Crime Junkie - MISSING: Tara Calico

Episode Date: September 28, 2020

A bright young college student vanishes while out on a bike ride, leaving behind a mystery that's endured for over 30 years.For current Fan Club membership options and policies, please visit https://crimejunkieapp.com/library/. Sources for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/missing-tara-calico/(Please note our source material stated the book in the photo is title My Secret Audrina, by V.C. Andrews. The book actual name is My Sweet Audrina.) 

Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And today, I want to tell you about a mystery in the Mesa's. When a bright young college student rides away from home and vanishes into thin air, investigators can only find the barest hints of what could have happened to her. And that question still remains to this very day over 30 years later. This is the story of Tara Calico. On the morning of September 20th, 1988, a woman named Patty Dole is at home with her daughter, Tara,

in Bolin, New Mexico, which is about a half hour south of Albuquerque. Tara's a 19-year-old sophomore in college at the University of New Mexico, Valencia, and she's living at home with her mom, her stepdad, John, and her stepsister, Michelle, in the Rio community suburb. Now, Tara's a really active girl. She did track and cheerleading in high school. And now that she's in college, she still likes to stay busy by playing tennis. And she goes on these regular, long, long bike rides for exercise. So Patty's not surprised when Tara says that she's going to go on her daily bike ride that morning.

Now, since Tara's own bike got a flat tire a couple of days ago, she asked her mom if she can take her hot pink, huffy 10-speed bike out instead. And Patty's like, sure, no problem. So around 9.30 that morning, Tara's getting ready to head out and she tells Patty that she's going to be back by 11.30 because she's got to meet her boyfriend, she has this tennis game later, and she has some college classes. Now, she says, if I'm not back by noon, please come get me.

And this may sound a little weird to say, but Tara's really good at keeping a schedule. And since she's already got plans that afternoon, I mean, she just wants to make sure that, you know, she doesn't lose track of time. Like she wants to be punctual. Right. So Tara says goodbye to her mom, turns on her Walkman, and sets off on her usual route along New Mexico State Road 47. Now, Patty didn't love that Tara took this route so much

because it's kind of isolated once you get outside of the neighborhood. Plus, one time when Patty went biking with Tara one morning along this same exact road, she swears that they were being followed by a driver, which freaked her out enough that she didn't want to go on a ride again. Now, Patty obviously like brought this up to Tara and she told her, listen, you at least need to be carrying mace. I don't even really want you on this route at all. But Tara's like, no, mom, you're being ridiculous.

Like we live in a safe place. This is a comfortable area. I'm 19 not nine. And there really isn't a huge amount that Patty can do about that. You know, she says, you know, I've, I've wasted my concerns. I don't love it, but Tara is an adult. Yeah. So that morning, 1130 a.m. comes and goes without any sign of Tara.

Now, obviously this is back in the days before cell phones or even pagers. So it's not like they can just call or page her and be like, hey, are you on your way home? So Patty has to wait. And really 1131, 1135, even 1140 passes and Patty's not that worried yet. After all, it wouldn't be super odd for a bike ride to run a little bit over. But when Tara still doesn't come home by noon, Patty decides to go out and look for her just like Tara had told her to do.

Patty knew right where to look because like I said, Tara bikes that same route basically every day. It's a 17 mile stretch along state road 47 heading southeast out to the railroad tracks away from Rio communities and then 17 miles back. She drives up and down the road hoping to catch a glimpse of the familiar pink bike, but mile after mile after mile, she sees nothing, no sign of her daughter, no sign of the bike. Is there any sort of like gas station or rest stop that she might have stopped at for a break?

Nope, there is nothing. So by now, Patty's definitely starting to get worried because Tara, again, we said super punctual person. Like she's always on time. She always keeps her schedule pretty tight. But at the same time, Patty is still trying to stay logical and not immediately jump to the absolute worst conclusions. Now, you know, the bike could have gotten a flat tire,

something could have happened. These things, you know, go wrong and she's probably going to see Tara. They're going to laugh about it later. But when Patty gets back home, her hopes are dashed when her worst fears start coming true because by the time she gets home, having driven those 17 miles there and back, Tara still isn't there. Together with her husband, John, who's Tara's stepdad, they call the police to report her missing.

According to Ed Pierce's reporting in the Albuquerque Journal, law enforcement takes this case seriously right away. And the search efforts get underway that Tuesday. They take Patty and John's word that this is super out of character for Tara. And beyond that, all of Tara's friends say the same thing. This isn't like her. She's so dependable. She would never just ride off.

And again, she had plans. Why make your mom come look for you if you weren't planning on coming back? The Valencia County Sheriff's call in help from departments all across New Mexico. We're talking the state police, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's from Albuquerque. They have bloodhound teams come in and they have a state search and rescue team all come to join in the efforts out searching on foot and horseback. They even bring in some ATVs. Like this is a hardcore search operation pretty much right off the bat.

