On the morning of September twentieth, nineteen eighty eight, nineteen year old Tara Calico set out on her daily bike ride along a quiet stretch of road in Valencia County, New Mexico, and was never seen again. Then, a year after she vanished, a disturbing discovery came to light. A polaroid photograph found in a Florida parking lot appeared to show a young woman bound and gagged, and she bore
a striking resemblance to Tara. This is the story of a young woman's disappearance who became one of the most haunting missing person's faces in American history. This is the story of Tara Calico.
My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked Ingram, a.
True crime podcast following a real intended audience. Listeners, you ready for this one?
I am?
You are.
Yeah.
It's one way to bring in the weekend, because Happy Friday. It's yeah Friday.
So yeah, it's a pretty well known one, for sure. I've definitely heard of this one.
This is a very well known episode. This case is probably one of the most well known missing person's cases in the US. It's quite the.
Story it is. Yeah. I mean I don't know all the details, of course, but I know a little bit.
Well, we'll get into some of it. And it's honestly, it's it's been going for a long time. It's been thirty it's a thirty seven year old case.
Okay, see I forgot it was that old.
Yeah, nineteen eighty eight. So it's dam Unfortunately, it's not a solved case. I know a lot of people don't like those ones where it's not solved. But hey, we were just talking this morning. Majority of true crime isn't solved. Yeah, so we can't just not cover ones that are not mysteries, right, But.
I feel like this is a bit different in the sense that, you know, it's also like putting awareness out there, I suppose, right where the other ones, like, if they're unsolved, it's just you're not finding the douche canoe or as you put it, right.
Yeah, Well, and that's the thing. We want to bring awareness to some of these victims in some of the cases, and hopefully, hey, maybe someone out there who's listening to this knows something, maybe knows a detail that pops up and realizes they have some information.
Well, someone knows something. That's always the case.
So, right, someone does know something? Yeah, are you just ready to dive into it? Should we? Yeah, let's just do it, okay.
So.
Tara Lake Kaliko was born on February twenty eighth, nineteen sixty nine, in New Mexico. At nineteen, she was a sophomore in college. She was balancing at three point nine gpa while studying psychology at the University of New Mexico's Valencia campus. She was driven, intelligent, and athletic. She had plans for her future future honestly, one that was really bright. Honestly, just as bright as her personality is. What a lot of people.
Would say, Oh that's always the worst, right, if only you could be a missing person was like they were a complete piece of shit. Blah blah blah.
You know, yeah, this person just like hated everybody. They kicked dogs, they were miserable. Yeah, but it's always like just this glowing human.
Right they're missing.
Not that I want anyone to go missing, but well no, yeah, I know what you're saying.
Yeah. Now.
People who knew her described her as thoughtful and inclusive, the kind of person who went out of her way to make others feel seen. Her childhood friend Melinda once described Tara as someone who would do the right thing even when no one was looking.
Oh man, oh that kind of person. That's special, especially too, where you just said is inclusive of everyone, right like that? That's rare, So it.
Is, I think, especially in today's world.
Yeah.
Yeah, Now, Tara's days were also very full. She was a very full kind of person. But her days were packed full too. She loved a lot of things. She would have tennis matches with her boyfriend Jack Cole, She'd have her school work, you know, going hanging out with friends, laughing, having fun, and long bike rides through the sun scorched roads of bilein the small town where she called home. She'd lived there with her mother, Patty Dwell, and stepfather
John Dowell, and siblings after her parents divorced. Blen was quiet, It was close knit, and it was the kind of place where crime felt more like fiction than a possibility. Probably one of those places where people didn't worry about locking their doors sort of thing too.
Yep.
Tara was constantly in motion. She loved being outdoors, loved routines, and especially loved cycling. Her favorite route stretched thirty six miles around trip seventeen miles along the highway forty seven and seventeen miles.
Back good for her.
She took this route almost every day, often listening to music on her walkman as she wrote, and sometimes her mother would joined her on these rides as well, but that had recently stopped. Patty had recently become uneasy about those bike rides. On more than one occasion, she had the unsettling feeling that they were being followed by a
driver who had never made themselves known. So spooked, Patty eventually stopped going, and she told Tara to be careful and even urged her to carry Mace along the route too, But Ta, very independent and strong willed, just brushed it off. She didn't want to live in fear, right, She wanted to continue to do the things that she loved. Yeah, and this, honestly would be a chilling detail in hindsight. That was the kind of warning that only takes shape after it's too late, you.
Know, Oh dang, And then I'm sure the mom is just like wishing she stopped her daughter as well.
