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E132: Tara Calico
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Every family we talk about on this show has been shaped and changed by grief; their lives have been reshaped by a hole in their hearts that just won't go away. They continue searching, they continue hoping, but nothing is the same. For the family in our case this week, every picture, every letter could be news about their missing loved one, but each just leads to more questions.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
We are excited to announce that again, our episode is being sponsored by Zencaster, our very own podcast recording platform. So make sure you listen for more information in the middle of the episode and make sure to check out the show notes so you will understand exactly why we love Zencaster so much and how you yourself can get a discount.
Understanding Grief: A Psychological Perspective
00:00:24
Speaker
Have you ever wanted something so badly that it consumed every thought? It's all you can think about and it consumes you. You try to go on about your life, but it's hard to move past the thoughts that eat you alive. You learn to relive your life around the pain of hoping that things would be different.
00:00:44
Speaker
In an article on the American Brain Foundation website that was published in 2021, the author explains how our brains deal with grief.
00:00:56
Speaker
In that article, it says, quote, whether brought on by the death of a loved one, a serious illness or injury, divorce, abuse, or another cause, the brain interprets grief as an emotional trauma or PTSD. Dr. Schulman explains that the human brain handles emotional trauma and stress using the same set of processes, end quote. Traumatic loss is perceived as a threat to survival and defaults to protective survival and defense mechanism, says Dr. Schulman.
00:01:23
Speaker
This response engages the fight or flight mechanism, which increases blood pressure and heart rate and releases specific hormones. Grief and loss affect the brain and body in many different ways. They can cause changes in memory, behavior, sleep, and body function, affecting the immune system as well as the heart. It can also lead to cognitive effect, such as brain fog. The brain's goal? It's survival.
00:01:50
Speaker
Dr. Shulma goes on to say, grief is a normal protective process. This process is an evolutionary adaptation to promote survival in the face of emotional trauma. Changes in brain function go largely undetected when an individual continues functioning normally, but these experiences still affect how the brain works.
00:02:08
Speaker
The article says in response to traumatic events, the brain creates connections between nerves and strengthens or weakens existing connections depending on the duration and degree of the emotional response. The ability to alter neural connections allows the brain to compensate for injury, illness, loss, and other life altering traumatic events by forming new connections based on these experiences.
Stress and Its Impact on the Brain
00:02:30
Speaker
This helps individuals to adapt to new situations or environments.
00:02:35
Speaker
Low to moderate stress increases nerve growth and improves memory while reducing fear.
00:02:40
Speaker
But chronic stress causes a reduction in nerve growth and memory and increases fear to help an individual focus on survival. This stress response can have a negative effect. And the more it happens, the more it becomes hardwired. Dr. Schulman says when a circuit fires repeatedly, it's reinforced and becomes a default setting. Over the long term, grief can disrupt the diverse cognitive domains of memory. In other words, our brains reshape after we experience great loss.
Grief's Long-lasting Effects on Families
00:03:08
Speaker
It changes our ability to think. It changes our memory. It changes our physical health and so much more. Every family we talk about on this show has been shaped and changed by grief. Their lives have been reshaped by a hole in their heart that just can't go away. They learn to go on about their lives, but their lives are different and they have to learn to go on despite the pain. They continue searching. They continue hoping, but nothing is ever the same.
Introduction to Tara Calico's Case
00:03:34
Speaker
This is a story of Tara Calico.
00:04:12
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold.
Meet the Hosts: Coffee and Cases Podcast
00:04:17
Speaker
My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron.
00:04:21
Speaker
We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families with each
Encouraging Listener Participation and Community Engagement
00:04:32
Speaker
case. We encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, coffee and cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee and listen to what's brewing this week.
Light-hearted Moment: Maggie's Dog Story
00:04:49
Speaker
Y'all, I just got a message for my husband. And our dog is literally laying on top of his head. Okay.
00:04:59
Speaker
Just a normal day over here at the dam right now normal night. Yeah, yeah normal day-to-day functions, okay So I know we say this on every show like every time but I really am so thankful for the friendships that I feel Alice and we have built through this podcast with people that we have Never even met absolutely
00:05:25
Speaker
And each week I look forward to time that I get to spend with people that we really don't talk
Building Community and Friendship through Podcasting
00:05:33
Speaker
to. I mean, there's a few of our listeners that we know, but the majority of them we don't, but I still feel like each week I get to spend time with my best friend, you, and I get to spend time with them and it just brightens my day. Me too.
00:05:46
Speaker
Me too. So as usual, I wanted to start off with some shout outs from our listeners. And we've got some good ones this week. We did. And I'm going to start with a review that put the biggest smile on my face and boosted my confidence. I know what one you're talking about. If you all have been listening for a long time, or if you follow us on Patreon, you know that
00:06:15
Speaker
When I hear my own voice, it's like hearing nails scraping an old school chalkboard. Like I hate the way my voice sounds. So when this review came through, it really did me some good.
00:06:33
Speaker
So, Hetty Spice wrote, quote, one of my faves, Maggie's voice makes my heart full. It's so comforting, even while listening to something horrible, LOL. So thanks for that. I hear cases that have never been talked about. They're grateful to their listeners, solid research, not too much banter back and forth, just enough to keep it interesting. Thanks so much. And Allison,
00:06:57
Speaker
If that isn't a confidence booster, I'm not sure what is. I know. I know. I read it and I was thinking, this, it couldn't have brightened my day more.
00:07:10
Speaker
I mean, it was just so kind and I loved it. It was what I needed. Yes. And we got another great five star review from Mel who said, quote, you gals are both little blessings in this big world. Thanks for being kind hearted souls and for entertaining us all. Keep it up. End quote.
