Tara Leigh Calico was born on February 28th 1969 and lived in Belen, New Mexico with her Mother and Step-father. She was a enrolled at the University of New Mexico and was a great student and a super hard working girl. She was planning to study psychology.
Tara was a super active girl and would usually start her day off with a 60km bike ride along New Mexico State Road 47, sometimes her mother – Patty Doel – would come with her. Patty had recently stopped biking the route because she felt they were being stalked by a motorist and had asked Tara to consider carrying mace with her. However Tara thought her mother was just being overly protective.
On Tuesday 20th September 1988, Tara was running a bit late to set out for her bike ride and left at around 9:30am instead of her usual 9:00am. She was meeting her boyfriend to play tennis at 12:30pm so asked her mother that if she hadn’t returned by noon if she could come pick her up. Tara’s bike tire was flat so she was riding her mothers bike, a neon Pink Huffy bike with yellow control cables and sidewalls. Tara didn’t return so at around 12:05pm Patty left their house and drove down the whole route and couldn’t find Tara. Patty was getting really worried, especially since she had thought someone was stalking them along the route when she had gone out riding with Tara. After another lap of the route, Patty called the police.
The police searched the route of the bike ride and surrounding areas for clues. They interviewed witnesses that said they saw Tara but nothing unusual, just Tara riding her bike. Additional witnesses said they saw a dirty white/light grey 1953 Ford pickup truck with a camper shell following her closely along the route but that Tara didn’t seem to know that she was being followed as she was listening to music. She was last seen at around 11:45am near Valenica County, about 2 miles away from her home.
Patty returned to the route the next day to see if there was anything she or the police missed. She found Tara’s Boston cassette tape and pieces of the Sony Walkman about 3 miles away from their home. She also saw skid marks and bike tracks in the area, leading her to believe there was a struggle.
There were some alleged sightings of Tara in southern America in 1988 and 1989 but none were ever confirmed. For the next 9 months, the case was cold.
On the 15th June 1989, a woman found a Polaroid photo in the parking lot of a convenience store in Port St. Joe, Florida. The polaroid was a photo of an unidentified young woman and boy, they were both gagged with black duct tape and appeared to be bound. When the woman had arrived at the parking lot a white Toyota cargo van with no windows had been parked in the space where the polaroid was found. The woman gave a description of a man in his 30s with a moustache, who she said was driving the van. Police then set up roadblocks and did safety checks but the man remained unidentified. The polaroid photo was examined by Polaroid Officials who told the police that the film used only became available in May 1989 so had to have been taken after May.
Patty was contacted by a friend who had seen the polaroid photo broadcast on A Current Affair in July and had thought the photo looked like Tara. Patty was convinced that the young woman in the photo was Tara as the woman had scar on her leg that was identical to one that Tara sustained in a car accident. Also in the polaroid photo, lying next to the woman, was a paperback copy of V.C. Andrews’ My Sweet Audrina, which Patty revealed was one of Tara’s favourite books. Michael Henley’s relatives also came forward, believing the young boy in the photo to be Michael who disappeared in April 1988. The photo was then analysed by Scotland Yard and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Scotland Yard concluded that they were 85% sure that the woman in the photo was Tara. Los Alamos stated they were sure it wasn’t Tara. The FBI then analysed the photo and their analysis came back inconclusive.
Even though Henley’s mother was almost certain the boy in the photo was Michael, the police believe this to be unlikely as Michael’s remains were found in June 1990 about 7 miles away from the campsite where he disappeared. This is around 75m miles from where Tara disappeared. It is believed that Michael wandered off and died from exposure.
Another two photos, believed to be of Tara have surfaced since her disappearance. One of them, a man sitting next to a woman on an Amtrak train with the woman bound loosely with bandages is believed to be a prank.
Henry Brown, a man on his deathbed, wanted to make a confession to the police. He stated that he was in the basement of Lawrence Romero Jr shortly after Tara’s disappearance. He saw what he thought was a woman’s body wrapped in blue tarp and buried in a makeshift grave. Dave Silva and another man with red hair started talking about Tara and said that the body was hers. They spoke about how they knew where she rode so they, along with Leroy Chavez, went up and hit Tara with the car. They put her in the back of the car and drove to a grave pit and raped her. Romero stabbed Tara to death while the other three men held her down, when Tara threatened to go to the police. They said that they originally hid her body in a bush nearly but as the searches for Tara grew they moved her to the basement. Henry said that the men had threatened to kill him if he ever said anything and that Romero’s father was the Sheriff at the time and allegedly helped to cover up the crime. Romero wrote a letter confessing to Tara’s murder and his Father apparently destroyed it. Another witness came forward with the same story. Unfortunately all the men alleged to be involved were deceased by the time and Tara has never been found.
Both Tara’s biological parents have passed but her step father, John is still alive and hoping that Tara will be found.
If you have any information about Tara Calico’s disappearance, contact the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office at 505-866-2400 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or online at tips.fbi.gov.
DEADGIRLWALKING 