Yeah, but how do you right? You can't stop a person from living well, live in fear constantly.
And like, yeah, she's an adult too, right and can kind of make her own decisions and stuff at that point. So yep.
So on the morning of Tuesday, September twentieth, nineteen eighty eight, it began like any other day for Tera. She left her family home on Brugg Street in Blen, New Mexico, around nine thirty am. Dressed for comfort and speed, a white T shirt with the words First National Bank of Bolen, white shorts with green stripes, white ankle socks, and white
and turquoise avia tennis shoes. She wore a few pieces of jewelry, a gold butterfly ring with a diamond insert, a gold Amesis ring, and half inch gold hoop earrings, small details that would later help authorities piece together her description.
Now.
Her own bike was unfortunately out of commission, so she rode her mother's that day. It was a bright neon, pink Huffey mountain bike with yellow control cables and matching sidewalls. It was hard to miss, so was Tara. She stood between five foot five and five foot seven inches tall, weighing around one hundred and fifteen to one hundred and twenty pounds, and had brown hair, a cowlic on her
right temple, and hazel eyes. Her destination that morning was her usual thirty six mile loop around Highway forty seven, a mostly isolated, open stretched road that she knew very well. She was planning to be back home before noon, just in time to play tennis with her boyfriend. So she had a tennis appointment with her boyfriend at twelve thirty, and usually she didn't go out riding this early, so she kind of like was making sure that she got her ride in for the day.
Which she was.
She always went for this ride unless like you know, weather pending, you know, it's storming or super bad rain, so she rarely missed it. She rarely missed it, and so she went out a little bit earlier on this day just to make sure that she could squeeze her ride in before going out to play tennis with her boyfriend at twelve thirty.
Good for her, that is, like, that's an active lifestyle.
She was very active. She loved being active, and she loved to make sure that she was going to continue that. Yeah, so she's very busy with her studies and you know, friend's family life, all these sort of things. But she's making sure that there's time for these things. So before leaving, she made an offhand comment to her mother quote, if I'm not back by noon, come looking for me.
Oh, that's kind of like daunting considering what happens. I guess.
Yes, it was more so playful with joke. It was well, because like she's she's she's got things to do. She's very much so a scheduled person, sticks to the schedule. So like, if she's not back by noon, she's going to be late for twelve thirty with her boyfriend playing tennis. So she's like, if I'm not back by noon, like come get me because I'm I'm late. That's kind of her attitude.
Well yeah, but definitely a little bit eerie.
Hey, it's eerie for sure. And of course something like that would probably stay with her mom for a long time too. Unfortunately, now as it pass the hours passed, and twelve pm came and went, Patty you do well started to worry. It was at twelve oh five, five minutes after when her daughter was supposed to be back home, that she got in the car and began driving Tara's usual route. She expected to find her daughter pedaling back. Maybe dealing with a flat tire, just running a little late,
who knows what, But the road was empty. Patty drove all the way out to the train tracks where Tara would typically turn around, and still nothing. She retraced the drive. No Tara, no pink bike, no sign of anything out of place. By the time she returned home, her panic had taken over as she was still not there.
Dang.
She called Tara's boyfriend, who hadn't heard from her. Then she called the police. At first, some thought Tara might have just changed her plans or lost track of time, but this wasn't like her. She was punctual and responsible, and Patty made this clear. This wasn't typical teenage disappearance type scenario. Tara was someone who never veered from routine or made impulsive decisions. She had plans that day, she
had responsibilities. She would have been home by now to make sure that she saw those out, which is exactly why the hints of if I'm not home by twelve, you don't come get me, because she was making sure she was sticking to those plants.
There's a problem kind of thing, exactly.
So responding officers from the Valencia County sheriff's office took the report seriously, recognizing the urgency. Within hours, friends, neighbors, and law enforcement were out scouring the quiet desert road where Tara often rode her root along the Highway forty seven. You know, was initially just a daily routine thing, but now it was the focus of a full scale search. The community had mobilized quickly. People were searching on foot, horseback,
by car. Helicopters were even brought in to scan from the skies. Boats patrolled nearby stretches of the Rio Grande Rotc. Students from nearby Albuquerque even joined in, covering miles of open land. They were going shoulder to shoulder looking for any trace of her, and as the sun dipped behind the New Mexico horizon, the air turned colder, and so did the mood. Tara wasn't just late, she was officially gone missing and no one knew where she was.
They were on this though, Hey, they were because lots of times there's been cases where you have to wait like, I don't know, twenty four forty eight hours or whatever, but like not in this one. They were just like boom.
