Tara Calico Mystery: The True Story Behind Notorious Polaroid Showing a Girl and Boy Bound in a Van

In July 1989, 10 months after his 19-year-old stepdaughter Tara Calico vanished near their home in New Mexico, a friend called John Doel with word of something strange: A photograph had surfaced in Florida showing a young woman and a boy who'd been bound and gagged — and the woman looked just like Calico.

The image, a color Polaroid in good condition discovered by a woman in a convenience store parking lot, made national news. Both apparent victims faced the camera, their mouths taped and arms pressed together behind their backs as though tied up.

It appeared they were in the back of a vehicle — perhaps a van — and seemed in obvious distress.

Who were they? Were they really captives? Was the photo a clue to Calico's fate?

The questions have lingered for decades, ever since Calico went missing on the morning of Sept. 20, 1988, during her regular bike ride in Valencia County.

Calico's mom, Patty Doel, believed until her death that the photo showed her daughter. As the case remained unsolved into the age of internet-enabled amateur sleuthing, the picture gathered further notoriety under ominous headlines such as "A Teen Girl was Kidnapped, and the Only Evidence They Found of Her Being Alive was a Horrifying Polaroid."

Authorities, however, were never sure the photo was connected to Calico's case.

It was analyzed at least three different times — including by the FBI — who felt strongly that it likely wasn't Calico but could not say for certain at the time. Meanwhile, Scotland Yard in the U.K. declared it was her.

The Valencia County Sheriff's Office, the lead investigating agency, did not actively pursue the image.

Instead, they and the FBI began probing local suspects in the case amid longstanding theories that Calico was taken or attacked by people in her small community. These suspicions were supported by witness reports that she was followed on her final bike ride and had been receiving "threatening" notes on her vehicle.

Still, her loved ones wondered.

"When people ask me, 'Is that her?' If I had to say yes or no definitively: Yes, that is her," said Michele Doel, Calico's stepsister.

However, Michele acknowledged, "Does it make sense? No. That's not the story that makes sense."

A Polaroid Thrusts the Case Into the Spotlight

Valencia sheriff's officials first learned of the color Polaroid on July 28, 1989, when Calico's stepfather, John, called to report it.

John said a friend of his had seen it on A Current Affair after the image surfaced in Port St. Joe on Florida's panhandle, some 1,500 miles away. Police reports show it was found a month earlier, on June 15, 1989.

The twist made more headlines around the country and was covered by Oprah Winfrey and America's Most Wanted, according to Valencia Lt. Joseph Rowland, the lead investigator.

The vehicle in the photo was identified as a van, and tips subsequently poured in about various vans, Rowland said. Answers were not as forthcoming, though.

Calico's family quickly came forward, saying the girl resembled their missing daughter. Another New Mexico family felt the same about the young boy, expressing they believed it was their missing son, 9-year-old Michael Henley, according to Rowland.

Michael reportedly disappeared in April 1988 while hunting with his father.

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"He looks scared, real scared, but he looks healthy, and I'm grateful for that," said Michael's mother, Marty Henley, soon after the Polaroid was found in '89, per The New York Times.

However, Rowland confirmed Michael's remains were discovered about two years later. He had died of exposure.

Further investigative scrutiny also called into question what the Polaroid truly depicted, added Rowland. For example, the young woman's hands appear to not be tied together tightly, and her shoulders do not seem stressed as they would if her bindings were severe.

"There was no redness around the tape on the mouths of the children, which would indicate that the tape was not on their mouth for an extended period of time," Rowland explained.

To this day, neither the boy nor the girl in the photo has ever been positively identified.

A Mother’s Years of Hope and Grief

Patty died in 2006 of complications from a series of strokes after relocating to Florida with her husband, John. Her daughter was always on her mind, her friends and family said.

She and John kept a bedroom for Calico, bringing her gifts there for passing Christmases and birthdays.

Even near the end, Patty "would see a young girl on a bicycle and would point and write down 'Tara,' " her longtime friend Billie Payne recalled. "And [John would] tell her, 'No, that’s not Tara.' "

Calico's older brother Chris said the stress of his sister's disappearance and its persistent irresolution significantly shortened his mother's life.

"The police would send photos of every possibility, including photos of bodies, dismembered bodies, and every time mom got an envelope with the newest pictures, she had to look at them," he told PEOPLE. "She couldn't not, but it tore her up every time."

For Patty, the Florida Polaroid was proof that her daughter — though she was suffering — had survived whatever she encountered on her bike ride in 1988.

"Mom really did not want to believe she was dead, period," Chris said. "And [even] photographic evidence of a young woman alive — even though she's in extremis — is something to latch onto."

Following Patty's death, Michele took the lead in their family in keeping a spotlight on the case. She does grassroots detective work alongside Calico's high school friend Melinda Esquibel, the host of the podcast Vanished: The Tara Calico Investigation.

Michele remembered the moment when Patty first showed her the Polaroid all those years ago — and the goosebumps that broke out on her skin. Though she said she knows authorities believe they are looking in more fruitful directions than investigating the photo and realizes there are good reasons for this, she still questioned, "What if?"

"I still look at it, and it looks exactly like her — exactly like her. But it doesn't make sense," Michele said at the time. "It really does not make sense."

A Breakthrough in the Case

On June 6, 2023, Valencia County Sheriff's Office stated in a press release they had made "substantial progress" in the joint investigation with the FBI into Calico's disappearance, per Valencia County News-Bulletin.

"Law enforcement believes they have identified the offenders associated with Tara Calico's disappearance," Rowland told The Sun on June 28. "We are seeking to charge and arrest the offenders. New evidence was found stemming from investigative work in October 2020 to the present."

Rowland added, "The District Attorney's Office has assigned a team of prosecutors to review the investigation. This case has obvious challenges due to its age and circumstances. Legal experts are currently being briefed and caught up on 34 years of investigative work."

Any suspect names and details about the evidence have remained sealed, and the detectives were still asking the public for any information. The FBI also confirmed that the girl in the mysterious Polaroid was not Calico.

Esquibel referred to Calico's case as "a huge misjustice" and worked with her own team to investigate the disappearance. She told The Sun she hopes that "now the right people are working this case so justice can be served."

If you have any information about Tara Calico's disappearance, contact the Valencia County Sheriff's Office at 505-866-2400 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or online at tips.fbi.gov.