Hey weirdos, it's Ash here, ready to share a little secret.
Have you heard of Wondery Plus? With ad free episodes and one week early access, it's like having an all access pass to our lighthearted nightmare.
So come join us on the dark side and try Wondery Plus today.
You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
You're listening to a morbid network podcast.
Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar.
Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, You can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities and new ways of thinking.
Listening can lead to positive changes in your mood, your habits, and ultimately your overall well-being.
Audible has an incredible selection of over 1 million audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible Originals all in one easy app.
Find the genres you love and discover new ones.
Explore bestsellers like my sister's title. new releases, plus thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and originals that members can listen to all they want with more added all the time.
I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.
She did not listen to it, but she said, girl, this title sounds so you.
And let me tell you, it did. I've been listening to it while I walk and I am absolutely loving it.
I love all the different narrators. I love Audible.
There's more to imagine when you listen.
Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. visit audible.com slash morbid.
They say that time waits for no one, neither should payday.
To keep your money moving in the direction of your dreams, get earnin'.
What is Earnin', you ask? Honey, Earnin' is an app that lets you access your pay as you earn it up to $180 and $50 a day with a max of $750 between paydays.
Earnin is the app that is helping millions of Americans take charge of their pay and avoid falling into debt traps.
Ernan's mission is to make financial momentum accessible to everyone.
It's your money, so put it in your own hands with Ernan.
I just feel like earning is good for so many things.
Like, you know, every now and again you get in your car and you say, oh, wow, who knew that I was on empty?
I should have known that, but I didn't. And then you look at your bank account and you're like, oh crap, I haven't been paid yet.
You'll never run into that problem if you have Ernand.
An unexpected trip to the vet will not ruin your day because you'll have the money to pay for it.
Download Earnin' Today, spelled E-A-R-N-I-N, in the Google Play or Apple App Store.
When you download the Earn It app, type in morbid under podcast.
When you sign up, it will really help the show.
Morbid under podcast. Earnin is a financial technology company, not a bank.
Access limits are based on your earnings and risk factors.
Standard cashouts take one to two business days with no mandatory fees.
Expedited transfer is available for a fee.
Tips are voluntary and don't affect the service.
Available in select states. Terms and restrictions apply.
Visit earnin.com for full details. Download Earnin now and take control of your pay.
You know what's even more stressful than a packed calendar?
Realizing you're out of coffee right before a meeting.
That actually happened to me the other day.
And it's exactly why I stocked up during the Thrive Markets back-to-school sale.
Even if you're not going back to school, I'm not, it's the perfect time to reset.
Thrive makes it easy to shop for high-quality pantry staples, snacks, vitamins, even skincare. without the errands or the ingredient label deep dives.
I just restocked with Aloha protein bars, Simple Mills crackers, and my favorite poppy drinks.
I love them so much. Everything is delivered super duper fast, and I saved up to 25% on all of that.
Their filters make shopping by diet or lifestyle a breeze, and their healthy swap tool actually helped me upgrade my usual buys with zero label stress.
I love the Lesser Evil popcorn. I get my chomp sticks from there.
I love Thrive and you will too. Now's the best time to try Thrive Market.
You'll get up to 25% off select items. and new members get 30 percent off their first order, plus a free gift.
Who doesn't love that? Go to thrivemarket.com slash morbid to start saving.
The sale ends 831. Don't miss it. Hey weirdos, I'm Ash.
And I'm Alayna. And this is Morbid. it's still morbid i think it might always be morbid it's a little too late for rebranding these days i'm fairly certain that it's going to You know what?
I'm going to hear today. It's always going to be morbid.
Hear ye, hear you. You heard it here. first I rolled out this scroll and it says it will always be morbid period yes I like it.
Please excuse me. Please. Please excuse me.
Did you hear it? My voice just slowly was like...
I like how we started out with like, here you, here you, the fancy scroll, and then it's like, please, excuse me. i don't know what we're into today but it's happening the old times the old times We are into the old.
Apparently that movie by M. Night Shyamalan, by the way, old.
I heard it sucked. I heard it's like the worst thing ever.
Yeah, it doesn't look good in my opinion.
Somebody tweeted... M. Night Shyamalan got out of the pool and looked at his wrinkly hands and was like, wait a minute.
And that's where he came up with it. And I was like, maybe.
That might be it. I don't know. Something about it.
I was like... yeah i don't know it didn't look very good in my opinion didn't strike didn't tickle my fancy no But what's the one?
Is it The Village? I loved The Village. Yeah.
The Village, I feel like Drew and I were talking about that the other night, and he was like, you just can't beat that movie.
That movie is great. Because even, like, I was so excited for Split.
Yeah, I saw that and it was amazing. The entire movie was fucking incredible. until the very end when it became like, I'm just not into like superhero villain shit.
I'm sure you can all tell. And when that happened, I was like, you lost me.
Because it connected to like a the other ones.
It was like a whole superhero story. That one I didn't mind.
I liked that one. But again, if you don't like superhero stuff, I think it or that kind of and they didn't market it like that going into it so i thought I was going into something totally different and you were like I was for the entire fucking movie until the end but you know that's not what we're here for This is not the M. Night Shyamalan review podcast.
We think we can do it better podcast. Who are we?
The guy who made the sixth sense. I'm like, yeah, I don't know.
I can do it better. I don't know M. Night.
I don't know if you're really kidding. M. Night, you're great.
Yeah, you're always killing. I think people really put pressure on you with that twist ending thing that got like labeled onto you.
Yeah, that is very true. But you know what?
You're killing it. You're doing all right, man.
And you know what? We should watch the old movie.
I haven't watched it, so I shouldn't be judging it.
But I figured I'd just bring that up. Sometimes when people tell me that movies suck, I'm like... okay, like, and I go watch it and I'm like, no, that was an amazing movie.
Yeah, that happens a lot. Yeah. So... We'll figure it out.
Look at us. We just turned right around.
Maybe we can watch it for screen. Maybe we can.
That's a good idea. Go check out Scream.
If you don't watch, listen to it. If you don't, do it.
But that's not what we're talking about today.
What we are talking about today... Is a case that I have always been like pretty fascinated with because it comes along with this strange Polaroid photo.
Oh. That I have seen forever and a lot of true crime fans mostly will know this Polaroid photograph.
Okay. Because it's just always floated around.
And it's horrifying. It's not graphic. And it's not like bloody or anything.
It's just... horrifying when you look at it because no one truly knows who the people in the photograph are or what the fuck is going on in this photograph.
Awesome. We're going to get to the photograph, so don't worry.
What do I Google though? So we're going to talk about Tara Calico.
Writing that in. Tara Lee Calico. was born February 28, 1969.
She was 19 years old when she went missing.
She left her home for a bike ride on September 20th, 1988, and this was in Belen, New Mexico.
When she left, she was never seen again.
What the fuck? Now, she had left her house at around 930 a.m. that day.
This wasn't just a bike ride down the street for a couple miles.
This wasn't me saying I'm going on a bike ride.
Tara, who was like extremely intelligent, very smart, University of New Mexico sophomore, I believe, at the time.
She was a serious cyclist. She routinely, and when I say routinely, I mean every single day rode 36 miles on her bike.
Holy shit. And this was what she was planning to do that day.
She did it every day. This was her bike ride.
Okay. And this is the day she disappeared.
She was on that 36 mile bike ride. Aww. This bike ride was supposed to, it usually took around two hours.
