Dorothy Jane Scott was a 23-year-old, single parent to a 4-year-old boy named Shawn. She was described by everyone as a caring mother and friend, a reliable and organised worker and a deeply faithful Christian. Dorothy and her son lived with Dorothy’s aunt in Stanton, CA. She worked as a back room secretary in two jointly owned stores in Anaheim, Swinger’s Psych Shop and Custom John’s Head Shop. Dorothy’s father, Jacob, was a co-owner of Swingers.
Months before her murder, Dorothy was receiving strange phone calls at work from a man claiming to be in love with her one day and how he wanted to kill her and “chop her up into bits so no-one would find her” the next. He also recited details of Dorothy’s life that he would only know if he was following her, like her daily routine or what she was wearing. Dorothy recognised the voice but couldn’t place it. Dorothy started to take karate lessons and considered buying a gun because of these phone calls.
On May 28th 1980, Dorothy dropped Shawn off at her parents and went to work as usual. She had told her parents that she would be late to pick Shawn up that evening as there was a staff meeting at 9pm. During this meeting, Dorothy noticed her co-worker, Conrad Bostron, was looking unwell and had a red swelling on his arm. Dorothy and Pam Head, another Swingers co-worker, decided to leave the meeting early to take Conrad to the hospital. Dorothy stopped off at her parent’s house to let them know that she was taking Conrad to the hospital and didn’t know when she would be back. When Dorothy came out of her parent’s house, she had changed her scarf from a black one to a red one. The three drove to UC Irvine Medical Center where the two women sat in the waiting room while Conrad was treated for his spider bite. Conrad went with Pam to get his prescription filled whilst Dorothy went to the bathroom and said after she would pull the car round to the front of the hospital to meet them. This was around 11pm.
Conrad and Pam were waiting for around 20 minutes until they saw Dorothy’s car come towards them but instead of slowing down, the car sped up past them. Neither of Dorothy’s co-workers could see who was driving the car. The two waited several hours at the hospital to see if Dorothy would return for them but when she didn’t, they used a hospital phone to call Dorothy’s parent’s house to ask if she’d been to pick up Shawn. She hadn’t. They called the police and reported their co-worker missing. However, as she was an adult, the police didn’t seem concerned – until Dorothy’s car was discovered at 4:30am on May 29th in Santa Ana, around 10 miles for the hospital. Her car was parked in an alleyway and had been set on fire.
Dorothy’s parents, Jacob and Vera, started receiving phone calls from the man about a week after the disappearance. Vera answered the phone and the man asked if she was related to Dorothy and that he had her. This was the first clue the police had but still the search was fruitless. No press had been contacted as it could have a negative impact on the investigation. Jacob was giving up on the police and called a paper, who ran a story about Dorothy. The editor, Pat Riley, received a phone call after the story ran, the man said, “I killed her. I killed Dorothy Scott. She was my love. I caught her cheating with another man. She denied having someone else. I killed her.” He included details about the night of her disappearance, for example that she was wearing a red scarf and that Conrad was being treated for a spider bite. The police believe that only someone involved in Dorothy’s disappearance could know these things.
The call to the paper’s editor confused friends and family of Dorothy as they didn’t know of a possible boyfriend in Dorothy’s life as she was so busy with two jobs and a child to look after.
The phone calls to Vera continued almost every Wednesday afternoon for 4 years and the man would only call when Vera was home alone, suggesting he knew the Scott’s routine. However, once, the unknown caller made a mistake and called in the evening when Jacob was home. Jacob answered and the calls stopped after this. Police had tried to trace this calls but the man didn’t stay on the phone long enough.
Dennis Terry, the father of Shawn, was looked into and ruled out as a suspect in Dorothy’s disappearance. Internet sleuths have highlighted a man that worked as a mechanic next door to Swingers as a suspect. His sister worked with Dorothy and he was considered a little strange and possible involved in the occult. He has never officially been named as a suspect and there is no evidence against him.
Human bones, along with dog bones, were found on August 6th 1984 in a remote construction site around 10 meters from Santa Ana Canyon Road. Just over a week later, dental records confirmed that these were the remains of Dorothy Scott. Along with the remains, police found a turquoise ring and watch that Vera confirmed belonged to Dorothy.
After this, the Scott’s continued to receive phone calls from the unknown man.