And it pays off because that very first day Tara went missing. Searchers find some vital clues that make her family's hearts sink. There, right along State Road 47, about four miles away from real communities are bicycle tracks. Like the kind that would match the one she was riding. So without a bike to actually compare them to, it's a little hard to do a full analysis right away and say that, you know, 100% this is hers. But it's definitely what they're thinking. But the tracks didn't actually lead them to Tara or her mom's bike.

Investigation Discovery reported that the tracks look kind of spun out like there must have been or could have been a struggle in that area. And they also report that very close to the bike tire marks, they also find tire marks from a car along with a piece of broken tape player. Now this tape player matched the same distinctive yellow Walkman that Tara had and would always take with her. And if there was any doubt that it could be hers, they also found the cassette that had been in the Walkman nearby. It was from the band Boston. And Patty and John are gutted because they know Tara loved to listen to music while she was out riding.

All of this had to belong to her and finding these things felt like a very bad sign. I mean, all of this looks like something not great happened. Was finding this evidence able to help them narrow down their searches or find witnesses or anything? Oh yeah, I mean, because again, we started with that 17-mile stretch of road. So we have a much more condensed area and police do actually find a handful of witnesses who say they saw a woman matching Tara's description the morning that she went missing. There was a pair of ranch hands out working that morning and they tell law enforcement that they saw her heading north at about 11.30, which fits right in with the timeframe of her being on her way home, just like she promised.

Now, this is helpful because again, it narrows down our timeframe a little bit, but it doesn't get us a whole lot closer to Tara. So while police and the Valencia County sheriffs are still out searching, Tara's family isn't just sitting back and waiting. Patty, John and Michelle are all working tirelessly to recruit volunteers to help look for any sign of what might have happened to Tara in order to bring her back home. The weather on Wednesday was really bad. I mean, bad enough that an air search gets grounded and much to Patty's dismay. This is a really gross day. I mean, windy, rainy, and it's perfect to wash away all of the evidence that they're probably so desperate to find. But even with the weather setbacks, the doles don't give up.

And by Friday, they've gotten over 200 people to join in with the search for Tara. According to the Albuquerque Journal, ground forces are focusing on the east side of State Road 47 where it's more isolated. And while they're out searching, other members of law enforcement are searching for more witnesses who might be able to shed some light on what happened that day. And they get a break. Several more witnesses come forward and tell police that not only did they see Tara, but they saw her being followed by an older model pickup truck with a shell camper. The same witnesses say that Tara had her headphones on and she didn't seem to be aware that she might have been being followed. And if she wasn't aware, then how could she try to protect herself from whoever was behind the wheel of this truck? Now, even though these leads seem promising at first, none of these clues lead to anything solid, not the Walkman, not the witness descriptions of the truck, nothing.

And so all the doles can do is wait and keep grasping on to hope. The months go by and like too many missing person cases, Tara's disappearance cools off and with no new leads, the case eventually goes cold. And then in the summer of 1989, Tara's stepdad gets a call that turns the investigation red hot. In July of 1989, Tara's stepdad, John gets a phone call from one of his friends. Even over the phone, he can hear how his friend is like super amped up, super anxious. He's talking fast, barely stopping to breathe, and he's saying something about watching the show, a current affair, and seeing a photo of Tara. And instantly, John's on high alert, like now his heart is racing and he keeps asking what photo of Tara are you talking about? Like where the heck is this even coming from?

And the story his friend tells him is crazy and I have to tell you it. So there's this woman at a convenience store all the way in Port St. Joe in North Florida. And this is on June 12 1989. Now she's in the parking lot of this convenience store and she sees a white van with a guy sitting in the driver's seat. It's just him, nobody in the passenger side. And this isn't a big deal at the time. But then when she comes back out of the store, the van is gone. And there in its place is a Polaroid picture lying on the ground.

She picked it up, took one look at it and was so shocked that she knew she had to report it to police right away. And here, but I'm going to send you this picture more as a refresher. I mean, this is probably one of the most infamous pictures in the true crime community. So I'm sure you've seen it. I know we've actually talked about it in another case, but it might be good for you and for the audience to just get a little refresher. Oh my God, yeah, I definitely remember seeing this picture at some point in time. It's a picture and you can't really tell where it's set, but there are two people. It looks like a teenage girl and maybe a younger boy, maybe like elementary school age.

Yeah, yeah, like eight to 10. And it appears that they're bound and they have tape over their mouths and they're both laying down on like a couple of blankets and pillows. And there's actually a book next to the girl, but I can't quite make out anything else. And you can't see their feet in the picture. Right. And you technically, you know, we're making the assumption that they're bound, but like their hands are behind their back. They're both like kind of laying on their hands and their feet are out of the image. But like you said, they have duct tape on.

