Right 2: Age-progression to 34 years (circa 2003) by Forensic Artist Wesley Neville; Age-Progression to 49 years
Right 2: Age-progression to 34 years (circa 2003) by Forensic Artist Wesley Neville; Age-Progression to 49 years
Name: Tara Leigh Calico
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: September 20, 1988
Location Last Seen: Belen, Valencia County, New Mexico
Date of Birth: February 28, 1969
Age: 19 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 120 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown, cowlick on right temple
Eye Color: Hazel/green; lazy eye
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Large scar on back of right shoulder; dime-sized brown colored birthmark on back of one leg
Dentals: Available; sealants on most posterior teeth
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Available
Clothing: White t-shirt with "1st National Bank of Belen" printed on it, size medium; white shorts with green stripes; white ankle socks; white sneakers
Jewelry: Gold butterfly ring with diamond insert; gold amethyst stone ring; gold 1/2" loop earrings
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Tara left her house on Brugg Street in Belen, New Mexico to go on a bike ride at 09:30 a.m. on September 20, 1988. She took her mother's bike because her own was damaged. She was last seen riding her mother's neon pink Huffy Mountain bicycle with yellow control cables and sidewalls on Highway 47 in Valencia County, at approximately 11:45 a.m. Tara biked the route daily during her routine 36-mile ride.
Around 11:45, witnesses observed a 1953 Ford pickup truck, dirty white or light gray in color, with a white homemade shell, following Tara, who was wearing headphones, down the unpopulated stretch of highway where she was riding, but no one saw the abduction. The bike has never been found. She was 2 miles from home at the time of the sighting.
The small, cracked plastic window of the Sony Walkman was recovered 19 miles east of N.M. 47 near the remote John F. Kennedy campground. Calico's mother believes that her daughter deliberately discarded the items as a way to mark her trail. Detectives also identified bike tracks on the north side of the shoulder of N.M. 47, near the place the cassette tape was found, where a scuffle might have taken place.
Agency Name: Valencia County Sheriff's Office
Agency Contact Person: Sgt. Joseph Rowland
Agency Phone Number: 505-866-2400
Agency E-Mail: shr(at)co.valencia.nm.us
Agency Case Number: 20161005875
Agency Name: FBI-Albuquerque Field Office
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 05-889-1300
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 7-AQ40914
NCIC Number: M-461117833
NamUs Case Number: MP654
NamUs
NM DPS
Houston Chronicle - May 26, 1991
Chicago Tribune - Jun. 9, 2006
KCBD-11/NBC
Added: 03/26/2007; Last Updated: 04/27/2024 - By: mc
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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