Resolved FL - Port St Joe, 2 Children 96UMFL & 66UFFL, bound & gagged in photo, Jun'89

[hogwash]

If there was a copy left on Tara's parents' doorstep, it is very unlikely that it was by the same person who left the Polaroid in the convenience store parking lot.

Polaroid photos don't have negatives, so you don't normally make copies of them, unless from a scanner (which were not that commonly available back then). After dropping it at the convenience store, he no longer had the original from which to make a copy. He would have had to have made the copy prior to dropping it at the store, or obtained the copy from a public source.

why do you think it is highly unlikely the same person left the photo at 2 different spots? actually I think its a good chance that it could be the same person, and yes some of us do realize that polaroid photos do not have negatives,,,, but what would be the purpose of taking only one photo? it would make more since that several photos were taken,,like trophies

 

[amberdawn723]

None of the links to the news story about this works.....Are there any that work anymore that's I'm not finding?

 

[orangesandapples]

I don't know who the boy is that has his mouth covered but to me he is pleading for help with his eyes!

I agree! I'm usually the type of person who looks for the most likely explanation, and in this case I think that would have to be that this picture is a hoax. But I just don't see what a lot of people are seeing: I don't think the girl looks bored, and I definitely don't think the boy looks like he's laughing. If it was staged I think they were acting pretty hard to make it look real. JMO.

 

[amber1]

I also think it could possibly be someone else's own kids, or kids who were never missing at all. It's shocking what some people do to their own children.

But...I have always been on the fence about this being a hoax...there are so many sick people out there who wanna be copy cats! If it was a copy cat...why just leave it in a convenience store parking lot? Why not mail it to the newspaper, police or anywhere else to get some real attention? I guess the location of where it was found makes me think it's not a hoax.
I have always thought this young lady was Tara Calico. The girl in the photo has a mark on her calf like Tara did, and also there was a book in the poloroid picture called My Sweet Audrina by VC Andrews, who was Tara's favorite author.
And the look in these kids' eyes is so haunting...it makes me think differently.

 

[EyesOnSunday]

I have spent so much time staring at this photo. It is haunting. Forgive me if this has already been discussed but does anyone know if this has ever been run on the news or crime shows?

 

[amber1]

It may have been along with Tara Calico's story. They may even feature it in her documentary.
http://www.taracalico.com/

 

[Jackalyn]

I haven't got to the end of this thread but keep thinking about Johnny Gosch...and the fact a photo that Noreen thought was him bound and gagged was sent to her.

It is as if someone is trying to send clues via photos? Is there any kind of possibility of a link? These photos are all clearly meant to be found arent't they?

 

[Jackalyn]

Phew I thought I was losing it. I thought the other case turned out to be a trophy photo from Iraq-God Help Me I hate typing that.

I know that many feel the girl is Tara Calico and the boy is Johnny Gosch. I go back and forth as to whether or not it is staged simply because of the statements of the witnesses who saw the girl walking on the beach...

OH.......so there COULD be a link?

 

[margarita25]

I've followed this case for a while, so I thought I'd add my input.

It's certainly plausible that it was a hoax. But I find it less likely to be a hoax and more likely to be the following; either the mistake of a child abduction ring or the taunt of a sick criminal(involved).

Eyebrows, in my opinion, are a very flimsy way of identifying someone. It looks to me more like she was reflexively wincing in anticipation of the photo flash; either that or she was pissed. As far as the thinning of the eyebrow, has it been ruled out that Tara may have drawn parts of her eyebrows or may have had a thyroid condition? Anyway, the shape of a person's face can change rapidly due to emotion and situation. The shape of a person's eyebrow in a family photo is a poor comparison to a photo from an abduction.

What makes this case even more difficult to theorize is the lack of quality photos. The copy of the polaroid found on the internet likely came from the media, so it is not only low-resolution but every copy I have found contains obvious jpeg compression artifacts that may hinder identification efforts. It would be great if we could finally get a 600 DPI scan of the polaroid, if it still exists. Does anyone know who has the photo? Is it in some evidence locker somewhere? Seeing as it hasn't been officially ruled to be Tara, where would this photo go?

I don't see the fact that it was a polaroid as evidence suggesting that it was a hoax. At first, even I wondered why scum abducting kids wouldn't use a more professional camera? If they were producing CP, for example, why a polaroid? Well perhaps if there's a child abduction ring on the move, they might not always have access to their own development equipment, and polaroids were actually pretty good. Better that than get caught developing the film at the 1-hour photo finishing.