And I mean, just like the looks on their faces are, I think what's. Yeah, it's a very jarring photo. Yeah, it's chilling. And actually this picture came up, like I mentioned in another case back when we were researching the Zachary Bernhardt case for one of our earlier episodes, because for a moment police wondered if the boy in the picture was him. Now, obviously that didn't end up like coming to any kind of conclusion. But now this picture is back because, you know, it's been found in Florida and police in Florida got to work like right away. As soon as this woman called them turned in this picture, they're trying to identify the people in the Polaroid.

And the woman who finds the picture tells police everything she knows. According to the thought catalog, she described the driver as this guy in his 30s with a mustache. I mean, it's vague, but it's all they have and armed with this description of the guy and the van. The police actually set up roadblocks right away looking for this person. But despite their best efforts, they can't find anything. And they're, you know, working and working days turn into weeks. They're trying to identify these people. It's not going anywhere. So when six weeks go by and the Florida police still don't have anything to go on,

they turn to the public for help to see if anyone might recognize who's in this picture, which is how it got on a current affair where John's friend saw it. So back in New Mexico, when John hears this story from his friend about seeing the picture on a current affair, about how this lady found it, he's instantly on high alert. And according to People Magazine, he calls the New Mexico police immediately. And he and Tara's family rush down to Florida as soon as they can. And they're joined by the FBI who takes over as lead in the investigation. And their first priority is to get that photo back to their lab for analysis.

As you can imagine, just from looking at this picture, this picture at the time gets a ton of media attention all over the country because everybody wants to know who are these kids, where are these kids, and are they even still alive because clearly they don't seem okay in this photo. Now, even though tips start flooding in, nobody can connect the boy and the girl with solid names until John Dole calls the police in Florida and says, listen, this might be our Tara. And I have a great comparison. I want you to look at this picture of Tara and then look back at that Polaroid. Oh my God, yeah, I can totally see it.

Even kind of the colic in her bangs, which is kind of distinctive, I think. Like, I don't disagree that this could be her. And Tara's parents are even more confident. And it's terrible because it's like their biggest hope and their darkest fears colliding. Like, if that is Tara, then it's wonderful. She's alive or at least she was as of June. But then you have to wonder what's being done to her and where is she now? Right.

Now, Patti is totally convinced that the girl in the Polaroid is her daughter. She says it is totally Tara without makeup and when she hasn't gotten a perm in a while. And specifically, she points to the scar on the girl's leg and she says that it matches a scar Tara has. Even beyond the physical resemblance, Tara's family says that there's something else in the photo that makes them even more certain of the woman's identity. And it's that book that you mentioned, but you said that you couldn't tell. But when the FBI, you know, blew it up and they even recognize just kind of the logo of the book because the book is called My Secret Audrina by V.C. Andrews.

And get this, the family is so familiar with what the book looks like and they can recognize it right away because according to Patti, that's Tara's favorite book. And that's not the only clue that the book has because according to the Albuquerque Tribune, there's a phone number scratched into the book's spine. The problem, though, is that law enforcement can't see all the numbers. Now, police have never said how many numbers they can see. When I look at it, I can hardly see anything. So, I mean, obviously, they enhanced the image significantly. And they didn't even say, like, okay, is this a number from Florida?

Is this a number from all over the country? Is it the first couple numbers, the last couple numbers? Like, we have zero details about this. All that they've ever said is that they were able to get over 300 possible number combinations with what was visible and that only 57 of those were actual valid phone numbers, which on the surface sounds like, you know, this may be like a great lead, like you're narrowing it down a little bit, except none of these numbers pan out to viable leads. And it's just another dead end. Okay, but what about the boy? Like, if we are to believe that this is Tara, do we have any idea who the little boy is?

So, initially, yes, they think that they do know who this boy is. And this is where the photo starts to get even more mysterious because another set of grieving New Mexico parents, Michael and Marty Henley, they see the picture and they're like, oh my gosh, this looks exactly like our missing son, Michael Jr. According to an article in the Santa Fe, New Mexican, Michael was nine years old in April of 1988 when he went missing from Oso Ridge up in the Zuni Mountains, which is in northwestern New Mexico. And he went missing while he was up there with his dad on a camping trip to hunt turkeys. Now, this area is about a three hour drive from where Tara went missing.

Pretty much a straight shot, about 130, maybe 140 miles west, depending on which route you take. Now, just like with Tara, there was this massive search operation that didn't turn up any leads, and Michael's case also went cold, until this fateful photograph turns up and links these two families who'd never met, who'd never had any other connections before together. Now, something I think that is interesting about this, though, is that the Henleys and the dolls actually react a little differently because where Patty is convinced, and I mean 100% dead certain that the girl in the photo is her Tara, even though the FBI analysis isn't totally done yet, the Henleys are a little more cautious.