Okay. Usually she went with her mother, Patty.
And her name is Patty Dole. And they usually went bike riding together.
It was like their thing, which I think is like...
The coolest thing ever that her mom would bike ride 36 miles with her.
Yeah. That's badass. Seriously, because I love my children, but that's not happening ever.
Well, and it must have been like I was thinking about it.
I was like, wow, that's like such a nice thing to do with your child.
Yeah. A bike ride is always, especially, I mean, when you first start like trust, when I first got on like my exercise bike recently, I was like.
Who chooses to do this? Like who chooses to get on a cycle and cycle?
Who chooses to do this? It's horrific. But then when you get a little more... like you start working through those muscle pains and everything, you're like, wow, this is like very enjoyable.
And I just imagine like bike riding outside with your mom, just like chatting.
Seeing the sights, feeling the wind go by must be like such a nice... time you know you can bond together it's back when i liked my mom and she was married to my stepdad and he wasn't like such a shit yet we used to actually go on bike rides all the time It's like a very nice thing.
Yeah, I remember that. It was like a really fun thing to do, I have to be honest.
See, it's like a it's a positive memory.
It's like a nice thing to do. Now, they've been doing this for a while together.
But her mom had actually stopped doing it in recent weeks because there was one ride where someone in a vehicle had followed them.
And it was for a little too long and it freaked her mom out.
And she wanted Tara to stop. But Tara was like, no, I'm going to keep bike riding.
So she had tried to convince her like, you know, can you like carry mace?
Can you like do something? She was like, no, it's fine.
And she was like, okay well please just stay in well lit areas and go during the day and stay on the main path and like And I don't know if you already said this, because I was looking at the photograph.
Did she ride the same route every single day?
She did. OK. And she was 19 at the time, so it's not like there was much.
Her mom couldn't be like, you're not allowed.
She's like, I'm just getting on my bike.
But like I said, Tara was a University of New Mexico student.
She was studying psychology. She has one sister, Michelle Dole, and a brother, Chris.
Her family has done, and she has a stepfather named John.
Her family has done an amazing job keeping this case fresh in the eyes and the minds of everyone who will listen.
I'm definitely going to say more about her family, so don't worry.
Stay tuned for that. But Tara herself was described as very intelligent, really funny, really outgoing, just like really enjoyable to be around.
She would always help people out. She was never like, if somebody was being picked on she was the one that was going to go against the crowd and take care of that person i love that And she was also said to be like a huge bookworm.
She also loved physical activity, obviously.
She biked. She was a runner. She kept herself in really healthy shape.
I mean to bike that much per day, I can only imagine.
And she loved it. She just loved it. And she was also very organized and very self-sufficient.
That's what a lot of people said. Her stepfather, John, said that even as a child, she was just very independent and wanted to do everything herself.
And he said like she was always like a little firecracker.
And that was her stepfather. But like he really raised her.
Yeah. She was a list maker and she liked to keep a daily schedule.
And when she went missing, she was actually working at a bank. and was hoping to eventually become a psychiatrist someday after working her way through school.
And she was a huge list maker. And that day she had actually like written out a schedule, like she would do that during the day, like what she needed to do.
So because her mother wasn't going that day, she asked her mom if she could use her bike.
Her mother's bike. Because Tara's bike had something wrong with it.
It was getting fixed. I think it had like a flat tire and something had bent on it.
So her mother allowed her to use her own neon pink Huffy mountain bike.
I love it. It's like this is such like an 80s bike.
I love it. It had the like bright yellow cables and like accents on it.
Yes. If I were to have a bike, that would be it.
And with her, she brought a bright yellow Sony Walkman with a cassette tape of the band Boston. iconic.
Yeah, so it's just awesome. Now, according to the FBI, she was wearing a white t-shirt with First National Bank of Belen on it.
White shorts with green stripes. white ankle socks, and white and turquoise Avia tennis shoes.
She was also wearing a gold butterfly ring with a like little diamond in it and a gold amethyst ring and a half inch gold ring. hoop earrings okay just so you know exactly what she was wearing it can be useful Now, the last time she was seen that day, you know, she left for a bike ride.
The last time any witnesses saw her was 11.45 a.m., riding along Highway 47 in Valencia County.
Why choose a Sleep Number Smartbed? Can I make my site softer?
Can I make my site firmer? Can we sleep cooler?
Sleep Number does that. Cools up to eight times faster and lets you choose your ideal comfort on either side.
Your Sleep Number setting. It's the Sleep Number biggest sale of the year.
All beds on sale. Up to 50% off the limited edition smart bed, plus free home delivery with the purchase of any smart bed.
Ends Monday. All Sleep Number smart beds offer temperature solutions for your best sleep.
Check it out at a Sleep Number store or sleepnumber.com today.
Now, this is what on her route. And she was actually saying that she was planning to be she was thinking she was going to be done around noon.
So this is right on target. One of the things that had happened to her bike was, like I said, it got a flat tire.
So she had jokingly said to her mother if she didn't see her by noon, she should come looking for her because she might have another flat tire.
Okay. Again, her mother Patty saw this as a joke because she also had plans to meet her boyfriend at 12 30 that day to play a tennis match so she was like she's definitely going to be back by noon Tara is that kind of person.
Timely. She's very timely, very scheduled.
I have an appointment at 1230 with my boyfriend to play tennis.
I'm going to be home at noon to change and be there on time.
Right. So she had even laid out her tennis gear and outfit in anticipation for it. and had also organized her school stuff like her books and homework because she had a class at 4 p.m.
Jesus, I strive to be as organized as her. she was on that shit.
Now noon rolls around and nothing. Nothing's happening.
So she's like, okay, maybe she did get a flat tire.
So she takes off to go look for her. So Patty goes along the route and doesn't see her.
And she's starting to panic. She goes down the route and up the route.
And she's like, she's nowhere. She wouldn't be anywhere.
She's nowhere. So then she's like, okay, maybe I just missed her.
Maybe she's back home and I just missed her.
So she goes back home. And when she gets back home, Tara isn't there either.
So this is bad. This is really bad immediately because, like, we now know Tara is not one to fuck around with time.
She's not... And she's just not going to tell you she's going to be there and not be there.
Her mom and her were close. She had a... all her stuff laid out for the rest of the day.
So it's just, this is not a good thing at all.
So The problem here was she was like, okay, I'm trying to think of anything that can make this, like... makes sense, but if she's not on the route she took and she's not home, there's literally nowhere else.
The only answer to this is bad. Yeah, because she doesn't stray from her routine ever.
Exactly. So then her and her husband, John, were like, Okay, maybe she got hurt.
Maybe she got hurt. Maybe she's at a hospital.
Maybe somebody picked her up. She went to the hospital.
So they call local hospitals first to see if an accident happened, something.
Nothing came of it. She wasn't in any of them.
So they immediately called the Valencia County Sheriff's Department and filed a missing persons report right away.
Now, the search was extensive immediately.
They went to work on this. Now according to the Albuquerque Journal, within five hours of Tara being reported missing, Her missing person status was entered into the National Crime Information Center. and a note was added saying that foul play was something they were considering already.
Okay. Because of course, the first thing they're gonna look at is one, she's an adult.
Yep. But they're also going to look at, could she have taken off?
Is this something she's going to take off?
No. There's just no, no. It's not her. There's no reason.
There was no conflicts. There was no issues in the family whatsoever.
We've said it a million times. She laid out her stuff for the rest of the day.