00:07:34
Speaker
And she's from Dolly Country and Dolly Parton is the queen. She's the queen.
00:07:42
Speaker
And while we're on gratitude, I would also like to thank Casey for recommending us on Facebook this past week. I knew about this because Casey tagged us in it. So PS, make sure if you want us to give you a shout out on the show and you are recommending us on Facebook, make sure to tag us in the post. So all you have to do
00:08:06
Speaker
is hit the little act symbol right before you start typing coffee in cases podcast and it should pop up and you can just click on it. Also, while we're talking about social media, Allison, how long have we been doing this now?
00:08:21
Speaker
since December 2019 okay so a long time like we still sometimes struggle like this makes me sound ancient but we still sometimes struggle with Facebook and we don't know if we have our group set up right because like we'll get notifications that
00:08:40
Speaker
like someone has shared something on our page, but then we can never find it. Right. Yeah, we can't see it. So yeah, I think we're just old fogeys. So if you all know how to explain it to some old people, how we can fix that. Hit us up. Yeah, we do know how to check our messages. So you can send it via message and we will get it. And speak to it.
00:09:04
Speaker
Yeah, I think there was one message on Instagram, though, that you were saying you just saw this week. Yes, I did. And again,
00:09:15
Speaker
brightened my day. So shout out to me made. She said, Hi, Maggie. Hi. She said, I just listened to my first episode of your podcast. And it was such a nice surprise to hear someone that sounded like me. Then you mentioned Eastern Kentucky and I about fell over. I'm from Eastern Kentucky too. So cool. You go girl.
00:09:39
Speaker
I love you. Right. See, Maggie, you are a necessary voice in the podcasting world. Oh, good. I'm that little bit of Southern charm everybody needs.
00:09:53
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And finally, also on Facebook this week, Sarah gave us a case suggestion. So thank you, Sarah.
Acknowledging Indigenous Issues
00:10:01
Speaker
And Venus sent us a message. Oh, this was this was good. Yes, she said, quote, Thank you for highlighting missing and murdered indigenous women on your show. I am a tribal citizen of the Mi'kmaq
00:10:16
Speaker
Nation of Maine and Canada with that being said I'm still a lifelong resident of Kentucky having been born and raised in Laurel County I feel Kentucky is so far removed from issues facing the native communities today That programs such as coffee and cases who use their platform to bring awareness to these issues finally brings natives into the forefront of
00:10:39
Speaker
and gives us a place at the table." That was so much fun. That's why we do what we do. And we really do appreciate the love. And friends, if you have listened to our latest mini on Patreon, you all know that we are both
00:10:59
Speaker
known for words of affirmation being our love language. So we appreciate those kind words. That's probably why we do this section every week. And speaking of Patreon, if you would like to access bonus content, here are some paranormal stories, hear about some solved true crime cases, and obviously,
00:11:23
Speaker
Learn some more about and laugh with Maggie and me and the stories we have Please consider joining our patreon where you can access all of that for only five dollars a month So just head on over to patreon.com forward slash coffee and cases podcast all one word to learn more and with that I think I'm ready for today's episode.
The Disappearance of Tara Calico: A Detailed Account
00:11:48
Speaker
Okay, so this one
00:11:53
Speaker
is different than what we normally cover. As you guys know, we typically do lesser known cases, but the case I'm telling you guys today has a lot more coverage than the ones that we typically cover. But I guess I live under a rock because I had never heard of it. And so I thought maybe some of our listeners hadn't either. And so I decided
00:12:16
Speaker
that this would be a good week to do this case. Yeah. So like I said, there's a lot of information on this. There's lots of other podcasts. There's like some documentary type things you can watch on YouTube. There's lots of articles. So I feel like
00:12:38
Speaker
being a podcaster that focuses on true crime, we are walking a very thin line. We can either have a podcast that has too little information, like a topic that has too little information and it's hard to turn what little bit we're given into
00:12:59
Speaker
an episode. And then I feel like sometimes some of the cases we do have so much information that it's overwhelming to get all of that information condensed into just one episode instead of multiple ones. So that's the same with Tara's case today. There was so much that it is condensed into
00:13:24
Speaker
a shorter version so that it can fit into one episode instead of like multiple, multiple episodes. So if you want more information, it's out there for you. But today we're doing, um, just a one episode over a one and done. Yeah. Okay. So, um, I don't know if it's the Eastern Kentucky in me, but when I see her name, I want to say Tara, but
00:13:53
Speaker
we've looked it up and it's pronounced Tara from where she's from. So Tara Calico was born, um, P.S., love that last name, on February 28th in 1969. She lived in a very small town in New Mexico and she at the time was studying at the University of New Mexico and she was 19 when
00:14:17
Speaker
she either disappeared or was kidnapped as some people believe from her morning bike ride. Okay. So morning bike ride means she does it routinely. Yes, regularly. Okay. Like I got the impression almost daily. Okay. So it would have been a habit. I'm just thinking ahead because you know how my brain works and I'm always trying to like
00:14:47
Speaker
put everything together. So you had mentioned she either disappeared or was kidnapped. So in my head, I'm already thinking, okay, well, if she has an established routine that people would know, then the kidnapping becomes much more of a feasible option in my head, even before you start talking.
00:15:09
Speaker
Yeah, because she, and I'll talk about that too, had a specific route that she went on. So it's not like she just went randomly. She had a specific route that she rode on. So when she doesn't come home, they know exactly where to look. So if somebody were stalking her, maybe. So it's both good and bad. Yes, yeah. Yeah, good in the sense that they know where to look, but then bad in the sense that everybody knows where she is.