And I don't know if it's like an emotional protection thing or what, but they're just a little more reserved. Yes, it looks a lot like their son, but they're not willing to say it's 100% him. Okay, so I know that they disappeared within a couple months of each other, but is there any way to narrow down or like confirm that it's possible for these to have been together at the same time? So there's one way that they can do this, and they actually want to research a little bit more into the Polaroid itself to see, you know, you and I like grew up with Polaroids. To me, they've just always been around, but around this time, they were fairly new, and they knew that they could probably track even when that Polaroid film was like made and distributed.

So law enforcement reaches out to the Polaroid people to like get this information, and they find out that this specific type of film in the picture only became available in May of 1989. So the photo had to have been taken after that. So it's totally possible that these two in the image could be Tara and Michael. But even with that, I mean, again, it's just kind of confirming, okay, yes, possibly, but the Henleys and the Doles, like all they can do is wait because they have to wait for the expert analysis to come back from the FBI to give them the like definitive answers that they're looking for. But the problem is when the results do start coming back in, the analysis isn't actually definitive.

Now, I know the photo gets taken to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is this like super renowned research facility in New Mexico, but I've actually seen different reports about what they come up with. So according to the Albuquerque Tribune back in 2003, John and Patty say that the National Lab told them that based on the ears and the hairline, the girl is definitely Tara. But in 2008, the Albuquerque Journal reported that the lab actually said no, it's not her. So I don't know who's virgin to believe or maybe like with additional time and testing, it told them something different all those years later. Either way, though, there's no like pure consensus, not from the National Laboratory or the FBI.

In August of 1989, the FBI says, well, they don't think it's Tara. They're not able to like 100% conclude, you know, that way or the other that Tara is the girl in the picture. And Patty can't accept that. She won't accept that at some point. And I wasn't able to clarify exactly when, but sometime during this agonizing summer of searching for answers, she actually gets Scotland Yard over in the United Kingdom involved. And they do another analysis of the picture adding to the confusion because Scotland Yard says, yep, it's definitely Tara. And all of this back and forth is beyond heartbreaking, but Patty and John never give up. Even after the photo's initial burst of publicity dies down and the perspective leads go nowhere.

Because to Patty, she believes that her baby girl is alive and she will stop at nothing to bring her home. Tragically, though, for Michael Henley's parents, they do bring their son home, not alive, but to rest. His body was actually found in June of 1990 up in the mountains about seven miles from where he actually disappeared. And according to People magazine, Michael died from exposure. Wait, so he can't be the boy in the picture. No, but that doesn't change a whole lot because if it's not Michael, I mean, that still leaves the massive question of who it is. Well, and I mean, you know, me devil's advocate, we also have to consider the possibility that this photo is being faked. Like, of course, it's a real picture, but I'm remembering now reading into this a little bit when we did Zachary's case.

And didn't People magazine kind of pose the question, like, are those people in the photo really in distress? What do you mean? I mean, like you said, you can't really see if either of them have been tied up. Like, you can't see their hands, you can't see their feet. They're kind of posed that way, but there's no visible rope or handcuffs or anything. And they aren't as, like, tensed up as you would expect, I guess. Yeah, that kind of makes sense. I'm remembering in the article specifically mentioning how both the boy and the girl don't have, like, redness around their mouths that they would have if the tape had been there for a long time, like, irritating their skin.

Plus, people posing for a fake picture is nowhere near the end of the list of the weirdest things we've ever learned. So, I guess I don't know. Yeah, I mean, it's not something that I put a lot of thought into or considered, but I guess it's totally possible, considering we still, I mean, to this day, don't have 100% confirmation of who's in that picture. But regardless, faked or not, the image stays with the dolls. And haunted by this photo and their desperation for answers, Patty and John stay, I mean, as involved as they can with the investigation. And in 1991, they actually go through the training to become auxiliary deputies with the Valencia County Sheriff's Department. And I didn't know this was like a thing you could do. Sign me up.

But I couldn't find Valencia County's requirements, but I did get the current ones for a nearby county. And basically, you just have to pass a background check. You have to put in a certain number of hours, go through this, like, reserve academy, get law enforcement certification. I mean, it's not just something you can like sign up, I'm a deputy, it's a pretty intense process. But at the end of all of this, John and Patty can carry weapons. They can talk to law enforcement agencies on behalf of the Valencia County Sheriff's Department. So it basically gives them more access than the average citizen, but still less than a police officer. Now, with this new access, Patty gets pretty close to the old Valencia County Sheriff, a man named Lawrence Romero, because Lawrence actually also lost a child over the course of the investigation.