I think it had a little bit to do with the type of person that Tara was and the urgency in what her mom did, Like this was not normal behavior. She was supposed to be back by twelve. She had all these scheduled things. She was a punctual individual. This is out of the blue.
Well and someone like heard that too, though, right.
Yes, someone did here, that's you're right, someone took that and actually took it seriously.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's the other part of the puzzle for sure. Now, over the next five days, the search intensified. It wasn't just a missing person's case anymore. It was a mystery, and one that wasn't giving up its answers very easily. On September twenty first, just one day after Tara Kalico was reported missing, search teams began finding physical evidence along the Highway forty seven, near the edge of the small community called Real Communities, roughly two to three miles south
of where she had last been seen. The first discovery came near the side of the road, fragments of a broken sony walkman bright yellow plastic pieces that were cracked and scuffed. Nearby, a cassette tape was found partially ejected from its case. The magnetic film unspooled and tangled in the dirt. Patty Dwell confirmed that both the walkmen and the tape belonged to her daughter didn't seem like litter. It was developing debris like Tara had been trying to
leave the trail or something. A little farther down the highway, investigators noted something even more unsettling, tire tracks veering sharply off the road, alongside what looked like bike tracks and scuffle marks in the dirt. Some described the tire impressions as spun out, quote unquote, as if the vehicle had suddenly accelerated or swerved. The pink Huffey bike, however, was never found. Despite the damage to the walkman and the scattered debris, there was no blood, There was no clothing,
no sign of a struggle that left obvious marks. But the implication was loud and clear. Something had happened here and it involved Tara. In the days that followed, multiple witnesses came forward to report having seen Tara along her route that morning. Several recall a white or light colored pickup truck, possibly a nineteen fifty three Ford with a camper shell, following her closely In one account, the truck was creeping behind her at an unusual speed, sometimes even
partially on the shoulder. Another witness saw what looked like more than one person in the vehicle. One man said he saw someone running from the front of the truck over to the passenger side before the vehicle then sped off. These were not random reports. The truck, its erratic movements,
and the timing all pointed to a potential abduction. A composite sketch of the driver, described as a white male around thirty five to forty five years old, about six feet tall, with red hair and noticeable crow's feet on around his eyes, was released to the public. In all, honestly, that kind of sounds like me, except I got a beard and no red hair. I got those crow feet though, that's for sure.
Well isn't okay? Like what is that's kind of from like smiling and stuff as well.
It's like wrinkling. Yeah, it's like the lines coming off your eyes. It happens when you smile. It's more prominent than for sure.
I know, but I almost feel like it kind of it kind of describes like a happier person. So I almost was like alarmed when I heard that, but well.
I mean, like those crow feet, like if you WinCE your eyes, you squint your eyes, those crow feet appear.
Yeah, that's true, that's true.
Just your photographer. Mine's taken over, I think so. Yeah. Now, despite these efforts in the circulation of the image, though no solid leads came of it, Terra's pink bike had vanished, and so did she. The pieces were beginning to come together, but the picture was still painfully and complete, and as October turned to November, the search lost momentum. There were no sightings, no new ones at LEAs, no arrests, no evidence that pointed to where she could possibly have gone
or where she would be. It just was running into a dead end, that's about it. Like what do you do from there?
That's just the worst I feel like that is I don't even know how like a friend, a parent, you know, boyfriend would deal with that, just like they just like vanished from thin air, like poof gone.
Yeah. Now, for her family, this was unbearable. Her mother, Patty, refused to believe Tara was just simply gone. She was certainly somewhere out there. You know, someone knew something, that someone would have seen something, happen. She continued to press law enforcement, push for updates, and maintain a high public profile to keep Tara's name in the headlights headlines. Either way you say it, I guess headlines is what I said. But I said headlights.
Good for her mom. I just have to say, like, her mom's doing what she can.
I think that's a big portion of making sure that these missing person's cases don't fade into obscurity. Needs an advocate, Yeah, you need someone who pushes. And it's easy to trust in local authorities in your area to say, Okay, they're handling it. They're doing their job. They're doing their job, sure, but they're not media people. They're not going to push for everyone around to hear the story and keep talking
about the story and keep leads coming in. Yeah they might do, you know, public releases and press releases once in a while. But to be an advocate and pushing and even pushing the police to keep doing their stuff is it's good. I mean, we can all think about it in our daily lives. To have someone there to push you to keep doing what you need to do, it's a good thing and it gets things done well.
The thing is the police have, like, you know, numerous cases and stuff they're dealing with the new ones coming in and stuff, right, So yeah, for sure, just to have that little like voice that's like houses coming along, like are we still working on this? Yeah, not a bad thing at all.
