Resolved FL - Port St Joe, 2 Children 96UMFL & 66UFFL, bound & gagged in photo, Jun'89

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To be honest she actually looks a lot like my sister did when she was in her mid teens.
 
specialistblend said:
Hi all. I first learned of this case in 2018 and it is what brought me here as a member. I've more or less read through most of this thread. Regarding the polaroid... I have some comments/observations I'd like to make. Also, I have found a wee bit of info that wasn't mentioned here, I wouldn't say it's that helpful but is interesting nonetheless.

Some thoughts/questions:
1. First off, for the record, I do not think that is Tara Calico. The whole cover-up story with the boys hitting the bike, hiding the body, etc. makes sense to me, everything clicks. What doesn't click is why a kidnapped girl from NM was taken to FL. Yes, of course, human trafficking can occur across an entire continent, that's understandable, but I would think traffickers would find a closer place for their "transactions". But either way, I don't think that is her in the pic.

2. So this thread was started in 2009 around the time that the newer pics of a boy with a black marker drawn across his mouth made headlines. Every recent article I've read online about this has mentioned a "letter" (or was it two?), an "original" pic of the boy, then of course the version with the black marker. All recent sources simply show 1 pic with the black marker, I see no "original" pic without it, nor do I see anything regarding the contents of the "letter" itself. I'm assuming by letter they are referring to words written on a piece of paper, so wtf did it say?

Early posts in this thread link to the original news articles that contain both pics plus the letter contents. Someone here even linked everything separately on an image hosting site:

http://www.newsherald.com/news/joe-76835-port-rekindled.html
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/4264/koshwrboyandletter.jpg
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/6610/kosxc0unsolvedmystery2.jpg
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/5079/kosxc0unsolvedmystery3.jpg

Well none of these work now. The News Herald link no longer exists, I even tried searching for it on their site, nope. Fox news did a similar one at that time too, same problem. I can understand the image hosting links probably expired, by why are the news links missing for this story? Why doesn't anyone talk about what that letter says? Somebody here mentioned regarding the letter "The numerals are made in a very old style. The seven in particular and the four and the six remind me of the European style of writing numerals." Maybe someone who was around here back then could shed light on that?

3. There's talk about a phone number written on the spine of the book. Experts say that it could be any one of 300 possible combinations, 57 of which are active. I may know one or two things but I'm not a photoshop expert, has anyone here with those skills tried to unsharpen those pixelated numbers on the book? Speaking of which, when zooming in on the book, I noticed what "may" look like a clear/silver bracelet on the girl's wrist. Maybe my eyes are playing tricks?

4. Being that nobody has come forward regarding who they are, could one of these scenarios be possible:

a) They are siblings abused/enslaved by the parents who are twisted/sick individuals.
b) They are not US citizens. Port St Joe is close to Panama City, an area notorious for trafficking, right? Maybe this photo is of the kids when they arrived in Florida from overseas and they were sold to a FL/US resident.

5. The photo was said to be found just outside a convenience store where a white van was parked. However, I don't think that photo was snapped right then and there in the parking lot. I think this photo was taken at another location (that same day) just after the driver or whoever loaded these two kids into the van. By another location, I mean wherever they were being held in FL just prior to being transported in the van. From that point, the driver must have accidentally dropped it when leaving the store.

With that said, I'd like to add two things...

1. That Egghead software shirt... Someone on here mentioned a while back that they were aware an Egghead software employee spoke on another social media site about being approached by LE regarding the girl wearing one of their shirts in the pic. I saw this post and sent a private message to the employee. Apparently, the "full police report" was sent to the company and it sounds like LE knows more about the kids in the pic than we do. For one, they somehow know the girl is a vegetarian, they had "names", as well as pics of the kids before they were kidnapped. The report also acknowledged that the girl was held captive longer than the boy.

I was shocked to hear this. Since LE supposedly knew the identities of these kids, I inquired further about that bit but the employee responded saying memory was vague on that bit. I scared to press for any further details so I just left it at that. I don't know how many missing person reports state whether or not the person was vegetarian or not, but if so that should definitely narrow down the list for girls that went missing in the late 80s.

2. Somebody in the thread photoshopped a close up of the girl without the tape on her mouth. I took that pic and did a bit of photoshopping of my own, clearing it up a bit. What a huge difference, see attached pic.

Also, there is a mobile app called MyHeritage which many people had downloaded a few months back for the sole purpose of its "animation" feature, or as i call it "RE-animation". They were uploading pics of their deceased loved ones and the app edits the image so that it can move or imitate movement as if the person were alive again. It's not 100% but it's sure damn close and creepy AF.

I came up with the idea of trying this with the girl in pic, both with and without tape on her mouth. I figured maybe seeing the face/head move certain ways would give a better look at who she could possibly be, just trying to see her from different angles. You can even make her smile a bit and little things like that. I will upload them here later.

In the meantime, any thoughts/ideas?
Click to expand...
So she has hazel eyes? To me on the original they look grey.
 
Does anyone here with some photo enhancing expertise know how to unsharpen those digits on the book's spine?
 

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specialistblend said:
Does anyone here with some photo enhancing expertise know how to unsharpen those digits on the book's spine?
Click to expand...
Analysis done by Los Almos National Laboratory on the original polaroid, using a negative image to enhance, they identified a number of possibilities for the number.

The first digit was 3 the next three were either 242 or 274 and the next four were either 2318, 2315, 2328, 2325, 2378 or 2375.

Apparently LE tried a list of over 200 possibilities of the whole number but were unsuccessful in connecting any to the book.
 
Just because the photo was found in Florida, doesn't mean that the photo was taken there; it could have been taken anywhere. And it doesn't mean the subjects of the photo were ever in Florida.

