Unsolved: Tara Leigh Calico, The Polaroid Mystery

Summary

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Crime House 24/7 – Unsolved: Tara Leigh Calico, The Polaroid Mystery

Date: August 4, 2026
Host: Vanessa Richardson
Guests: Courtney Nicole and Michelle Dole

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Episode Overview

This episode of Crime House 24/7 explores the enduring mystery of Tara Leigh Calico’s disappearance from Belen, New Mexico in September 1988—a case that has haunted the true crime world for decades. With new movement in the investigation and the infamous Polaroid photo that became a national sensation, hosts Michelle Dole and Courtney Nicole break down Tara’s last known day, the frantic search, the heartbreaking clues, and the mounting questions that keep the case unsolved. Listeners are guided through the evidence, theories, and emotional impact on Tara’s family and community—making this a gripping and poignant entry in the Unsolved Tuesdays series.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Tara Calico: Her Life and Personality

[02:57–06:03]

• Tara was a vibrant, determined 19-year-old, known for her kindness, intelligence, and athleticism.
• "Her stepfather, John Dole, refers to her as a little machine, saying she's always been that way." – Michelle Dole [03:14]
• University of New Mexico psychology major, living at home to save money, with a 3.9 GPA and an active social life.
• Strong, adventurous, and independent—qualities that endeared her to friends and family.

The Day Tara Disappeared

[06:03–12:15]

• Tara routinely biked 34 miles daily along State Road 47 for exercise and meditation, planning tennis with her boyfriend Jack Cole afterwards.
• Recently, her mother Patty became anxious after feeling they were being followed by a car on bike rides. Patty stopped joining but urged Tara to carry mace—Tara declined, confident she could handle herself.
• "I think that there's something to be said for her not wanting to live in fear in her own community." – Michelle Dole [07:22]
• On September 20, 1988, Tara left for her ride wearing her yellow Sony Walkman. Before leaving, she promised her mom:
  "Mom, if I'm not back by noon, come look for me." [10:23]
• Noon came and went, and Patty immediately began searching.

The Aftermath: Search and First Clues

[12:15–17:18]

• Immediate, thorough response from law enforcement and the community; the sheriff believed Tara’s disappearance was out of character and acted quickly.
• "This is what I want to see. From every investigation... So props to the sheriff. This is exactly what I want to see." – Michelle Dole [13:06]
• By day two, evidence found: tire and bicycle skid marks on the side of the highway, and pieces of Tara’s Walkman and cassette tape, believed to have been left deliberately as clues.
• Despite intensive search efforts—including ROTC students, bloodhounds, and aerial surveys—no further evidence was found.

The Polaroid Photo: A National Mystery

[20:11–26:04]

• Nine months later, June 1989: A Polaroid is found in Port St. Joe, Florida, showing a bound woman and boy, both gagged, the woman bearing uncanny resemblance to Tara.
• Patty Dole pointed to distinct details: the young woman’s cowlick, a leg scar, and her favorite book visible in the photo.
• Another family identified the boy as missing nine-year-old Michael Henley from New Mexico.
• Law enforcement and multiple expert analyses offered conflicting conclusions on the identity of the photo subjects; nothing was definitive.
• "The resemblance is very, very strong... the one thing that most people do know about is this Polaroid photo." – Courtney Nicole [23:48]
• In 1990, Michael Henley’s remains were discovered in New Mexico, confirming he was not the boy in the photo.

Shifting Theories and New Suspects

[26:04–34:00]

• 2008: Sheriff Renee Rivera claims he knows what happened—believing Tara was struck (intentionally or accidentally) by two local teenagers, one rumored to be Lawrence Romero Jr., the son of the former sheriff.
• Community rumors and a 2013 deathbed confession from Henry Brown suggest a party where the suspects allegedly confessed to Tara’s abduction, assault, and murder, with hints of an extensive cover-up.
• Despite following these leads, law enforcement ultimately eliminated the Romeros as suspects after intense investigation—searches yielded nothing.

Re-examining Evidence in the Modern Era

[33:45–35:21]

• In 2016, Lt. Joseph Rowland took over and examined all physical evidence with updated forensic techniques.
• Heartbreakingly, none of the recovered items (Walkman, cassette) could be definitively linked to Tara—they’d been along the highway before her disappearance.
• A new search was conducted in 2020, but the results remain sealed.

