NM NM - Tara Calico, 19, Belen, 20 Sept 1988

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https://www.usnews.com/news/best-st...family-begin-new-look-at-new-mexico-cold-case
Sept. 24, 2017
[h=1]Filmmaker, Family Begin New Look at New Mexico Cold Case[/h] [h=3]Nearly three decades since a 19-year-old woman disappeared from her small New Mexico town, the family with the help of a former friend and filmmaker are still searching for answers.[/h]
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KRQE-TV reported (http://bit.ly/2fq5vdd ) last week that filmmaker Melinda Esquibel began a new investigation into the disappearance of Tara Calico whose case has remained unsolved since she went missing from Belen in September 1988.


Esquibel with help from Calico's family began a documentary film project examining the vanishing of her high school friend, but that examination became an investigation after finding the case files in disorder.
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Melinda posted a new podcast episode with a recorded interview with one of the "4 hunters" who think they saw Tara on her bike. Very interesting interview with the guy and he sounds very credible. I wish there was a map that showed the area(s) that he is talking about.
 
Good Day to all -

While trying to find the other two unreleased photos of supposedly Tara (someone, somewhere mentioned that they are on 4chan), I stumbled across this post on another form. Do websleuths have any opinion on this? Has this been discussed here?

Link
 
http://krqe.com/2017/09/20/renewed-hope-for-answers-29-years-after-disappearance-of-tara-calico/
rbbm
Sept 20 2017
The investigation took them to places they didn’t expect.

According to Esquibel, people did not want to talk about what happened and says through the course of her investigation, her life and her family’s lives have been threatened.

However, she says progress in the investigation has been made.

According to Esquibel, different areas that were overlooked before are now being searched, unearthing secrets that have been hidden for years.

She also believes that there are too many powerful people involved who do not want the case to be solved.

“People have passed who have strong ties to the community who may have deflected people coming forward from talking and getting involved. I think that has made a difference,” Esquibel said.
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Despite the picture many believed could have been Tara, found in a parking lot in Port St. Joe, Florida months after her disappearance, Michele and Melinda believe the story goes no further than Valencia County.

Much of the information uncovered cannot be released to the public because the FBI and the sheriff’s department are still building a case. A new detective was recently appointed to the case.

Anyone with information, no matter how little, is asked to call the FBI tipline or the sheriff’s office.
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thesetup85 said:
Good Day to all -

While trying to find the other two unreleased photos of supposedly Tara (someone, somewhere mentioned that they are on 4chan), I stumbled across this post on another form. Do websleuths have any opinion on this? Has this been discussed here?

Link
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Good Day!
Ok that topless pic freaked me out as does that link, wondering where that pic was found and if it is thrown out there as a red herring due to the new investigation?
Hard to say if they are the same person,but the other pic looks staged, but then maybe the whole thing is a setup?
imo, speculation.
 
I don't know.... the girl in the Polaroid looks a lot like the girl in that link.


Here is a link to the other unreleased Train picture I was trying to find:

Link

It's hard to tell since the girl is looking upwards, if she resembles Tara.
 
thesetup85 said:
I don't know.... the girl in the Polaroid looks a lot like the girl in that link.


Here is a link to the other unreleased Train picture I was trying to find:

Link

It's hard to tell since the girl is looking upwards, if she resembles Tara.
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What ties this picture to possibly being Tara? Why do people think this could be her? Tia. And where was this found and when, etc.
 
margarita25 said:
What ties this picture to possibly being Tara? Why do people think this could be her? Tia. And where was this found and when, etc.
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All I know is from the wiki page:


Two other Polaroid photographs, possibly of Calico, have surfaced over the years, but they have yet to be released to the public. The first was found near a construction site in Montecito, California, and is a blurry photo of a girl's face with tape covering her mouth, and light blue striped fabric behind her, "similar to that on the pillow in the Toyota van photo". It was taken on film that was not available until June 1989. The second shows "a woman loosely bound in gauze, her eyes covered with more gauze and large black-framed glasses", with a male passenger beside her on an Amtrak train. The film used was not available until February 1990. Calico's mother believed the first one was Tara, but thought the second may have been a gag.[3] Her sister stated, "They had a striking, uncalming resemblance. As for me, I will not rule them out. But keep in mind our family has had to identify many other photographs and all but those three were ruled out."
 
After listening to the Vanished podcast on Tara (by Melinda Esquibar) I don't think any of the Polaroids are Tara. I don't think she made it out of the general area of her bike route.
There were some convincing sightings of her by some hunters and another man being trailed closely by a pickup truck. The most likely explanation is that she was abducted and killed close to the same area.