Just no. So and they all know that. So that's now the next thing they're thinking of is.
She's not in the hospital. She's not on that route.
Something bad happened here. So her younger sister, Michelle, said she remembers that day really well.
She said, quote, I was 15 a sophomore in high school.
I remember one of my sister's best friends and her boyfriend came to get me from school.
They picked me up and when we got home there was a bunch of cops.
And she said they basically told her what had happened, that Tara had left for her normal bike ride. and she had not come back at the scheduled time.
She was told her mother had searched for her and that they couldn't find her and she said that's when she started really getting nervous And now she was told that people like volunteers are actively searching for her sister. which I can't even imagine how horrifying that must've been.
Like this isn't just, she didn't come home. the police are involved now and actively searching for her.
Right. Like you must feel so out of control.
And just like helpless. Yeah. So she said, quote, I didn't understand what was going on.
I just assumed that she maybe had gone a different way and that we were gonna find her.
I didn't think that she was missing until later on that evening when I started to realize how serious it was.
But I just kept thinking that she was going to come back.
Right. Cause like you, have you ever like gotten separated from a parent in a store or something like that?
And your first thought is like, oh my god like I'm never gonna find them but you're like I'm gonna be lost here forever no let's be real like let's be rational and you're like you always end up finding them it's like That's probably how you feel in this situation, I would assume.
And it's always that kind of thought process that we all have as humans.
It can happen to me right this isn't happening to my family no she's gonna come back in the door and we're all gonna laugh about this and we're gonna be like you're never going bike riding again yes It's going to be a big joke.
No, we are not one of those families. that somebody goes missing.
Right. That's just not something that happens.
And I'm sure every single person who has ever gone through anything like this, that has to be one of the five absolutely no one's ever prepared for this because you also obviously don't want to be that of course not like lost somebody You never want to think that they're just not coming back.
You don't want to be in that position. They got on a bike, said goodbye, love you, and that's it.
Right. You never see them again. Like, that's not how anything is supposed to go.
And also, this is the middle of the day.
In the morning. This is the... This is like mid-afternoon morning.
Yeah. Middle of the day on a busy road that's pretty out in the open.
Yeah. It's like desert. So it's like, what the hell happened?
And like you said, she was like along the highway.
Yeah, it's wild. So Patty and John, her parents, joined in the search themselves, which included local and state police, volunteers like civilian volunteers, and other investigative outlets from all around the area.
They were on foot, they had helicopters, they were on horseback.
They were going all out. Nothing's coming out.
Wow. But then... That same day, searchers did come across something.
They stumbled upon that Boston cassette tape.
Oh, no. On the road shoulder in the dirt, only about three miles from her home.
Oh, no. Now, Patty looked at it and she immediately was like, that's Tara's.
That's what was in her cassette. And later during that same search, about 19 miles east on the same route that she was taking... which was near the John F. Kennedy campground, there was a broken piece of her Sony Walkman.
Oh no. It was like the little plastic window where you can like see the tape inside.
That's what was in there. So while they were collecting these items, they notice that there's tracks nearby and they're clearly bicycle tires.
Now, that would be like, oh, okay, she's here.
But it kind of appeared that the bike had gone off the road a little bit.
And that there appeared to be some kind of like struggle or like kerfuffle that happened.
Like it looked like there was... It either looked like she had spun out off the road or that she was like shoved, like the bike was shoved off the road.
Right. Like, maybe even, like, hit? Well, and there was also car tire marks nearby.
So they were like, okay. So... Patty said she initially thought those items could have been left intentionally by her daughter to leave a breadcrumb trail for anybody who was involved. investigating and how smart Tara was that's not out of the realm of possibility I know that would have been like That's always so smart when anybody's able to do that.
And to have the wherewithal. The presence of mind in that kind of situation to even think of that.
I'm always so impressed by people's minds who can do that.
In the most terrifying situations. you could ever possibly be in.
Exactly. And then, of course, there's also obviously the possibility that in a struggle, like a violent struggle, these were fallen to the ground.
It's like, you know, if she was still holding the Walkman and part of it fell.
It is a little strange to me that only pieces, like a piece of the Walkman, Yeah.
Because it's like, if the Walkman fell and broke, it would have broken in one spot.
Yeah. And like, where's the rest of it? Right.
It just doesn't. But. I don't know. Like, it's very strange.
So now they have all these items and they start talking to people in the area.
Witnesses are suddenly coming forward with what, and they said that, you know what, We did see her.
We saw her on her route. And they're saying that she...
They saw her at the times that she wasn't off the route, she wasn't out of the timeframe.
But seven witnesses said that they saw her that day.
And these are the ones who last saw her around 11.45 a.m.
Like some of them had seen her along the route and the last one saw her at 11.45.
Out of these seven witnesses, five of them said they saw something strange.
So five witnesses said they saw an older pickup truck.
Following her for a while. Oh, I hate that this pickup truck had a camper shell and I'm sure you can picture it.
It's like those old-timey looking ones. Yeah. it almost looks like an Oregon trail.
I was thinking, you know, it always reminds me of that.
Um, And this pickup truck, so it had the camper shell.
It was also light colored, possibly tan. or dirty white kind of thing and was possibly a ford pickup truck okay Now, and that's all they could say.
They just saw it following her. They thought it was weird.
They thought it was a little too close to her.
Yeah. They just didn't like it. Now, the next day there was some bad weather, so things kind of got...
Which bad weather can also ruin everything.
Really ruin everything for everybody. They kept searching, though.
They kept searching for weeks and weeks.
They are not finding Tara. They are not finding any more clues.
And they're not finding the bike. Which is scary.
Volunteers came out in the hundreds. to search tirelessly and her family never stopped for even a moment.
So for nine months, nothing. I can't even imagine what you go through as like a mother or a sister or any kind of family member or friend.
Nine. In nine months. Like, I can't imagine.
No, I literally can't think, even fathom it.
And I don't know, like this just sticks out to me, like that's the time it takes to create a life.
It is like very symbolic and like really just like a fucked up thing.
And I say this every time. Everybody's probably like, shut the hell up, Alina.
We get it. But I'm like... do you go to sleep what do you know you like it's so true you must just it's one of those things where you probably just like nod off your body just shuts down i think sitting there yeah and you just wake up and hell again Cause that's what, that's all I keep thinking.
Cause like, I think everybody can agree that like at nighttime, a lot of times is when you like think about things.
Oh yeah, absolutely. Things come into your mind that normally don't during the day because you're so busy during the day usually and like things are going on. that can distract you or take up your time.
But at night, you're always sitting there thinking of these deep things or going over... something stupid you said in like seventh grade.
I was literally just going to say something you said 22 years ago that you're still embarrassed about.
It's like, so in this situation, at night to me would be the time when...
These horrific things and thoughts and images would just be... flooding my brain i can i would be an absolute shell of a human being so whenever i see these like but like when you find out like her parents Badasses like her family just never stopped and it's like Kudos to them.
I always get like the victims, families who can like get up and move in the morning and like keep going.
I'm like, damn. Like you are some strong.
Because how? You are some strong, strong stock.
You're just motivated by like unconditional love.
Yeah. That you just need to find your baby, your loved one, whatever it is, whatever it may be.
Oh, it's just like nine months. That's a very long time.
Nine months is brutal for nothing. And I mean, it turns into a lot longer than that, unfortunately, but for nine months, like you're probably right after it happens thinking, okay, something's going to We're going to find something.