Well, exactly as you put an advocate, and I think that's that's what many people need in these situations. But unfortunately, by nineteen eighty nine, the case had stalled. There's no new leads, no fresh evidence, no break in the case. In the public eye, the disappearance of Tarra Calico was starting to feel like one of those tragic small town
mysteries that might never be able to be solved. Law enforcement agencies had exhausted their available eight avenues, and investigators had nothing solid to work with then out of nowhere. Nine months after she vanished, the case would explode back into national conversation because of a single disturbing photograph found
nearly one thousand, five hundred miles away. It was June fifteenth, nineteen eighty nine, nearly nine months since Terra Calico had vanished, when a woman in Port Saint Joe, Florida, stepped out of a convenience store into the parking law and noticed something odd on the ground. There. Left behind in a recently vacated parking space was a Polaride photo. The image was immediately jarring to this individual when they picked it
up and looked. It was of a teenage girl and a young boy, both lying side by side on what looked like a mattress. Their mouths were sealed shut with black duct tape, their hands appeared to be bound behind their backs, and the setting looked cramped, possibly in the back of a van. The photo was grim and terrifying, but there was something else, something that gave it weight. The girl bore a striking resemblance to Tara Kalico, The woman who found the photo didn't hesitate. She handed it
over to police right away. She also reported that just moments before discovering it, she had seen a white, windowless Toyota van pull out of that same parking spot.
Oh Man.
The driver, she said, was a man in his thirties with a mustache. It was a vague description but one that matched, you know, countless men across the county. But it was at least something.
Right, Yeah, it was something, for sure.
Police set up roadblocks, but nothing came of it still. When the photo aired on the TV program A Current Affair in July, it was instantly recognizable to people who knew Tara. Friends called her mother, telling her to turn on the TV. When Patti Duell saw the image, she froze.
There was a scar in the girl's leg. It was the same place where Tara had won from a past car accident, and lying beside her was a paperback copy of My Suite Adrina by VC Andrews, a book that was Tara's favorite book by her favorite author.
Oh my gosh, oh.
To Patty, it was her daughter, old, a little older, looked tired, but it was still Tara.
Well, she would have changed so much in those nine months, because it clearly it looks like she's gone through shit.
Yeah. Now to the FBI, the Scotland Yard and the Los Alamos National Laboratory were all brought in to analyze the photo. The Scotland Yard concluded, yes, this was in fact Tara. The Los Angeles, sorry, Los Alamos, I should say not Los Angeles. I saw the la in my head and it just dinged. But they disagreed, and the FBI, to them it was inconclusive.
They couldn't say either way, okay, because just there I was like, oh, dang, I didn't realize they had determined that was her from the photo. But just certain people have.
Yes, one said yes, one said no, and one said oh yeah. So we have a literal split down the center.
But the mom did think it was her, yes.
Based yeah, okay, yeah, she believes it's her in that photo. Yeah, but the boy in the photo. Another family, also from New Mexico, was struck with disbelief. The boy in the photo, they said, looked exactly like their missing son, Michael Henley. Now, Michael had disappeared five months before Tara in April of nineteen eighty eight, during a camping trip from Zuni Mountains, around seventy five miles from where Tara had gone missing.
Holy shit, he was just nine years old. Oh okay, yeah, one moment he was near his family's campsite with his father, and then the next he was gone. A full scale search had turned up nothing. His parents, Marty and Ernest Henley, watched that same A Current Affair broadcast and felt the same jolt Tara's family had. The resemblance was uncanny, the face, expression, even the eyes. Michael looked frightened but alive. I wanted
it to be him, his mother told reporters. He looked scared, real scared, but he looked healthy, and I'm grateful for that. For a time, the theory took hold that Tara and Michael had been abducted by the same person, possibly someone operating across state lines, possibly with ties to human trafficking. The photo had been taken using Polaroid film that was not available before May nineteen eighty nine, meaning that it had been captured months after both had gone missing.
Okay, because here I was just sitting here thinking, oh, like that could be you know, an old photo could be.
So authorities actually reached out to Polaroid to help get some information, and they told him that, yeah, this film had been released at this day. Oh okay, So May nineteen eighty nine is the earliest that photo could have been taken because that film was not available before then. Okay, yep, so could this be a serial abduction trafficking ring? Those are the sort of questions like was to Terosty alive?