I've always thought that that photo was legitimate; that poor boy has a look of fear and anxiety on his face that can't be faked.
 
Oakie said:
Just because the photo was found in Florida, doesn't mean that the photo was taken there; it could have been taken anywhere. And it doesn't mean the subjects of the photo were ever in Florida.

I've always thought that that photo was legitimate; that poor boy has a look of fear and anxiety on his face that can't be faked.
Click to expand...

Yep. Really there is nothing solid about this story. There isn't even any solid proof that the lady that supposedly found the photo found it in the way she claimed she did.
 
Oakie said:
Just because the photo was found in Florida, doesn't mean that the photo was taken there; it could have been taken anywhere. And it doesn't mean the subjects of the photo were ever in Florida.
Click to expand...

The logo on the boy’s T-shirt was believed to be of Spuds MacKenzie and originated from Busch Gardens, so perhaps a link to a Florida location.
 
The problem with this photo is that the possibilities are endless. What intrigues me is that there was allegedly a sighting of the girl on the St. Joe beach the same day the photo was found. ??? I’d love more information on this sighting.

Something else that has always been in the back of my mind is that I don’t think we can know 100% that the “boy” in the pic is actually a boy. I think they could also be a girl, and I think they could possibly be younger than the estimate age of 12. More like 9 or 10.
 
cobalt sky said:
The problem with this photo is that the possibilities are endless. What intrigues me is that there was allegedly a sighting of the girl on the St. Joe beach the same day the photo was found. ??? I’d love more information on this sighting.

Something else that has always been in the back of my mind is that I don’t think we can know 100% that the “boy” in the pic is actually a boy. I think they could also be a girl, and I think they could possibly be younger than the estimate age of 12. More like 9 or 10.
Click to expand...
I had considered this initially. But after watching clip of the subject's head moving (above), I'm still convinced thats a young boy.
 
Gravity Well said:
The logo on the boy’s T-shirt was believed to be of Spuds MacKenzie and originated from Busch Gardens, so perhaps a link to a Florida location.
Click to expand...

Im on team Florida as well :p

I personally think it is from Florida. However i don't think it was taken right where it was supposedly found in the parking lot. Whoever took it did so at an earlier location such as a private residence. It doesn't make sense to snap a polaroid like this in a public area... But then again we're talking about minds of criminals/kidnappers, who knows.

Aside from its origins, this is the only realistic scenario i can see is that this is a family-related abduction. That's why no one knows who they are and no one has come and said oh thats my kid who went missing X years ago.

The parents are messed up and trafficked them.

Or it could have been foster parents who are part of a human trafficking organization (very likely).

Or a relative with trafficking connections who may have killed their parents and took the kids.
 
Gravity Well said:
Analysis done by Los Almos National Laboratory on the original polaroid, using a negative image to enhance, they identified a number of possibilities for the number.

The first digit was 3 the next three were either 242 or 274 and the next four were either 2318, 2315, 2328, 2325, 2378 or 2375.

Apparently LE tried a list of over 200 possibilities of the whole number but were unsuccessful in connecting any to the book.
Click to expand...

Interesting. So correct me if I'm wrong... Based off of that, the area code is either 342 or 327, is that right?

If so, 342 is from north carolina and 327 is from arkansas.

I do recall them mentioning they had 200 possible numbers but only 57(?) were still current. Did they even bother investigating the ones no longer current? Like seeing who they were registered to in june 1989? They'd be stupid not to investigate it from that angle.
 
sony12 said:
And one thing in regards to the book. Those authors books were kind of like what the Twilight series is today. Way too popular of a book amongst teens to take any substantial clues from it.
Click to expand...

I think it pretty horrific reading for someone that has been abducted. The book describes rapes, psychological torture and murder. If I were being held captive it isn’t my reading of choice, no matter how popular.
 
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specialistblend said:
Im on team Florida as well :p

I personally think it is from Florida. However i don't think it was taken right where it was supposedly found in the parking lot. Whoever took it did so at an earlier location such as a private residence. It doesn't make sense to snap a polaroid like this in a public area... But then again we're talking about minds of criminals/kidnappers, who knows.

Aside from its origins, this is the only realistic scenario i can see is that this is a family-related abduction. That's why no one knows who they are and no one has come and said oh thats my kid who went missing X years ago.

The parents are messed up and trafficked them.

Or it could have been foster parents who are part of a human trafficking organization (very likely).

Or a relative with trafficking connections who may have killed their parents and took the kids.
Click to expand...

the girl is very tan. Not sunburned like people that come here get when they aren’t familiar with beach and white sand. She is from somewhere near the beach I think. I live in Santa Rosa Beach and grew up 3 hours from where this photo was found.
 
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specialistblend said:
Interesting. So correct me if I'm wrong... Based off of that, the area code is either 342 or 327, is that right?

If so, 342 is from north carolina and 327 is from arkansas.

I do recall them mentioning they had 200 possible numbers but only 57(?) were still current. Did they even bother investigating the ones no longer current? Like seeing who they were registered to in june 1989? They'd be stupid not to investigate it from that angle.
Click to expand...
The area code at the time for NWF west of Tallahassee was 904. The zip codes all begin with 324 and 325. Mine was 32548 3 hours away and now it’s 32459 about 2 hours away from where the photo was found.
 
Sorry this is coming late but i don't think that's her. Scroll up a bit and check out the pic and video i posted here of the van girl with the duct tape removed from her mouth.
 
Jdodge01018 said:
I think it pretty horrific reading for someone that has been abducted. The book describes rapes, psychological torture and murder. If I were being held captive it isn’t my reading of choice, no matter how popular.
Click to expand...

But very plausible reading for a teenager who would think that staging that picture was fun.

moo
 
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