We're going to get something. And then it just must be so hard as each passing month goes.
It was just a cold trail that was leading nowhere.
And they're just left to wonder, you know, what's what happened?
What could have happened? And they're trying everything they can to drum up leads.
I mean, they went in front of cameras. They did everything they could then. on July 15th, 1989, so a little less than a year.
Something crazy and weird happened. John Dole, which is Tara's stepfather, got a phone call. and it was from a family friend who said they had something kind of weird to tell him. and they said that they had been watching a popular tabloid TV show at the time called A Current Affair.
And I think it was probably like a almost like a like America's Most Wanted kind of thing or like something like that.
Sure. During a recent episode, they had done a story about a Polaroid photo found.
That was very concerning. And he said, it might be of interest to you.
John's like, why? Like, what are you talking about?
The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.
But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn.
The town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption.
His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant.
Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.
I am the Archangel Michael. The whole town has been thrown into chaos.
As the mayor is unable to carry out his duties, I would like to address you all.
Legal proceedings have been initiated. Join me, Anna Richardson, and journalist Leo Schick for The Mystic and the Mayor as we investigate a story of power, corruption... and magic.
Binge all episodes of The Mystic and the Mare exclusively and ad-free right now on Wondery+.
Start your free trial in Apple Podcasts Spotify or the Wondery app Now, the Polaroid was found in Port St.
Joe, Florida at a convenience store. Remember, we're in New Mexico.
Sure. A woman had been walking into the store and just noticed a guy sitting in a white van.
And she only noticed it because white vans, I think, are creepy and people usually notice.
I was literally going to say. Like you always notice a white van when they're out and about.
A gazillion percent. It could be like a painter and you're still like, whoa, white van, weird.
Like what are you up to, buddy? Yeah, I'm sorry if you drive a white van.
That's just inherent. Weird choice, but OK.
Weird choice, but all right. Just kidding.
But she just kept going with her day and she went into the store.
When she came out of the store, she saw the van was gone.
But when she looked down at the spot where the van was, she sees a Polaroid on the ground in the parking lot.
Mm-hmm. lying side by side in what appears to be a white van.
They are both seemingly bound with their hands behind their backs and and have duct tape over their mouths.
It's terrifying. Both look into the camera with the most tired and defeated eyes.
It's horrifying when you look at it. And in my notes, I wrote, have Ash look at it.
I looked at it before you even started and I'm terrified.
And like you can describe what you see. Like so you...
Think about what you're seeing here. A girl that looks a lot like Tara is in the front and she looks... almost like angry and tired like she looks like fuck you yeah like she looks pissed yeah And she has her arms behind her back and she's laying on a pillow.
And then I can't even look at this little boy for too long because I'm going to lose my mind.
Very young. terrified absolutely terrified you look seven or eight is clearly like crying and yeah it just wants whatever's happening to be over yeah It's really, really fucked up and scary.
And I've seen this photo for years and years.
Never knew the full story behind it because I think I just didn't want to.
I was too scared to. Yeah. But... It's really... And you know, you look at it...
And there's several things you can look at here, and there's several theories that have been floated around, and obviously we're going to talk about the one that's linked to Tara.
But there's also a theory that was this faked?
Is this fake? Because when you look at it, Their arms are behind their backs, but you don't see any ligatures.
Right. You don't see anything like that.
And their arms, and a lot of people have said this, I've seen in a ton of articles and stuff, they don't look like they're bound tightly behind their backs.
Because if you look at how... You know, I'm just going to act this out for Ash.
I'm sorry. If my arms are bound behind their back.
Yeah, you only see the tops of your arms. moved back.
Theirs are very relaxed, but again, it could be that they are loosely bound or it could be that they are bound in a different way or they're laying in a different way but there is this question of like Because, like, spoiler alert, we have no fucking clue who these kids are.
Right. If they were abducted kids... Where's anybody coming forward to say that those are their kids?
Are you going to get into the book? Yes.
We are. So, you know, everybody, if you want to go look at that photo, you can find it by typing into Google, like Tara Calico.
Yeah. So when this was found... Obviously, this woman called the police immediately because this is a very distressing photo to find in a fucking parking lot. after a white van, which looks like a white van in this photo.
You can see a little bit of the, it would be the side door.
And like the paneling inside. Yep. That would be terrifying.
So she calls the police. They're just trying to figure out who these literal kidnapping victims are at this point.
Right. Because the girl in the photo looks like she's in her maybe mid to late teens.
Yeah. And she looks a lot like Tara, but also not like Tara.
Well, and it's hard because in the photo, her eyes look exhausted. she looks very defeated and it's hard to look at Tara and pictures of her where she's vibrant and full of life and and kind of try to compare her eyes.
But the eyebrow is... Her eyebrows are literally her eyebrows.
It looks pretty... It's a lot. So... The woman who found the photo said the man in the white van she saw before finding this photo in the parking lot... was maybe in his 30s and had a dark mustache.
But that's really all she could say about him.
Because again, she wasn't... She just noticed him because he was in a white van.
She wasn't taking note of who he was. Right.
Because at that point, nothing weird was happening.
So she could also say that the van she saw was a white Toyota cargo van without windows.
Now, they have nothing else. They try to search for this man in this van.
They set up roadblocks because this is...
This might be two kidnapping victims. Right.
And at this point, they're thinking likely these are two trafficking victims.
If that's the case, they are the perfect... subset of people.
They are a young woman and a child. Those are the two people who get trafficked the most.
So... They're doing roadblocks. They're asking people for possible witnesses.
Nothing. Nothing. They don't find any of this.
That's so crazy not one person recognized the people in these photos.
Yes, and Port St. Joe was only consisting of about 10,000 residents.
Wow. So when you think that, like, you think they could maybe nab him at that point.
You would think, yeah. So this is when they release the photo. to all these different media outlets.
They're just trying to get people to tell them who the hell these kids are in these photos.
It was terrifying to this community. I mean, yeah.
So a current affair, the tabloid TV show picked up the story and was circulating the photo, trying to get people to ID these kids.
So why was John's friend telling him about this?
Because the girl looks like Tara. He thought that woman in the photo looked a lot like Tara.
And he was like, I was scared to tell you.
I like I'm. I just feel like you need to look at this.
It sucks. This is a really hard photo to look at if this...
Is her. But like. You have to. Maybe this is a lead.
Now side note. Oh, my God. Michael Henley, who was nine years old when he went missing in the Zuni Mountains of New Mexico.
He was hunting with his dad. They were on a camping trip in April 1988.
Okay. It turned out, though... that Michael was later found dead in June 1990, only a few miles from his family's campsite.
The autopsy revealed he had died of exposure.
Oh, God. So he had just been lost. It looks a lot like him.
Oh, that's terrible. But he had just been lost in the woods and died of like dehydration and exposure.
So that was not him in the photo. But it goes to show you that his mother did think that looked like her child.
It's sometimes... I mean, obviously you do not wish to see your child in that situation.
But you get so desperate. But when you think they're dead, it can be some...
Kind of mind trickery. To be like, they're alive.
Maybe this is something. So... John and Patty and Michael's parents, because they looked at John and Patty looked at it and Patty was like, That's her.
Okay. So John and Patty and Michael's parents at this moment, because they didn't know at this moment it wasn't Michael...
They were Michael Sr. and Marty Henley. all went to Florida to meet with detectives and find out more about this since they all agreed that their children may be the ones in the photo.
