Latest / Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast / Disappearance of Tara Calico

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Disappearance of Tara Calico · Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: On the morning of September twentieth, nineteen eighty eight, nineteen
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: year old Tara Calico set out on her daily bike
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: ride along a quiet stretch of road in Valencia County,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: New Mexico, and was never seen again. Then, a year
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: after she vanished, a disturbing discovery came to light. A
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: polaroid photograph found in a Florida parking lot appeared to
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: show a young woman bound and gagged, and she bore
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: a striking resemblance to Tara. This is the story of
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: a young woman's disappearance who became one of the most
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: haunting missing person's faces in American history. This is the
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: story of Tara Calico.
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  Speaker 2: My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked Ingram, a.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: True crime podcast following a real intended audience. Listeners, you
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: ready for this one?
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: I am?
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: You are.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: It's one way to bring in the weekend, because Happy Friday.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: It's yeah Friday.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: So yeah, it's a pretty well known one, for sure.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: I've definitely heard of this one.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: This is a very well known episode. This case is
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  Speaker 1: probably one of the most well known missing person's cases
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  Speaker 1: in the US. It's quite the.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Story it is. Yeah. I mean I don't know all
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: the details, of course, but I know a little bit.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Well, we'll get into some of it. And it's honestly,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: it's it's been going for a long time. It's been
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  Speaker 1: thirty it's a thirty seven year old case.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, see I forgot it was that old.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, nineteen eighty eight. So it's dam Unfortunately, it's not
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  Speaker 1: a solved case. I know a lot of people don't
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: like those ones where it's not solved. But hey, we
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: were just talking this morning. Majority of true crime isn't solved. Yeah,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: so we can't just not cover ones that are not mysteries, right, But.
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  Speaker 2: I feel like this is a bit different in the
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  Speaker 2: sense that, you know, it's also like putting awareness out there,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: I suppose, right where the other ones, like, if they're unsolved,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: it's just you're not finding the douche canoe or as
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: you put it, right.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, and that's the thing. We want to bring
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  Speaker 1: awareness to some of these victims in some of the cases,
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  Speaker 1: and hopefully, hey, maybe someone out there who's listening to
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  Speaker 1: this knows something, maybe knows a detail that pops up
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  Speaker 1: and realizes they have some information.
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  Speaker 2: Well, someone knows something. That's always the case.
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  Speaker 1: So, right, someone does know something? Yeah, are you just
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: ready to dive into it? Should we? Yeah, let's just
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: do it, okay.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: So.
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  Speaker 1: Tara Lake Kaliko was born on February twenty eighth, nineteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty nine, in New Mexico. At nineteen, she was a
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: sophomore in college. She was balancing at three point nine
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: gpa while studying psychology at the University of New Mexico's
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Valencia campus. She was driven, intelligent, and athletic. She had
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: plans for her future future honestly, one that was really bright. Honestly,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: just as bright as her personality is. What a lot
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: of people.
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  Speaker 2: Would say, Oh that's always the worst, right, if only
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: you could be a missing person was like they were
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: a complete piece of shit. Blah blah blah.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, this person just like hated everybody. They
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: kicked dogs, they were miserable. Yeah, but it's always like
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: just this glowing human.
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  Speaker 2: Right they're missing.
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  Speaker 1: Not that I want anyone to go missing, but well no, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I know what you're saying.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Now.
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  Speaker 1: People who knew her described her as thoughtful and inclusive,
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  Speaker 1: the kind of person who went out of her way
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  Speaker 1: to make others feel seen. Her childhood friend Melinda once
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  Speaker 1: described Tara as someone who would do the right thing
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  Speaker 1: even when no one was looking.
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  Speaker 2: Oh man, oh that kind of person. That's special, especially too,
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  Speaker 2: where you just said is inclusive of everyone, right like that?
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  Speaker 2: That's rare, So it.
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  Speaker 1: Is, I think, especially in today's world.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Now, Tara's days were also very full. She was
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: a very full kind of person. But her days were
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  Speaker 1: packed full too. She loved a lot of things. She
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: would have tennis matches with her boyfriend Jack Cole, She'd
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  Speaker 1: have her school work, you know, going hanging out with friends, laughing,
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  Speaker 1: having fun, and long bike rides through the sun scorched
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  Speaker 1: roads of bilein the small town where she called home.
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  Speaker 1: She'd lived there with her mother, Patty Dwell, and stepfather
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  Speaker 1: John Dowell, and siblings after her parents divorced. Blen was quiet,
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  Speaker 1: It was close knit, and it was the kind of
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  Speaker 1: place where crime felt more like fiction than a possibility.
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  Speaker 1: Probably one of those places where people didn't worry about
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  Speaker 1: locking their doors sort of thing too.
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  Speaker 2: Yep.
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  Speaker 1: Tara was constantly in motion. She loved being outdoors, loved routines,
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  Speaker 1: and especially loved cycling. Her favorite route stretched thirty six
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  Speaker 1: miles around trip seventeen miles along the highway forty seven
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  Speaker 1: and seventeen miles.
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  Speaker 2: Back good for her.
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  Speaker 1: She took this route almost every day, often listening to
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: music on her walkman as she wrote, and sometimes her
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: mother would joined her on these rides as well, but
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: that had recently stopped. Patty had recently become uneasy about
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: those bike rides. On more than one occasion, she had
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: the unsettling feeling that they were being followed by a
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: driver who had never made themselves known. So spooked, Patty
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  Speaker 1: eventually stopped going, and she told Tara to be careful
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  Speaker 1: and even urged her to carry Mace along the route too,
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  Speaker 1: But Ta, very independent and strong willed, just brushed it off.
