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

[LadyL]

Where is the evidence that it's a hoax? I've read several pages of posts and don't understand the suspicion.

The book may have been 'staged' by the abductor and could easily have been in the teenage girl's possessions when she was abducted.

The girl looks fearful & drugged to me. The boy looks terrified & distressed to me. Of course, that's all subjective.

The picture could've been taken within a day or so after abduction, which would explain the girl's shaved legs & clean-looking clothes.

I don't know who they are but I don't see any reason to think it's a hoax, except perhaps to quell our own discomfort with the uglier probabilities. JMO.

 

[AnaTeresa]

I've liked posts on both sides of the debate. There's been well-reasoned analysis on both sides. I'm on the fence about whether it's a misinterpreted prank or more sinister, but I'm leaning towards an actual crime, because I would have thought the participants would have come forward at this point had it been a joke picture.

 

[raysgirl1126]

I agree AnaTeresa, if it was a prank I would think someone would have said something by now. Especially after all the media attention this picture got. I also read somewhere there were other pictures never released to the public but there is somewhere you can go to look at them?????????? Anyone no where????

 

[poppyfrock]

I think someone should start a facebook page dedicated to identifying the persons in this picture. Facebook reaches people far and wide. Someone may recognize them or someone may say, "Hey, that's me." Or "That's so and so, I know her." I don't know if I think it's Tara or not. I definitely think it's possible. But it could be anybody. I would love for someone to see the pic and say, "Oh yeah, that was us, we were goofing around."

To me, it looks like the girl is mad, and exhausted, tired of it all. And the boy looks terrified and miserable. I swear his eyes are PLEADING. Maybe they posed to look that way. I sure hope so, but I think getting this picture out to a wide audience like Facebook would be a good idea. If someone could please start a page for this picture and post a link to it here, so I and others can "like" and share the page.

ETA: I would start the page myself but I don't know the first thing about creating or running a page. I'm afraid I wouldn't be very good at getting the word out.

 

[ravenwitch]

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

something about the nose and eyes really strikes me as a strong resemblance.

I agree. I think it is a much closer match than Tara. She looks closer to the right age as well. I don't think the unknown girl is 15-16. She looks about the same age or slightly younger than my 14 year old.

I also don't think the boy is 12. If the girl is about 14, he is closer to 9. He looks about 5 years younger. Look how much smaller he is. A 12 year old boy would be close to the same height as a 15 year old girl. Although his age is hard to guess based on his position, I think he is younger than the estimated age.

 

[rpipergirl]

When I blow that picture up, it looks to me like they are laying on a fold-out hide-a-bed couch. Rusty brown, possibly with a southwest motif. It appears there is pillow with some sort of animal design on it behind them, like a tiger. The reflection in the mouth tape appears to be an overhead light fixture and the camera flash. I wonder what that thing is that looks like a paint roller pan? Any ideas? Not that this probably matters much.

I blew it up also and noticed the blue and white thing above the female victim's head. It's interesting that you got paint tray and thought notebook. Did you notice the brown thing next to the male victim appears to have door handles? I tried to bring out the phone # said to be on the book binding but had no luck. Maybe someone here has a better photo program.

 

[ezio_mctavish]

I have heard that the second and third photos of Tara haven't been released to the public, but I people on this board say they have seen them. I have been looking around and can't find anything. Has anyone seen these, if so, where are they. I think that they might be very important especially the fact that there is a man right besides her trying to make a face in the amtrak one.

 

[helpfindthemissing]

I went back through and the new realeased pictures of the boy that was sent in 2009 (presumed to bethe same child in the pic of the boy and girl) REALLY looks like Patrick Shawn Betz, IMO

http://www.newsherald.com/sections/article/gallery/?pic=3&id=76835
the above link is the new photo

http://dojapp.doj.ca.gov/missing/image.aspx?img_id=4478802131132mp2.jpg&width=200
above link is Patrick Shawn Betz

Look at the ears....and his left eye (would be on right in image) the nose seems to match too.

 

[momtective]

I went back through and the new realeased pictures of the boy that was sent in 2009 (presumed to bethe same child in the pic of the boy and girl) REALLY looks like Patrick Shawn Betz, IMO

http://www.newsherald.com/sections/article/gallery/?pic=3&id=76835
the above link is the new photo

http://dojapp.doj.ca.gov/missing/image.aspx?img_id=4478802131132mp2.jpg&width=200
above link is Patrick Shawn Betz

Look at the ears....and his left eye (would be on right in image) the nose seems to match too.

I don't think it's a match, the chin, nose, shape of the face and eye shape don't look the same to me.

 

[cocomod]

I don't think it's a match, the chin, nose, shape of the face and eye shape don't look the same to me.