The FBI took over the case and they were ready to do like a full analysis on this photo.
Now, Patty at this moment says this is 100% Tara in this photo.
Okay. Michael's parents were not as sure.
They were not like totally 100%. Well, and he's a little bit in the background.
There is like a slight shadow. Yeah. The ear and the eyes are the same on Tara.
The nose, the hair has a very specific cowlick that she has in the front.
And she said later, and this is very interesting, Patty said, quote, for one thing, Tara was in a bad car accident.
In the photo, there's a scar on the woman's leg that is identical to the scar she received in the car accident.
Wow. That to me is pretty big. It's like a discoloration on the bottom or the top of her calf, I believe, or the middle of her calf.
Okay. Now, another thing that struck out as Tara with her mom was that book. seen in that photo.
The book is right next to the girl in the photo.
And it's a copy of My Sweet Audrina by V.C.
Andrews. You might know V.C. Andrews from Flowers in the Attic.
So V.C. Andrews was Tara's favorite author.
Oh, wow. She's a great author. And I mean, to play devil's advocate in this scenario?
She was big at this time. Yeah, she was huge.
So it was probably a lot of teenage girls' favorite author, but still weird.
And also, why is that book there? If these are abducted kids, why is that teenage girl book there?
You know, like right next to her when she can't touch it or grab it.
I don't know. It didn't. I was like, I don't know.
But what's weird too, is that apparently there's a phone number on the spine of the book, but most of the numbers are not legible.
According to the Charlie Project, it could be 300 possible phone numbers.
Jesus. The FBI did a full analysis on the photo and it was inclusive.
It's so blurry in all the pictures that I'm looking at.
They actually went as far as sending the photo to be analyzed by Scotland Yard.
Wow. They analyzed it and concluded that the woman was definitely Tara Calico.
Oh my. But then... The Los Alamos National Laboratory analyzed it as well and said they didn't think it was Tara.
Oh, fuck. I feel so bad for her parents.
I can't imagine Tahir. Yep, definitely. For sure.
No fucking way. And to hear from Scotland Yard that they're like, yup.
And then another one is like, nope. You just get nothing in between.
It does look a lot like her. It does. And the scar is very interesting to me.
So they also spoke with Polaroid. Like, directly.
Okay. And they confirmed that the type of... Because remember, she had gone missing a year earlier.
Right. So they're thinking, okay, when was this taken?
Was this taken a year ago or was it taken now?
Well, they confirmed with Polaroid that the type of film used for this photograph was not made until May 1989.
Okay, so that was only a few months ago.
Right. So it had to have been taken after that date.
That's interesting because it would mean Tara was taken in September and And this photo wasn't taken until the following May.
So she had been kept alive. Of course, this makes it a little less believable that it's her.
Because they... The two appear healthy. They appear distressed, but...
Healthy. Yeah. They're not like skin and bones.
Right. They don't seem like, you know, exhausted, but healthy.
They appear tan. Yeah. Like, their skin is tanned.
Not like they've been held captive, like, underground or in a basement or somewhere for months.
But... who can really say? Maybe their captors fed them well and kept them healthy.
I mean, look at like J.C. Lee Dugan. and other cases that are similar.
So there's... Elizabeth Smart, you know?
Exactly. So it's like you can absolutely look at it and say...
This might be fake because they don't look like they're being held for that much.
It's like... 100% look at it the other way and say maybe they were fed every day and maybe they were taken out like you said.
Right. There's no right way to look at it.
It's so hard. Her mother still believed 100% that it was her.
And I feel like mothers know their kids like I and And in this scenario specifically, they were so close.
Yeah, they were best friends they went on 36 mile bike rides together like that mama knows that face and the scar And the scar is really compelling.
And then like when you put the book with the scar, with the everything else.
Right. It's a lot of coincidences if that's the case.
So... Nothing is happening, though. They don't know what this photo is.
They don't know who took it. They don't know where it was taken.
That's all they have. And so in 1991, John and Patty actually became deputized.
What? They train to become auxiliary Valencia County Sheriff's deputies.
Wow. Bad ass. They did it so they could get more involved in this.
And John said, quote, We were both deputized after Tara's disappearance and were able to investigate the case.
It allows us to do two things, to carry weapons and also to be able to contact any other law enforcement agency on behalf of the sheriff's department regarding the case.
We were both commissioned as auxiliary deputies.
So this was huge. They went through all of that and it is not an easy thing to do.
It's not like you like take a written exam and that's it.
And then to go through that while you're experiencing the loss of your daughter potentially?
That's the thing. So they went through all of that just to be able to take like a more hands-on, like boots on the ground approach.
It's... Honestly, that's, like, so impressive to me.
That's insane. Like, what badasses. Seriously.
What fucking parents... Seriously. That's some parent shit.
It is. It was really hard, though, because nothing came from any of the investigations that were happening.
It was just like little breadcrumbs that would just dissolve.
Right. And her mother, Patty, especially, was always convinced that she was alive and they were going to find her.
And even when she was starting to she always really was convinced she was alive.
But she always said, even if she's not, I just want to bring her home.
Of course, I just have. to give her a funeral.
You deserve that as a family. So since they were working so closely with the police, they were actually being sent for... photos of unidentified bodies to see if that was Tara.
And she would look at Every single one.
And these were horrible crime scene photos for Patty to look at. she had to know.
But what a toll that must have taken on her.
I can't even. No one is prepared to look at that even when it's a victim you don't know, like somebody you have no idea who they are.
But for her to have to mentally and emotionally prepare each time for the possibility that she's going to open that photo and see her murdered child.
It must have been so heavy and so horrific, I can't even bring my brain to comprehend it.
To anticipate that every time. Every time.
Your body must go through... Like... Like... a catastrophic reaction every time you're about to open that thing.
And then it's just a mixture of relief that you're not seeing your murdered child, but also devastation that this is not the one.
And then probably like guilt for feeling relieved.
And then guilt for wanting... the most traumatic thing I've ever heard.
The havoc that must have wreaked on her nervous system body and soul i can't even and for her to like put herself through that every time like just for her daughter like What a fucking mom.
Like, that's some shit. And Tara's brother Chris said, quote, The police would send photos of every possibility, including photos of bodies, dismembered bodies, and every time mom got an envelope with the newest pictures, she had to look at them.
She couldn't not, but it tore her up every time.
Of course it did. And he told that to people. like People Magazine, not just People.
But in 2003, John and Patty actually moved to Florida.
Mm-hmm. because that's where the last thing was happening that's where they were you know they wanted to get away from new mexico they wanted to get away from where it happened But they kept a bedroom for Tara and put her Christmas gifts, her birthday gifts every year in there just waiting.
For her return. They just had it completely set up for her like she's going to come back.
And not all this will be here. You have to hold out hope though, because then what do you have?
If you don't have hope, what do you have?
Yeah. And a friend told People magazine about Patty, quote, She would see a young girl on a bicycle and would point and write down Tara because she went through several strokes.
And at one point she could only like communicate through writing.
And she would write down Tara and her friend said, quote, and John would tell her, no, that's not Tara.
And he would have to say it every time. Oh, my God.
And they were in Florida. And he was like, she's not here.
Right. Even in her retirement home in Florida when she got through these series of strokes, And again, far away from where it initially happened.
She would stare out the window waiting for Tara to come up on her bike.
I can't. And John said, quote, I'd have to explain to her that it wasn't Tara.
This person was too old or too young. And he said this to the Albuquerque Journal in 2006.