The Continuing Legacy

[35:21–36:34]

• Despite decades without answers, investigators (and the hosts) refuse to refer to Tara in the past tense—choosing hope over closure.
• Moving, reflective tone on the nature of unsolved cases, impact on families, and the lasting ache of not knowing.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the uncertainty and heartbreak:

  "For me, when bad things like this happen to someone like Tara, someone who's so young, someone who hasn't even really had a chance to live yet, there's no way to reason what happened to them. It just seems fundamentally unfair." – Michelle Dole [05:11]

• On trusting the instincts of victims:

  "Tara was super fit and sharp. She figured that if worse came to worst, she'd be able to get out of the situation unharmed." – Courtney Nicole [06:46]

• On the emotional toll for families:

  "This part shattered my heart into a million pieces because I've been that sister... And there is guilt in giving up that hope that there's nothing wrong." – Michelle Dole [15:13]

• On the Polaroid controversy:

  "You can think that a family has a certain level of bias, but they've seen these people in all these different scenarios. So when we're looking at a photo, I trust when they say that it looks like her." – Michelle Dole [24:09]

• On confronting familial crime:

  "Most victims, they do know their assailants... When I was 12 years old, I found out that my grandma... had brutally murdered her own mom." – Courtney Nicole [26:24]

• On continued advocacy and hope:

  "He doesn't talk about Tara in the past tense, nor does he say he's working to give her friends and family closure. He knows that the kindest thing he can do for her friends and family is to have hope, to continue to believe that Tara is still out there, she somewhere waiting to be reunited with them." – Courtney Nicole [34:45]

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Timeline & Timestamps

• [02:57] Introduction to Tara’s life, family, and daily routines.
• [06:03] The day of the disappearance—routine, concerns about stalkers, and Tara's last ride.
• [10:23] Tara agrees: “If I'm not back by noon, come look for me."
• [12:15] The immediate search, law enforcement involvement.
• [15:13] Family and community emotional response.
• [17:18] Discovery of Walkman and cassette tape.
• [20:11] Introduction of the Polaroid found in Florida.
• [22:28] Families hope the photo shows Tara and Michael; conflicting investigations.
• [26:04] Law enforcement moves the investigation forward, new suspect theory from the sheriff.
• [29:12] Deathbed confession from Henry Brown about Lawrence Romero Jr.
• [33:45] Lt. Rowland’s modern reinvestigation reveals no concrete evidence.
• [35:21] Hosts reaffirm the importance of hope and continued investigation.

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Final Call to Action

[36:34]

• Tara Calico would now be around 57 years old; last seen with distinctive features (brown hair, 5'5"–5'7", scar on right shoulder and leg, birthmark).
• If you have any information about Tara Calico, contact your local FBI office.

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Crime House 24/7 continues to advocate, investigate, and amplify Tara Calico’s story—reminding us that while hope endures, justice must not be forgotten.

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Transcript

[Vanessa Richardson]

Hi listeners, it's Vanessa. Before today's episode, I want to tell you about another show I think you'll love. Crime House and A E are teaming up on the podcast version of the famous true crime series the First 48. Each week, Carter Roy takes you inside a landmark homicide case. The interrogations, the dead ends and the breakthroughs in the critical first 48 hours. Listen to and follow the first 48 every Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.

[Michelle Dole]

This is Crime House.

[Vanessa Richardson]

She went for a bike ride on a September morning in 1988 and never came home. A year later, a Polaroid turned up in a parking lot 1,000 miles away. A young woman and a boy, bound and gagged. Welcome to crime house 24. 7. I'm Vanessa Richardson. Twice a day, every day, we bring you the best, most timely and gripping cases from across the entire Crime House network, all in one place right here. And every Tuesday is Unsolved Tuesdays where I bring you two cases that have yet to be cracked and still haunt us today. Now we're turning to the disappearance of Tara Lee Calico, the second of today's two unsolved cases. And and decades later, the case is moving again. Investigators have finally named the men they believe took her, even though her body has never been found. The Polaroid that haunted a generation may at last have something behind it. Our community exists because of listeners like you want even more. Join Crime House plus for every episode of Crime House 24.7ad free. Not only that, but you'll get complete access to an exclusive limited series every month and and early ad free access to all Crime House shows and bonus episodes. Go to crimehouseplus.com or on Apple Podcasts Tap try free at the top of the crime house 24. 7 page. Now Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole dig into the final hours of Tara Lee Calico.

[Courtney Nicole]

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[Michelle Dole]

It's September 20, 1988. 19 year old Tara Colico has just drafted yet another length healthy to do list. Where others might feel overwhelmed, Tara just smiles. She's energized by the idea of a full day ahead. Tara is known throughout her small hometown of Belen, New Mexico for being adventurous and efficient. Her stepfather, John Dole, refers to her as a little machine, saying she's always been that way. When John looks at Tara, he doesn't see a young woman on the verge of adulthood. He sees the feisty six year old who used to drag a stool over to the kitchen counter every morning to make her own breakfast. As Tara got older, her sense of independence and fearlessness grew deeper. She had two older brothers and two younger stepsisters. They spent a lot of time riding bikes, climbing trees, and exploring the great outdoors all on their own. A kind of freedom that most kids today mostly dream about. In high school, Tara's teachers noticed how determined, smart, and athletic she was. Her classmates agreed. But above all, they knew her to be incredibly kind. She was the type of girl who went out of her way to welcome a new student sitting alone at a lunch table just to make them feel included. This interest in helping others led Tara to major in psychology at the University of New Mexico's Valencia campus. The college was only about 15 minutes away from her parents house, which was great because it allowed Tara to save money by still living at home. By the start of her sophomore year in 1988, Tara was maintaining a 3.9 GPA, a packed schedule, and a wide social network. She also had a boyfriend, a former high school classmate named Jack Cole. Jack was a good match for Tara. He had no problem keeping up with her busy lifestyle and often joined her for intense tennis matches and long bike rides. By all accounts, Tara had a bright future. She didn't have any known enemies. She'd never been in trouble with her parents, let alone the law. So no one could have predicted what was about to come. I mean, I'm sure Tara's life wasn't completely perfect, but it did seem like it was going pretty well.