Was he being held captive? Hope surged briefly for both families, but then in June nineteen ninety, a devastating discovery brought closure, at least for the Henleys. Michael Henley's remains were found about seven miles from the family's original campsite in a remote part of the Zuni Mountains. His death was ruled accidental, the result of exposure to the elements. Authorities concluded that they liked that he likely wandered off, had gotten lost,
and had passed away in the forest. So with that revelation, the identity of the boy and the polaroid was thrown back into question.
Ye.
If it wasn't Michael, then who was he? And more importantly, was Tara ever in the photograph to begin with?
Then?
Two? Was it actually her?
Yeah?
The photograph found in Florida wasn't the end of it, though. Over the years, more images surfaced, each of them eerie in their own way, and each riigniting public interest in fresh speculation. Every time a new photo appeared, Tara's name, you know, every time it came up, every time her family were taking a look at these photos. It all took a toll, and the first of these additional photos appeared in June of nineteen eighty nine, not long after the Port Saint Joe picture It was found near a
construction site in Montecito, California. It showed a blurry image of a girl's face, mouth gagged, with a light blue and white striped pillow behind her head. Now that fabric on that pillow is really important because that same looking can say it's exactly the same. But a very similar looking fabric was in the other photo that was found as well, the one that was found in Florida. Okay, so when they look like they're in the back of the van sort of thing, yeah, blue and white striped
pillows is what they're laying on. And now here again we have another questionable photograph with a similar fabric, if not the same. Patty Dwell, Tara's mother believed it could be her daughter once again. Then came another photo in February of nineteen ninety, this one a little more perplexing. Taken on an Amtrak train, it shows a woman loosely bound in gauze with her eyes covered, sitting beside a
man whose face was clearly visible. The man was never identified, and the scene was so bizarre that most people believe it was a form of a sick prank or maybe even an art piece.
What the shit is with all these photos just like appearing That seems so weird.
Yeah. Now, Patty took every one of these photos extremely seriously, and so did her entire family.
And here someone was just playing a prank, like fuck them. Hey.
Yeah. So she examined the faces, the angles, the details, always looking for something familiar, a scar, facial feature, something, you know, something to look for, recognition, to say this is Tara, something to feel normal, like this is what I remember.
Yeah. Well, and I was just going to say. The problem too, is like these photos probably aren't like the clearest, right A polaroid photo isn't going to be this crystal clear?
Well, yeah, for sure. This third one's much more clear. It's a little suspiciously too clear, honestly. Ok The Montecito photo, the blurry one with where she was gagged, she believes that is Tara. The first two she believes are in fact Tara, but this third one she doesn't think so.
Not so sure, Okay.
In two thousand and nine, two decades after Tara's disappearance, things got even stranger. Three letters postmark from Albertquerque arrived to the Port Saint Joe Police Department and the local newspaper. Each envelope contained printed images of a boy with a black band drawn in ink across his mouth, mimicking the original photo. No messages, no return address, nothing to explain what the sender wanted or why the boy's face had
been altered in that way. The photos were then turned over to the FBI, but no clear connection to Tara or anyone else has ever been made. But it is. It's got that little question mark above it. For TERA's family, every photo came with renewed hope and heartbreak. Over the years, they were asked to identify dozens of images, many of them graphic and disturbing, some showing unidentified bodies. Even each
one opened an old wound, and none provided closure. These images remain one of the strangest and most haunting aspects of the Terror's Calico case. Whether they were clues, cruel jokes, or desperate misidentifications remains unknown, but to date, Tara's mother believes those first two photos are in fact Tara, and the rest not.
That is so hart like you said, just like opening these wounds with no closure. Yep, dang, I mean yeah, you got you gotta participate, you gotta look and you gotta like, you know, see if this is a clue or whatever, but gosh, it would just like destroy you at the same time.
It would it really would, now, whatever the case in these photos. For nearly two decades, the disappearance of Tara Calico remained a mystery with no clear suspects. But then in two thousand and eight, a bold and controversial statement from local officials brought a new theory a new hope for some justice. That year, Valencia County Sheriff Rina Riviera went on record claiming he knew exactly what happened to Tara.
According to Riviera, two teenage boys reportedly local to the area and familiar with Tara, had been following her that morning in a truck. He believed they were harassing her, perhaps tailgating her or cat calling her. When the situation escalated, Tara may have tried to get way. Then the truck struck her, either on purpose or by accident. She was
injured but alive. Panicked, Rivia said, the boys took her into their vehicle to silence her and keep her from going to the authorities over the situation, and from there it just escalated and it turned fatal. He claimed. The teenagers later killed her and with the help of others, buried her body somewhere in Valencia County. Riviera said he knew the names of everyone involved, but there was a catch. There's no body so there could be no charges.
