Tara Breckenridge

[Brent88]

I was going through some VERY VERY old(Late 1990's) tapes of Unsolved Mysteries and ran across this case from a 1994 episode. She was a waitress at a men's club in Houston who mysteriously vanished after leaving early one night(very unusual for her). She was dating a man at the time, but their relationship had been rocky. At the time she was leaving to go home, he was at another club about 10 miles away. There was about an hour where he's not accounted for and it just so happens that that hour would have been when Tara was heading home. He found her car abandoned on a busy freeway the next morning. Has there been any updates on this case???

[DarkDante]

According to the DOE network she is still listed as "Missing". She was a very pretty girl - Maybe Kane can provide a link on this case as I'm on my laptop and can't at the moment.

Later.

[The Barbs]

Here's the link: www.doenetwork.us/cases/603dftx.html

[ddelta]

This case aired on lifetime recently...there was no updates. I really think the boyfriend was involved somehow.

[ForeverPluto]

My thing is:If the boyfriend did kill her, how did he know she was getting the night off early that night? If you remember from the seggie, the club was slow that night and the manager said two people could leave and Tara volunteered which took everybody by surprise. I think either one of the customers might have kidnapped her/murdered her. She was a very pretty girl and I'm sure she had her share of admirers on the job, either customer or maybe another employee. I don't think the boyfriend did it.

[crystaldawn]

Thats a good point Pluto about no one knowing prior that she was getting off early. Unless her boyfriend Wayne called for her and they told him she got off early. They really give us limited information in this segment although maybe there's not that much out there. I do think there's a possibility that Wayne had something to do with her disappearance. He acted strange with some of the comments he made in that interview but he could have just been a strange guy. Also a possibility that someone she knew from the club abducted her as certainly her occupation had the possibility of being dangerous so I'm really split down the middle on this one.

[kadrmas15]

Yes, I view it as possible Wayne Hecker had something to do with Tara's disapperance. Honestly, I never understood how he landed her in the first place but that is just my opinion. However as Crystaldawn said, he could have been just a strange guy. I mean his comments like "I havent committed a crime so I cant be charged with one." Other comments about God and stuff, I dont know, I found him to be an odd character but that certainly doesnt make him a murderer.

I actually thought after first watching this segment a while back that Wayne was probably the one that did it or that he at least had something to do with it. However Pluto made a very good point that I had overlooked and I think a lot of people had overlooked so kudos to Pluto for thinking of it. IF Wayne did it or was involved he would have had to have known that Tara was getting off work early that night and there is no way he could have known I dont think because it was not planned that she would get off early. It was just a spur of the moment type of thing.

Wayne was in a pool hall in another part of town although there is a lapse in time where he was gone and no one knows where he was. However I do not really know what his motive would be for wanting Tara gone. The only thing I can think of is Tara threatened to leave him and he flipped out about it and had her knocked off. However he wasnt married to her or anything and I dont think he had an insurance policy so that takes away that motive. I think whoever did abduct and presumably murder Tara ditched her car along the freeway to throw off the cops. I do think whoever killed her knew her and knew her well. They seemed to think it wasnt the secret admirer at the club that tried to woo Tara, the cops I think said it apperaed to be a guy that had an innocent crush but certainly didnt want anything bad to happen to her. Very sad case and it is too bad they never found her.

[wiseguy182]

Wayne Hecker is guilty as Heck (I must admit I stole that joke from oicvah). Anyways, Wayne's comments about "not having to answer to anyone but God" and "I didn't commit a crime so I can't be charged with one" are suspicious. Most people in that circumstance would just say "No, I had nothing to do with it" but Wayne just kind of dodges it. I agree with kadrmas I don't think Wayne really deserved Tara.

The clencher for me was the hour and 45 minutes absence from the pool hall, and the car being found somewhere between the pool hall and the gentleman's club. Wayne said he was suprised because when he "discovered" Tara's car, there were no flashers on, the car alarm wasn't engaged, and the mace was still inside. This actually points suspicion to Wayne, as it leads me to believe that if Tara was abducted by a stranger or something, the mace would have been used, etc.

[kadrmas15]

Well Wayne just seemed to come off to me as being very arrogant. He just acted like he was so much smarter than everyone else and was being all cocky acting like he had it beat. I am still on the fence as to whether or not he actually did it. However he certainly had a motive in that his girlfriend who was too good for him might have finally been ready to kick him to the curb. Or maybe he was just jealous because of other men paying attention to her. It certainly wouldnt have taken much effort on her part to find someone better than Wayne.