00:15:39
Speaker
Right. On September 20th, 1988, Tara went on that morning back ride Allison like she normally did. She left her house somewhere between nine and nine 30 that morning. According to its crime o'clock somewhere. What a cute, clever,
00:15:57
Speaker
Yeah, so clever. Tara was going on quite an extensive bike ride. She biked 17 miles out and then the 17 miles back to her house. So like a total of 34 miles this girl is going.
Tara's Fitness Routine and Her Last Ride
00:16:15
Speaker
My jaw has dropped.
00:16:18
Speaker
That's like Iron Man to me. I mean, that's not a small feat. That's impressive. Oh, yeah. Shoot, I'd be tuckered out after about a mile. Yeah, we used to I think I think I mentioned this not not long ago, we used to ride regularly. And we went
00:16:40
Speaker
just around like we have like a circle kind of and the subdivision we live in and we went around that and I had to sit in front of the fan like almost vomited and it was that's probably like not even a quarter of a mile. It was embarrassing.
00:17:02
Speaker
Oh my gosh. How many calories do you burn if you do that? Well, depending on, so I looked that up and depending on like how fast she was going and her weight, she could have successfully burned 2000 calories, which you go. Oh my gosh. That's more than I eat in a day.
00:17:23
Speaker
Yeah. Isn't the typical diet a 2,000 or is it 5,000? Is it a 2,000 calorie diet? That was 2,000. Yeah. You can cancel out everything you eat in a day. Oh my goodness. Maybe I need to take up biking. Well, it sucks getting into shape enough to do what she did because we did it for a while and I was never that.
00:17:45
Speaker
You built that a half a mile. Yeah. She reportedly told her mom Patty that if she wasn't home by noon, then to come look for her and Allison, I don't know about you, but I do this too. Okay. Like if Anthony and I are at, let's say like we're at a restaurant or
00:18:10
Speaker
We're shopping at the mall and I have to go to the bathroom. I'll tell him the same thing. I'm always like, if I'm not back in five minutes, that means you need to come find me. But when I'm saying it, I'm being paranoid. I don't know if she was being paranoid or if she was just joking with her mom because of some details. I'm going to tell you here in a second.
00:18:31
Speaker
Oh, okay. Because I was going to say, to me, this, because like you going to the bathroom, especially if you're out somewhere, isn't a daily typical circumstance. You know what I mean? So that comment, if she were being serious, is weird to me. Because if she does it every day, why would she say, if I'm not back by noon, come look for me? That seems odd. So
00:18:57
Speaker
I'm gonna take it as her joking, especially since you said there's a detail that makes it seem like she was.
00:19:04
Speaker
Okay, yeah, and let me know what you think after you hear this next little bit. But her mom was expecting her home by noon, but she was worried about Tara going anyways because she was apparently having issues with her bike actually in some articles that I read. Also, what an episode for Appalachian to have for the word bicycle is in it 10,000 times.
00:19:33
Speaker
She was apparently having issues with hers and I read in some places that the day she disappeared she was on her mom's bicycle, but then some places said that it was hers. But anyways, so she was having bike problems and Tara's mom had told reporters that both she and her daughter were having issues of being harassed while they had been out biking because I'm assuming they did it
00:20:02
Speaker
together sometimes and she was actually fearful of her daughter's safety. One specific incident I read was really disturbing and it was in an article by True Crime Times. Patty the mom said that she did join her often for that daily ride but she decided that day she was going to stay home
00:20:25
Speaker
Because on her last trip, a motorist nearly ran her off the road on their last cycling extravaganza together. Who does that? Share the road. That's what I was getting ready to say.
00:20:46
Speaker
you know Anthony's an engineer so he is all about roadways and he is one of those people obviously he's not gonna run anybody off the road but when you're in you know backwoods Kentucky and there's no shoulder on a road and the roads not even big enough to put like
00:21:04
Speaker
two lines on it. We've got several of those in my house. He will get so agitated and be like, they're biking on this road for a team. I don't know what type of road they were biking on, but regardless, we should not aggressively chase cyclists.
Suspicious Activity During Tara's Ride
00:21:21
Speaker
Off the road and that is what happened to patty and torah um so she you know reminds torah. You know we just had this person driving aggressively she felt they were almost targeted.
00:21:39
Speaker
And she just tried to convince her to not go out that day. She even says that in that specific incident, the motorist passed them multiple times along this route that they would take. Oh, so if they pass multiple times, then that, like, did they slow down and let Tara and her mom get ahead of them and then pass aggressively again?
00:22:07
Speaker
I wonder, you know, because that reminds me of it. Yeah, it reminds me, there was one time this was traumatic. I was scared to death. Because there are, you know, horror movies about this. No offense to truckers out there. We love you truckers. But this one trucker, the semi driver
00:22:28
Speaker
I was in college, passed my car, and they had a passenger in the semi with them. And they looked down into my car, and I guess my hair was done and my makeup was done that day. So I looked decent, but they started holding their horn. They were pulling the horn.
00:22:53
Speaker
honking at me. And I was thinking that's weird. And then and then I'm like, is there somebody in my backseat? Is there something on my roof? Like, what are they honking at? And then they got in front of me, they like sped past me, got in front of me and slowed down.
00:23:10
Speaker
And then I passed them. It was on an interstate. I passed them. And as I was passing them, they were like looking at me again and honking. They're like pulling the horn again. And so I sped up and then I was like, I can't get a ticket. So I slowed back down to the speed limit. And here they came up again and like passed me and were honking and got in front of me and slowed down again. Oh, Maggie, I bet I went
00:23:39
Speaker
Hopefully you can't get a speeding ticket in hindsight because I'm admitting to the bike and I'm a rule follower. I do not speed, but I bet I went 25 over just to get away from that truck. But I don't know if it wasn't like that type of incident. What makes me like nervous about this is, you know, I was in a car. I could go pretty fast to get away. If you're on a bike,
00:24:09
Speaker
and a motorist is doing that to you, your options are limited. It's not like you can bike away faster than a car can go.