[Courtney Nicole]

Yeah, and I think that's what make cases like these, you know, so incredibly hard to wrap your head around. She had no known enemies, so the randomness of it all, it just kind of keeps you up at night.

[Michelle Dole]

For me, when bad things like this happen to someone like Tara, someone who's so young, someone who hasn't even really had a chance to live yet, there's no way to reason what happened to them. It just seems fundamentally unfair.

[Courtney Nicole]

I do feel like the not knowing why this happened, it could make it more confusing to family members, especially in the, in the first few days and weeks of their loved one's disappearance.

[Michelle Dole]

I mean, I'm sure, you know, racking your brain for every little thing. You know, what could have happened? Who could she have met? Did she make somebody upset? But again, this is a girl who seems like she has a good head on her shoulders, who isn't really upsetting anybody.

[Courtney Nicole]

I feel like police, they often start by looking for flaws in a victim's life that can kind of point to what could have possibly happened. But in this specific case, there were no flaws. She had her whole life ahead of her. And she never would just simply walk away.

[Michelle Dole]

On Tuesday, September 20, 1988, Tara's sophomore year at the University of New Mexico is in full swing. And she isn't going easy on herself. Every morning around 9am she goes for a bike ride. But not just any bike ride. She travels 34 miles along State Road 47. That's 17 miles up and 17 miles back. It takes her a few hours, minimum. For Tara, it's meditation, a time to clear her mind before the busy day ahead. The ride isn't just a commute to school, nor is it even considered a workout. In fact, Tara has plans to play tennis right after. She's supposed to meet her boyfriend Jack at the courts at 12:30. After that, she has class at 4:00pm

[Courtney Nicole]

but lately, Tara's routine looks slightly different. She used to take her morning rides with her mom, Patty, but Patty had recently stopped because she said she felt like they were always being followed by someone in a car. She couldn't fathom why anyone would tail them, but she also couldn't shake the eerie feeling of being stopped. Tara refused to give up cycling, so Patty encouraged her to at least carry a can of mace while she rode. But Tara insisted she would be fine, that she didn't need anything to protect herself. Tara was super fit and sharp. She figured that if worse came to worst, she'd be able to get out of the situation unharmed.

[Michelle Dole]

I think that there's something to be said for her not wanting to live in fear in her own community. Everybody has the right to make the best decision for themselves. To take the bike ride, to refrain from the route. But it seems like Tara wasn't going to give up something that she loved and just live in fear.

[Courtney Nicole]

And she shouldn't have to. On the flip side of that, I remember being 16, 17, 18 and doing things back then that I probably wouldn't do now. As like a 27 year old woman,

[Michelle Dole]

I think you can be aware and cautious without backing. And to me, that's what I see in Tara.

[Courtney Nicole]

It's definitely something to admire about her. There's always like that slight undertone of fear and worry when you're by yourself. As women and young girls, we always have to feel worry about being out on our own.

[Michelle Dole]

I mean, we're forced to be cautious. Most of us are made aware from a very early age that we need to be cautious.

[Courtney Nicole]

It's a tale as old as time. This case is taking place in 1988, and honestly, it's 2026 and not much has changed.

[Michelle Dole]

I mean, I grew up in a big city, so I can't even imagine, because my first instinct is to tell people to report everything to the police so that there's a record. So if something happens, they can go back and reference that record. But if reporting that is also going to put you at risk because you're in a small town, what do you do? On this breezy Tuesday morning, Tara treats this ride like any other. She pops on her yellow Sony walkman, pressing play on a cassette from the band Boston.

[Courtney Nicole]

Patty is concerned that this will distract her daughter on the ride. Tara was in a car accident when she was young, resulting in a scar on her right leg. So she knows how important it is to be vigilant on these roads. And even if Tara is paying attention, Patty is a bit worried about Tara using her old bike. Tara's was damaged during a recent ride, and presumably Patty's isn't as durable on those 34 mile stretches. She can't help but imagine a scenario where Tara gets a flat tire or a rock gets stuck in the chain and suddenly she's stuck on the side of the road. Patty knows Tara's too smart to accept a ride from a stranger, but in small towns, people are used to assuming good intentions.

[Michelle Dole]

I think all good moms worry about their kids no matter what, no matter what situation, no matter how safe they're being. So I can totally see why she'd be afraid. Even though it seems like Tara has a great head on her shoulders.