Wiseguy, I liked your point about the mace. I do agree there, that it raises the chance that Tara was abudcted and presumably murdered by someone she knew because had it been someone she didnt know the mace would have been used.

[wiseguy182]

Well, given that the segment mentioned that Wayne was unemployed, I don't think he has a right to comment on Tara's line of work.

[wiseguy182]

This is yet another example of UM leaving out crucial information. While the map does show the location of the pool hall, the gentleman's club and where Tara's car was found, they don't show where Tara and Wayne's apartment was. That could be imporant. I would imagine that Wayne, assuming for this argument, is guilty, there would be a good chance he would have to make a stop at the apartment to clean himself up, or something. If their apartment was way out of the way, then perhaps Wayne would not have had enough time to leave the pool hall, find Tara, make it to the apartment, and then back to the pool hall. UM was usually good at those timeline scenarios (such as in the Kay Hall segment) I wonder why they dropped the ball here.

[kadrmas15]

Yes, good point Wiseguy, that is actually the one thing, the only thing really that made me think Wayne Hecker might be innocent: The time frame might have been such it would have been impossible or near impossible for him to pull it off in the time frame.

I dont know, Wayne just came off to me as a very odd character and as I said earlier, some of the things he said just came off as very defensive and strange. However I also dont really know why Wayne would want to kill Tara. I dont know if she threatened to leave him or what and he just couldnt handle it. He wasnt married to her so insurance money wasnt an issue. But then again I dont know who else would have a motive to kill her. I do think that her car was planted where it was found, whoever abducted and presumably killed her parked the car along the interstate in an effort to throw off the cops.

[flaca4057]

I know this may be hard to believe but I lived with Wayne for a little over a year several years ago. I only recently found out about the Tara story on Unsolved. He always told me that she "came up missing" but he never gave me any details. Living with him was a nightmare. He was controlling, abusive, and a liar. I still have nightmares about him. He was vegan, refused to eat any kind of animal product because he didn't want to be responsible for "killing a baby" yet he would beat the crap out of his girlfriend (me) when he found out I ate a hamburger. I have no doubt in my mind that he had something to do with her disappearance. I know that at the time of her disappearance he wasn't working because he was a cocaine dealer in pool halls. Plus she brought home enough money so he didn't have to work. I could tell you horror stories about the things he would do to me when he thought I was just looking at another guy. I've never seen the episode that everyone is talking about. If anyone has information on it please let me know.

[Kane]

He was vegan, refused to eat any kind of animal product because he didn't want to be responsible for "killing a baby" yet he would beat the crap out of his girlfriend (me) when he found out I ate a hamburger.

Sounds to me that in his world, violence against animals is wrong, but violence against people is okay.

I have no doubt in my mind that he had something to do with her disappearance.

I too believe that he was involved in Tara's disappearance. In the UM interview, he seemed cocky. Of course, such a demeanor isn't proof of guilt, but it struck me as wrong.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Originally Posted by flaca4057

I know this may be hard to believe but I lived with Wayne for a little over a year several years ago. I only recently found out about the Tara story on Unsolved. He always told me that she "came up missing" but he never gave me any details. Living with him was a nightmare. He was controlling, abusive, and a liar. I still have nightmares about him. He was vegan, refused to eat any kind of animal product because he didn't want to be responsible for "killing a baby" yet he would beat the crap out of his girlfriend (me) when he found out I ate a hamburger. I have no doubt in my mind that he had something to do with her disappearance. I know that at the time of her disappearance he wasn't working because he was a cocaine dealer in pool halls. Plus she brought home enough money so he didn't have to work. I could tell you horror stories about the things he would do to me when he thought I was just looking at another guy. I've never seen the episode that everyone is talking about. If anyone has information on it please let me know.

Holy crap. Thank you so much for sharing part of your story with us. I'm sorry you went through that; he certainly sounds awful. I'm pretty sure that Crystaldawn has the Tara Breckinridge segment on one of her DVD collections (Volume 5, I believe...) You could PM her and get more information.

Again, thanks for sharing. I'm glad you got away from him. He doesn't sound like a very nice guy....