00:24:19
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I was going to say. I think it would have to be really hard for the motorist to slow down and then speed back up because even if you're going pretty fast, you're still going slow for a person driving a vehicle. I don't know if it was, they went down the road, maybe they went to the post office and they came back and they just noticed it a couple different times or if it was more intentional. I'm not really sure.
00:24:42
Speaker
But Tara was determined. She was a dedicated young woman. And despite the warnings from her mom and her bike's performance issues, she went riding anyways. And True Crime Times reports that Patty actually tried to convince her to take pepper spray along in case she ran into any trouble. But she just kind of laughed that off and said it wasn't necessary, which makes me wonder if I'm not back by noon, come looking for me, was a joke. Because her mom was so worried and she just
00:25:11
Speaker
Right. She's trying to mock her mom. Yeah. I'm telling you right now, if my little sleuth hound, 1930, 50.
00:25:24
Speaker
I don't care how old she is. If I feel like people have been harassing us and she's like, Oh mom, I'll be fine. I'm barricading the door. Cause I'm going to be like, you're going on this bike ride over my dead body. Like that's how it's going to happen. I'm locking you in the bathroom. That's right. Exactly. But she did go. And so at around nine 30 on September the 20th, she left her home.
00:25:51
Speaker
to go on her regular 34 mile bike ride. She was on her neon pink cuffy bike with the yellow control cables and sidewalls on her usual route along highway 47. That bike sounds totally 80s. Yeah. Oh, and I feel like really recognizable.
00:26:12
Speaker
Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. But sadly, when she pedaled away on her bike, her mom had no idea she would never see her daughter again. Wow. So remember that she says to mom, if I'm not home at noon, come out and look for me. And we're assuming in a joking manner. But she really didn't have plans. And she really did need to be home by noon. She was supposed to play tennis with her boyfriend at 1230.
00:26:40
Speaker
and she had class that afternoon at four. So it's not like she could dilly-dally. She needed to be home. Right. So because of the warning issued, when she didn't show up at noon, her mom went out to look for her because she actually was worried. You know, she didn't want her to go in the first place. She went along the normal route
00:27:03
Speaker
And when her mom couldn't find her or any sign of her bike included, so that neon pink bike, she called the police. Yeah, because she's, I'm sure, thinking the worst. She's thinking about the harassment and all of that. Mom does go out and she finds no
00:27:19
Speaker
Traces of tara so she calls the police and searches for tara were extensive it seems that everyone from her town was aiding in the search for her i read that for multiple weeks investigators search the area.
00:27:35
Speaker
local and state police, as well as hundreds of volunteers, combed the area on foot. They combed the area on horseback. They took four wheelers around to look for her. They did airplane searches. So basically no rock was left unturned as this community frantically tried to bring her home, but they turn up empty handed time and time again. Wow. So the whole community at least is showing up for her, but they just can't find her.
00:28:05
Speaker
Yeah and this I think just is a very typical mom thing or just really anybody that's in a very loving relationship. The day after Amtara doesn't come home Patti actually returned to that bike route and searched again and on her second search so just the very next day she found a cassette tape
00:28:31
Speaker
by the band Boston, which she recognized who belonged to her daughter. And I'm assuming, because this is 1988, that Tara had a Walkman of sorts that she played cassettes on. And I'm guessing that that's why the tape was there, that she was using a Walkman. She said that the tape was on the side of the road that Tara would have been on.
00:28:58
Speaker
as she was riding away from home because responsible bikers know that you go with the flow of traffic. You don't go against the flow of traffic. So she would have switched directions coming back home.
00:29:14
Speaker
But that's not all that was at the area where this cassette tape was discovered.
Evidence of a Struggle on the Day of Disappearance
00:29:23
Speaker
There were obvious bike tracks near the cassette tape, which is good.
00:29:29
Speaker
because that just further tells us that she was there there were footprints on the ground that led many to believe this could have been the side of like a scuffle or a struggle i don't know and i didn't um
00:29:47
Speaker
come across this in the research that I did, if there were multiple sets of prints, you know, a bigger size and a smaller size, because if it's just one set, then that could just be Tara or Tara's footprint.
00:30:04
Speaker
But there were things there that led people to believe that there was a struggle. So there's the tire tracks from the bicycle. There's the feet prints. There's vehicle tire tracks. And like, you know how if your car sits for a little bit, sometimes it will like leak oil or like some type of fluid that was there. So a lot of people said that all kind of pointed to this was the site of whatever happened happened there.
00:30:36
Speaker
This idea was further confirmed when several people reported sightings of a light-colored truck following Tara. In fact, this light-colored truck was reported by so, so, so, so many people and all of them told the police that the truck appeared to be following her down the road.
00:30:58
Speaker
Yeah, because most people, especially if they get behind a biker, at some point, as soon as you were able, you're going to pass. So if that many people saw this truck continuing to follow her, that, I don't know, makes me a little nervous.
00:31:20
Speaker
And I do think that would be something that people would remember, because like you said, you're going to pass a cyclist as soon as you can. And if you're in a long line of traffic and you finally pass this white van that's going so slow and you realize they're not passing a cyclist, then you will mentally make note of that. Because you're going to be like, why would you not pass them? You're so stupid. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
00:31:49
Speaker
Several witnesses came forward in the days following her disappearance to say that it was a 1953 F-150 truck that was actually pulling a small camper that was following the teen. So this is very specific. Oh, very memorable. And multiple people reported this same specific detail. And we know that that's important when multiple people are saying the same things. Yep, because corroboration. We know it's not just a faulty memory because multiple people are coming forward with it.