I hope her family can get some answers soon.
 
thenotebook said:
After listening to the Vanished podcast on Tara (by Melinda Esquibar) I don't think any of the Polaroids are Tara. I don't think she made it out of the general area of her bike route.
There were some convincing sightings of her by some hunters and another man being trailed closely by a pickup truck. The most likely explanation is that she was abducted and killed close to the same area.

I hope her family can get some answers soon.
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Moosebegoose said:
I am in the camp that the Polaroids are not of Tara. She had a very particular look.

I too believe that she was taken close to the bike path.
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The polaroids are definitely not Tara; that theory has alre already been thoroughly vetted and discounted by LE.
As for answers, I think the family already has most of them, even though they haven't located Tara's body. It seems the people who murdered her escaped justice by dying young; I guess you'd call that karma.
 
I don't think the Polaroids are malicious. The three taken together suggest they're prank photographs by friends trying to be funny. The duct tape wouldn't stay on like that, and the girl isn't actually bound. She's just got her hands behind her back. The train one in particular is very obviously staged.

Just my two cents.
 
Yep, I agree. In the fake train phohto there is a can of sprite, and next to it is a women's ciggerette pouch. They were very common back in the olden days. My aunt use to carry one just like it.
 
I agree that I don't think that the polaroids are of Tara. I for one think that she was taken on her bike path or very near it by a person she may or may not have known. I think it was probably a crime of opportunity.
 
Has anyone been able to find a photo of Lawrence Romero Jr from around 1988? The podcast says he had a very distinct look (red hair).
 
kandoo76 said:
Is it cerain that the other child is definatly a boy and not a girl?:confused:
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Yes, almost certainly - doesnt look remotely like a girl. The shape / expression of eyes, nose / nasion and face overall, the jawline and upper-body stance visible suggest a boy aged 8-10. Also, a low-gen close up shows no sign of hair tied back and looks like a buzz cut. 95% certain its a boy.
 
image

Tara Calico circa 1987

Tara’s case has seen a flurry of activity in recent years. A multi-agency task force examined it in 2013 and 2014 — a key burst of momentum — and both the FBI and the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office are probing at least two living local suspects, though they decline to discuss their probable theories or the suspects’ names.

A review of the voluminous case file, completed in the last six months, laid out further leads, according to Valencia Sgt. Joseph Rowland, the chief investigator. “New info at any point could crack open this case,” he says.

Answers, at last, would mean an end to the strangest mystery Tara’s tight-knit railroad community has ever seen.

“It shocked everybody,” says Clara Garcia, a lifelong Valencia resident and editor of the local newspaper. “We were in limbo. We’ve been in limbo for almost 30 years.”
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Law enforcement sources tell PEOPLE that Tara may have been taken by someone whom she knew. It’s a possibility endorsed by Sgt. Rowland and former Valencia County Sheriff Rene Rivera, who worked as the case’s lead investigator for a decade starting in 1996 and left office in 2011.

Citing two informants, Rivera thinks Tara could have been killed by at least two teenage boys from the community who acted with two accomplices. He tells PEOPLE one theory was that she was attacked by boys riding together in a pickup truck that crossed her path on her bike ride that fateful September day.
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Read more: New Leads in a Teen's Cold-Case Disappearance While Biking: Answers May Be Hiding in Her Community
 
Gardener1850 said:
image

Tara Calico circa 1987



Read more: New Leads in a Teen's Cold-Case Disappearance While Biking: Answers May Be Hiding in Her Community
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Thank you Gardener for the article,The article mentions that Tara got threats before she disappeared , on the day she disappeared before she went out from her home she said that if she is not coming back then they should search for her , I think Tara knew her kidnappers, I wish Tare told a friend or to her family who sent the threats and why she is worried that she might not coming back, then this case could be solved so long time ago/

It's so sad that almost 30 years have passed and there is no Justice and no Closure.
 
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Tara Calico Update: New leads, clues emerge in cold case of ‘Polaroid photo’ girl who disappeared while riding her bike

It’s been almost 30 years since 19-year-old Tara Calico disappeared while riding her bike in New Mexico, but new details and leads in the case resulted in authorities questioning two locals that could possibly hold the key details to cracking the case.

People reports that although authorities will not provide details on who the persons of interest are, the FBI and the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office have two people on their radar; both from around the area of Valencia County, New Mexico, where Tara lived and ultimately disappeared from. According to Valencia County Sheriff Rene Rivera, who previously worked the case for years, two teen boys from the area may be responsible for Tara’s death, along with two accomplices that helped them.

Rivera said he felt the boys’ family in the close community of Rio Communities likely assisted in covering up the crime. Melinda Esquibel, host of Vanished: The Tara Calico Investigation, confirmed that the community where she grew up and was Tara’s best friend was always considered tight-knit.
 
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