[Courtney Nicole]

Exactly. And being a mom myself to three little girls, I still get scared when I watch my oldest, who is 6. I literally walk her to the front of the school and I watch her walk in every single day. And I still get worried about what's gonna happen in the hallway until she sits down in her chair in her classroom. So I totally can understand where she's coming from. You can never be too safe.

[Michelle Dole]

It's almost like you have to pick your form of danger. If she does break down on the side of the road, it's, you know, face walking and possibly getting hit by another vehicle or going with somebody else, getting into another vehicle and being taken to a secondary location. Either way, it's not safe.

[Courtney Nicole]

We have a few things in place that could help prevent this type of situation. Obviously, nothing's guaranteed, but, like, we have cell phones, we have aaa, we have location sharing. These things are all fantastic to imp. You ever get stranded on the side of the road, regardless if you're a woman or a man?

[Michelle Dole]

My thing about it being a small town and accepting a ride from somebody you know is that even in that situation, bad things can happen. Sometimes it's the people you're closest to, the people that you know. It's usually the people that you know that hurt you. So I could see a scenario where she's picked up by somebody she knows. Maybe that person doesn't have the best intentions. And then something bad happens. Tara may still be a teenager, but Patty knows she has to trust her daughter's instincts, that in a few hours, Tara will bust through the front door, ready to move on to the next scheduled activity. Tennis with Jack at 12:30. But Tara can sense her mom's unease, so she makes a plan with Patty. A just in case arrangement for the very unlikely scenario. Something goes wrong, she tells Patty, mom, if I'm not back by noon, come look for me. And at 12:05, when Tara still hasn't returned, that's exactly what Patty does. It's September 20, 1988. Before leaving for her morning bike ride, Tara Colico told her mom, Patty to come looking for her if she wasn't home by noon. So when the clock hits 12:05 and Tara isn't back, Patty grabs her keys. Every day, Tara rides 17 miles down State Road 47 and 17 miles back. Patty drives along that route, expecting to find Tara stranded on the shoulder next to a broken bike. But there's no sign of her or the bicycle. Just to be sure, Patty repeats the drive. This time, she scans the fields alongside the highway, searching for any sign of her daughter. The hot pink bike, the bright yellow Walkman, Tara's green and white shorts. Patti's certain something would catch her eye. Only nothing does.

[Courtney Nicole]

When she gets home, Patty wakes up her husband, John. He worked the late shift at the railroad the night before, so it wasn't unusual for him to be sleeping during the day. John tells Patty to stay calm. They don't have enough information to be panicked yet. First, they call the local hospital to See if Tara has been in an accident, but there's no patience with her name or description. Then Patty and John call Jack Cole, Tara's boyfriend. They had plans to play tennis at 12:30. Maybe he surprised her on her ride and scooped her up. But when they get a hold of him, Jack says he doesn't know where Tara is either. After calling a few other friends and hearing their alarmed reactions, both parents agree that it's time to call the police. Valencia County Sheriff Lawrence Romero listens carefully to the situation. He believes them when they explain this is out of character for Tara. He gets a search going right away.

[Michelle Dole]

This is what I want to see. From every investigation, I get it. Most people, most parents, I should say, are hearing your kids partying. They're probably just out with friends, seeing their boyfriend, whatever it is, they'll be back. And while we know that is the case, statistically, when it's your loved one, you're not going to feel that way. So props to the sheriff. This is exactly what I want to see.

[Courtney Nicole]

Yeah, I agree. And I've covered so many cases personally where the families are told exactly that, not to worry, they're kind of gaslit, a little bit like their loved one is just out partying, whatever. So when I come across cases like this, it makes me so happy to hear that the police immediately jump into action and try and help the families. And I feel like we definitely need to see more of that.

[Michelle Dole]

If you're in that situation, which let's hope nobody is, I hope none of the people listening right now are ever in this situation. But if it does happen to you and you're met with a, you know, law enforcement agency who does not want to take a report, my best advice is to ask for that decline in writing. Ask for them declining to take this report in writing because nine times out of 10, they're just going to take the report.

[Courtney Nicole]

Yeah, that, and if they still don't really want to cooperate with you, I guess my next best piece of advice would be go to social media, because as we all know, especially like TikTok, it's just such a great way to get this information out to millions of people all over the world. It helps the investigation tremendously because as we all know, crucial things can take place within the first couple of minutes,

[Michelle Dole]

hours, even days for such an unfortunate situation. It does seem kind of like the best set of circumstances. And in terms of response all around the support of this case, I'm, like, getting goosebumps right now. The support is just incredible.

[Courtney Nicole]

Within a Couple of hours of Tara's disappearance, the Valencia County Sheriff's department gets her name into the National Crime Information center or the ncic. Meanwhile, Tara's friends and family start their own search. Michelle Dole, Tara's stepsister, remembers thinking that Tara was going to be in big trouble for causing such a ruckus. But when she found herself walking along Highway 47, holding hands with Tara's friends, calling her name, it hit her. Something might really be wrong.