00:32:19
Speaker
Um, as reported by, um, Tara call calico.com. Um, she. Many think, and the more I thought about it, I was like, duh, Maggie, that she didn't realize she was being followed because she had those headphones on while she was riding. And initially I didn't think of that. Then when I read that, I was like, duh, like now how many of us are guilty of walking or running with AirPods in like,
00:32:48
Speaker
It's so common now yeah you have no idea of what's going on around you because your focus is on. That music or whatever in your ear ear pods this is something that. I try to be observing about when i walk outside which you know.
00:33:10
Speaker
I'm really paranoid anyways, and the longer we do this, the more I realize that I am paranoid, but I do not like to walk by myself. Even in the subdivision we live in, I just have never felt, I mean, there's never been anything.
00:33:27
Speaker
horrific that's happened here, but I just have never been comfortable doing that. But even in the gym, when I walk, there's a track at the gym we go to, I only put one air pod in so that I can hear, at least makes me feel better that I can hear out of one side because I feel this is multiple cases that we've talked about that have involved people having something impairing their hearing that's affected them in life.
00:33:57
Speaker
Great! The last known sighting of her was around 11 30 a.m when someone spotted her biking obviously and followed by that same light color truck. After 11 30 we don't have any more sightings of her coming in.
00:34:18
Speaker
Allison and I find it hard to record together these days with everything going on in our lives. That's why we began looking for a recording platform that would allow us to record the same quality, crisp audio that we could have in person. Allison made it her mission to find the best platform for doing just that, and that's when she discovered Zencaster.
00:34:38
Speaker
Zencaster is what Maggie and I use each week to record our episodes and it is extremely easy to use even if you've never used a recording platform before. You don't have to download a thing. I go to the website zencaster.com create the session for which you can record audio video or both and then email Maggie the link. She clicks
00:35:02
Speaker
And that's it. We're ready to hit the record button and start. So even when you have guests who aren't really tech savvy, all they have to do is click the link to join the recording. Zencaster is really an all in one podcast production suite that gives you studio quality audio and video without needing to have any technological background knowledge.
00:35:24
Speaker
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00:35:47
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00:36:05
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00:36:27
Speaker
All right, Alison, so searches for Tara continued. So we have the Walkman, we have the footprints, the tire tracks, the bike tracks. But day after day, very few answers were found. The Charlie Project reported that her Walkman cassette player, and like, I feel like we need a picture of this for our young listeners, because I don't know what they're gonna know.
00:36:52
Speaker
But her Walkman cassette player was later found near the John F. Kennedy campground. And Allison, this is significant because this campground is 19 miles east of Highway 47, so where she would have been biking on her normal route. So totally off the map for her.
00:37:15
Speaker
Right. Yeah. So obviously that was she would, if she were not taking her normal route, I feel like she would have told her mom she's going someplace else. Like, I don't think that's something that she would just randomly decide to do. Especially because her mom was worried about her going initially. So saying, well, you know, I'm actually going to go this way instead would ease some of her mom's fear and anxiety. And she didn't say that. Mm hmm.
00:37:44
Speaker
Her mom actually later told people she thought her daughter dropped those items as clues to her whereabouts. If she did, that was smart. I know. So she drops the cassette on purpose and she drops the Walkman 19 miles east on purpose, which I think is so smart, very Hansel and Gretel to me. I was thinking the same thing. But for a long, long time, this trail of breadcrumbs
00:38:12
Speaker
seems to have ended for investigators and for her family. But we do get sort of a break in the case when on June 15th, 1989 a woman was waiting for a parking spot and you're probably thinking, Maggie, what could happen when you're just waiting to park your car? But it is significant.
The Polaroid Mystery: Is It Tara?
00:38:41
Speaker
So she's waiting to pull into a spot that is occupied by a white Toyota van. The creepy ones that we talked about, I'm pretty positive last week that have like no windows in the house. In Ashley Morgan's case. Yes. So she's waiting for this van to pull out. She even is able to describe the driver. She says he's a man in his 30s with a mustache. Not super specific, but she's waited long enough that she has been able to get at least that much detail.
00:39:12
Speaker
Cause she's probably like, what is taking this guy so long? Yes, me every time. So when he pulls out of the spot, she pulls in and parks her car. When she steps out, she notices something on the ground and she would make a very disturbing discovery as she stepped out of her car. I'm curious what this discovery is going to be.
00:39:40
Speaker
Well, she finds a Polaroid picture on the ground. The photo was of a young boy and a teenage girl. And it's not your typical photo. They were both bound and gagged with duct tape. And they were lying in the cargo area of what appeared to be a white van, like on top of some blankets. So presumably in the back of this van that's just pulled out of this parking spot.
00:40:11
Speaker
Uh, I would call the police immediately. Yes. Yeah. She is really quick about turning this over to the police because the boy and girl both seem distressed. And, um, we talk a lot about crazy coincidences. We have a whole like
00:40:31
Speaker
category of that on Patreon where we talk about crazy instances. And this to me is one of those moments because this woman had to take time to bend down, to pick up what she probably thought was a piece of trash.
00:40:48
Speaker
to discover that it was actually possibly a significant clue in the case of a missing girl and boy. Wow. Wow. The picture would ultimately lead to more questions and answers but this was the first step towards a new clue in Tara's case in you know right about a year.
00:41:10
Speaker
While this wasn't the news the family really wanted to hear, I'm sure they wanted to hear news telling them that Tara had been found alive and well. I can imagine this was better than the worst news they could have got, at least.