On 26th January 1966, Jane, Arnna and Grant Beaumont took a 5-minute bus journey from their home in Adelaide, South Australia to Glenelg beach. Jane was 9-years-old and was trusted to look after her younger sister (7-years-old) and brother (4-years-old), especially since this was a trip they took often. The children took the 8:45am bus to the beach and were expected to catch the 12pm bus home. Nancy Beaumont, the children’s mother, started to get worried when the children didn’t turn up. Their father Grant ‘Jim’ Beaumont, was on a 3 day sales trip but returned early and immediately drove to the busy Glenelg beach and searched for his children. When the search came up empty he returned home and searched the streets and friend’s houses, hoping that the the children had gone to a friend’s home. At around 5:30pm, the Mr and Mrs Beaumont went to the Glenelg Police Station to report the three children missing.
In hopes that the children were still nearby the beach and had merely lost track of time, the police organised a search of the beach and adjacent areas. When this search didn’t turn anything up, the police expanded the search to the sandhills, ocean and nearby buildings. They also monitored the airport, rail lines and interstates in case the children had been in an accident or kidnapped. Within 24 hours of their disappearance, the whole nation knew of the case and within 3 days, fear of the children having been kidnapped and murdered by a sex-offender was rising. The initial reward for information that would led to the children’s safe return was £250 (Australian pounds). The police established that between the three children, they were carrying 17 items and none of these were ever found.
On 29th January, the Patawalonga Boat Haven was drained after a woman informed police that she had spoken with three children near the Patawalonga Boat Haven, matching the description of the Beaumont children, at 7pm on the 26th January.
Several witnesses described the children playing in the company of a tall, blond, thin-faced man in his mid-30s with a sun-tanned complexion and a thin to athletic building, wearing swimming trunks. They told police that the children seemed relaxed and to be enjoying themselves. The man approached one of the witnesses to ask if anyone had seen their belongings as their money was “missing”. The man went to change and the children waited for him then they were seen walking away from the beach at around 12:15pm.
Jim and Nancy Beaumont described their children as shy and that it seemed completely out of character for the children to be playing so confidently with a stranger. Nancy also noted a passing remark from Arnna that Jane had gotten a boyfriend down at the beach. Nancy had brushed this off, assuming Arnna just meant that Jane had a new playmate.
Jane reportedly bought pasties and a meat pie from Wenzel’s Bakery with a £1 note. The shopkeeper told police that they knew the children well and they had never bought a meat pie before. Nancy also said that she only ever gave them 6 pounds and 6 shillings which was just enough for their bus fare and lunch. The police believed this to be evidence that the children were with another person.
Several months later, a woman reported that she saw a man with two young girls and a boy enter a neighbouring home that she thought was empty. Later that night, she saw the boy walking alone along a lane and was pursued and caught by the man. The next morning the house looked empty again. It isn’t clear why the woman waited so long to inform the police of this.
On November 8th 1966, Gerard Croiset (Parapsychologist & Psychic), was brought from the Netherlands to Australia to try and help with the case. His story changed almost every day and yielded no real clues. He identified a warehouse near the Beaumont home and said he believed the children were buried underneath the concrete of this building in an old brick kiln. At the time of the children’s disappearance, the warehouse was an active building site. The owner’s eventually bowed to public pressure and allowed excavation to look for the children after $40,000 was raised to have the building demolished in search of the children. Nothing was found. In 1996, the building was undergoing a partial demolition and the owners allowed a full search of the site. Again, nothing was found.
Two years after the children disappeared, the Beaumont’s received three letters, two supposedly from Jane and one from “the man”. The letters describe a pleasant existence and refer to the man keeping them. Police believed it was possible the letters were from Jane when they compared them to others Jane had written. The letter from the man said he was willing to hand the children back and appointed a meeting place. Mr and Mrs Beaumont travelled to the meeting place followed by a detective but nobody appeared. They received another letter purportedly from Jane, stating that the man came but realised there was a detective there and he decided the Beaumonts had betrayed his trust so he would keep the children. No further letters were received. The letters were proven to be a hoax in 1992 when fingerprint technology identified the author as a 41-year-old man who was a teenager at the time. He wrote the letters as a joke but due to the amount of time passed since, he was not charged with an offence.
In November 2013, excavation was started on a factory in North Plympton as two men reported that when they were boys, they were paid to dig a hole in that area around the time and the factory was owned by a suspect. In 2018, further excavation of a nearby area was started. Animal bones were found but nothing relating to the children was found.
Emma was the first to be murdered within White Chapel in 1888. However, it is debated as to whether Emma is the first victim of the Ripper or whether it all started with the Canonical Five. Emma was a widowed prostitute with two children. On 3rd April 1888, she was attacked on Osborn Street as she was walking through Whitechapel. Emma was stabbed and raped with a blunt object in the attack. The attackers robbed Emma and left her for dead. Although severely injured, Emma managed to walk back to her lodging and told friends that she had been attacked by three men. Emma’s friends walked her to the hospital where she died the following day due to peritonitis following virginal wounding.
