Does anyone know the address of the convenience store in Port St Joe, FL where that infamous polaroid was found?

I'd like to visit that spot one day and see if a chill runs down my spine.

Thank u.

I tried to find it before to post in the UM Location picture thread but I couldn't find an article that gave the address.

I could find Tara's home:

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Tara1.jpg

And the spot she was last seen alive riding her bike with the truck right on her tail...

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Tara2.jpg

But the location of the convenience store in Florida remains a mystery.

I tried to find it before to post in the UM Location picture thread but I couldn't find an article that gave the address.

I could find Tara's home:

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Tara1.jpg

And the spot she was last seen alive riding her bike with the truck right on her tail...

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Tara2.jpg

But the location of the convenience store in Florida remains a mystery.

There are so many UM landmarks in Florida aren't there? Port St. Joe, Bird Road, Honeymoon Island/Spoil Bank.

Although I don't live in Florida I'm down there fairly regularly and I keep meaning to check some of these places out. Just never seem to have the time though.

thanks for the locations. whats the name of the road where the truck was seen following her?

There are so many UM landmarks in Florida aren't there? Port St. Joe, Bird Road, Honeymoon Island/Spoil Bank.

Although I don't live in Florida I'm down there fairly regularly and I keep meaning to check some of these places out. Just never seem to have the time though.

Nice. If you're ever near West Palm, drop me a line. Maybe we can get a cup of coffee.

Does anyone know the address of the convenience store in Port St Joe, FL where that infamous polaroid was found?

I'd like to visit that spot one day and see if a chill runs down my spine.

Thank u.

The address was 701 Monument Avenue, Port St Joe.
It is where the Express Lane Mart is, behind an Exxon Petrol Station.
Back in 1989, the petrol station never existed and the Express Lane
Mart was a Junior Foodstore – the very food store where the Polaroid was found.

Forgot to say, Photos of 701 Monument Ave and other photos/areas surrounding this case are in a PDF about the case (link below).
bound.pdf (http://missing-and-unidentified.org/bound.pdf)

Thanks, CarlUK.

Images of the store from google map...

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Tara1-1.jpg

This is where the photo was found in the reenactment.

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Tara2-1.jpg

I recently went to Port St. Joe for vacation. I can't believe I forgot this is where the photo was found. We passed by this gas station multiple times. If I had remembered that, I would have stopped and taken some good photos.

Port St. Joe is a very out-of-the-way community. There are no main highways for at least an hour going towards Panama City, and no main highways at all in any of the other directions. If the person who dropped that photo was not playing a prank and did kidnap children, I suspect that they knew how to get to Port St. Joe specifically. It's not the kind of place you accidentally end up at. Going north and east from Port St. Joe, you could literally drive for at least two hours and not see anything. If the photo dropper was from out of town, they likely came thru Panama City and not the other directions.

Most of the places to stay there are houses that people rent for vacation. There was only one small hotel that I saw. Everything else was a private house and that's also where we stayed for vacation. So the person who dropped the photo, almost guaranteed is to have stayed in one of these rental houses or be from the area. Also the population there is extremely low. Even during "high" season during summer, it's almost like a ghost town. That's in 2011, so imagine how much more undeveloped it was in 1989-90. Most of the people there do not live there full time so I'm guessing the photo-dropper was a vacationer. There is hardly anything in Port St. Joe at all even now - one drug store, one grocery store, a couple of gas stations and a couple of crappy bars/restaurants - most people go there with their own water/beach/boating equipment and make their own entertainment since there isn't anything else to do. Many of the people there are very ocean-savvy and have their own boats - if a child was kidnapped, they could have been taken into the ocean. I guess my point is that you have to "know" the area to go there, especially to drop a photo and not be found. It's not your typical "touristy" beach community.

That being said I do not believe the photo is Tara. The facial structure looks nothing like her. There are many other missing women besides Tara and it could be any one of them. It could also be a sick joke among kids who accidentally dropped the photo. Considering Port St Joe is so hard to get to, I really don't think someone just drove across country from New Mexico and accidentally ended up at that gas station. You would have to be either very, very lost, or purposely went there.

I also looked at that pdf that the person wrote about the community and how there was a girl seen walking on the beach across from the gas station. There is miles and miles of coast line in that area, but that coast closest to the gas station is like an extremely rocky, swampy area and cannot be accessed. There are other beaches miles away from the gas station where a girl could be seen, but I don't see how it could be 300 feet from the gas station where a girl was seen on the beach. The satellite photos are misleading because they make it look like it's just sand that you can walk on, but it isn't, at least where the gas station is. Much of that land is inaccessible nature preserve for the birds to habitate. Much of the other coast area near the gas station is marina property that you need a boat to access.

Thanks for the insight on the area where the photo was found. I too have always thought the photo was a sick joke, and don't think the girl looks like Tara.

Very interesting and nothing like I had imagined. Thanks for sharing that info.

I find that photo incredibly disturbing. I was about that boy's age at the time, living in FL. Thankfully this is one UM I missed out on when it was aired, it probably would have freaked the crap out of me in a major way.

Thanks for the insight on the area where the photo was found. I too have always thought the photo was a sick joke, and don't think the girl looks like Tara.

I agree. They were also 'sure' the boy was one missing around the same time as Tara but then he was found not far off from where he disappeared. I also kind of think people were a bit more naive back then when it came to things like this and just assumed - missing girl + photo of bound girl = same girl. But it's being found so far away and now the fact that the place is hard to just 'end up' at just points more and more to it having nothing to do with her.