He lost his son, Lawrence Jr., who died from suicide in 1991. So they kind of bond over the great loss that they've each experienced. And she becomes so close to the police, like, to the point that Tara's brother, Chris, told People Magazine in 2018 that they actually send her all kinds of materials so she can help them with the investigation. And I'm talking like super gruesome pictures of dismembered bodies to see if, like, by some off chance, it could be Tara. And even though it kills her, like, deep down inside to look at these pictures, she's not able to stop. And these are pictures that, I mean, it's hard enough for these seasoned officers to look at, like, let alone a grieving mother in the emotional state that she's in. But no matter what Patty keeps looking, agonizing over every single photo they send, hoping that it's not Tara. In 2003, Patty and John left New Mexico for a fresh start in Florida.

Even thousands of miles away in the new state, the stress of Tara's disappearance wears them down, grinding away at Patty's health and mental functions until she finally passes away in 2006, still waiting for Tara to come home and still waiting for answers about what happened to her daughter. But it would have been two more years before any kind of answers would come. In 2008, just two years after Patty's death, the new Valencia County Sheriff goes on record with a shocking announcement. In an interview with the Valencia County News Bulletin that's published 20 years to the exact day after Tara Calico went missing, Valencia County Sheriff Rene Rivera says he knows exactly what happened to Tara. And he knows exactly who's responsible. But that's not all. In this same interview, Rene also says that these two suspects, who were teenagers back in 1988 when Tara vanished, had help. He says that when they got rid of her body, they didn't work alone, and that he believes Tara Calico never left New Mexico alive, not even Valencia County.

Now, as part of his theory, he clarifies that he doesn't think Tara's in that Polaroid, even though it's never been linked to anyone else's case. Now, he's been on the case for a long time, since like 96. So he's used to all kinds of wild goose chases from tipsters and psychics and everyone in between. And he says he's followed tons of leads and dug up multiple places where Tara was rumored to be buried, only to have it all come up empty. But now he's ready to lay out what he believes happened to Tara. Okay, so what happened? So according to Rene, these two teenagers were driving along in an old pickup, just like how the witnesses described. And when they saw Tara riding her bike down State Road 47, they decided to follow her.

He says that these guys actually knew Tara and were kind of maybe like cat calling her or harassing her, just kind of like being jerks essentially. But then things took a really bad turn because they actually hit Tara's bike with the truck. Now, Rene does say that he thinks it was an accident. Like they weren't trying to run her over anything, but accident or not, Tara falls off her bike. And from there, these two men panic and they picked Tara up with her and her bike in the truck. They abduct her, dump her bike somewhere along the way. And then Rene says that he thinks maybe she could have been hurt from the fall, maybe she was threatening to call police. Somehow things spiraled, her abductors panicked because they were afraid of going to jail.

Okay, but assuming he's right, it doesn't really speak to what happened to her after they took her. Well, according to Rene in this same interview, he says that when the boys got rid of Tara's body, again, remember I said they didn't do it alone, and I don't think he has a theory of exactly what transpired, exactly maybe how she was murdered, but he thinks that these guys had helped from at least two other people. But though he thinks like he knows who they are, he won't name them formally. After this interview goes to press, Tara's surviving family waits with like this horrible anticipation, desperate to see these two mystery guys arrested so they can finally learn what really happened to fill in all of those pieces and get the closure that they've waited for for 20 long years.

But here's the thing, even though he says he's got a solid case already put together against these two unnamed suspects, Rene won't pull the trigger and arrest them. Wait, what? Yeah, he says that he won't do it without some really rock hard evidence like Tara's body or her bike or even a piece of clothing. Now, Tara's family is beyond frustrated by this because why go public with such a bombshell if all you're going to do is just let it fizzle. And John Dole in particular is mad and in his mind, the sheriff should never have gone public if the department wasn't going to make a move. And I totally get his anger. I mean, he lost a child.

He watched his wife live with her grief like an open wound. He had to listen to every out there theory. I mean, for years and years and years. And so now after losing Tara, then Patty, I can only imagine that Rene's refusal to arrest his suspects had to feel like a slap in the face to John and his daughter, Michelle, who at this point, Michelle is kind of taking over the investigation after Patty passed away. Okay, but to give Rene the benefit of the doubt, I can see that maybe he went public to try and put the pressure on, you know, in the hope that these two guys would turn themselves in and confess, maybe lead him to Tara's bike or remains or anything. Maybe, but I mean, it just doesn't happen that way.

