubt we'll see any emphasis. Also, it was from New Mexico, a low population state without a big huge market.

yeah I want to see the other pictures too...

I read on the doenetwork or somewhere that the picture of them was taken in the back of a van in a camper type thing. Not sure if that was confirmed or not...

I don't know this is one fascinating and sad case. Most likely we'll never have the answers...

I still think that the picture is not Tara or Doreen and that David Parker Ray is the best suspect in the kidnap, rape, and murder of Tara Calico, but unfortunately he is dead and he had a knack for hiding bodies in places where they most likely will never be found.

This makes a lot more sense. Before the Internet was mainstream, it was even harder to get out the word about missing children/adults. UM didn't even profile Tara until after the picture was located.

The theory about the book is a good one, but it's still hard to guess if the picture is of Tara. Also, the observations about how the girl looked well groomed unlike someone being held captive are noteworthy.

I have a feeling that the subsequent photos that were found are fakes.