[Michelle Dole]

This part shattered my heart into a million pieces because I've been that sister. I've been that sister thinking that their sister is just going to come back, that something must have happened. And I think it's not just denial, right? And I can't speak for her sister, but in my case, it's almost self preservation. You don't want to let yourself think that way. And there is guilt in giving up that hope that there's nothing wrong. I know when I realized that my sister probably wasn't coming back, the guilt of giving up that hope consumed me. You want to believe the best, and once you really cross that line, there's no going back for me. It was like this switch just flipped in my head. And it's a really. A really hard thing to do.

[Courtney Nicole]

I can only imagine. I'm sure it even goes deeper than that as well. Like your brain physically just can't wrap around the idea that something could actually be wrong. Especially in a small community where nothing like this ever really happens. You don't see this very much. So, of course, your first thought isn't to go there. But I can't imagine that. Like you said, that moment where your. Your brain switches, that has to be just such a heavy and haunting feeling that'll follow these families forever. The searchers didn't have any luck on day one. But on day two, Wednesday, September 21, 1988, someone spotted something promising. Along the highway. Just two and a half miles from Tara's home were tire tracks from both a car and a bike skidding off the west side of the road. The chaotic nature of the tracks and the fact that it looked like the bike had been dragged suggested a struggle took place. As search teams scoured the area around the tracks, Patti saw a flash of bright yellow in the dirt. It was a piece of Tara's broken Walkman, the one she'd had with her on her ride. Nearby, they also found a broken cassette tape.

[Michelle Dole]

Both Patty and Michelle felt that Tara had done this deliberately, that she'd tossed pieces of the Walkman and the cassette to Leave a trail. A few days later, authorities discovered the rest of the Walkman about 20 miles away at the entrance to a remote campground at the foot of the Manzano Mountains.

[Courtney Nicole]

I feel like it's really easy to look back on a situation like this and think that your loved one is super capable, super smart, and especially in Tara's case, case, like, very strong. If they were to encounter something bad, that they would be able to quickly defend themselves and that they would be okay. But in reality, I feel like people don't realize in cases like this, things happen so fast, and these crimes are super chaotic and disorienting. Especially, like, we don't know this yet, but especially if. If Tara was injured. No one expects to have something like this happen to them. So when it does, you usually are not thinking rationally to your point.

[Michelle Dole]

There are hundreds of different variables that could have been happening that would influence somebody's actions. So knowing exactly what happened to her in that moment, I think trying to predict how she would react is really hard. But on the flip side, you have all these people who know her who wanna think that they know how she might react. And I feel like that input is also valid. It's just. It's hard.

[Courtney Nicole]

Yeah. I just. I. I wouldn't know what I would do. Like, nobody does at the end of the day. I haven't really seen a lot of cases where victims will specifically leave a trail of breadcrumbs, so to speak, to help their case. I have seen it one time. It was the case of Denise Amber Lee. And she specifically, specifically did leave these little tracks, these little clues behind. She knew she was being abducted. So she would pull out strands of her hair and would leave strands of her hair and, like, part of her wedding ring in her, like, abductor's car. And she did that because she was, I believe she was the daughter of, like, a police officer. So she kind of, I think, probably had a little bit of knowledge on to do something like that in that scenario. But to everybody else who doesn't have that knowledge, I think it would be hard in a moment that scary to, like, think rationally, to leave, like, these clues behind. Regardless, the sheriff's department pounced on this new piece of evidence roughly one week after Tara went missing. They officially launched aerial and ground searches of the campground and mountain base, looking for anything that might lead to her. They had men on horseback, men leading bloodhounds, and they even enlisted the help of ROTC students from 40 miles away in Albuquerque. Ultimately, they found nothing else of note. The Police hadn't come up entirely short, though. Within a couple of days of her disappearance, witnesses came forward saying they'd seen Tara on her bike that morning. At around 11:30am that day, two ranch hands working along the north side of Highway 47 saw her riding back in the direction of her house. This confirmed that Tara had made the first leg of her journey with no problem. Fifteen minutes later, at 11:45, three men driving southbound in the opposite direction were crossing. Recalled seeing a young woman on a pink bike. They said she was being followed closely by a white pickup truck. The woman seemed unaware that she was being tailed. She was happily listening to her walkman. Shortly after that, another driver passed Tara and reported seeing the same thing. He said he believed that there were multiple people in the truck.

[Michelle Dole]

Even with all the clues and witness statements, Tara's case started to cool down after a couple of weeks. And it would only grow colder for the next next nine months as no new evidence turned up. But then, in June 1989, a new piece of evidence appeared 1500 miles away from where Tara vanished. And it changed everything. It's June 15, 1989. A Polaroid of a woman and a boy appears in a parking lot in Port St. Joe, Florida.

[Courtney Nicole]

It's a pretty disturbing picture. Both people appear to have their hands bound behind their back and their mouths gagged with thick black tape. The young woman is Caucasian with brown curly hair and light eyes. She looks at least five years older than the boy lying next to her. He's not as well lit as she is, but we can tell the boy is also Caucasian with brown eyes and short, somewhat dark hair. Due to the large piece of black tape on his mouth, his expression is hard to make out out. But the young woman is staring directly into the camera with a sad, pained expression on her face. The person who found the Polaroid turned it into authorities who made sure it was publicized via newspaper and tv. They were hoping for any information that might help them identify the people in the picture.