Patty passed away in 2006 from a series of strokes, and he said, quote, Patty was looking for Tara right to the end.
Of course she was. And like I said, she died in 2006 of complications from multiple strokes.
She was brokenhearted. Absolutely. To say the least.
There's not even words to describe how she was feeling.
And like we said, the damage that she was having to inflict on herself every time that she was opening these photos all of the like all of the disappointment and the grief, I can't imagine.
Like physically that toll it's going to take on you.
But her sister, Tara's sister, Michelle, like really took. the lead after patty passed away and was like i'm gonna keep this case going for my mom and for tara And she's a badass.
So the Valencia County Sheriff at the time was Renee Rivera.
And this is where things get really interesting.
Because again, this case just... Just went cold.
Nothing was happening. Nothing's happening.
Dead end. Patty passed away not knowing what happened to her daughter.
That's so terrible. Nobody deserves that.
So Sheriff Rene Rivera, he's starting to work on the case. or he said that he had been working on the case since he's been in the department in 89.
He said he's always been interested in this case.
And He does not believe the photo is of Tara.
He said, quote, I don't think it's her. It does resemble her quite a bit, but I don't think it's her.
And if the picture is of her, it could have been taken here and then transported somewhere else.
Mm hmm. So he followed up on every lead.
He was digging up multiple locations where they thought Tara's body might be buried.
But then in 2008, he comes on record and says he knows what happened.
He says he knows what happened to Tara that day and he knows who did it.
Okay. He goes on record. But he says there's not enough solid evidence to put anyone away yet.
And that's it. I'm not going to say anything else.
Who allowed him to do this family? He came forward and said, I know who did it and I know what happened.
But like, I can't say anything. Why would you even go as far as saying not then?
Exactly. So he then said, so when pushed, he said he knows it was at the time two teenage boys at the time. who he has names for, but he won't give them.
And he said witnesses saw them driving that older model truck.
And that they were following her on her route and grabbing at her through the window.
Holy fuck, that's the most terrifying thing to even picture.
He said, quote, the information I have is that the truck accidentally ended up hitting her.
I believe the truck bumped her bike at which time she fell to the side of the road.
From there, the individuals took her. And he says they panicked at one point and killed her.
And he also says Tara knew them, he believes.
Okay. How is there not enough evidence?
This makes sense. Yeah, of course. This story 100% makes sense. that all that scuffle waffle on the side of the road with like the tire marks and all that, it makes sense that she was bumped off the road.
Then they pulled on it took her because immediately when you said that there was that like bike tires car tires and all that I was like oh I wonder if somebody bumped her off of the road exactly And going back to me saying, okay, but if she dropped that Walkman, where's the rest of the Walkman?
Well, like I said, the only thing found was a little viewing window that you can see the tape through.
Maybe they didn't see that. Maybe it dropped.
They picked up all the pieces. They didn't see that clear little thing that was on the ground in their panic.
Right. And so they left that by accident.
Right. So it's like, that makes sense. So then he says, quote, We do have a case put together, but we want to make sure that the case is a concrete case to where we'll be able to effectively do our jobs.
We're just waiting to get a little more evidence.
Her bicycle, her clothing, or Tara herself."
So where are you going to get that? So he also said two other people besides these two teenagers that were in the car were involved.
And they likely know where she was buried.
Okay, so let's have them tell us. And he said, quote, If Tara was killed, I would say her body is still within the county.
I think that she's still in the same general area that she was taken.
So let's dig up everything. Now he's saying he knows this all.
He knows the men responsible, but after announcing this, He says even though he has a case for these assholes, he's just not going to move forward because he wants more information. uh-huh so john tara's father was not psyched about this obviously uh he was like How the fuck do you come forward saying that and not give us anything?
Like, how dare you really? Literally, how dare you?
Like who do you think you are? That's insane.
And he said, quote, I thought it was silly when I heard it.
There's such a thing as circumstantial evidence, and I know in other places they've gotten a conviction on strong circumstantial evidence.
Right. It should have never been said unless they, the sheriff's department, are willing to make an arrest and go forward with it.
That's fucked. Because why would you give them that hope and then be like, yeah, but there's nothing we can do about it.
Why would you? ever say that these people have been looking to like seek justice there for this entire time well I have I have a little I have a little snippet for why i think maybe he's not saying the names and we're gonna get to it Because when I first read it, I was like, what the fuck?
Like, no, this doesn't make any sense. And then you go further into it and you're like, oh.
Does he have a connection to these teenagers?
There might be some things going on that are covered up.
There might be people involved that are retired sheriff's sons.
I don't know. Maybe something like that.
So the very next year in 2009, a couple of other photographs appeared.
I was going to ask about those because I saw them on Google.
So they appear in the... There's a couple that I'm like... that I didn't even want to mention because they don't think they have any real connection, but they're brought up a lot with this case.
So there are two that came that were found that one of them is a very blurry photo of a woman who has her mouth duct taped.
Yeah, it looks like the the fabric that she's lying on is blue striped fabric, which is what the other Polaroid, the two kids are lying on blue striped fabric.
It kind of looks like it could be the same woman.
I don't think it does. It's really blurry, and I think everybody who's looked at it is kind of like, ugh.
Yeah, it's blurry and it's like really close up.
It's just, yeah, it's too distorted to tell.
And then there's another one that you might come across if you Google this case, that is a woman and a man on a train.
And he's like holding her and she's like tied up with gauze and like it looks weird and fake.
They believe that's just a joke. photo yeah that's they don't think that's anything but there were other photographs that appeared And it was in the mill in St.
Joe, Florida, and they caused quite a stir.
So David Barnes, the chief of police there received one of these photos and it was just a photo of a boy.
And this boy had black, it was black marker scribbled over the photo over his mouth to look like duct tape.
Mm hmm. So then they were like it was a photo of the boy like like a school photo. so it's like are they trying to say this is the boy in the photo right with the but like scribbling like scribbled the duct tape over him to be like look familiar Right, right.
So that was weird. And the same day, another photo was received the same time by a local newspaper and it it was the same photo.
Okay, that's weird. So they turned it into police and that same day, a psychic called in and said that she had a vision and it was that Tara was buried in California And she mentioned something to do with a blue Oldsmobile, which they never really went further with this, but it's just a strange thing that she called on that day when those two...
Yeah. So they looked at this as like, again, they're not getting a photo of the woman or the young woman or the girl in that photo, but they're getting a picture that might be connected to the boy.
Yeah. They still haven't figured out who this person is.
Oh, that freaks me out. 2021, still don't know.
Damn, that's... Scary. So October 2013, Tara's case is officially reopened.
Good. They formed a task force to start really getting into this shit and getting closer to an arrest or a discovery.
It consisted of six people. They were from Homeland Security, state police, two sheriff's departments, and local police.
So this task force spoke to former deputy Frank Mathola.
He came forward and said he took a statement from a man named Henry Brown, who was a teacher.
He took this statement while Brown was dying, like a legit deathbed. confession?
He had said that back when Tara was missing, he hung out with some bad kids.
He was like, I was in a bad He said one of these kids was Lawrence Romero Jr., who happened to be the son of the sheriff at the time.
Oh, wild. The sheriff was Lawrence Romero Sr., Now, Lawrence Romero Jr. was a bad kid.
He got into a lot of trouble, but he used daddy's connections to always get out of it.
He was dealing drugs. He was in just with a bad crowd, just bad stuff.