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  Speaker 1: She didn't want to live in fear, right, She wanted
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  Speaker 1: to continue to do the things that she loved. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and this, honestly would be a chilling detail in hindsight.
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  Speaker 1: That was the kind of warning that only takes shape
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  Speaker 1: after it's too late, you.
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  Speaker 2: Know, Oh dang, And then I'm sure the mom is
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  Speaker 2: just like wishing she stopped her daughter as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, but how do you right? You can't stop a
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  Speaker 1: person from living well, live in fear constantly.
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  Speaker 2: And like, yeah, she's an adult too, right and can
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: kind of make her own decisions and stuff at that point.
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  Speaker 2: So yep.
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  Speaker 1: So on the morning of Tuesday, September twentieth, nineteen eighty eight,
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  Speaker 1: it began like any other day for Tera. She left
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  Speaker 1: her family home on Brugg Street in Blen, New Mexico,
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  Speaker 1: around nine thirty am. Dressed for comfort and speed, a
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  Speaker 1: white T shirt with the words First National Bank of Bolen,
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  Speaker 1: white shorts with green stripes, white ankle socks, and white
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  Speaker 1: and turquoise avia tennis shoes. She wore a few pieces
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  Speaker 1: of jewelry, a gold butterfly ring with a diamond insert,
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  Speaker 1: a gold Amesis ring, and half inch gold hoop earrings,
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  Speaker 1: small details that would later help authorities piece together her description.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: Her own bike was unfortunately out of commission, so she
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  Speaker 1: rode her mother's that day. It was a bright neon,
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  Speaker 1: pink Huffey mountain bike with yellow control cables and matching sidewalls.
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  Speaker 1: It was hard to miss, so was Tara. She stood
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  Speaker 1: between five foot five and five foot seven inches tall,
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  Speaker 1: weighing around one hundred and fifteen to one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: twenty pounds, and had brown hair, a cowlic on her
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  Speaker 1: right temple, and hazel eyes. Her destination that morning was
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  Speaker 1: her usual thirty six mile loop around Highway forty seven,
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  Speaker 1: a mostly isolated, open stretched road that she knew very well.
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  Speaker 1: She was planning to be back home before noon, just
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  Speaker 1: in time to play tennis with her boyfriend. So she
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  Speaker 1: had a tennis appointment with her boyfriend at twelve thirty,
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  Speaker 1: and usually she didn't go out riding this early, so
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  Speaker 1: she kind of like was making sure that she got
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  Speaker 1: her ride in for the day.
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  Speaker 2: Which she was.
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  Speaker 1: She always went for this ride unless like you know,
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  Speaker 1: weather pending, you know, it's storming or super bad rain,
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  Speaker 1: so she rarely missed it. She rarely missed it, and
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  Speaker 1: so she went out a little bit earlier on this
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  Speaker 1: day just to make sure that she could squeeze her
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  Speaker 1: ride in before going out to play tennis with her
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  Speaker 1: boyfriend at twelve thirty.
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  Speaker 2: Good for her, that is, like, that's an active lifestyle.
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  Speaker 1: She was very active. She loved being active, and she
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  Speaker 1: loved to make sure that she was going to continue that. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: so she's very busy with her studies and you know,
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  Speaker 1: friend's family life, all these sort of things. But she's
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: making sure that there's time for these things. So before leaving,
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  Speaker 1: she made an offhand comment to her mother quote, if
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  Speaker 1: I'm not back by noon, come looking for me.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, that's kind of like daunting considering what happens. I guess.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, it was more so playful with joke. It was well,
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  Speaker 1: because like she's she's she's got things to do. She's
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  Speaker 1: very much so a scheduled person, sticks to the schedule.
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  Speaker 1: So like, if she's not back by noon, she's going
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  Speaker 1: to be late for twelve thirty with her boyfriend playing tennis.
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  Speaker 1: So she's like, if I'm not back by noon, like
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  Speaker 1: come get me because I'm I'm late. That's kind of
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  Speaker 1: her attitude.
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  Speaker 2: Well yeah, but definitely a little bit eerie.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, it's eerie for sure. And of course something like
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  Speaker 1: that would probably stay with her mom for a long
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  Speaker 1: time too. Unfortunately, now as it pass the hours passed,
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  Speaker 1: and twelve pm came and went, Patty you do well
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  Speaker 1: started to worry. It was at twelve oh five, five
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  Speaker 1: minutes after when her daughter was supposed to be back home,
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  Speaker 1: that she got in the car and began driving Tara's
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  Speaker 1: usual route. She expected to find her daughter pedaling back.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe dealing with a flat tire, just running a little late,
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  Speaker 1: who knows what, But the road was empty. Patty drove
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  Speaker 1: all the way out to the train tracks where Tara
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  Speaker 1: would typically turn around, and still nothing. She retraced the drive.
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  Speaker 1: No Tara, no pink bike, no sign of anything out
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  Speaker 1: of place. By the time she returned home, her panic
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  Speaker 1: had taken over as she was still not there.
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  Speaker 2: Dang.
