The Vanishing of Tara Calico

On the morning of September 20, 1988, 19-year-old Tara Calico set out on her regular bike ride along New Mexico’s Highway 47. It was a familiar route — a straight, quiet stretch near her home in Belen. She told her mother to come pick her up if she wasn’t back by noon. Tara never returned.

Hours later, her mother drove the route and found pieces of Tara’s broken Walkman and a cassette tape scattered along the road. But there was no sign of Tara. No witnesses could provide a clear lead. It was as if she’d vanished into thin air.

Then, nearly a year later, a polaroid photo was found in a Florida parking lot — showing a young woman and a boy bound and gagged in the back of a van. Tara’s family believed it was her. FBI analysts couldn’t agree. The photo became one of the most chilling clues in American missing persons history.

Tara was bright, ambitious, and loved fiercely by her family and friends. Her disappearance shattered a small New Mexico town and drew national attention. Yet decades later, no arrests have been made, and the mystery endures. To learn more about Tara Calico and see more pictures, click here!

SEQUESTERED Season 2 dives deep into Tara’s case, retracing her final ride, the investigation that followed, and the eerie discovery that left a nation haunted.

Part One:

Part Two:

Sources: Albuquerque Journal, FBI records, contemporary news reports.