And he knew Tara and was said by some to have a crush on Tara, who was dating someone else.
And he said at one point, so Henry Brown, the guy on the deathbed, He said once he was at a party with this kid, Lawrence Romero.
It was in his trailer, which was on his father's property.
And he said we were in the basement. It was like this weird makeshift basement in this trailer.
And he said like we used to party down there.
Like he always had people over there. And he said there was a few other guys there too.
And he said, I think there was like three other guys.
And he said, all of a sudden... They start, he said he noticed something in the corner that was under a tarp.
During one of these visits. And he said at one point they were joking about how they had accidentally hit Tara with their truck...
And then they abducted, raped and murdered her.
Oh no. It was Lawrence, some guy named Leroy, and another guy named David.
They said they initially hid her body in some bushes and they thought that would be fine.
But then when everyone went crazy looking for her and searchers were coming out, they snuck her out of the bushes and held her body in Lawrence's trailer's basement.
They then apparently later moved her from there and dumped her in a pond.
He said it took so long to come forward like this because, of course, they're like, excuse me, why are you waiting till now to say this?
And he says, they threatened to kill me if I ever went to police.
And I was scared. And he said like, so I'm telling you now because they can't hurt me anymore.
Right. Which is like, whoa. How do you live with that your whole life?
And actually, even though I just told you the story, I did find... the actual like police report, the interview with Henry Brown that like, they took down in the official record.
So you can hear exactly how he says it. It says, Mr. Brown said on one occasion they were all there drinking margaritas and making fajitas.
He was in the basement with them and he had a weird feeling.
So he looked down and noticed in quote, a grave wrapped up in a blue tarp. of what he believed was a small body.
He said they started talking about Tara Calico, that they were searching for her, and then they began talking about how they raped and killed her.
Oh, my God. Mr. Brown said he knew the kids because he had worked at the school and because he was like older than them.
Mm hmm. And he knew these kids smoked weed and skipped school.
Mr. Brown said one of them used to be her girlfriend. and one of them was jealous.
They started talking about another friend that had been with them named Leroy. something, they started talking to him about what they had done and also warned him not to talk about it or they would come get him.
They then said they were driving one of the guys' older truck that day.
They all knew that Jeff and Tara, Jeff was her boyfriend, And Tara had broken up and they all knew she rode her bike down that highway.
But they hadn't broken up. She was planning to play tennis with him later.
But it's also scary that he's saying they all knew that she rode her bike down that highway because she did every day.
So that's like another thing. They said, we know that she does this every day.
Like, that's really scary. They explained they hit her with the truck and then put her in the back of the truck with Leroy.
And then took her out to the gravel pits.
And this is a trigger warning. Just give you a second.
They just mentioned rape. They then took her out to the gravel pits where they sodomized and raped her.
Lawrence Romero Jr. said, quote, she got ballsy.
She stood up and said she was going to make sure they were all going to jail.
Lawrence Romero Jr. went and got a knife from the truck and David Leroy and the tall red haired guy. held her down while Lawrence Romero Jr. stabbed and killed her.
He said they drug her body and put her in a bush nearby until they got nervous when the search started for her.
So that's what he put on the record. That is a very detailed account, and it all makes sense.
It does. Now, another acquaintance of these guys came forward and he called corroborated this and said his name was Donald Dutcher.
And he said they also confessed this to him.
Okay. Now, unfortunately, at this point... Were they dead?
Lawrence was dead. Fuck that. For 20 plus years.
He had died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound at 21 years old.
All that guilt. There were rumors that there was a suicide note in which he confessed to the murder. but that it was covered up and not entered into evidence by his father, the sheriff.
And his father went to great lengths, in a few articles I read, to try to get his death changed from a suicide.
He did not want it labeled as suicide. He basically said he died while playing Russian roulette.
With his friends. Okay. Sometimes that can be like for religious purposes.
Yeah. So. For sure. but still in this case when you with everything else it's like but just to play doubles yeah of course because you have to look at both sides yeah This is a weird case and there's a lot going on.
Right. So Sheriff Renee Rivera, the one who's coming forward and being like, I know what happened.
Right. He was likely keeping the real details covered and wouldn't name these names because they were connected to the former Sheriff Romero.
And people think that he has some kind of connection to covering it up.
Okay, what a fucking asshole then. This is like everybody back each other. and so he's saying I hate that shit I do too I hate we are talking about lives human lives human beings do you have a sister do you have You have a mother.
Do you have a daughter? Like anything. Do you know a human being that you actually like in some capacity?
Because this is insane. because what if that happened to them would you go to great lengths to cover their murder up and I think it's literally him coming out and saying I know what happened I know.
And so he looks like he's doing good police work because he knows what happened.
I know the guys who are responsible, but I don't know if behind the scenes he's trying to come up with some way to get this out, but like not get it out.
And he's just trying to give reassurance.
I have no idea, but it's... What? Like, what's your end game, bro?
Now, basically, the thought by everyone involved in this is that there was definitely a violent abduction and a murder.
Yeah. and that it was covered up by Romero Sr. and Jr., and that Rene Rivera may have potentially been involved in the cover-up as well. at like at a later date.
Sure. So There's also a very weird thing that came out later too.
All these different reports started leaking out when this task force got involved.
So during the time when that photo, that Polaroid was found in Port St.
Joe, Florida, On June 15, 1989, witnesses saw an unidentified teenage girl on a beach there. and she was accompanied by several older Caucasian males who appeared to be ordering the girl verbally along the beach.
Uh-huh. Now, nobody can tell like what is happening with this situation if this was like staged. if people are misinterpreting it, but people thought it was weird and they thought the girl looked just like the girl in the photo.
And they said they're like what she was wearing appeared close to what this girl was wearing in the photo.
They were never, they're still trying to figure out that girl's identity.
That's very strange. They haven't found anything. now in 2019 the fbi put up a 20 000 reward for any information about tara's disappearance They also released an age progressed photo of Tara.
Even now, Michelle, her sister, says, quote, when people ask me, is that her in the photo?
If I had to say yes or no definitively. Yes, that is her.
Wow, okay. And she said, I still look at it and it still looks exactly like her, exactly like her.
I can't imagine having to look at that. But it doesn't make sense.
Right, because if it was those three guys, a lot of it doesn't, none of it makes sense.
But like I said earlier, Michelle really took the lead after her parents' deaths. and she's working tirelessly to find Tara and bring her to justice.
Bring her some justice, excuse me. So she started working closely with this woman named Melinda Escobel.
She's the host of the podcast Vanished, the Tara Calico investigation.
She grew up with Tara, went to school with her in New Mexico, and they were in marching band together.
She said one time when they went on a trip with marching band to Arizona, Melinda was very shy and like kind of reserved.
And she said Tara took her under her wing and made sure she was never alone.
That's just who she was. And she said, so this just really struck her.
And she said together Melinda, or excuse me, together Melinda and Michelle have really done their own investigation into this and they're continuing to.
Mm-hmm. You should listen to the podcast.
It gives a lot more interviews with different people involved with this.
But Melinda said that she started it because she went home during a holiday break in 2008.
She lives in LA now. And she had some dinner with some old friends.
And of course, the case came up like as it would.
Yeah. And she was like, yeah, it's just crazy.
Are we ever going to figure out what happened here?
And everyone at the table looked at her because they all lived in the community still.
And they were all like, oh, Melinda, everyone knows who did it.
