The Mysterious Disappearance of Tara Calico

The Tara Calico case is one of the most mysterious and haunting cases in the history of the United States. Tara was a 19-year-old girl from Belen, New Mexico, who went on a bike ride on September 20, 1988, and never returned. Her disappearance has baffled investigators for more than three decades, and despite multiple leads, her whereabouts remain unknown. This is the story of Tara Calico, her disappearance, and the strange events that followed.

On the morning of September 20, 1988, Tara Calico left her house for a bike ride. She was planning to bike along Highway 47 towards Rio Communities and then return home. Tara was an avid cyclist and had been training for an upcoming race. She left her house around 9:30 am, and her mother saw her ride away. She was wearing a white T-shirt, red shorts, and white sneakers, and had a cassette player attached to her bicycle.

When Tara didn't return home by early afternoon, her mother became worried and called the police. A search was launched, and her bike was found a few miles from her home near Highway 47. The cassette tape was found on the side of the road, but there was no sign of Tara. The search continued for days, but Tara remained missing.

The investigation into Tara's disappearance was initially handled by the Valencia County Sheriff's Office. They launched a massive search for the missing girl, including aerial and ground searches, and even brought in search dogs. The search continued for months, but there was no sign of Tara. The case was then handed over to the New Mexico State Police.

In 1989, a Polaroid photograph was found in a convenience store parking lot in Florida. The photo showed a young girl and a boy, both bound and gagged in the back of a van. The girl in the photo bore a striking resemblance to Tara Calico. Her mother believed it was her daughter in the photo, and investigators took the lead seriously. However, the boy in the photo was never identified, and the photo's origins remained a mystery.

In 1990, a woman named Patty Doel came forward and claimed that she had seen Tara in the back of a pickup truck in New Mexico. She said that she had been driving on Highway 47 when she saw a girl who looked like Tara in the back of the truck with a man. She said that Tara had looked at her and mouthed the words "help me." Doel reported the sighting to the police, but they were unable to locate the truck.

In 2008, a Valencia County resident found a Polaroid photograph on the side of a road near Rio Communities. The photo showed a young woman and a young boy, both bound and gagged, lying on a bed with a pillowcase covering their heads. The woman in the photo looked like Tara Calico, and the boy looked like the boy in the earlier Polaroid. Investigators believed that the photo was taken after the first one and was meant to prove that Tara was still alive. However, the photo's authenticity has never been confirmed.

Over the years, there have been multiple suspects in Tara's disappearance, but no one has ever been charged. In 2009, a woman named Renee Rivera came forward and claimed that her ex-husband, Henry Brown, had kidnapped and killed Tara. Rivera said that Brown had confessed to her on his deathbed. However, Brown had died in 2006, and there was no evidence to support Rivera's claims.

In 2013, Valencia County Sheriff Rene Rivera announced that he believed he knew who was responsible for Tara's disappearance. He said that two men, including a convicted child killer named David Parker Ray, were involved in the kidnapping and murder.