[Michelle Dole]

It took about a month before the news of the photo made it to Belen, New Mexico. But when Patty and John Doel saw it, they were certain they were looking at their daughter. John called the Valencia Sheriff's department to report it, and detectives met with Tara's parents to discuss their suspicions. Patty pointed out that the young woman's hair color and hairline matched Tara's. There was a clearly visible cowlick on her right temple. She also had a scar on her leg that looked just like Tara's from that car accident. And the book Lying next to the young woman in the image was one of Tara's favorites, a 1982 novel by V.C. andrews called My Sweet Audrina. Shortly after Patty and John saw the picture, another couple from New Mexico came forward. They swore that the boy in the photo was their missing nine year old son, Michael Henley. In April of 1988, five months before Tara went missing, Michael disappeared while on a hunting trip with his father in New Mexico's Zuni Mountain range.

[Courtney Nicole]

Two missing people from New Mexico in a photo together found all the way across the country. For the first time in many months. Months, the Doles and the Henleys had hope that their children were still alive and were going to be found. With that, the FBI took over Tara's case. Polaroid officials told them that the picture was taken with film that hadn't been available until May 1989, eight months after Tara's disappearance. So that was the earliest it could have been taken. Extensive analysis was performed on the Polaroid by plenty of different experts, but unfortunately, no one could settle on a verdict. The FBI didn't believe the photo was of Tara. England's Scotland Yard was even called in to lend an opinion. And they came to the opposite conclusion. They said it was probably her, but the Los Alamos National Laboratory agreed with the FBI. No one was in agreement about the boy either. Michael Henley's mother really thought it was him, but no one was certain.

[Michelle Dole]

Let's be real. This photo is still debated online by strangers. And I feel like it's not like her family is taking one abstract aspect of this photo. Without applying any logic here, the cowlick, the hairline, the scar, the buck, the resemblance, I don't see this as a desperate shot in the dark from this family. I think there's some solid logic behind their beliefs.

[Courtney Nicole]

I totally see what you're saying. Like, I've seen so many cases where I think families try to, I guess, cling on to, like any sort of hope, even if it might seem a little bit far fetched. But I agree. And this photo, the resemblance is very, very strong. And I will agree even if you don't know anything about her case at all. I feel like the one thing that most people do know about is this Polaroid photo.

[Michelle Dole]

Well, and I think that this is again, where, you know, the family expertise, if you will, comes in. I always like to stress that these are the people who have seen these victims, you know, the missing, the murdered, whoever it might be. They've seen them sick, they've seen them tired, they've seen them first thing in the morning, with makeup, without makeup, with different haircuts. You can think that a family has a certain level of bias, but they've seen these people in all these different scenarios. So when we're looking at a photo, I trust when they say that it looks like her.

[Courtney Nicole]

I do wanna point out that I do feel like in these moments, for family members, emotions are so heightened. But these experts, they can examine some pretty niche things, I would say, like they can examine physical features, lighting, different angles, photo resolutions. They can tell if a photo's been edited or not. But they can also take a look at, like, the environmental context clues. I mean, they use facial recognition software, and they can also use age progression tools. So I definitely want to point out that it is necessary. And I do feel like it's super important that these experts do examine these photos. But on the flip side, I also always want to trust the families just because they know their loved ones better than anyone else.

[Michelle Dole]

The Polaroid may have yielded a lot of publicity, but it didn't produce any clues to Tara's whereabouts. Both the Doles and the Henleys continued to operate under the assumption that the picture was of their kids, despite evidence to the contrary. But what came next did provide answers for one family. A year after the photo was found in June 1999, year old Michael Henley's remains were discovered in the mountains where he and his dad had been hiking. Michael had gotten lost and died from exposure. It was official Michael was not the boy in the Polaroid after all. Patty wasn't deterred by this news, though. In fact, she continued to believe her daughter was in the Polaroid until her death from complications from a stroke in 2006.

[Courtney Nicole]

In 2008, two years after Patty Dole passed away, and 20 years after Tara vanished, A new theory about her disappearance emerged, and it came directly from law enforcement. The current sheriff of Valencia County, Renee Rivera, publicly announced that he knew what happened to Tara Colico, and he was ready to speak up about it. Renee had been investigating Tara's case since he was hired as a deputy in 1989, and he firmly believed that Tara had been taken by someone she knew. Renee's theory was that two teenage boys, whose names he would not reveal, were riding in a pickup truck and had crossed paths with tara on Highway 47 that morning. Sources differ on whether or not Renee believes these boys were were following Tara with an intent to attack her or whether their truck accidentally struck her and killed her. Whatever their motives, Renee believes that the boys families helped them cover up their Crime and that Tara is likely buried somewhere in Valencia County. The stranger danger theory. It makes really, really great headlines. It makes for these eye catching stories that people are always drawn to. We see it all the time in the movies that a lot of the times, you know, we think people are attacked by strangers off the street. But in reality, statistically speaking, those crimes are pret rare. And most victims, they do know their assailants. So a little bit about me, if you don't already know. When I was 12 years old, I found out that my grandma, who at that point in my life I was super, super close with, she had brutally murdered her own mom. So my great grandma, this happened before I was born. This crime took place before I was born. So I didn't know my great grandma, but up until 12 years old, I was so close with my grandma and I never would have known that she was capable of doing something so violent. I guess I would say my point here is that a lot of the times, most victims do know their assailants, and the people that hurt them are often somebody closest with them.