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  Speaker 1: She called Tara's boyfriend, who hadn't heard from her. Then
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: she called the police. At first, some thought Tara might
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: have just changed her plans or lost track of time,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: but this wasn't like her. She was punctual and responsible,
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  Speaker 1: and Patty made this clear. This wasn't typical teenage disappearance
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  Speaker 1: type scenario. Tara was someone who never veered from routine
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  Speaker 1: or made impulsive decisions. She had plans that day, she
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: had responsibilities. She would have been home by now to
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  Speaker 1: make sure that she saw those out, which is exactly
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  Speaker 1: why the hints of if I'm not home by twelve,
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  Speaker 1: you don't come get me, because she was making sure
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  Speaker 1: she was sticking to those plants.
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  Speaker 2: There's a problem kind of thing, exactly.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: So responding officers from the Valencia County sheriff's office took
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: the report seriously, recognizing the urgency. Within hours, friends, neighbors,
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  Speaker 1: and law enforcement were out scouring the quiet desert road
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  Speaker 1: where Tara often rode her root along the Highway forty seven.
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  Speaker 1: You know, was initially just a daily routine thing, but
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: now it was the focus of a full scale search.
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  Speaker 1: The community had mobilized quickly. People were searching on foot, horseback,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: by car. Helicopters were even brought in to scan from
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: the skies. Boats patrolled nearby stretches of the Rio Grande Rotc.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Students from nearby Albuquerque even joined in, covering miles of
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: open land. They were going shoulder to shoulder looking for
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  Speaker 1: any trace of her, and as the sun dipped behind
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: the New Mexico horizon, the air turned colder, and so
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: did the mood. Tara wasn't just late, she was officially
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: gone missing and no one knew where she was.
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  Speaker 2: They were on this though, Hey, they were because lots
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  Speaker 2: of times there's been cases where you have to wait like,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know, twenty four forty eight hours or whatever,
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  Speaker 2: but like not in this one. They were just like boom.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: I think it had a little bit to do with
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: the type of person that Tara was and the urgency
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: in what her mom did, Like this was not normal behavior.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: She was supposed to be back by twelve. She had
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: all these scheduled things. She was a punctual individual. This
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: is out of the blue.
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  Speaker 2: Well and someone like heard that too, though, right.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Yes, someone did here, that's you're right, someone took that
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  Speaker 1: and actually took it seriously.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the other part of the puzzle for sure. Now,
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  Speaker 1: over the next five days, the search intensified. It wasn't
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: just a missing person's case anymore. It was a mystery,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: and one that wasn't giving up its answers very easily.
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  Speaker 1: On September twenty first, just one day after Tara Kalico
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: was reported missing, search teams began finding physical evidence along
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the Highway forty seven, near the edge of the small
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: community called Real Communities, roughly two to three miles south
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: of where she had last been seen. The first discovery
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: came near the side of the road, fragments of a
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: broken sony walkman bright yellow plastic pieces that were cracked
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: and scuffed. Nearby, a cassette tape was found partially ejected
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: from its case. The magnetic film unspooled and tangled in
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: the dirt. Patty Dwell confirmed that both the walkmen and
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: the tape belonged to her daughter didn't seem like litter.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: It was developing debris like Tara had been trying to
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: leave the trail or something. A little farther down the highway,
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  Speaker 1: investigators noted something even more unsettling, tire tracks veering sharply
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: off the road, alongside what looked like bike tracks and
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: scuffle marks in the dirt. Some described the tire impressions
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: as spun out, quote unquote, as if the vehicle had
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: suddenly accelerated or swerved. The pink Huffey bike, however, was
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: never found. Despite the damage to the walkman and the
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: scattered debris, there was no blood, There was no clothing,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: no sign of a struggle that left obvious marks. But
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: the implication was loud and clear. Something had happened here
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: and it involved Tara. In the days that followed, multiple
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: witnesses came forward to report having seen Tara along her
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: route that morning. Several recall a white or light colored
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: pickup truck, possibly a nineteen fifty three Ford with a
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: camper shell, following her closely In one account, the truck
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: was creeping behind her at an unusual speed, sometimes even
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: partially on the shoulder. Another witness saw what looked like
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: more than one person in the vehicle. One man said
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: he saw someone running from the front of the truck
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: over to the passenger side before the vehicle then sped off.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: These were not random reports. The truck, its erratic movements,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: and the timing all pointed to a potential abduction. A
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: composite sketch of the driver, described as a white male
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: around thirty five to forty five years old, about six
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: feet tall, with red hair and noticeable crow's feet on
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: around his eyes, was released to the public. In all, honestly,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: that kind of sounds like me, except I got a
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: beard and no red hair. I got those crow feet though,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: that's for sure.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Well isn't okay? Like what is that's kind of from
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: like smiling and stuff as well.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: It's like wrinkling. Yeah, it's like the lines coming off
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: your eyes. It happens when you smile. It's more prominent
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: than for sure.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: I know, but I almost feel like it kind of
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: it kind of describes like a happier person. So I
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: almost was like alarmed when I heard that, but well.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, like those crow feet, like if you WinCE
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: your eyes, you squint your eyes, those crow feet appear.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true, that's true.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Just your photographer. Mine's taken over, I think so. Yeah. Now,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: despite these efforts in the circulation of the image, though
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: no solid leads came of it, Terra's pink bike had vanished,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: and so did she. The pieces were beginning to come together,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: but the picture was still painfully and complete, and as
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: October turned to November, the search lost momentum. There were
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: no sightings, no new ones at LEAs, no arrests, no
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: evidence that pointed to where she could possibly have gone
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: or where she would be. It just was running into
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: a dead end, that's about it. Like what do you
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: do from there?