From my experience, it's extremely difficult to pin-point a child's age, or anyone's age for that matter. To me, the girl looks like she can be between anywhere from 13 to 20. I've seen plenty of older teenagers with that sort of face and body. As for the boy, I think he could be anywhere between 8 and 12. I'm not a professional, but that's my opinion.

Is the girl Calico? I think it's likely to an extent. But since the polaroid was found in Florida, that opens up a wide range of possibilities. As many have pointed out, there are other likely possibilities from the same time period as to who the girl may be.

I think the person who is most likely the girl in the photo, besides Calico, is Doreen Jane Vincent.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/87dfct.html

Here is a comparison I made:

I think the similarities are very shocking.

Like I said before, I think it's likely that the girl in the polaroid is wincing for come reason, whether it be in anticipation for the photo flash or she was angry, or probably drugged.

I think the biggest similarities between the photo of Doreen and the polaroid of the girl are the left-eyes(screen right), the shape of the chin, the distancebetween the chin and the nose, the height of the lips(as far as I can tell), and the shape of the arch of the nose. It is also plausible that Doreen curled her hair and her hair was only somewhat naturally curly. Doreen is also in about the right age range, since she is 12 and when missing in 1988, a lot can change in a young person's appearance in a year, especially during puberty. It is possible that the girl in the polaroid was in the middle of development(puberty), but that can't be said to any degree of certainty.

Also notice that Doreen seems to have a thinning right-eyebrow(screen left). It is difficult to ascertain whether or not this is a genuine clue or a jpeg artifact. But the possibility that she has thinning eyebrows may be a clue that she is the girl in the polaroid. Maybe Doreen sometimes drew her eyebrows?

The only real discrepancy I can find is that the eyes of the girl in the polaroid appear to be brown, whereas Doreen's eyes look more of a pale blue. According to the Doe Network page, Doreen's eyes were "hazel". However, not only is the copy of the polaroid available to us of poor quality, but poor lighting(even with a photo flash) can give eyes a more neutral color.

The girl in the polaroid also seems to have skin that is less fair than Doreen's. But this could be due to poor living conditions(I imagine the back of a truck bed would get pretty hot), general stress, abuse, and of course unprofessional lighting.


The fact that Doreen likely ran away makes her a better candidate for abduction because that would mean that she is alone, vulnerable, and would be willing to go along with someone. Whereas with Tara, to kidnap someone on a bike is still pretty risky. Not impossible, especially if someone was bastardly enough to hit Tara with their car and then chuck her into the back of their van. But I think the former scenario is a bit more likely for a non-serial killer abduction.


So let's talk about the other child in the polaroid.

There is actually quite a bit of old information on the internet, so for those who don't know, the other child probably isn't Michael Henley. Michael's remains were found a year or two later in the same area where he disappeared they authorities believe that he probably died from exposure.

Someone in this thread mentioned that the other child in the photo may be a girl with her hair tied back? Sounds like a possibility, but I have not seen any matching missing females, and to be honest, it looks like a boy. I've seen pictures of girls with short hair where I could clearly tell it's a female whilst everyone else couldn't tell if it's a boy or a girl, so I think my judgment is somewhat good. So until we can come up with a female lead, I am going to assume the other child is a boy. Plus, from the little I can see, the hair looks more like a buzz cut than longer hair tied back. I've tried altering the levels in the polaroid to reveal some detail in that area and I found nothing.

I think the most likely match for the boy in the polaroid is David Michael Boerer.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/borer_david.html

And here is another comparison I made:

Granted, the area in the copy of the polaroid with the boy is ridiculously low resolution.

There are several reasons why I think the boy is probably David. The eye shape and color looks nearly identical(from the little information we have), the ear lobes look very similar, the nose shape and arch look the same, the chin shape looks the same, the age seems pretty close, etc. Both photos have seemingly thin eyebrows.

The only difference is the apparent shape of the eyebrows. Some have said that the boy in the polaroid looks like he's laughing, and I think he's far from laughing. I'm not ruling the polaroid out as a hoax, but since these kind of hoaxes don't happen too often, I think it's important that we assume that the polaroid is legit.

To me, it looks like the boy is scared. If you look carefully, the eyebrows appear to be pointing up at the brow ridge. Most people don't make that kind of expression when they are laughing. At least I don't think they do; I'm not an expression in facial expressions.

Otherwise, the biggest potential discrepancy would be that the boy went missing in Alaska, which is a LONG way from Florida, where the polaroid ended up. Then again, we simply can't underestimate the network of human trafficking. Child sex slaves probably get moved across long distances on a daily basis.



It's unfortunate that we will likely never get real answers. The polaroid will probably remain a mystery.