[Michelle Dole]

Well, and I was in the same boat, right? I mean, I never believed that my dad could have done anything, even court. When they found the bombs in my house with a manifesto for my dad to use them and kill dozens of people, I still didn't believe he could do that. When it's your loved one, when it's somebody you're so close with, it is hard to automatically believe that they're a bad person. It takes some time to sink in.

[Courtney Nicole]

When my grandma committed that crime, she hid it for two years in my small hometown. And it was like a really big thing that, like, shocked everyone. It shocked the community. Where on the flip side, you're presented with this evidence and it doesn't even match up with like, their personality. But you have to come to terms with it that at the end of the day, you genuinely don't know what people are capable of or what drives somebody to commit a crime.

[Michelle Dole]

If the families of these boys could pull off a cover up that lasted 20 years, it meant one of them had strong connections. And that suspicion eventually fell on Lawrence Romero Jr. The son of the former sheriff Lawrence Romero. Though it's unclear who first pointed the finger. Lawrence Romero Sr. Had been sheriff at the time of Tara's disappearance and seemed to have acted swiftly and thoroughly as soon as Patty reported her missing. Decades later, however, suspicion still fell on his son.

[Courtney Nicole]

The first confirmed statement about Lawrence Romero Jr. S involvement can be found in case files from 2013 they stemmed from an interview with a Belen citizen named Henry Brown. Henry was 83 years old, and he knew he was dying. He told sheriff's deputies that he wanted to get something off his chest before it was too late. Henry said that back in 1988, shortly after Tara's disappearance, he and some other people were partying at Lawrence Jr. S place, which happened to be in a trailer in his father's backyard. Amidst margaritas and marijuana, Henry heard Lawrence Jr. And his friends talk about how they hit Tara with with their truck. Then they supposedly took her to a nearby gravel pit where they sexually assaulted her. When Tara tried to fight back and threatened to report them, they stabbed her to death. After dragging her body behind a nearby bush, they decided to dispose of it in a pond out by the mountains. According to Henry, Lawrence Jr. Made him promise never to tell anyone. Then he insisted that law enforcement had his back and that no one would ever believe him, even if he tried.

[Michelle Dole]

Now, I've read a lot of case records in my day, but this one from 2013 is pretty difficult to parse. It's packed with contradictions, falsities, and typos. At one point, Henry says that Lawrence Jr. Told him Tara had been dumped in a pond. But earlier in his interview, Henry said he thought Tara was buried under Lawrence Jr. S trailer. However, Henry's isn't the only interview in the file, nor is it the only one that makes some bold claims about Tara. Some witnesses told police she was dating a boy other than Jack. Other people interviewed asserted that Renee Rivera had been in on it the whole time, protecting Tara's assailants. They didn't seem to take into account that Renee had tried to discuss the truth five years prior.

[Courtney Nicole]

So I will die on the Hill. That families deserve to go through all of their loved ones case files. Like I mentioned earlier, my grandma committed that crime. Found out when I was 12. But literally up until I turned 21, 22, nobody in my family wanted to talk about that time. And so I was left with a lot of questions, especially in my case where there wasn't a lot of news articles and literally nobody was willing to talk to me about it. So I sought out the case files myself. And you have to, like, mentally prepare to go through all of the case files because you will find out some disturbing information. And it's a lot to process. It can be super heavy. I guess. I, like, visually painted a picture in my mind of the crime that was committed, which, if you know, it's. It was very brutal and I couldn't get that image out of my head. And ever since I read those case files, this was years ago, I still have, like, recurring nightmares. So I do think it's beneficial and I will be an advocate for families to always have that information to go through. But I just feel like you need to mentally prepare to do it because it can really affect you.

[Michelle Dole]

I'm on that hill right there with you. It's going to hurt the case. Don't release it, but release what you can and work with these families to talk with them. I know when I got my sister's case file, I read some of these interviews and I was. Was like, that's not what they told me. You know, that's interesting. And does it point to, you know, definitive guilt? No. But does it open up a door? Does it provide a puzzle piece? I think so.

[Courtney Nicole]

I contacted my county's prosecutor's office. I just emailed them. I told them my relation to the case, and then I just wanted some answers and if they even had anything. Since this happened a long time ago and they got back to me, they gave me like seven bin folds of information, you know, digital. And I guess if you have any more questions, you can always reach out to me personally and I can walk you through it. But ultimately it can be so helpful. And I feel like, like we said, if it's not going to hurt the investigation, I'm always an advocate for that.