Nothing comes of this and Tara's family is left yet again to just watch and wait. With no arrests, no new information, Tara's disappearance cools off yet again. The investigation does continue, though, and more anniversaries pass, including the 20th anniversary of the infamous Polaroid from 1989. And on this 20th anniversary, something interesting happens. Jordan Winnagle reported for Thought Catalog that back across the country in Port St. Joe, Florida, the chief of police himself, a man named David Barnes, gets a pair of images in the mail. Of a boy with marker drawn over his mouth like duct tape to imitate the boy from the original Polaroid. Now, law investigations reported that these photos are postmarked for June 10th, 2009, two days before the anniversary of when this photo was found.

Now, at first, David thinks this is some kind of gag, somebody trying to be funny or more like, you know, maybe flip off the police. But the local newspaper gets the same photo postmarked from Albuquerque the same day that David got his. And when they received it, they turned theirs over to police just to be safe. And the thing is, I mean, just like the girl has never been 100% positively IDed after 20 years, neither has the boy. So law enforcement does have to take it seriously, at least for a little while, even though they're still pretty sure it's BS. Right. Because what if it actually is connected? Exactly. But like we've seen so many times before in this case, these strange photographs come to absolutely nothing. Because there's just no way for police to identify the boy and to track down where these came from other than where they're postmarked.

And honestly, these photos in relation to Tara feels like kind of a stretch to me. Like someone with time on their hands, someone who is kind of evil and just wants to mess with police and bring up this horrible time in a family's life. As time continues to pass after 2009, Tara's stepsister Michelle gets more and more into the investigation. Again, kind of taking the mantle from her dad, John, who took it from Patty. And she does everything she can to keep a light shining on Tara's case in hopes that her sister will one day get justice. And then, just when it seems like the answers might never come, the case gets brand new life. In October of 2013, 25 years after Tara Calico vanished, law enforcement announces they are reopening her case, which had fizzled out after Renee's announcement in 2008 didn't lead to any arrests. Nicole Perez reported in the Albuquerque Journal that a task force made up of both federal and local officials is being assembled to try and find answers once and for all.

And this is a serious crew and we're talking agents from Homeland Security, the Valencia Sheriffs, Albuquerque Police, multiple other sheriff's agencies, state police, like they are not messing around here. Yeah, that's a pretty intense group. But I guess my question is what made them reopen the case and form this super intense task force? Was it just that the case had been quiet for so long or was there something new? You know, I'm not 100% sure. The Albuquerque Journal article says that they were interested in solving just like generally cold cases and looking at old evidence with modern technology. And they had been, you know, talking about opening Tara's case for about a year before this actually happened. But I found something else that I have to think is related. So later that same October, after the case is reopened, members of this task force conduct an interview with a former Valencia County Sheriff's deputy named Frank Mathola. And he tells them about a deathbed statement that he took while he was with the sheriff's department. According to the police report about this interview, Frank tells the task force that a man named Henry Brown wanted to confess some things before he died and that he knew exactly what happened to Tara and who killed her.

As Frank tells the task force, Henry told him that back in 88, he used to live down the street from a trailer where this other guy lived. And he said that this other guy liked to have his buddies over to get high and party in the basement that he built. And Henry would go over to actually party with them. And, you know, all sounds kind of innocent enough, right? But the name of the guy who lived in the trailer was Lawrence Romero Jr. Wait, isn't that the old sheriff's son, the one who died? Yep. As Frank tells the task force, Henry said that he was down in the basement one night, right around the time Tara disappeared. And he saw what he called a grave wrapped in blue tarp, basically the right size to be a human body. Then there are these three guys, Lawrence and his buddies Leroy and David and this other unnamed man with red hair. And they kind of start talking about how they knew Tara because she used to date a friend of theirs and how they knew that she took the same bike ride every day, how they'd seen her on State Road 47 on her usual route.

And they were out driving this old pickup truck and knocked her off her bike. But according to Henry, they don't stop there. He tells Frank that Lawrence Leroy, the redhead and David kidnapped Tara, took her out to some gravel pits nearby and sexually assaulted her. And she fought, even though she'd just been brutalized. Lawrence told Henry that she threatened to go to the police, so Lawrence got a knife and stabbed her. Then he says that they put her body in the basement and later took it out to the redhead's house, dumping it in a nearby pond. Apparently, Lawrence liked to brag that since his dad was the sheriff, he could pretty much get away with committing crimes. And as for the pink bike, the group said that they took it to a junkyard where it would never be found. Now, by the time the task force hears all of this, again, Lawrence Romero Jr. has been dead for over 20 years. Henry's even dead. And Frank has resigned from the department. There really isn't a way to prove or disprove any of this.