How do you just know this? Like where was he getting this from? Though?
Through whatever investigation that's going on behind the scenes? Assumingly okay, Now, he refused to name the suspects or produce any physical evidence. Without Terror's remains or you know, proof, it couldn't be going to prosecution, So like they got to keep things hush hush to try and see if they can move forward, right, But.
Then, honestly, like that story does make sense though too, it.
Does and for TERA's family, like knowing this like you had, like you know she's dead, you know she's buried out there somewhere, you know who killed her, and you can't do shit like that's agonizing. Oh so John Dowell, Tara's stepfather, publicly criticized Riviera's comments. If he truly knew who was responsible, why wasn't he making the arrests and if he didn't have enough evidence, why go public at all?
Okay? Because this is this Riviera guy is a police officer, right or investigator? Okay, that is that would just like piss me right off?
Yeap. He's the sheriff the county. He well, he was. I don't know if he still is, probably not, Valencia County sheriff was okay, yeah. So the theory didn't vanish, and over time others came forward to support similar versions of the story too. Interviews conducted with people in the community include two separate individuals who gave matching accounts described as to chain of events. Tera was hit, taken, and
murdered by a group of local boys. According to rumors, at least one of those boys was related to someone in law enforcement. Some locals began to suspect a cover up, a small town secret that are being kept for decades. One of TERA's childhood friends, Melinda, took it upon herself to investigate further. A former classmate turned independent journalist, Melinda launched a podcast and spent years digging into the case.
She claims her research supports the theory that Terara's disappearance was premeditated, that the group of boys had been planning to confront her for days before that she actually went missing. And that her death was the tragic result of a calculated act gone horribly wrong.
Holy shit, Okay, this is all like new information to me. I didn't know any of this. Yeah.
Melinda eventually shared her findings with the FBI, not to the local sheriff's department, and because she later said that she didn't trust how the case had been handled locally. By now the ones fragmented rumors had. It's kind of turned into this like plausible theory with multiple sources. But even then, no arrests were made, no body was found, and no one could be held accountable. Then, in the
twenty tens, a quiet shift began behind the scenes. Law enforcement, for the first time in decades, started to act like they believed answers were still within reach. In twenty thirteen, a dedicated six person task force was formed to re examine Terror's disappearance. Composed of local officers, FBI agents, and state police. The team revisited old interviews, cross checked leads, and combed through the original case files looking for anything
that had been missed or ignored. In twenty seventeen, it was revealed that the case was not only open, it was still in fact completely active. New interviews were being conducted, fresh tips were still coming in, and although no arrests have been made, momentum was building. Then came a press
conference in June of twenty twenty three. After thirty five years of heartbreak and uncertainty, the Valencia County Sheriff's office, alongside the FBI, made a public announcement they believed they had identified the individuals responsible for Terror Kalico's disappearance and had enough evidence to submit the case for review. Sheriff Denise Vigil stated plainly that the investigation had made quote substantial progress. The information, however, remained sealed under court order,
and the identities of the suspect were not released. FBI Special Agent Joseph Rowland, who had been working the case since at least twenty sixteen, confirmed that the new evidence had been uncovered between twenty twenty and twenty twenty three, enough to potentially bring the case before a district attorney for prosecution. According to investigators, they were simply waiting for
the green light to proceed with charges. As of now, no arrests have been made, no charges filed, and the names of the suspect and the nature of the evidence are still sealed and have not been released. Still, this was the most definitive progress the case is seen in three decades. Law enforcement for the first time publicly expressed confidence that they knew what happened to Tara and who
was responsible. In the years since, her family carried the weight of uncertainty with the kind of endurance that defies explanation. They've been going for over thirty years since Ara's disappeared, mother, Patty Dwell, has perhaps been the most visible and vocal figure. Throughout the early years, she tirelessly worked to keep Tara's case in the public eye, appearing on national talk shows, speaking to reporters, handing out flyers, and calling in every
favor she could. The polaroid photo from Florida gave her something to cling to. She was convinced the girl was in fact Tara. The scar, the book, the eyes, all of it. And because of that belief, Patty held on to hope, and even after Tara was declared legally dead in nineteen ninety eight with the death rule to homicide, she never accepted that it was the end. When Patty and her husband, John Dowell moved to Florida in their
later years, she made a space for her daughter. In their new home, She kept a bedroom ready filled with Tara's belongings, just in case her daughter came home one day.
Dang, that is that breaks my heart?
Yeah. However, time was not kind. Patty's health declined. She suffered multiple strokes, and her condition worsened. She would sit by the window watching bicycles pass in the street, always wondering, was that Tara riding her bike home?