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: That's just the worst I feel like that is I
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: don't even know how like a friend, a parent, you know,
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: boyfriend would deal with that, just like they just like
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: vanished from thin air, like poof gone.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, for her family, this was unbearable. Her mother, Patty,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: refused to believe Tara was just simply gone. She was
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: certainly somewhere out there. You know, someone knew something, that
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: someone would have seen something, happen. She continued to press
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: law enforcement, push for updates, and maintain a high public
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: profile to keep Tara's name in the headlights headlines. Either
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: way you say it, I guess headlines is what I said.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: But I said headlights.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: Good for her mom. I just have to say, like,
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: her mom's doing what she can.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: I think that's a big portion of making sure that
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: these missing person's cases don't fade into obscurity. Needs an advocate, Yeah,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: you need someone who pushes. And it's easy to trust
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: in local authorities in your area to say, Okay, they're
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: handling it. They're doing their job. They're doing their job, sure,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: but they're not media people. They're not going to push
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: for everyone around to hear the story and keep talking
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: about the story and keep leads coming in. Yeah they
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: might do, you know, public releases and press releases once
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: in a while. But to be an advocate and pushing
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: and even pushing the police to keep doing their stuff
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: is it's good. I mean, we can all think about
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: it in our daily lives. To have someone there to
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: push you to keep doing what you need to do,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: it's a good thing and it gets things done well.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: The thing is the police have, like, you know, numerous
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: cases and stuff they're dealing with the new ones coming
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: in and stuff, right, So yeah, for sure, just to
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: have that little like voice that's like houses coming along,
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: like are we still working on this? Yeah, not a
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: bad thing at all.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Well, exactly as you put an advocate, and I think
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: that's that's what many people need in these situations. But unfortunately,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: by nineteen eighty nine, the case had stalled. There's no
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: new leads, no fresh evidence, no break in the case.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: In the public eye, the disappearance of Tarra Calico was
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: starting to feel like one of those tragic small town
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: mysteries that might never be able to be solved. Law
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: enforcement agencies had exhausted their available eight avenues, and investigators
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: had nothing solid to work with then out of nowhere.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Nine months after she vanished, the case would explode back
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: into national conversation because of a single disturbing photograph found
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: nearly one thousand, five hundred miles away. It was June fifteenth,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine, nearly nine months since Terra Calico had vanished,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: when a woman in Port Saint Joe, Florida, stepped out
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: of a convenience store into the parking law and noticed
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: something odd on the ground. There. Left behind in a
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: recently vacated parking space was a Polaride photo. The image
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: was immediately jarring to this individual when they picked it
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: up and looked. It was of a teenage girl and
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: a young boy, both lying side by side on what
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: looked like a mattress. Their mouths were sealed shut with
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: black duct tape, their hands appeared to be bound behind
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: their backs, and the setting looked cramped, possibly in the
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: back of a van. The photo was grim and terrifying,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: but there was something else, something that gave it weight.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: The girl bore a striking resemblance to Tara Kalico, The
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: woman who found the photo didn't hesitate. She handed it
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: over to police right away. She also reported that just
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: moments before discovering it, she had seen a white, windowless
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Toyota van pull out of that same parking spot.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: Oh Man.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: The driver, she said, was a man in his thirties
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: with a mustache. It was a vague description but one
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: that matched, you know, countless men across the county. But
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: it was at least something.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, it was something, for sure.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Police set up roadblocks, but nothing came of it still.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: When the photo aired on the TV program A Current
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Affair in July, it was instantly recognizable to people who
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: knew Tara. Friends called her mother, telling her to turn
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: on the TV. When Patti Duell saw the image, she froze.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: There was a scar in the girl's leg. It was
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: the same place where Tara had won from a past
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: car accident, and lying beside her was a paperback copy
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: of My Suite Adrina by VC Andrews, a book that
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: was Tara's favorite book by her favorite author.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, oh.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: To Patty, it was her daughter, old, a little older,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: looked tired, but it was still Tara.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: Well, she would have changed so much in those nine months,
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: because it clearly it looks like she's gone through shit.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now to the FBI, the Scotland Yard and the
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Los Alamos National Laboratory were all brought in to analyze
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: the photo. The Scotland Yard concluded, yes, this was in
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: fact Tara. The Los Angeles, sorry, Los Alamos, I should
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: say not Los Angeles. I saw the la in my
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: head and it just dinged. But they disagreed, and the FBI,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: to them it was inconclusive.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: They couldn't say either way, okay, because just there I
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: was like, oh, dang, I didn't realize they had determined
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: that was her from the photo. But just certain people have.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Yes, one said yes, one said no, and one said
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: oh yeah. So we have a literal split down the center.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: But the mom did think it was her, yes.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Based yeah, okay, yeah, she believes it's her in that photo. Yeah,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: but the boy in the photo. Another family, also from
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: New Mexico, was struck with disbelief. The boy in the photo,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: they said, looked exactly like their missing son, Michael Henley. Now,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Michael had disappeared five months before Tara in April of
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight, during a camping trip from Zuni Mountains,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: around seventy five miles from where Tara had gone missing.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Holy shit, he was just nine years old. Oh okay, yeah,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: one moment he was near his family's campsite with his father,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: and then the next he was gone. A full scale
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: search had turned up nothing. His parents, Marty and Ernest Henley,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: watched that same A Current Affair broadcast and felt the
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: same jolt Tara's family had. The resemblance was uncanny, the face, expression,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: even the eyes. Michael looked frightened but alive. I wanted
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: it to be him, his mother told reporters. He looked scared,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: real scared, but he looked healthy, and I'm grateful for that.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: For a time, the theory took hold that Tara and
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Michael had been abducted by the same person, possibly someone
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: operating across state lines, possibly with ties to human trafficking.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: The photo had been taken using Polaroid film that was
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: not available before May nineteen eighty nine, meaning that it
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: had been captured months after both had gone missing.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: Okay, because here I was just sitting here thinking, oh,
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: like that could be you know, an old photo could be.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: So authorities actually reached out to Polaroid to help get
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: some information, and they told him that, yeah, this film
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: had been released at this day. Oh okay, So May
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine is the earliest that photo could have
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: been taken because that film was not available before then. Okay, yep,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: so could this be a serial abduction trafficking ring? Those
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: are the sort of questions like was to Terosty alive?