Wow, strong similarities indeed!!!! Both look like a match to me!! Doreen's nose and chin...David's earlobes! jmo! Has someone called this in?!

 

[Jackalyn]

What I am not getting is why the photos could be staged and NOT a hoax. If the boy and girl were already scared surely they could be scared enough to allow the picture.

Nor do I find it impossible that the abductor would not have allowed the book.

Is it that someone is trying to tell LE something and can do it in no other way. These pictures may not be who we think they are, but they are all kids bound and gagged left at judicious places.

Do we have any other similarites besides these and the Johnny Gosch photos. Is there a link to vans/transport

The way the children are shown, or in the type of camera?

Were all of these photos from both cases, Polaroids?

Is the duct tape similar?

If people are debating similarities between missing children and the children on the Gosch photos and these are also similar does that tell us anything?

Yes, they could all be hoaxes or kids messing around, but what kid would tallow this kind of photo and leave it in a parking lot unless something sinister was going on?

 

[zwiebel]

I wonder where Gary Michael Hilton was in 1990? He did seem pretty indiscriminate in who he killed, liked to hold onto his victims at least for a short while, had a FL connection, owned a dog, a white vehicle, and carried a camera and duct tape in it. In this pic, the vehicle looks like it has blacked out windows.
http://www.ajc.com/gallery/news/photos/0111hilton/grxr/#2212880

His dog was red though, and the one in the photo looks dark. Also, Hilton was killing nearly twenty years after this photo was discovered, although I suspect he began a lot earlier. I don't know how long he'd owned his vehicle, either, and if he always bought white vehicles.
http://crime.about.com/od/current/a/hilton.htm

Even more tenuously - in the book, My Sweet Audrina, that is shown in the photo, the protagonist has red hair and talks about how mom called daddy a dandy and a fop when she was displeased with him. Hilton's red haired dog was named Dandy.

 

[BaxterDE42]

I have nothing useful to offer to the discussion. This is the first time I have seen this case and I don't think it is staged. My experience tells me the boy is in severe distress. THe young lady seems more defiant than fearful, but none the less certainly not wanting to be there. I do not think it is Tara. I have studied both photos pixel by pixel. JMO

What an evil world! No, not sick - pure evil at work in these cases and no one wants to use that word. Makes me want 5 minutes alone with the driver of that vehicle! Some cases I just can't get involved in because I wouldn't be able to investigate or help anhone from prison.

I can only hope they have found some peace after that moment in time.

 

[zwiebel]

Hilton did own a black dog at some point.

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Facts and Opinions Relating to Gary M Hilton Serial Killer???-

And there's a gap in his timeline covering 89-90

 

[zwiebel]

Does anyone think it looks like there's a scar going through her eyebrow?

 

[zwiebel]

A vertical scar, dissecting the eyebrow.

 

[cobalt sky]

A vertical scar, dissecting the eyebrow.

It is easier to see in the first photo you posted, but YES, I do see what you are talking about. Excellent observation!

 

[margarita25]

Does anyone think it looks like there's a scar going through her eyebrow?

I see it...possible indeed.

 

[margarita25]

Wow, I had to cross check the dates on this case with one I just came across here on WS.

JACK DANIEL PHILLIPS
https://sites.google.com/site/findjdphillips/

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9922082&posted=1#post9922082

I thought the photos could be similar but I see now the dates don't match.

Has Mozenrath's comparison been forwarded to LE? I think it could definitely be a match!

 

[Chorley8]

Not caught up on this have any posters thought the "girl" is a boy? What makes investigators and sleuthers here so sure it the person is female?

Looks male to me see arms, legs, though yes slightly effeminate body shape in that sense no breasts (?) but darker perhaps Mediterranean features. (?)

 

[PonderingU]

I have nothing useful to offer to the discussion. This is the first time I have seen this case and I don't think it is staged. My experience tells me the boy is in severe distress. THe young lady seems more defiant than fearful, but none the less certainly not wanting to be there. I do not think it is Tara. I have studied both photos pixel by pixel. JMO

What an evil world! No, not sick - pure evil at work in these cases and no one wants to use that word. Makes me want 5 minutes alone with the driver of that vehicle! Some cases I just can't get involved in because I wouldn't be able to investigate or help anhone from prison.

I can only hope they have found some peace after that moment in time.

I totally agree with you regarding the descriptive feelings of each child. Breaks my heart!
Anybody know if the date this photo was supposedly found is 110% ACCURATE??? I ask, as I am following the Jacob Wetterling case, and think the boy certainly looks like him, but he was abducted oct. 1989, and the pic said the photo was found before then.