Oh my gosh, yeah, oh this is just like it's just this obviously is destroying her health and everything holy.
In two thousand and six, Patty passed away with the answers that she'd desperately been trying to hear for at that point, nearly twenty years searching. Tara's older brother, Chris, later said that the weight of the case, the photographs, the dead ends, and endless stream of unidentified images, had taken years off his mother's life. Yep quote she looked at everyone she could not, but it tore her up every time, every single photograph she looked at, just trying to see.
Yeah, the amount of goosewoms I keep getting from this like that just is terrible.
John Dowell remained active in seeking public justice. For long after Patty's passing. Though he was more guarded in public, his advocacy never wavered. He too since passed away. As for Tara's sister, Michelle Dowell, she continued her mother's legacy in a new era. Michelle has been outspoken and keeping the case alive, launching efforts like podcast, community awareness campaigns,
and directly engaging with law enforcement. She's repeatedly stated that someone knows what happened, and that she won't stop until there is, in fact closure. For Tara's family, time has not dulled the pain, but it has only strengthened their resolve. Even without a body, even without charges, they remain Tara's voice. As of today, Tara Kalico's disappearance remains officially unsolved, though
law enforcement has signaled they may be closed to resolution eventually. Anyways, in June of twenty twenty three, they said, you know, they've progressed, They've identified the individuals, but there's been no arrests, no names, no evidence. It's all sealed away and adding to the confusion. Even in May of twenty twenty three, just one month before the press conference, the Sheriff Office
disputed a long standing piece of case narrative. They stated that Tara's cassette, tape, and walkman, items widely reported to have been found along Highway forty seven, were in fact never recovered. What This contradicted decades of reporting in multiple sources that had previously described those items as critical early clues. So was it a clerical error, a new interpretation of old evidence, a sign that official version of the story was long fractured and they're just now patching it. Theory
still persist. Some believe Tara was the victim of a hit and run that turned deadly. Others point to Florida the Florida Polaroid, suggesting impossible kidnapping and trafficking scenario. Still others maintained that the small circle in Valencia County, they know exactly what happened, and it's just been hidden for decades. TERA's pink coffee bike It's never been found, neither have her remains, and the identity of the boy in the polaroid,
if not Michael Henley, also remains a mystery. There is a twenty thousand dollars reward offered by the FBI that is still active for precise details leading to the identification of Tara or the arrest and conviction of those responsible. But perhaps the most haunting detail of all, Tara Calico
was declared dead in nineteen ninety eight. Even though our case remains open, her story has never faded into obscurity, not in New Mexico, not across the country, not around the world, and certainly not in the minds of those who followed the case for decades. Her story endures not just because of the mystery, but because of the deep
injustice that it surrounds it. A bright, ambitious young woman vanished in broad daylight in a place that was supposed to be safe, and for all the media attention, investigative leads an emotional toll. No one has ever ever been held accountable. Tara was a college sophomore with a near
perfect GPA of three point nine. She had plans, a boyfriend, tight knit family, a love of fitness and outdoor adventure, and on the morning of September twentieth, nineteen eighty eight, she went out for a thirty six mile bike ride like she had countless times before, and she never came home. In the years since, her face has become a symbol for the missing. Her case was one of the earliest
to make the national headlines. Through programs like Unsolved Mysteries and America's Most Wanted, the Florida Polaroid became one of the most talked about pieces of evidence in American true crime history, debated endlessly in homes and message boards across
the world still even to this day. But behind the attention is a family that never stopped looking, a mother who died waiting, a community still wondering if the answers have been quietly kept all along, and despite recent developments and a promise from law enforcement, no one has stood trial. We may now be closer to the truth than ever. Sheriff officials say they know who did it. They claim
the evidence is there. But for Terra's family, friends and anyone who's watched this case unfold over the thirty seven years. Now they know what's been done so far, and it hasn't been enough. They want justice, they want closure, and above all, they want Tera to come home. And until that happens, this case won't rest because Tara never made it back from her bike ride and we still don't know why. And that's the case of Tara Kalico.
Oo Man I have like so many thoughts with that one because it doesn't make sense. Okay, the one where it was just like the locals really makes sense to me. But it wouldn't make sense if that was her in that polaroid like found a year later. Yeah, right, that just that doesn't add up, I guess it.
I mean it doesn't. I mean, honestly, yeah, it's if it's a small local thing that had just kind of something had gone wrong, and it's something that escalated, then yeah, of course it wouldn't make sense that she's now over one thousand miles away in a van somewhere else being held captive. Yeah, but I mean her mother is almost certain that Yeah.