We have to remember that this was a time in which violence, robberies and sexual attacks were very common. So Emma is most likely not a victim of the Ripper.
Martha Tabram – 7th August 1888
Martha is another debated victim of Jack the Ripper. She was previously married to a warehouse foreman so had a good standard of living. However, after having two children Martha started to drink heavily and this had a huge impact on her marriage and contributed to the end of it. After the end of Martha’s marriage, she started selling trinkets to survive but ended up in prostitution. Martha and her friend “Polly” had been drinking in a pub in George yard on the night of her death. They were drinking with two soldiers and they each took one of the soldiers to have paid sex with them. Martha took her soldier to a narrow street just off George Yard. PC Barratt noticed a soldier loitering around George Yard at around 2am and the soldier had said that he was waiting for a friend. PC Barratt told the soldier to move on and so he did.
At around 3:30am, a cab driver saw a body on a stairwell in George Yard but didn’t report it. Martha’s body was officially found at 4:45am on the first floor landing of a building in George Yard. The assault was described as frenzied with 39 stab wounds from the throat to the lower abdomen. 38 of the stab wounds were done with a pen knife and 1 with a dagger. Martha’s lungs, liver and heart were all punctured, with the heart wound ultimately causing her death. All of these wounds were caused whilst Martha was alive.
The police believed that the soldier may have committed the murder so they set up ID parades with police witness and Martha’s friend, Polly. Polly picked out two soldiers, however they had alibi’s and were back in their barracks by 11pm.
Killers don’t begin with murder, their crimes escalate over time. Were these two murders preparation attacks by the Ripper?
Mary Nichols – 31st August 1888
Mary is the first of the Canonical Five, believed by most to be the actual first murder of the Ripper. Mary was married to a printer named William Nichols but by the 1870’s, Mary’s drinking had become a problem and the couple separated in 1880. Although William blamed the drinking, it is also claimed that William was having an affair. After the separation, William took custody of their five children and paid Mary five shillings a week but stopped when he found out that Mary had become a prostitute.
Charles Cross, a carriage-man, was heading to work along Bucks Row when he spotted a bundle on the floor. Bucks row was a dimly lit street with workmen’s houses on one side and warehouses on the other. Cross was soon joined by Robert Paul who was also on his way to work. Paul checked to see if Mary was breathing whilst Cross held Mary’s hands. Paul thought he could feel shallow breaths so they left Mary in hopes that they could find a policeman on the way to work. They narrowly missed PC Neil who was on his rounds at 3:45am and spotted Mary. Cross and Paul came across PC Thain who joined PC Neil and they called surgeon Dr Ralph Llewellyn, who arrived at around 4am and pronounced Mary dead. Dr Llewellyn believed Mary had died within the hour as her legs were still warm.
As spectators started to gather, Mary’s body was taken to the mortuary and the scene was washed down. Inspector John Spratling attended the mortuary and checked under Mary’s clothing. It was only then that it was realised, that Mary’s abdomen had been ripped open and the killer had continued to stab the open wound. In doing this, the killer stabbed her liver. Mary had two knife wounds cut from left to right on her neck, one of these was so severe that it was cut down to her spinal cord.
Annie Chapman – 7th September 1888
Annie is the second of the Canonical Five. She also had been previously married with children and living and working in Windsor. The couple separated due to Annie’s drinking habit. Annie was dying of consumption and on the night of her murder had a violent argument with another person at her lodging house, this left her injured. She’d been allowed to sit in the kitchen of the lodging house for a while but at 1:35am she was asked to leave as she had no lodging money. The night watchmen said that Annie had clearly been drinking and if she had money for alcohol, she should have money for the bed. Annie pleaded to stay but was escorted off the premises.
Witnesses state they saw Annie between 5:15am-5:30am with a Male over 40, taller than Annie who was wearing a felt hat and may have been a ‘foreigner’. Annie’s body was found by John Davis in the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street. John ran back into the house and told three other residents and all four men went to inform the police. First on the scene was Inspector Joseph Chandler followed by Police Surgeon, Dr George Phillips. Dr Phillips believe that Annie had been grabbed by the chin and partially strangled before having her throat cut and the killer attempting to sever her head. Annie’s abdomen had been entirely laid open and her intestines pulled out then placed on her shoulder. It was stated at the Coroner’s inquest that Annie may have been killed for her womb as the killer cut it out and took it.