Also, to me the girl looks younger than 19.

I agree. They were also 'sure' the boy was one missing around the same time as Tara but then he was found not far off from where he disappeared. I also kind of think people were a bit more naive back then when it came to things like this and just assumed - missing girl + photo of bound girl = same girl. But it's being found so far away and now the fact that the place is hard to just 'end up' at just points more and more to it having nothing to do with her.

Also, to me the girl looks younger than 19.

The boy (in the photo) looked nothing like Michael Henley, IMO. I agree that people were more naive and quick to assume the boy and girl were Michael and Tara right away.

I'm not convinced that the girl in the infamous picture is Calico either, but I do believe that the two children in it are in some kind of trouble. The look of terror in their eyes (particularly in the boy's eyes) just seems all too real to me.

This is one of those segments that I'm VERY glad I didn't see as a youngster, as the subject matter and the photo would have kept me awake for months.

I'm also not convinced it's Tara. I can't decide if they're in real trouble or not (but it certainly appears that they are).

The way the book is used in the photo looks staged or like a prop. Are they trying to prove it's her by carefully placing one of her favorite books in the photo so the viewer can easily read the title? Are they placing the book next to her to mock her? Something about that is off, imo.

The boy in the photo looks genuinely sad and scared. The girl looks kind of tired. I think I can see anger or hatred or maybe just annoyance behind her expression, tho.

And if it's a prank or a sick joke, that duct tape looks secure enough to be painful when they take it off. Not sure a kid would really volunteer to participate in some kind of joke that would actually hurt.

The way the book is used in the photo looks staged or like a prop. Are they trying to prove it's her by carefully placing one of her favorite books in the photo so the viewer can easily read the title? Are they placing the book next to her to mock her? Something about that is off, imo.

I too believe the book was used as a "prop" for the photo. Who knows why? Perhaps it was some weirdo's "commentary" on his opinion of VC Andrews? Or a goofball with an odd socio political "message"? Or it simply could have been some young kinds saying, "You know what would be funny..."

There's also the fact that no one (outside of Tara Calico and Michael Henley's relatives) has came forward after all of these years to identify the kids in the photo as a missing loved one. Nor has there been anyone that's came forward and said, "That was me, it was a joke.", etc. I find that strange.

The way the book is used in the photo looks staged or like a prop. Are they trying to prove it's her by carefully placing one of her favorite books in the photo so the viewer can easily read the title? Are they placing the book next to her to mock her? Something about that is off, imo.

Reading the Charley Project entry on Tara Calico, I saw an interesting tidbit that I never knew before:

There is apparently a phone number written on the spine of the book, but some of the digits are unreadable. Experts say it could be 300 possible numbers, 57 of which are valid.

I wonder if whoever took the photo was attempting some sort of cat-and-mouse game by putting a phone # on display, but since some of the digits were unreadable, it didn't lead anywhere. I would sure like to know if any of those 57 valid numbers have any sort of connection with Tara or originate from Belen, New Mexico.

Very interesting about the phone number on the book; I never knew of that either.

Overall, the more I think about this, the more I think it's unlikely that it's Tara in the polaroid.
Improbable because:
1) We know that the photo was taken sometime in June 1989, because the brand of film was not available until that very month. It is unlikely, if not impossible, that Tara would be kept in captivity for such a long period of time (9 months).
2) Simply: the large distance from Tara's hometown in New Mexico to where the photo was found in Florida. The further away, the less likely it's connected. If the photo were found at a gas station outside of Albuquerque, it'd be a different story...
3) The fact that whoever abducted her took her bike. I see little reason for an abductor to take the bike. More and more, it's looking like the sheriff's story of several boys accidentally hitting her and then covering it up is rather probable.

The sheriff should not have spoken up. He said all he needs to arrest the people who feels are responsible is Tara's body. Hearing this, those who killed her and buried her would simply remove her body from where it was originally buried (likely on the campground) and rebury it someplace else, or destroy it totally. His words could've damned any chance of her body ever being recovered because those responsible were put on notice and told essentially of what they needed to do: "Destroy the body or else someone will come across it and the arrest warrants will come."

If the sheriff knows who's responsible, I don't understand why LE isn't bringing these people in for questioning. An intense interrogation may make someone talk.

The sheriff should not have spoken up. He said all he needs to arrest the people who feels are responsible is Tara's body. Hearing this, those who killed her and buried her would simply remove her body from where it was originally buried (likely on the campground) and rebury it someplace else, or destroy it totally. His words could've damned any chance of her body ever being recovered because those responsible were put on notice and told essentially of what they needed to do: "Destroy the body or else someone will come across it and the arrest warrants will come."

Hmmmm, I could go both ways on this issue, as maybe this strategy was the sheriff's attempt at a sting operation. If he knew who was responsible and they were still living in the area, he could have placed surveillance on them and hoped they would panic following the announcement. He might have been hoping they would make an attempt to move the body and he could catch them in the act. Since the sheriff probably had no idea where the body was to begin with, I guess there was no downside to this strategy, though, you're right, there's always the risk the perpetrators would try to completely destroy the body and eliminate all evidence.

I'd like to throw this in there about Port St Joe-

As a native Floridian, I know that Hwy 98 that runs through Pt St Joe is a main hwy. People traveling up the west coast of the body of Fl and on across the panhandle used this as the main hwy before the interstate(75 & 10) opened all the way up in the 70s. When we traveled from central Fl to south AL we used 98 before I-10 was built.

So it might stand to reason that a person who did not want to be noticed would travel this road rather than on the interstate.