00:41:25
Speaker
In this scenario, there's a hope that she's just been kidnapped and she's alive somewhere. Right, that they'll say, okay, give us some money and then you get your kid back, right? And so then obviously she would be traumatized, but you'd have her. Right, which is much better than not.
00:41:44
Speaker
So now, like you said, authorities just need to find where she is. The image was a color Polaroid and it was in really good condition. Again, in this convenience store parking lot of all places. So obviously,
00:41:59
Speaker
it quickly makes national news. Both victims were facing the camera, their mouths were taped, their arms pressed together behind their back like they were tied up. And we think that they were in this van, the boy in the picture. This is, this part, you know, we've talked about when people have so many common features that you see them
00:42:26
Speaker
in a lot of people. I think that was the case here. But the boy in the picture, we think sort of maybe kind of could have been this boy named Michael Henley, who went missing in the same area as Tara in April of 1988. So the same year and everything line up. Yeah.
00:42:54
Speaker
Yeah, he was hunting with his father when he went missing and for the time being, we will air quote missing. OK, so. One detail that.
00:43:14
Speaker
I don't know if it's a coincidence. I don't know if it was maybe a placement of another clue on Tara's behalf. But right beside of the girl that is in the picture is a significant item.
00:43:36
Speaker
Okay. So there was a copy of a book written by V.C. Andrews. That was right beside the book. Oh, I love V.C. Andrews. Is that the attic one? Yes, Flowers in the Attic. I have it, but I've never read it. Do I need to read it? It was big when I was in middle school. Those were the books. They're a bit disturbing. Yeah, don't they fall in love with their twins and they
00:44:05
Speaker
Yeah. Procreate. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. You know, if I get bored this summer, I might add that to my reading list. But apparently this book is laying right beside the girl and it is significant because Andrews was Tara's favorite author at the time. And I read in one article that initially
00:44:29
Speaker
her mom is like, this is not my daughter. But upon closer inspection, the girl in the photograph had a scar that was identical to Torres and that book detail kind of sealed the deal for her mom. And that finally convinced her that maybe it could be my daughter. Hmm. But then if she's kidnapped, why would they like buy her her favorite author?
00:44:58
Speaker
Right. And I don't know if, you know, have you read room? Oh, I've seen the movie. Oh my God. The book, the book is really, the movie's good, but the book is really good too. But I wonder if it's that type of thing where she's being held against her will, but they're trying to make it not seem so bad for her, you know? So I don't know if they bought it for her to kind of
00:45:26
Speaker
make her a little bit happy with her circumstances. And she uses it as a clue because she's like, if my mom sees this, she'll know it's me because this book is here. Oh, yeah. Or if it's just a coincidence that it happened to be, they could be like me and just throw everything into the back of their car. And it just, there could have been a plethora of things in the photograph. But she is convinced by this detail that it could be her.
00:45:56
Speaker
despite the mom's conviction that it could be her, the photograph has a lot of controversy. Scotland Yard inspected it and said, without a shadow of a doubt, it's Tara. The FBI wasn't so sure. And still others have said this photo would have been taken much later than originally thought, because something about like the
00:46:22
Speaker
paper or the technology wouldn't have been available at the time it would have had to have been taken to
Connection to Michael Henley: Another Missing Child
00:46:29
Speaker
be Tara and Michael because Michael was actually found dead before this picture could have been taken.
00:46:36
Speaker
Oh. And we used air quotes around missing because we don't know what really happened to Michael. We don't know if he was kidnapped. Most believe he just wandered off from his father during this camping trip and he died from exposure. So then that kind of rules out that it could be him if he wasn't actually kidnapped.
00:47:02
Speaker
All right, so Allison, if you scroll down to the next page in the script, I actually posted a picture of her at the time she went missing the photo in question and then an age progression photo. So look at Tara 1980's edition and then the duct tape one and tell me what you think.
00:47:26
Speaker
Oh, okay. So I will say when I am looking at what she looks like, I'm just focusing on the face first and then I'll talk about the taped image. But she definitely looks younger in the image with the duct tape on her mouth. Yes.
00:47:55
Speaker
And I mean, it could be because her hair is pulled back. Yeah. And the image that is her, like the 80s, her, I feel like that's a yearbook photo or something. She's in like, you know, how we used to do the drape thing. So we probably had on more makeup than she would have in the picture from the van.
00:48:16
Speaker
Right. I mean, that's true. And I've said before, you know, when I only saw my students with face masks on, once they took their face masks off, I was like, that's what you look like under there. I mean, you do look completely different. So I get why, you know, maybe she does look a lot different with the tape on her mouth versus the bottom. But I think what's weird to me in that top picture,
00:48:46
Speaker
the one that shows them, like with the masking tape on their mouths or duct tape on their mouths, is it almost looks to me, because it almost looks like you can see her fingers like at the bottom of her shorts. It's almost like she's just sitting on her hands. Yeah, I think them using the word distressed,
00:49:14
Speaker
Obviously I'm not in this photograph, thank God, but I don't know that I would really just score them as a distressed in that photograph. Right. Is that a cup under her leg too? Like over on the right? I don't know if it's bad or just the blanket. I don't know. Okay. Cause I was going to say if it's a cup, why would they need a cup if they're duct taped?
00:49:40
Speaker
because it can't drink out of it. Yeah, I don't know. And their hands would be tied behind their backs. It does. If, if she is kidnapped and, and her hands are bound, it is almost, so if she is kidnapped, it is almost as though whoever did it doesn't necessarily want her to be in pain or hurt because it doesn't look like her arms are
00:50:05
Speaker
like bound in some uncomfortable way, which might also explain the book being there. So I think if she is kidnapped... Right, because if her arms are bound, why would she need to have a book? Exactly. She can't read it. Yeah, she can't turn the pages. I mean, she couldn't even grab it. I don't know.