But I think right back to that report that we talked about from 2008, and I see a lot of parallels. You know, when Renee comes out and he's like, I've solved it. I mean, you got the teenage boys, you got an old pickup truck that accidentally runs into it's not necessarily planned, and Tara threatening to tell law enforcement and even this idea of a possible cover up. And that would even explain why there was never an arrest. I feel like we see this a lot of times. It's not always about justice. It can just be about politics. I feel like we've seen that too many times. But the reality of it is that we don't have actual evidence of this. I mean, we don't have evidence of anything. We don't even know what law enforcement did with this information. The most recent update I could find comes from Jolene Gutierrez Kruger, who reported in the Albuquerque Journal, this is like 2018, that it was unclear what steps law enforcement took after this and whether they searched that pond or the house or the trucks.

Like honestly, we have no idea. And of course, there's still the photograph, even if that's not actually Tara Callico bound and gagged in the back of the van. Who is that woman and who's the boy next to her? Their stories deserve to be told and their families are surely missing them. I mean, it's been years and years and those families deserve answers. Or, I mean, if it really is faked, like you posed, we need someone to come forward and confirm that so we can remove this from the investigation and from the narrative if it really has nothing to do with the case. Over 30 years later, the mysteries remain as puzzling as ever. Tara Callico's fate is still unknown and Michelle won't stop until she gets the truth. She's actually teamed up with a former classmate of Tara's named Melinda, who has an investigative podcast dedicated to solving Tara's case. And in April 2019, Melinda did say that she's gotten some new information that she's turned over to law enforcement, though we don't know exactly what that is or if it has the potential to solve this. Back in October of 2019, the FBI posted that they are offering a $20,000 reward for information about this case and they ask anyone with information to please contact them at tips.fbi.gov or by calling them at 505-889-1300.

Again, if you have any information about Tara's case, please contact the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or by calling them at 505-889-1300. And as usual, you can find all of the pictures from this story and our source material on our website, crimejunkiepodcast.com. And be sure to follow us on Instagram at crimejunkiepodcast. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode, but hang around for a proper of the month story. Music Crimejunkie is an audio check production, so what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? Crimejunkie is an audio check production, so what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? Crimejunkie is an audio check production, so what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?

Okay, Ashley, everyone got really upset with me and my rating scale last month and said that what I considered a 6.5 to 7 was actually closer to a 10. But I don't even know what kind of rating scale we're getting into. Yeah, again, to me, unless we are talking about puppies who grow up to be happy, healthy dogs who have a litter of puppies, everything is a hard nine to me, and this one is no exception. So I'm not going to fool around with our listeners, grab your Kleenex, because I'm hoping that I can get through it. If not, Britt, I might have to send the story over to you, but I'm going to try because I think it's a very sweet, sweet story. And it came to me from one of our listeners named Anthony, so I'm honestly just going to read you the exact message that he sent me. Okay.

My name is Anthony, and I'm actually more of a recent listener, although I'm fairly new, just started three weeks ago. I have binge listened and am only three episodes away from being caught up. I love those dog segments you do after episodes telling stories of dogs, and I have quite the tearjerker about our puppy named Sal. My family lives on a farm in a small upstate New York town called Appalachian, and we adopted a purebred Great Pyrenees puppy to live with and guard our sheep. I love them. Yes, but when we brought him home with us in January of 2020, he was only eight weeks old. He had to stay in the house to grow and get comfortable.

For the first three weeks or so, he had to be near another one of our house dogs or one of us humans as he had some pretty crazy separation anxiety. We would put him in a kennel at night in the house, but every night for three weeks, he would yelp and whine until someone woke up to let him out. And every night for three weeks straight, it was always me. I like Anthony already. I would totally be a sucker for the puppy. I did it with Chuck, right? That's why he's probably so not well-behaved. He's definitely nowhere near crate trained, but he's a very good dog. He's a very good boy.

I would take him out of the kennel, then take him outside to go to the bathroom at two, three a.m. But when I would bring him back inside, he made it abundantly clear that he wanted nothing to do with going back inside the kennel. So inevitably, I would sit or lay down on the floor with him and he would curl up with me until he eventually fell asleep also. I can kind of just imagine this like fluffy white pup just like... Yeah. No, I'm not going to go in the crate. Yeah, and so cute. And they curl up together.

Someone would wake up every morning at 6 a.m. or so and come get the puppy from me so I could get an hour or two of sleep in bed again. Every night, that was our thing. He wanted to be comforted and as much as I wanted sleep, I wanted him to feel safe and comfortable more. Oh, guys, spoiler alert, it's coming. As he grew in size, mostly from eating the dog food out of our much larger dog's bowl, we started showing him around the farm and introducing him to the other animals and dogs he'd be staying with in the sheet pen. Sal was a happy and playful puppy even as he grew and found himself sleeping in the most random of places in the house. When Sal was big enough, we integrated him out to our pen with the sheep and the other dogs and he couldn't have been happier. He would play with the little lambs and our other dogs and if one of the older sheep ever tried to challenge Sal, the other dogs would come to his rescue. I love animals, like all of them, honestly.