Central News Agency – The Letter 29th September 1888
The Central News Agency received the letter on the 27th and forwarded it to the Metropolitan Police on the 29th. This letter was written in red ink and was allegedly from Jack the Ripper, the name that the killer gave to himself and that was first used in this letter. He addressed the letter “Dear Boss” and he boasts about the murders. The letter threatens that the next victim will have her ears cut off but the Police thought it was a hoax until the next double murders.
Elizabeth Stride – 30th September 1888
Elizabeth Stride was a 43 year old educated linguist and business owner from Sweden. She was previously married to John Thomas Stride and they divorced in 1877, after which Elizabeth became addicted to alcohol. This lead to a downward spiral into prostitution whilst living in a lodging house at 32 Flower and Dean Street. Elizabeth sometimes cleaned the rooms here for sixpence.
On the 29th September, she was seen drinking at the Queen’s Head pub and buy 11pm she was seen by two labourers in the doorway of the Bricklayer’s Arms pub on Settle Street. The two men, J. Best and John Gardener told the Coroner’s inquest that they were surprised at how the man was hugging and kissing Elizabeth. They shouted, jokingly, at Elizabeth and the man: “Watch out, that’s Leather Apron getting around you!”.
Elizabeth was seen multiple times by multiple witnesses between 11:30pm and 00:30am in the company of a man. PC Smith saw Elizabeth at Dutfields Yard, which was a dark and narrow courtyard just off Berner Street. At 00:45am, Israel Schwartz witnessed what he believed to be a domestic incident and not wanting to get involved, he crossed the street. He heard Elizabeth scream three times and the man with her pushed her into the dark courtyard. At this point the man notices Israel and shouts “Lipski!”. This was a phrase used to insult those of Jewish Heritage. Israel noticed another man standing nearby, who seemed to follow Israel and in a panic Israel ran until he was away from the location.
Louis Diemshutz was arriving back on his horse and cart to Dutfield’s Yard after spending the day selling cheap jewellery at 1am. Suddenly, the horse stopped and refused to move. Louis got down from his cart to see what the issue was and he saw a bundle on the floor. He lit a match and realised it was a woman. He ran into a nearby club to raise the alarm and a number of men came out with him. They looked at the body and realised her throat was cut but the body had not been mutilated like the previous. The police believed that Louis had interrupted the killer and that the killer was possibly still in the courtyard when Louis had arrived. Using the time when Louis went into the club to escape but meaning that the killer had not satisfied his lust for mutilation.
Catherine Eddowes – 30th September 1888
Catherine had three children with Thomas Conway and they separated in 1880 due to Catherine’s drinking. Catherine claimed she had married Thomas, however there are no records confirming this. Catherine then started living with John Kelly. On September 29th, Catherine was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and was then released at 00:55am on the 30th. Catherine headed towards Mitre Square which was patrolled every 15 minutes by PC Watkins. At 1:30am Watkins checked Mitre Square and all was quiet. Three men left the Imperial Club on Duke Street and believed they saw Catherine walking with a man at 1:35am. They identified her clothing at the police station after her murder. At 1:44am, PC Watkins returned to Mitre Square and discovered Catherine’s body.
Catherine’s throat was cut almost to the spine and her abdomen had been ripped open and mutilated. Her face was so mutilated that she couldn’t be identified from description and was only identified as Catherine when a friend recognised the pawn tickets she had. There were V-shaped incisions in Catherine’s cheeks, her eyelids and ears had been cut and the tip of her nose sliced off. Catherine’s left kidney and half of her uterus had been taken, along with a part of the apron Catherine was wearing. It is believed, that as the light in the yard was defective, the killer must have acted in complete darkness and due to this must have anatomical knowledge.
The missing part of Cathrine’s apron was found at 2:55am by PC Alfred Long in a doorway on Goulston Street and it was covered in blood and faeces. It looked like a knife blade had been wiped on the apron. Above where the apron lay, there was some writing on the wall, “The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing.”
The location of the graffiti was a largely Jewish populated part of London and the Met Police feared that it would cause racial unrest if not cleaned up before morning. However, the City of London Police believed the writing to be important evidence in Catherine’s murder and should be left til morning so it could be photographed. Sir Charles Warren, the Met Commissioner, arrived between 5-5:30am and ordered for the graffiti to be washed from the wall. He believed that it would cause the Jewish people more harm and as it was Sunday morning, there would be large crowds around for the Sunday markets. Major Smith from the City of London Police was furious at Sir Warren for the decision to wash the graffiti.