00:50:23
Speaker
So there's some things about the photo that don't make sense. And we will post this picture for you guys to look at too. I mean, there are similarities, but to me, I think the lighting in the yearbook photo versus the lighting in the van photo make it way too hard for me to be able to definitively say it is her.
00:50:46
Speaker
And to this day, neither the boy nor the girl in the photo have ever been positively identified. And we don't know what has happened to Tara. Her family would eventually move to Florida in 2003, but her mom died in 2006 without ever knowing what happened to her daughter. Her stepfather would continue to look for her and hope that she would be found.
00:51:14
Speaker
But again, there's not a lot of answers to all of the questions that we have about her case.
00:51:26
Speaker
Right. Two other photos believed to have been her have surfaced in the years since her disappearance. All of them looking like she's being kept against her will. But the last one most people think is that they're pranks.
00:51:46
Speaker
They don't think they're actual. Again, I don't understand why people do pranks like that. No, I don't. Like if you want to prank somebody, prank your best friend and like hit them with the water balloon as they walk out their door. Prank agree. Put a whoopee cushion on their seat. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So really that's all we have. We are going to discuss a couple theories, Alison. There aren't too many. I think there's like three, maybe three and a half, I think.
00:52:17
Speaker
So the initial theory is that Tara ran away from home, which is always where we go to first. Investigators were adamant that this was what happened, that she just left of her own accord. She pedaled away into the sunset on her huffy by her own intent.
00:52:46
Speaker
There were a series of these really weird letters that I feel like I'm missing a piece of the puzzle here, but somehow police connected these to Tara's disappearance and said that these have to be connected with her. And for some reason, these letters that featured other people, not her taped up, they somehow connect these to her.
00:53:14
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like I'm missing part of that there. Yeah, it was like there was
00:53:22
Speaker
pictures of a boy that were sent to the Port St. Joe Police Department. They were postmarked from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The boy's mouth was covered as in the 1989 picture. So I don't know if it was the same boy in the picture. Maybe that's the piece of this puzzle that I'm missing.
00:53:45
Speaker
Um, there was like a third letter that was again postmarked in Albuquerque that had the same image, this boy with something over his mouth. We never confirmed this, that it was the same boy, that identity of the boy. None of the letters had a return address, but something in that made officials believe it may have something to do with the disappearance of Tara.
00:54:12
Speaker
So I don't know if they think it was the same camera. I'm not sure. I do know that the letters were sent at the same time that a self-proclaimed psychic had called about, Tara. I'm not really sure how you proclaim yourself as a psychic. Like I don't, are there classes you think are kind of psychic or self-proclaimed?
00:54:34
Speaker
I don't know. But this one says that she had met a runaway in California and the girl was eventually murdered. The caller said she had jury yeams that told her this runaway who was working in a strip club was Tara Calico and she was buried in California somewhere.
00:54:57
Speaker
Now, to give credit to investigators, they did a search in hopes of finding fingerprints or possible DNA than, you know, finding a body. They found nothing.
00:55:13
Speaker
Tara's family does not support the idea of her being a runaway. Nearly everything I read about her said that she was a cheerful girl, quote, brimming with enthusiasm. So she was happy in the life that she was making for herself. So no one who really knew her believed this hypothesis. Right.
00:55:37
Speaker
Um, actually her stepdad said, quote, there was just so much she wanted to fit into a day. She was like a little machine. It was amazing. End quote. So again, not indicative of someone who's going to run away. She also had nothing with her besides a walk. Which she left behind. Right. And we've said this multiple times. If you're going to run away, you need money. You may need clothes.
00:56:07
Speaker
And you're probably not going to make a date to play tennis with your boyfriend.
00:56:13
Speaker
Yeah. And tell your mom that you have class at four, like just not things that people who are going to do. Well, if she were running away, why would she say to her mom, even jokingly, if I'm not back by noon, come look for me and then have a date with her boyfriend at 1230? Because if you're running away, you don't want people to notice right away that you're not there. Like you want to give enough time to where you can put some distance between you and whatever you're running away from.
00:56:42
Speaker
So it doesn't make any sense to me that she would do either of those things if her intent was to run away You know, I hadn't thought about that but that is true Like you're not gonna run away and only give yourself three or four hours To get away on a bicycle when you're gonna be followed or being looked for in a car, right? Right. You don't want to give yourself a lot of time. Okay, so runaway theory is out out the window
00:57:12
Speaker
Theory number two is that her death was sort of an accident. So in 2008, the County Sheriff Riviera said that he believes, and like everything I read about this theory, it sounded like this was so random. Like just one day he woke up and had this theory. But he says,
00:57:39
Speaker
that two men were driving down Highway 47 on September 20, 1988 when they accidentally hit Tara and she had serious injuries.
00:57:51
Speaker
Okay. So she's not dead. She's just been struck by vehicle as reported by the thought catalog Riviera believes the men panicked and instead of being normal and calling police or taking her to the hospital, which I mean, I've never hit someone with my car.
00:58:10
Speaker
Anthony almost did pulling out of Kroger last week, but we didn't I have never hit someone with my car But I think if I did I would oh I'd be driving them to the hospital.
Sheriff's Theory: An Accidental Death?
00:58:21
Speaker
Yes. Yes same I would not throw them in the back of my truck and Leave with a severely injured person in the back of my truck, which is what this theory says happens so according to Riviera the men are
00:58:36
Speaker
where they're trying to figure out what are we gonna do with this person that's severely injured in the back of my truck. So they call two of their friends and they say, hey, can you come help us with this situation? And the friends come over to help them kill and dispose of Tara's body. Like what? What is this?