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Was he being held captive? Hope surged briefly for both families,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: but then in June nineteen ninety, a devastating discovery brought closure,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: at least for the Henleys. Michael Henley's remains were found
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: about seven miles from the family's original campsite in a
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: remote part of the Zuni Mountains. His death was ruled accidental,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: the result of exposure to the elements. Authorities concluded that
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: they liked that he likely wandered off, had gotten lost,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: and had passed away in the forest. So with that revelation,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: the identity of the boy and the polaroid was thrown
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: back into question.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: Ye.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: If it wasn't Michael, then who was he? And more importantly,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: was Tara ever in the photograph to begin with?
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Then?
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Two? Was it actually her?
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: The photograph found in Florida wasn't the end of it, though.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Over the years, more images surfaced, each of them eerie
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: in their own way, and each riigniting public interest in
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: fresh speculation. Every time a new photo appeared, Tara's name,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: you know, every time it came up, every time her
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: family were taking a look at these photos. It all
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: took a toll, and the first of these additional photos
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: appeared in June of nineteen eighty nine, not long after
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: the Port Saint Joe picture It was found near a
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: construction site in Montecito, California. It showed a blurry image
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: of a girl's face, mouth gagged, with a light blue
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: and white striped pillow behind her head. Now that fabric
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: on that pillow is really important because that same looking
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: can say it's exactly the same. But a very similar
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: looking fabric was in the other photo that was found
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: as well, the one that was found in Florida. Okay,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: so when they look like they're in the back of
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: the van sort of thing, yeah, blue and white striped
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: pillows is what they're laying on. And now here again
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: we have another questionable photograph with a similar fabric, if
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: not the same. Patty Dwell, Tara's mother believed it could
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: be her daughter once again. Then came another photo in
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: February of nineteen ninety, this one a little more perplexing.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Taken on an Amtrak train, it shows a woman loosely
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: bound in gauze with her eyes covered, sitting beside a
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: man whose face was clearly visible. The man was never identified,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: and the scene was so bizarre that most people believe
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: it was a form of a sick prank or maybe
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: even an art piece.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: What the shit is with all these photos just like
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: appearing That seems so weird.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, Patty took every one of these photos extremely seriously,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: and so did her entire family.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: And here someone was just playing a prank, like fuck them. Hey.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So she examined the faces, the angles, the details,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: always looking for something familiar, a scar, facial feature, something,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: you know, something to look for, recognition, to say this
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: is Tara, something to feel normal, like this is what
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: I remember.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, and I was just going to say. The
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: problem too, is like these photos probably aren't like the clearest,
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: right A polaroid photo isn't going to be this crystal clear?
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, for sure. This third one's much more clear.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: It's a little suspiciously too clear, honestly. Ok The Montecito photo,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: the blurry one with where she was gagged, she believes
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: that is Tara. The first two she believes are in
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: fact Tara, but this third one she doesn't think so.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: Not so sure, Okay.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: In two thousand and nine, two decades after Tara's disappearance,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: things got even stranger. Three letters postmark from Albertquerque arrived
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: to the Port Saint Joe Police Department and the local newspaper.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Each envelope contained printed images of a boy with a
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: black band drawn in ink across his mouth, mimicking the
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: original photo. No messages, no return address, nothing to explain
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: what the sender wanted or why the boy's face had
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: been altered in that way. The photos were then turned
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: over to the FBI, but no clear connection to Tara
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: or anyone else has ever been made. But it is.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: It's got that little question mark above it. For TERA's family,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: every photo came with renewed hope and heartbreak. Over the years,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: they were asked to identify dozens of images, many of
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: them graphic and disturbing, some showing unidentified bodies. Even each
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: one opened an old wound, and none provided closure. These
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: images remain one of the strangest and most haunting aspects
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: of the Terror's Calico case. Whether they were clues, cruel jokes,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: or desperate misidentifications remains unknown, but to date, Tara's mother
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: believes those first two photos are in fact Tara, and
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: the rest not.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: That is so hart like you said, just like opening
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: these wounds with no closure. Yep, dang, I mean yeah,
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: you got you gotta participate, you gotta look and you
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: gotta like, you know, see if this is a clue
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: or whatever, but gosh, it would just like destroy you
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: at the same time.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: It would it really would, now, whatever the case in
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: these photos. For nearly two decades, the disappearance of Tara
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Calico remained a mystery with no clear suspects. But then
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight, a bold and controversial statement
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: from local officials brought a new theory a new hope
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: for some justice. That year, Valencia County Sheriff Rina Riviera
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: went on record claiming he knew exactly what happened to Tara.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: According to Riviera, two teenage boys reportedly local to the
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: area and familiar with Tara, had been following her that
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: morning in a truck. He believed they were harassing her,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: perhaps tailgating her or cat calling her. When the situation escalated,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Tara may have tried to get way. Then the truck
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: struck her, either on purpose or by accident. She was
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: injured but alive. Panicked, Rivia said, the boys took her
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: into their vehicle to silence her and keep her from
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: going to the authorities over the situation, and from there
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: it just escalated and it turned fatal. He claimed. The
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: teenagers later killed her and with the help of others,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: buried her body somewhere in Valencia County. Riviera said he
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: knew the names of everyone involved, but there was a catch.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: There's no body so there could be no charges.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: How do you just know this? Like where was he
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: getting this from? Though?
