Unexplained Disappearance with Bizarre Clues #2 : Tara Calico

Nineteen-year-old Tara Calico left her home at 9:30 am in Belen, New Mexico, on the morning of September 20, 1988, to go on her normal 34 mile bike ride. She was last seen riding her neon Pink Huffy bicycle with Yellow control cables and sidewalls on her usual route along Highway 47 when she vanished, with a suspicious vehicle following her. Tara's bicycle has never been recovered and she has never been found.

Her tape recorder and Sony Walkman that she listened to music on was found by her mother Patty the next day, and although there have been several reported sightings of Tara in the southern United States in 1988 and 1989, none of the sightings could be confirmed and her case remains unsolved.

The polaroid found by a woman in a supermarket parking lot in1989

On June 15, 1989, a Polaroid photo showing two bound and gagged teenagers was found in Port St. Joe, Florida. The photo was found near a convenience store where a white Toyota cargo van had been parked. The girl in the photo was believed to be Tara; the boy in the photo with her was believed to be another missing New Mexico youth named Michael Henley. The shot includes a book by V.C. Andrews, who friends say Tara's favorite author.

The woman who found the photo saw a white Toyota van leave the parking lot just before she spotted the photo. A roadblock failed to find the vehicle, or what she reported as its mid-30s, moustached male driver.

Related content on Ohwyeh

• Unexplained Disappearance with Bizarre Clues #1 : Teresa Butler
• Unexplained Disappearance with Bizarre Clues #3 : Amy Bradley
• Unexplained Disappearance with Bizarre Clues #4 : Diane Augat