00:58:59
Speaker
This seems out of left field. Yeah, and I don't know. There's no one I could call and say, hey, could you come help me kill this person and dispose of their body? Right, right. But the sheriff does admit that there isn't a lot of evidence that's backing this. We're linking these men to Tara's disappearance. But he did say, quote,
00:59:24
Speaker
was putting a case together, but they want to make sure that this case is a concrete case." That comment makes it seem like whoever he got this theory from in terms of an informant or
00:59:43
Speaker
something like that, that Riviera believes that that person is credible because otherwise this does seem completely out of nowhere. And then in reference to this theory to say that he's trying to put a concrete case together, it makes it sound like there must be details that they're just not sharing with the public that make this theory a pretty solid one.
01:00:12
Speaker
I am going to say to you, because we're going to talk about that in theory three, maybe I think that your little tidbit sounds really great. And like this sheriff's department really has their life together. I'm not a hundred percent sure that that's the case. And we'll talk about that in the next theory. So I'm giving them more credit perhaps.
01:00:41
Speaker
Maybe. And I don't know because, you know, these are theories. So we're talking hypotheticals, but maybe. So, you know, not a lot of evidence, but we're going to make a concrete case. He did tell reporters that he thought the two men in the truck were young teenagers and that maybe it was their parents who helped them cover up the crime. Oh, my. Which kind of leads me into
01:01:11
Speaker
theory three maybe like theory two and a half so we had um a possible suspect named by a prison informant oh if that makes sense so a prison informant called with details saying this this person did it
01:01:34
Speaker
Yes, correct. Or these people did it. So in 2010, a prison informant made a deathbed confession that he had knowledge about Tara's disappearance.
Prison Informant's Claims: The Alleged Culprits
01:01:47
Speaker
As reported by the True Crime Times, this man named three individuals that he said hit Tara with a truck while she was riding her bike.
01:02:01
Speaker
Oh, which is similar to Theory 2. Right. There's lots of similarities in this. I'm sure somewhere in all of this, their names are publicly said. I'm not going to say them, but if you want to know who it is, you just have to Google her and they'll be there.
01:02:22
Speaker
In this theory, these three people hit Tara with their truck as she's riding her bicycle. In everything I read about this theory, it did not seem accidental. I don't know that for sure.
01:02:38
Speaker
this prison informant says they then drove her to a gravel pit where they took turns raping her so to me this is the theory of the struggle on the side of the road and the cassette tape because to me she if she is
01:03:02
Speaker
Cognizant enough to put the cassette tape there, then she couldn't have been severely injured. So I don't know if they actually hit her, just ran her off the road. Did she know one of these people? Like were they from the same town or they went to school together or? I'm assuming maybe she didn't like know them, know them, but she probably knew
01:03:29
Speaker
of them because I don't think the town that she was in was very large. So while they're sexually assaulting her, she says, I'm going to go to authorities. You're going to jail.
01:03:46
Speaker
And because of those threads in this information from the prison informant, she was actually held down by one of the individuals or about two of the individuals while the third one stabbed her to death.
01:04:02
Speaker
Oh my gosh. So very, very gruesome. Part of me that says this could be like theory two and a half is because I think
01:04:22
Speaker
one of these people, one of the three, were very well connected to the county sheriff's office. And there are a lot of people who believe the sheriff's office helped, or not all of them obviously, but the person that they were connected to helped cover up their involvement in her disappearance.
01:04:48
Speaker
Kind of like a red herring, having people look other places when they're covering other things up. So Allison, what are your thoughts or theories? I'm still confused a little bit on any of these theories, at what point the Polaroid comes into play, unless it's not Tara.
01:05:12
Speaker
And if it is, where did the little boy come from? Because there's clearly a little boy in the picture. Yeah, that should be missing from the same area. Right. I do think, obviously, I'm drawn to theories two and three mostly because there are so many similarities in them, including an accidental
01:05:41
Speaker
or some sort of an abduction that happens on the side of the road. And the fact that it's similar number of people, that might be why, you know, theory two is a theory, even though it seems to come out of left field is because they heard it over and over and over again from people.
01:06:04
Speaker
And you know, like Alexis said in last week's case, the street talks. So I feel like if you're hearing similar stories about the same people over and over and over again, that deserves more attention. So I'm kind of drawn to that last theory, I think most of all.
01:06:27
Speaker
Recently, the FBI announced a reward up to $20,000 for anyone who had information that would lead to the location of Tara Calico or the arrest of those responsible for her disappearance. The FBI has also released age progression photos showing what she would currently look like as she would be in her 50s if my math serves me well today.
01:06:51
Speaker
Tara's mom went to her grave not knowing what happened to her baby girl. She and Tara's stepdad kept a bedroom for her, bringing her gifts there for all of her Christmases, all of her birthdays. Even near the end, Patty would see a young girl on a bicycle and would point and say, that's Tara. Her brothers would
01:07:17
Speaker
say that the stress of their sister's disappearance significantly shortened their mother's life. One sibling 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 would look at them. She could not, but it tore her up every time. End quote. Taurus family told reporters that their mother never wanted to believe that she was dead.
01:07:46
Speaker
And honestly, what parent could fully accept that without actually seeing a body? Sleuthhounds, if you have any information on Tara Calico's disappearance, please contact the County Sheriff's Office at 505-866-2400 or you can call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or online at tips.fbi.gov.
01:08:13
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and Case's podcast to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Twitter at casescoffee, on Instagram at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffeeandcasespodcastatgmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
01:08:43
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.
01:09:06
Speaker
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