Tara Calico Disappearance: The Unsolved Mystery of 1988

More than three decades have passed since Tara Leigh Calico disappeared while cycling in Belen, New Mexico in 1988. The case remains unsolved, despite investigations and testimonies.

On September 20, 1988, 19-year-old Calico left for her usual bike ride. She asked her mother to pick her up if she wasn't back by noon. She never returned.

Witnesses reported seeing a light-colored Ford pickup truck following her. Shortly after, her Sony Walkman and cassette tape were found, but not her or her bicycle.

Ten months after her disappearance, a Polaroid photograph of a woman resembling Calico was found in Florida, bound and gagged, next to a boy. The identity of those pictured has not been confirmed.

In 2023, the Valencia County Sheriff's Office announced that it had identified the "perpetrators" related to Tara Calico's disappearance, but no arrests have been made.

Calico's mother died in 2006, believing that her daughter was the woman in the Polaroid photograph.