Oh, and it was the same story. We know who did it.
Everybody knows who did it. Like, just nothing's being done about it.
So then if they did it, then that photograph is not hurt.
Exactly. So it just throws such a whirlwind into all this.
But Melinda was shook by that reaction. Like just hearing them all go like, oh, no.
Like, honey, no, we know who did it. Like, that's the real thing.
And this is what made her want to start working on this.
She started a documentary about it, a podcast.
They knew they had to get this shit cracked because if everyone knows who did it, but they just can't.
Like we just need to make it happen. Well, what pond?
Can we not like dredge up the pond? That's the thing.
It's like nobody's telling any details here.
So they also made, there's a website called www. taracalico.com and it's C-A-L-I-C-O.
It has tons of information on there. It has the podcast stuff.
It also has case files and stuff. And if anybody has any information about the disappearance of Tara Calico, anything, It said you should call the local Albuquerque FBI office at 505.
889-1300. Wow. So that's... And right now, nothing.
We still just have this hanging in... But the whole community really agrees.
But it seems like everybody knows what happened.
And the sheriff Rivera, I mean, he came right out and said, we all know what happened.
I know what happened. I know who was involved.
I'm just not saying. Is the father who previously was the sheriff, is he still alive?
Lawrence Romero Sr. I don't know if he's still alive, actually.
Because I wonder if he is still alive, then when he dies, will...
I doubt he's still alive. I'm going to look it up right now while we're doing this.
Beep boop boop bop. Beep boop boop. He is not alive.
He died May 1st, 2017, and we did not get any kind of information.
Right, because I'm like, if he... My thought was that if he kicked it, then... people would come forward and say something.
But then, actually, now that I'm sitting here pondering, Maybe, I mean, to cover something like this up there were multiple parties involved.
So maybe some of the parties involved are still alive.
And that's why the town doesn't. Because I think some of the teenage boys involved are probably still alive, the ones that were involved in the whole thing.
Imagine living with that. I hope you rot from the inside out.
Like, that is some serious shit. If you did that, I hope you fucking rot from the inside out.
It's... To think, I mean, it becomes, this case like unravels very quickly. it does looking into it because at first it's a missing person's case sure it's one of those that you think is going to be like almost like a not like a bryce lespiza but like One where you're like, what happened?
Where did she go? It gave me the same feeling as the Molly Bish case.
Exactly. You're just like, what happened?
Where did she go? She just vanished. And then when you start... Then when it just opens up, when you involve that Polaroid...
When all of a sudden the sheriff comes out and says, I know exactly what happened.
Right. When a deathbed confession comes out, it's like...
Whoa, now this just turned into an abduction, rape, and murder in cover-up?
Like, what? the fuck? Like where did that come from?
So I mean I swear whenever I do these cases I'm like well now I have life's mission now we have to figure out who this like I want to help her family so bad.
Well, and here's the thing. If you somehow did this and you're listening to this for some fucking reason.
Yeah. Who are you to live your life when you took someone else's?
Who are you to live like a fulfilled life and...
Go about this and have a secret and a skeleton in your closet like that.
Just tell someone. Who do you think you are?
Just tell someone. You'll feel better. Turn yourself in.
You'll feel better. There's human in you somewhere.
But it's, yeah. I just, I don't understand how you can do something like that and then just walk around and think that you... fucking deserve to exist and i hate that her mother had to had to die not knowing what happened Her father had to deal with the shit of hearing the sheriff be like, oh, we know exactly what happened to your daughter.
We know exactly who did it. We're not going to tell you.
He should be fired. Like that is so wrong.
Like, dare I say. Well, there's a lot. of other things that I started looking into his scenario mm-hmm Honey, baby, sweetie pie.
There's a lot going on there. You don't do that to a family.
There's a lot going on. You don't do. Where's the HR?
Can I contact them? I'll stay over here in my lane.
I won't. But there's a lot going on there.
We're about to turn this off and you're going to tell me.
Go ahead and Google him. Just go ahead. I'm not going to say anything.
I'm not here to slander. There's a lot going on, but it would be great if he would just tell the truth.
Maybe do your job, Sheriff. Do your job.
Fucking asshole. I'm pistering. I'm like genuinely pistering.
I got very angry doing this because I just want that family to get.
I want that family to get Tara. Because the other thing, one of the boys, I guess, said that they threw the bike in a junkyard.
Oh. So it's like now, how do you find that?
It might be destroyed at this point. But it's like, what's the pond?
If that is the truth, some part of her still exists.
Yeah. And Henry Brown was saying that when he was in that basement, he saw a tarp that looked like it was...
It had a person in it. That's the most terrifying thing ever.
And then imagine you have to get out of there.
And deathbed confessions... especially when they're about other people, are stra- they're-
I don't feel like they're normally faked.
No, because what's the... You're going out of this world.
You might as well tell all the shit you can tell.
Why are you going to do that? And usually people are scared to die.
Definitely. pet convention is usually because you're scared of clearing your conscience.
You're not going to lie at the last moment.
I mean, of course, some people will, but like.
I'm saying in this scenario... That's a lot of, one, it's a lot of detail.
Two, it's a lot of names. And somebody else came forward and confirmed that.
Somebody confirmed it and said, I heard the same exact thing.
They said the same exact thing to me. And it also goes right along with the crime scene.
It goes right along with what witnesses said they saw the pickup truck.
They said it was following her. The skid marks, the shit on the ground, It all makes sense.
Right. It's weird that nobody, I mean, because you know somebody must have seen them dragging a girl into a pickup truck.
Yes. It's just weird that nobody came forward and was like, yeah, I saw that.
Unless they pulled up in front of her and just blocked the road and nobody could see it.
But even like it was along a highway. So like another lane of traffic.
Yeah. Like going the opposite way could have seen something.
Just strange that nobody saw that whole thing go down.
Yeah, exactly. It's just wild. It's a wild case and I want it to be... figured out I also want to erase that Polaroid from my mind because if that's not Tara which now I like I'm like hearing everything else i'm like that's not her then and now i'm like okay so who the fuck is that and that's that's another thing that's really gonna sit on i'm like it's Who are these two kids?
Yeah, these children. This thing went out to everybody.
How is no one coming forward and saying my child is missing?
And I think that's them. That's what's weird to me.
Unless that's like... Unless it was like a joke or like...
A joke or if that's just like another fucked up situation where like that's somebody's own kids yeah i guess it's very strange yeah i don't i don't know i i need to go elsewhere in my brain wash my brain out yeah i think i'm gonna go watch like my unorthodox life or something go watch old episodes of america's next top model I also just go, wow.
Did you hear that? What did you say? I said unorthodox life.
Unorthodox life, Ken. Why did I just sound so Boston?
I never do that. It happens. Also, if you're not watching that on Netflix, do so.
I will not. It's a great, no bitch, you would love it.
But yeah, that's a palate cleanser that we all need.
Yeah, there you go. All right, so we do hope you keep listening.
We do. And we do also hope that you keep it weird.
But that's the way that you run around your own fucking town acting like you can do whatever you want and killing and raping people because that's so fucked up and not so weird that if your kid does that you cover it up because that's also fucked up and that makes you just as bad as an actual murderer And not so bad that if you're the sheriff, you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that I'm the sheriff, but I can't really tell you things because...
Your whole entire job is to bring people to justice, and I think you should probably do your fucking job.
That was one of your best yet. Do you think so?
It was. Bye, everybody. Bye. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.
Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.