I thought it looked like a good match at one time, but if you look at the shape of the eyebrows too, I do not think that they match. The boy in the picture looks younger to me than Benz too for some reason. His face is a little fuller. Just a few observations!

 

[JeannieC]

Could the girl be Brenda Kay Green? Doe Case File 214DFAL Index 15

http://www.doenetwork.org/

 

[ravenwitch]

I do think the little boy looks more like David Michael Borer than any other boys I've seen listed. I also think he is closer to the age the boy looks. Or this boy
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/244dmpa.html

I am not convinced that the boy with marker drawn over his lower face is the same as the boy with duct tape.
Could someone maybe put the two unknown boy photos side by side?
Even though the first isn't very clear, it might help.

Someone earlier in this thread says "the simplest explaination..."
I think the simplest explaination for two kids with tape over their mouths is abduction.

We don't know how long they could have been held before the photo. The fact that their hands may not be tied or that they aren't crying does not make it less believable to me. They could be kidnap victims who aren't always tied up who were told to pose for the photo.

 

[ravenwitch]

I am fairly sure the tape is Scotch brand duct tape. My dad always used the shiny black kind instead of the silver. It is sticky enough to keep your mouth shut like that and looks like it is the right thickness. I know someone said your jaw is strong enough to pull it loose but I checked and I couldn't open my mouth with it on. Not that I think the purpose was necessarily to gag them. Just saying.

Does anyone else think the book is backward if the girl laid it down? If she set it down, it should be facing her.

 

[JeannieC]

I am fairly sure the tape is Scotch brand duct tape. My dad always used the shiny black kind instead of the silver. It is sticky enough to keep your mouth shut like that and looks like it is the right thickness. I know someone said your jaw is strong enough to pull it loose but I checked and I couldn't open my mouth with it on. Not that I think the purpose was necessarily to gag them. Just saying.

Does anyone else think the book is backward if the girl laid it down? If she set it down, it should be facing her.

I agree about the book. It looks like it was staged for the picture.

 

[CarlK90245]

Looking closely at the tape on this boy's mouth, it looks to me like it was drawn onto the photo with a felt marker.

 

[Lera213]

Riddle me this: How come the parents have not identified the clothing? Ok the girl this might not be her tshirt she is wearing but the boy, without a doubt has to be the shirt he was probably wearing when abducted.

The FBI clearly can clarify this picture more to pull up what logo is on that boys shirt.

How many copies of that book was sold in the year this photo was found?

What is in Pt St Joe or wherever the first photo was found, is there a race track? If someone was visiting other than a relative or friend what is there to draw someone there?

Who has connections to the area and NM?

I mean come on, FBI and LE should be able to go on those questions alone and study the pictures.

The couch, they can pull up too the design and find out who sold the couch and where.

Things are there but I suppose resources and time is not.

We all surely cannot do that but FBI can.

/Rant!

 

[Lera213]

When I look at the photos of Tara compared to the mystery girl photo, the one thing I keep coming back to that makes me doubt that the girl is Tara is the eyebrows.

If you look at all five photos of Tara on her Charley Project page, her right eyebrow wraps in a sharp arc around her eye. The mystery girl's eyebrow tails more straight out toward her temple, and the point at which it doglegs is further toward the temple. Tara's eyebrow doesn't have a sharp dogleg, but curves smoothly. And the lower edge of Tara's eyebrow has much more curvature.

Also, the mystery girl's eyebrows are thinner in density toward the temples. Granted, this is not definitive because women pluck their eyebrows, but it is less likely that a woman is plucking her eyebrows while in captivity and not plucking them while she is free.

I noticed this also and thinning eyebrows on the outer edge like that may indicate the person could have thyroid disease.

 

[Lera213]

I just blew up this picture and this picture was taken in a bedroom or bathroom.

I can see behind the boy a door and clearly can make out a silver door knob.

To the right of that door is either a curtain or shower curtain, I'm thinking it is a closet with the doors removed and instead a curtain covering it. The door swings into the room towards where that closet is.

The bed or whatever they are laying on almost even with the door knob. This has to be a high mattress for the 80's. Today's beds you get this high but back then, most beds were not this high off the ground. Clue possibly here!

The boys shirt logo looks to be a strange looking bear of sorts. I know of no logo like it. He does have a t-shirt on under it though.

 

[Lera213]

another thing the shirt she has on, not sure but after looking and looking at it I think it reads "Pisces" and it is in the squiggly writing you would find associated with astrology.

Yes the boys shirt looks to have a panda bear etched logo on the shirt. Look at this logo on this satchel the shirt logo is kind of like this but without the bamboo. http://blog.girlzlyfe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Little-panda-bear-field-bag.jpg

 

[ravenwitch]

but the boy, without a doubt has to be the shirt he was probably wearing when abducted.

/Rant!

What are you basing that on?

Also, that is a really popular book. I doubt it is tracable.