[Michelle Dole]

I mean, I've helped a large number of families get case files, and every department, every county is different. So you just, you know, you have to look it up and see exactly how to do it. But it's also about being persistent. You know, I requested my sister's case file and I didn't hear back. So I went down. We have a physical office here, a records office you can go to. So I went down to that, and I waited about five hours before they came out with a giant stack of papers for me. So if you request it and they don't reply, see if they have a physical office you can go to. Because in my experience, it's a lot harder to deny somebody in person than over the Internet. Despite the convoluted nature of these deathbed confessions and late in life interviews, authorities followed any leads they could. They eliminated former Sheriff Romero and his son as potential suspects. They trekked through nearby ponds, searched rock quarries, and dug beneath concrete slabs at various private residences. Ultimately, they found nothing.

[Courtney Nicole]

In 2016, Sheriff's Lt. Joseph Rowland took over Tara's case, and he decided to start from scratch. He didn't suspect a cover up, but he did want to check for mistakes. After all, Tara had disappeared in 1988. The technology was far better now. So he started by trying to confirm the only pieces of physical evidence, the cassette tape and the broken Walkman thought to belong to Tara. The Results, though, broke Lt. Rowland's heart. Closer, more technical inspection proved that they were too old to have belonged to her. They had been discarded along Highway 47 long before Tara disappeared. It was nothing more than an unfortunate coincidence. Almost 30 years after Tara vanished, investigators theaters were back at square one. No evidence, no crime scene, and no suspects. But Roland wasn't going to give up. Four years later, in 2020, he received something he'd been waiting on for quite a while. The results of an independent analysis of Tara's case. Six months after they received the analysis, Roland and his team had enough evidence to search a Valencia county home. The results of that search and whose property it was remain concealed by a state judge. As of this recording, we still don't know who exactly Lt. Roland suspects in Tara's disappearance, but we can rely on his dedication to bringing Tara home. Those are his words, by the way. He doesn't talk about Tara in the past tense, nor does he say he's working to give her friends and family closure. He knows that the kindest thing he can do for her friends and family is to have hope, to continue to believe that Tara is still out there, she somewhere waiting to be reunited with them.

[Michelle Dole]

And so we join Lieutenant Rowland in starting over, revisiting the day Tara Colico disappeared. We focus on what we know to better explore what we don't. We know that on Tuesday, September 20, 1988, Tara wakes up feeling energized, eager and ready to take on another full day. She drops her to do list on her bed, along with some workout clothes and her school books. She thinks about how little time she'll have later on. After her morning bike ride, she plans to meet with her boyfriend Jack for tennis at 12:30. Then she has class at the University of New Mexico. At 4pm Tara clips her yellow Walkman to her shorts, then slides in a Boston cassette tape. She kisses her mom, Patty on the cheek as she slings her leg over Patty's bike, getting comfortable on the seat. Just before she kicks off, she says, mom, if I'm not back by noon, come look for me. It was casual, half joking. If Tara was being honest with herself, Patty worried Tara wanted her to relax. And then Tara's off, blasting music in her ears, wind in her hair. She speeds along State Road 47, the southwestern sun beating down on her freckled arms, enjoying those moments of freedom on the wide open road.

[Courtney Nicole]

Tara Koliko will be about 57 years old after as of this recording, she has brown hair and stands somewhere between 5 foot 5 and 5 foot 7. At the time of her disappearance she weighed about 120 pounds. Tara has a large scar on the back of her right shoulder as well as both a faint scar and a dime sized birthmark on the back of her leg. If you have any information about Tara Colico, you can contact your local FBI office.

[Vanessa Richardson]

Thanks for listening to this episode of Crime House 24. 7. Be sure to come back tomorrow for Conspiracies and the Unknown, where I dig into two of the strangest conspiracies and unexplained mysteries out there and to enhance your listening experience. Join Crime House plus and get every episode of Crime House 24. 7 completely ad free along with early ad free access to all Crime House shows plus monthly bonus episodes. To try join go to crime houseplus.com or if you listen on Apple Podcasts tap, try free at the top of the crime house 24. Seven page. Hi listeners, it's Vanessa Richardson on a special four episode conspiracy theories, Cults and crime series. I'm taking you to four kinds of getaways where paradise turned deadly. Listen to our Spirit special Deadly Destination series every Sunday on conspiracy theories, cults and crimes. Or join Crime House plus to listen to all four episodes now ad free. To join Crime House plus, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or at crime houseplus.com. Hi listeners, it's Vanessa. Before today's episode, I want to tell you about another show I think you'll love. Crime House and A and E are teaming up on the podcast version of the famous true crime series the First 48. Each week, Carter Roy takes you inside a landmark homicide case, the interrogations, the dead ends and the breakthroughs in the critical first 48 hours. Listen to and follow the first 48 every Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.