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Through whatever investigation that's going on behind the scenes? Assumingly okay, Now,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: he refused to name the suspects or produce any physical evidence.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Without Terror's remains or you know, proof, it couldn't be
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: going to prosecution, So like they got to keep things
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: hush hush to try and see if they can move forward, right, But.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: Then, honestly, like that story does make sense though too, it.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Does and for TERA's family, like knowing this like you had,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: like you know she's dead, you know she's buried out
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: there somewhere, you know who killed her, and you can't
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: do shit like that's agonizing. Oh so John Dowell, Tara's stepfather,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: publicly criticized Riviera's comments. If he truly knew who was responsible,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: why wasn't he making the arrests and if he didn't
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: have enough evidence, why go public at all?
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: Okay? Because this is this Riviera guy is a police officer,
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: right or investigator? Okay, that is that would just like
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: piss me right off?
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: Yeap. He's the sheriff the county. He well, he was.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: I don't know if he still is, probably not, Valencia
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: County sheriff was okay, yeah. So the theory didn't vanish,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: and over time others came forward to support similar versions
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: of the story too. Interviews conducted with people in the
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: community include two separate individuals who gave matching accounts described
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: as to chain of events. Tera was hit, taken, and
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: murdered by a group of local boys. According to rumors,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: at least one of those boys was related to someone
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: in law enforcement. Some locals began to suspect a cover up,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: a small town secret that are being kept for decades.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: One of TERA's childhood friends, Melinda, took it upon herself
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: to investigate further. A former classmate turned independent journalist, Melinda
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: launched a podcast and spent years digging into the case.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: She claims her research supports the theory that Terara's disappearance
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: was premeditated, that the group of boys had been planning
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: to confront her for days before that she actually went missing.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: And that her death was the tragic result of a
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: calculated act gone horribly wrong.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: Holy shit, Okay, this is all like new information to me.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: I didn't know any of this. Yeah.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Melinda eventually shared her findings with the FBI, not to
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: the local sheriff's department, and because she later said that
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: she didn't trust how the case had been handled locally.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: By now the ones fragmented rumors had. It's kind of
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: turned into this like plausible theory with multiple sources. But
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: even then, no arrests were made, no body was found,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: and no one could be held accountable. Then, in the
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: twenty tens, a quiet shift began behind the scenes. Law enforcement,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: for the first time in decades, started to act like
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: they believed answers were still within reach. In twenty thirteen,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: a dedicated six person task force was formed to re
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: examine Terror's disappearance. Composed of local officers, FBI agents, and
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: state police. The team revisited old interviews, cross checked leads,
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: and combed through the original case files looking for anything
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: that had been missed or ignored. In twenty seventeen, it
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: was revealed that the case was not only open, it
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: was still in fact completely active. New interviews were being conducted,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: fresh tips were still coming in, and although no arrests
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: have been made, momentum was building. Then came a press
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: conference in June of twenty twenty three. After thirty five
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: years of heartbreak and uncertainty, the Valencia County Sheriff's office,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: alongside the FBI, made a public announcement they believed they
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: had identified the individuals responsible for Terror Kalico's disappearance and
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: had enough evidence to submit the case for review. Sheriff
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Denise Vigil stated plainly that the investigation had made quote
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: substantial progress. The information, however, remained sealed under court order,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: and the identities of the suspect were not released. FBI
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: Special Agent Joseph Rowland, who had been working the case
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: since at least twenty sixteen, confirmed that the new evidence
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: had been uncovered between twenty twenty and twenty twenty three,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: enough to potentially bring the case before a district attorney
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: for prosecution. According to investigators, they were simply waiting for
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: the green light to proceed with charges. As of now,
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: no arrests have been made, no charges filed, and the
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: names of the suspect and the nature of the evidence
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: are still sealed and have not been released. Still, this
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: was the most definitive progress the case is seen in
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: three decades. Law enforcement for the first time publicly expressed
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: confidence that they knew what happened to Tara and who
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: was responsible. In the years since, her family carried the
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: weight of uncertainty with the kind of endurance that defies explanation.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: They've been going for over thirty years since Ara's disappeared, mother,
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Patty Dwell, has perhaps been the most visible and vocal figure.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: Throughout the early years, she tirelessly worked to keep Tara's
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: case in the public eye, appearing on national talk shows,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: speaking to reporters, handing out flyers, and calling in every
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: favor she could. The polaroid photo from Florida gave her
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: something to cling to. She was convinced the girl was
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: in fact Tara. The scar, the book, the eyes, all
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: of it. And because of that belief, Patty held on
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: to hope, and even after Tara was declared legally dead
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety eight with the death rule to homicide,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: she never accepted that it was the end. When Patty
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: and her husband, John Dowell moved to Florida in their
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: later years, she made a space for her daughter. In
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: their new home, She kept a bedroom ready filled with
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: Tara's belongings, just in case her daughter came home one day.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: Dang, that is that breaks my heart?