The Postcard
It was at this time that the police decided to release the letter they had from the person claiming to be the killer. A postcard arrived at the same time and the handwriting was the same as the letter. The police started to take the original letter more seriously as the postcard wrote about the double murders and referenced to the killer not having enough time with the first victim. This case became international news, due to the Ripper playing with the police and the gruesome details of the murders becoming more public. The police started house to house enquires and handed out over 1000 fliers asking for information. Another package, containing a partial kidney, was sent to George Lusk, the Chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. It was companied by a letter stating that the other half of the kidney had been eaten and the author claimed to be the Ripper. It is speculated that the kidney belonged to Catherine Eddowes, however it was preserved so it is also speculated that it may have been a hoax.
Mary Kelly – 9th November 1888
Mary Kelly is the final Canonical victim and was 25 years old at the time of her murder. She had previously lived with her partner, Joseph Barnett, at 13 Miller’s Court. However, Joseph had become unemployed and they became behind with their rent. So to make money, Mary started to prostitute herself and this caused a lot of friction between her and Joseph. Mary then moved a homeless prostitute in to live with them and Joseph decided to move out.
Anne Cox, Mary’s neighbour, saw Mary at midnight walking into a room with a man and said that Mary was so drunk she could hardly speak. At 2am, George Hutchinson met Mary on Commercial Street and she asked him for sixpence but he had no money. Mary walked off to find a client in order to make money. A male from the opposite direction tapped Mary on the shoulder and said something to her, they both started laughing. He put his arm around Mary and she lead him past George into Miller’s Court. George stayed for 45 minutes but left when Mary didn’t come out. At around 4am, Mary’s neighbours heard cries of “Oh Murder!” but ignored it as they thought it was a domestic or a brawl.
John McCarthy sent his assistant, Thomas Bowyer to collect rent from Mary at 10:45am but there was no reply to the knocking on the door. Thomas looked through Mary’s window and saw Mary’s body. He then ran back to John and they informed the Police. At 11:15am, Police Surgeon Dr George Bagster Phillips arrived, followed by Inspector Abberline at 11:30am. Nobody entered the house for two hours as they were told bloodhounds were coming to try and get a scent of the killer. However, the bloodhounds never arrived.
Mary’s body was the most mutilated of all the victims. Her skin was carved from her thighs and abdomen, with her abdominal cavity emptied. The killer had hacked her face, mutilated her arms, cut off her breasts and cut off her eyelids, chin and lips. Mary’s neck was severed to the bone. Between her feet, the killer had laid Mary’s liver and under her head was Mary’s uterus, kidneys and one of her breasts. The other breast was by her right foot and her intestines lay alongside the right of her body. Mary’s spleen lay along the left side of her body. The killer removed Mary’s heart and skinned her forehead.
Dr Thomas Bond was called in to profile the person responsible. After reading all the witness reports and looking at all the killings, Dr Bond believed that at least five of the women had been killed by the same person. He believed the killer to be physically strong, cool and daring but would also be middle-aged and unremarkable. He thought that the killer may even live with respectable people who don’t know what he’s doing but would think him to be odd. Thomas also thought that the killer did not have any anatomical knowledge.
Rose Mylett – 20th December 1888
Rose was found in Clarkes Yard, however her injuries did not link to the MO of Jack and so she is not believed to be one of his victims.
Alice McKenzie – 17th July 1889
Alice was found in Castle Alley by PC Andrews and her body was still warm with her throat cut and skirts raised, exposing her abdomen which had a zig-zag, superficial wound. Dr George Bagster Phillips examined Alice’s body but did not believe that she was a victim of the Ripper. However, Police Commissioner James Monroe spoke to the Home Office and they believed the murders of Rose and Alice to be connected to the Ripper investigation. Alice’s body was also examined by Dr Thomas Bond at the mortuary and he also believed it was the work of the Ripper.
The Legless Torso – 10th September 1889
The legless torso of a woman was found beneath railway arches in Pinchin Street and she had a gash across her abdomen which had occurred during the dismemberment of the body. Due to this, the murder has not been attributed to the Ripper.
Frances Coles – 13th February 1891
At 00:15am Frances was found in Swallow Gardens by PC Thompson with blood still flowing from her throat. Swallow Gardens was a dark passage that ran underneath railway arches. Frances was still alive when Thompson found her but died soon after. Before her death, Frances had spent two days with a volatile sailor named James Thomas Sadler and they had been seen arguing numerous times. On the night Frances died, James returned to his lodging house, covered in blood. At 10:15am, he sold his knife to a fellow sailor, Duncan Campbell. The police arrested James but he had an alibi that he could prove. The knife was also shown to not be sharp enough to cause the wounds and this meant that the case against him was dropped. James was proven to be at sea during the time of the other murders.
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 