Well yeah, like these freaking bastards have just gone away with this for what like thirty seven, thirty six.
Years or whatever. It's it's almost thirty seven years. It hasn't quite been thirty seven. This fall, it'll be thirty seven years.
And the other thing I wanted to touch on is it's so alarming, Like you have your day to day schedule lots of times, right, and it can be predictable and stuff, and these people they know that and they can follow you and stuff. Right, But like she did go out at a different time to.
A little bit or well, yeah.
I don't know. It's something to say though about doing having a set schedule, right, because that has caused issues for other people and stuff too. But then you also have to like do your roots and love things you do do so.
Hard it is so if you've learned anything from this, be chaotic, be unpredictable.
Well, I know, but like she had a favorite roote. Of course she can't be able to do that daily. But then these we have these freakin crazy ass bitches, bastards that like can follow you. Yeah, because the mom had that eerie.
Feeling too, right exactly, But I mean, was that eerie feeling was justified? Was it just a weird feeling that she got for no reason. It's hard to.
Say, Oh man, you're showing me the photo. I've seen this.
So this is a photo of Tara provided by her family. And then yeah, that's the first photo that was found in Florida in the parking lot.
Oh, I mean yeah, it's like the resemblance is striking really, m Like, holy crap, imagine being a mom seeing that.
Hey, right, and I can't quite find it. I mean, I haven't looked hard enough, mind you. But there is a scar on her leg in that photo that Tara's mother says is a scar that she had from an accident previous. Yeah, there is the book on the ground, which was like her favorite author.
Oh my gosh.
The calic Hunner bangs. You can see the calyc.
Yeah, that is just so disturbing. Hey.
Yeah, so I do hope that this case does get so soon.
That would be amazing.
That would be if authorities know who did it. I don't understand why they're not, at least, you know what releasing names like these are our suspect, This is our suspect.
Well why release that? They you know know, and they're real close and then it's now like two years later and nothing's happened.
Yes more Sorry No, I was twenty twenty three, right, yeah, two years later.
So that that is odd. But yeah, there's obviously something that they that came up or whatever that they didn't expect. I don't know.
I understand investigation. I understand god needing to keep evidence and all that sort of stuff sealed, But I don't understand why you can't name a suspect.
Yeah, I mean, it.
Could potentially flood the public's view and all of a sudden, maybe you get misinformation like wrong full tips, people like skewing things coming in or maybe they Yeah I get it, but I hate it.
Yeah, maybe they were even to antsy on that the release of that though, Hey, like that could be Yeah, when they said they knew, but maybe they weren't. Like yeah, like I'm saying something maybe came up right, I don't know, but that is that's so shitty. This would be I mean, every single case would be amazing to get solved, but this would sure be one that would be.
Yeah, this is this is up there on my list for for waiting for. That's for her. If there's any updates, we'll we'll be keeping you guys posted, that's for sure.
Yeah, dang, the local story just makes so much sense. But then yeah, that polaroid found a year later and it looks so much like hers.
It throws a wrench into it, doesn't it.
It sure does well then too. You think if it was just like some local people or whatever, that you would end up being able to find the body eventually. How good would they have been at you know, if these were young kids, how good would they have been at disposing of it unless, like you said, one of them was really maybe one of them was, like I had a father that was in there exactly.
One of them might have a father that's you know, within the authorities somehow. Maybe like this is a smaller town too, right, So when you have a small town, you have young kids, teenagers that sort of stuff. They go out on quads and dirt roads and back roads. They can they know how to go way out where no one is and find the secluded spot, you.
Know, just brutal because yeah, she, like you said, she was like such a light, she had like such a bright future she did, and it was just taken away for absolutely no reason.
Yeah, it's heartbreaking. Well, if you guys want to check out any of our social links or anything, it's in the description of this podcast. If you want to give us a review or something, we'd really appreciate it. We are an independent podcast. All this research and stuff it's done by us. All the writing, you know, the script I'm reading, it's done by us. This production, all of it done by us. We don't have a big company pulling strings. We do what we want, when we want,
how we want, and because we want. If that makes sense. Some shows you're not allowed to swear. If I want to swear, I say fuck because I'm like fuck it, you know what I mean, And that's us.
Yeah, I guess so that that was quite a little outro there, so it I like it.
I apologetically an independent.
How's that unapologetically me?
Yeah?
Yeah, there you go.
So thank you guys for being here. Hopefully enjoyed the story, and like I said, we'll keep you updated if anything does happen.
Fingers crossed that something does happen, but until next episode, stay wicked.