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah. However, time was not kind. Patty's health declined. She
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: suffered multiple strokes, and her condition worsened. She would sit
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: by the window watching bicycles pass in the street, always wondering,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: was that Tara riding her bike home?
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, yeah, oh this is just like it's
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: just this obviously is destroying her health and everything holy.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: In two thousand and six, Patty passed away with the
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: answers that she'd desperately been trying to hear for at
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: that point, nearly twenty years searching. Tara's older brother, Chris,
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: later said that the weight of the case, the photographs,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: the dead ends, and endless stream of unidentified images, had
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: taken years off his mother's life. Yep quote she looked
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: at everyone she could not, but it tore her up
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: every time, every single photograph she looked at, just trying
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: to see.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the amount of goosewoms I keep getting from this
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: like that just is terrible.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: John Dowell remained active in seeking public justice. For long
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: after Patty's passing. Though he was more guarded in public,
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: his advocacy never wavered. He too since passed away. As
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: for Tara's sister, Michelle Dowell, she continued her mother's legacy
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: in a new era. Michelle has been outspoken and keeping
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: the case alive, launching efforts like podcast, community awareness campaigns,
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: and directly engaging with law enforcement. She's repeatedly stated that
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: someone knows what happened, and that she won't stop until
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: there is, in fact closure. For Tara's family, time has
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: not dulled the pain, but it has only strengthened their resolve.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Even without a body, even without charges, they remain Tara's voice.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: As of today, Tara Kalico's disappearance remains officially unsolved, though
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: law enforcement has signaled they may be closed to resolution eventually. Anyways,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: in June of twenty twenty three, they said, you know,
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: they've progressed, They've identified the individuals, but there's been no arrests,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: no names, no evidence. It's all sealed away and adding
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: to the confusion. Even in May of twenty twenty three,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: just one month before the press conference, the Sheriff Office
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: disputed a long standing piece of case narrative. They stated
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: that Tara's cassette, tape, and walkman, items widely reported to
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: have been found along Highway forty seven, were in fact
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: never recovered. What This contradicted decades of reporting in multiple
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: sources that had previously described those items as critical early clues.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: So was it a clerical error, a new interpretation of
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: old evidence, a sign that official version of the story
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: was long fractured and they're just now patching it. Theory
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: still persist. Some believe Tara was the victim of a
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: hit and run that turned deadly. Others point to Florida
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: the Florida Polaroid, suggesting impossible kidnapping and trafficking scenario. Still
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: others maintained that the small circle in Valencia County, they
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: know exactly what happened, and it's just been hidden for decades.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: TERA's pink coffee bike It's never been found, neither have
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: her remains, and the identity of the boy in the polaroid,
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: if not Michael Henley, also remains a mystery. There is
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: a twenty thousand dollars reward offered by the FBI that
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: is still active for precise details leading to the identification
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: of Tara or the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: But perhaps the most haunting detail of all, Tara Calico
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: was declared dead in nineteen ninety eight. Even though our
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: case remains open, her story has never faded into obscurity,
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: not in New Mexico, not across the country, not around
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: the world, and certainly not in the minds of those
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: who followed the case for decades. Her story endures not
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: just because of the mystery, but because of the deep
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: injustice that it surrounds it. A bright, ambitious young woman
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: vanished in broad daylight in a place that was supposed
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: to be safe, and for all the media attention, investigative
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: leads an emotional toll. No one has ever ever been
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: held accountable. Tara was a college sophomore with a near
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: perfect GPA of three point nine. She had plans, a boyfriend,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: tight knit family, a love of fitness and outdoor adventure,
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: and on the morning of September twentieth, nineteen eighty eight,
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: she went out for a thirty six mile bike ride
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: like she had countless times before, and she never came home.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: In the years since, her face has become a symbol
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: for the missing. Her case was one of the earliest
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: to make the national headlines. Through programs like Unsolved Mysteries
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: and America's Most Wanted, the Florida Polaroid became one of
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: the most talked about pieces of evidence in American true
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: crime history, debated endlessly in homes and message boards across
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: the world still even to this day. But behind the
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: attention is a family that never stopped looking, a mother
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: who died waiting, a community still wondering if the answers
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: have been quietly kept all along, and despite recent developments
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: and a promise from law enforcement, no one has stood trial.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: We may now be closer to the truth than ever.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: Sheriff officials say they know who did it. They claim
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: the evidence is there. But for Terra's family, friends and
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: anyone who's watched this case unfold over the thirty seven years.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: Now they know what's been done so far, and it
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: hasn't been enough. They want justice, they want closure, and
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: above all, they want Tera to come home. And until
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: that happens, this case won't rest because Tara never made
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: it back from her bike ride and we still don't
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: know why. And that's the case of Tara Kalico.
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: Oo Man I have like so many thoughts with that
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: one because it doesn't make sense. Okay, the one where
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: it was just like the locals really makes sense to me.