This farm life sounds amazing. One day, about three weeks ago, I noticed Sal was limping on his leg pretty bad. I brought it to the attention of the other family members wondering if anyone had a definitive clue of what happened and no one seemed to know. So I went out and did my normal routine of looking him over, made sure he didn't cut his paw on anything, felt for broken bones, looked for any kind of blood on his snow white fur to signify any kind of injury to explain this sudden limping. Nothing. As a family, we came to the conclusion that he might have pulled a muscle chasing one of the sheep in his playful banter and we all agreed to keep a close eye on him. Just three days later, I noticed instead of getting better, he actually seemed to be getting worse and was applying even less pressure to his leg. So we took him to the vet to see if they could find something that we couldn't to explain this and what they found was going to take the very breath out of us all.

Upon X-ray scans, a dark spot was discovered on his elbow, not a mass, but instead the lack of bone that should have been there. When we asked for further review, it was concluded that our poor, eight-month-old, happy with life puppy had a very rare form of bone cancer and it was incredibly aggressive. They informed us that it had already begun to spread and it deteriorated the bone in his elbow so bad that it affected the nerves too, so he couldn't control the paw at all. The doc said he probably wouldn't make it through the following weekend. Are you going to be okay? Okay. One sec. As they told us this, he looked back at us and smiled. His usual, everything is awesome, smile.

So we brought him home knowing that time was short but wanting him to be happy for as long as he could. We let him stay with the sheeps and dogs outside at night and during the day, we made sure someone was home to bring him in the house and give him the loving that he so deserved. Just two days ago, on Labor Day, I went out to the sheep pen to spend some time with him, but he refused to get up even to greet me. So I did what any dog-loving person would do and I sat down in the dirt next to where he was laying and I started petting him. Only this time, no smile. No, I got this. I got it. Yeah. As I pet him, I couldn't stop the tears from filling my eyes as I knew what he was trying to tell me.

And for a moment, the only thought in my mind was I'm not ready to say goodbye. As quickly as that thought entered my mind though, he leaned his head onto my leg and fell asleep, leaning against me as I pet him. The way he did when he was so small. And that's when I knew that he was telling me it was time. I stayed with him for what seemed like hours, just calmly petting him and soaking up the feeling of him laying there with me. And when I entered the house afterwards, I knew we would have to call the vet. Sal had to be put down Tuesday evening to end his suffering and then we had a funeral service, if you will, and buried him right on the property that he grew to love and call his home.

Anthony goes on to say, this is a sad story and I know I so apologize for that. But he said he's basically telling it to us because he wants to bring some kind of awareness to dogs with cancer in some way. He feels like there's not enough that's heard about it. And he knows that Cornell University College of Veterinary Science does a great job in treating the animals that are especially in his area. But he said it's not commonly talked about unless you're in the situation where your dog is the one with cancer and needs that. Ashley, all you told me about this was can you look up cancer research in dogs? I mean, you had to have known it was coming. I know, but this was honestly even more heart-wrenching than I could have even imagined.

We usually like to highlight a shelter at the end of these segments. But like you said, the main reason Anthony sent us Sal's story was to talk about dogs with cancer and how to help other pet owners find the help and support they need after that cancer diagnosis. And I was looking into this because you asked me to and I found the Animal Cancer Foundation. And their slogan is uniting pet and human research for a cure. And they are passionate about helping fund research to find a cure for cancer not only in pets but in people too. And they have this incredible program called the Canine Cancer Genome Project that actually helps map the genomes of seven of the most common canine cancers

and make sure that research is shared not only with veterinary researchers in the oncology field, but also with human cancer researchers to help grow the field and the possibilities of targeting cancer therapies for us humans and our furry best friends. And the Animal Cancer Foundation has a ton of ways to get plugged in with their organization, whether it's donating, volunteering or fundraising. And they have this program that I personally cannot wait to participate in. It's getting to be too cold here in Northern Indiana to do it now. But next summer, my family and I are definitely going to be doing a sippy pup cafe.

What is that? It's a lemonade stand that is human and pup friendly. They email you a little kit with everything you need to help raise funds that will go to help fund pet and human cancer research. And I can't wait. And personally, I want to thank Anthony not only for submitting Sal's story, but for helping me be more aware of this cause and making sure that Sal's life isn't for nothing. His legacy will live on for years to come. Yeah, so keep an eye out next summer for that crime junkie puppy lemonade stand.

If you guys want to figure out how to get involved, we'll make sure all of that information is on our website. And Brett, as you hone in your rating system. This is a 15. This is a 15. Yeah. Yeah. You're getting better at that.