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: But it wouldn't make sense if that was her in
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: that polaroid like found a year later. Yeah, right, that
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: just that doesn't add up, I guess it.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: I mean it doesn't. I mean, honestly, yeah, it's if
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: it's a small local thing that had just kind of
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: something had gone wrong, and it's something that escalated, then yeah,
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: of course it wouldn't make sense that she's now over
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: one thousand miles away in a van somewhere else being
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: held captive. Yeah, but I mean her mother is almost
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: certain that Yeah.
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: Well yeah, like these freaking bastards have just gone away
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: with this for what like thirty seven, thirty six.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: Years or whatever. It's it's almost thirty seven years. It
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: hasn't quite been thirty seven. This fall, it'll be thirty
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: seven years.
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: And the other thing I wanted to touch on is
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: it's so alarming, Like you have your day to day
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: schedule lots of times, right, and it can be predictable
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: and stuff, and these people they know that and they
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: can follow you and stuff. Right, But like she did
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: go out at a different time to.
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: A little bit or well, yeah.
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: I don't know. It's something to say though about doing
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: having a set schedule, right, because that has caused issues
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: for other people and stuff too. But then you also
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: have to like do your roots and love things you
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: do do so.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: Hard it is so if you've learned anything from this,
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: be chaotic, be unpredictable.
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: Well, I know, but like she had a favorite roote.
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: Of course she can't be able to do that daily.
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: But then these we have these freakin crazy ass bitches,
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: bastards that like can follow you. Yeah, because the mom
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: had that eerie.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Feeling too, right exactly, But I mean, was that eerie
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: feeling was justified? Was it just a weird feeling that
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: she got for no reason. It's hard to.
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: Say, Oh man, you're showing me the photo. I've seen this.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: So this is a photo of Tara provided by her family.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: And then yeah, that's the first photo that was found
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: in Florida in the parking lot.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: Oh, I mean yeah, it's like the resemblance is striking really,
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: m Like, holy crap, imagine being a mom seeing that.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: Hey, right, and I can't quite find it. I mean,
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: I haven't looked hard enough, mind you. But there is
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: a scar on her leg in that photo that Tara's
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: mother says is a scar that she had from an
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: accident previous. Yeah, there is the book on the ground,
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: which was like her favorite author.
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: The calic Hunner bangs. You can see the calyc.
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that is just so disturbing. Hey.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I do hope that this case does get
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: so soon.
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: That would be amazing.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: That would be if authorities know who did it. I
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: don't understand why they're not, at least, you know what
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: releasing names like these are our suspect, This is our suspect.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: Well why release that? They you know know, and they're
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: real close and then it's now like two years later
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: and nothing's happened.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: Yes more Sorry No, I was twenty twenty three, right, yeah,
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: two years later.
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: So that that is odd. But yeah, there's obviously something
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: that they that came up or whatever that they didn't expect.
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: I understand investigation. I understand god needing to keep evidence
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: and all that sort of stuff sealed, But I don't
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: understand why you can't name a suspect.
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it.
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: Could potentially flood the public's view and all of a sudden,
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: maybe you get misinformation like wrong full tips, people like
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: skewing things coming in or maybe they Yeah I get it,
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: but I hate it.
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe they were even to antsy on that the
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: release of that though, Hey, like that could be Yeah,
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: when they said they knew, but maybe they weren't. Like yeah,
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: like I'm saying something maybe came up right, I don't know,
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: but that is that's so shitty. This would be I mean,
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: every single case would be amazing to get solved, but
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: this would sure be one that would be.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is this is up there on my list
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: for for waiting for. That's for her. If there's any updates,
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: we'll we'll be keeping you guys posted, that's for sure.
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, dang, the local story just makes so much sense.
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: But then yeah, that polaroid found a year later and
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: it looks so much like hers.
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: It throws a wrench into it, doesn't it.
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: It sure does well then too. You think if it
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: was just like some local people or whatever, that you
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: would end up being able to find the body eventually.
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: How good would they have been at you know, if
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: these were young kids, how good would they have been
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: at disposing of it unless, like you said, one of
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: them was really maybe one of them was, like I
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: had a father that was in there exactly.
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: One of them might have a father that's you know,
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: within the authorities somehow. Maybe like this is a smaller
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: town too, right, So when you have a small town,
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: you have young kids, teenagers that sort of stuff. They
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: go out on quads and dirt roads and back roads.
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: They can they know how to go way out where
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: no one is and find the secluded spot, you.
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: Know, just brutal because yeah, she, like you said, she
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: was like such a light, she had like such a
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: bright future she did, and it was just taken away
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: for absolutely no reason.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's heartbreaking. Well, if you guys want to check
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: out any of our social links or anything, it's in
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: the description of this podcast. If you want to give
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: us a review or something, we'd really appreciate it. We
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: are an independent podcast. All this research and stuff it's
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: done by us. All the writing, you know, the script
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: I'm reading, it's done by us. This production, all of
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: it done by us. We don't have a big company
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: pulling strings. We do what we want, when we want,
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: how we want, and because we want. If that makes sense.
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: Some shows you're not allowed to swear. If I want
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: to swear, I say fuck because I'm like fuck it,
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean, And that's us.
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess so that that was quite a little
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: outro there, so it I like it.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: I apologetically an independent.
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: How's that unapologetically me?
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go.
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: So thank you guys for being here. Hopefully enjoyed the story,
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: and like I said, we'll keep you updated if anything
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: does happen.
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: Fingers crossed that something does happen, but until next episode,
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: stay wicked.