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

[Gravity Well]

Gravity Well is Melinda Esquibel connected to the Calico family in some way? Listening to her podcasts it does seem like she knew the Calico family to some degree (which that could explain how she could have gotten her hands on the original version of the polaroid).

Melinda is a former classmate to Tara Calico & a filmmaker turned amateur investigator I'm sure, with the timing of her pod casts, that is the source of the new hi res image.

https://audioboom.com/channel/vanished

 

[sony12]

Melinda is a former classmate to Tara Calico & a filmmaker turned amateur investigator I'm sure, with the timing of her pod casts, that is the source of the new hi res image.

https://audioboom.com/channel/vanished

That's cool. I do wish that all these people casually looking into this case all these years would have had access to what the original photo looked like. The photo has really been altered a lot over the years to the point to where you could practically consider the image widely spread around the net as being an entirely different picture to the one that came out of the camera all those years ago.

 

[Gravity Well]

Back to the logo on the boy's tee. Listening to the analysis of the photo at the pod cast (around the 13 min mark), it assess the image as that of "Spuds Mackenzie in a life preserver, with possible links to Busch Gardens Tampa". There is no elaboration as to what that link is, but some investigative work must have pointed here.

A good 5 hours south from Port St Joe, but possibly a souvenir t-shirts from the gift shop there while holidaying in the area? But would would a theme park be selling souvenirs with Spuds Mackenzie on, or could it be just a similar looking dog?

It might be a logo from an animal rescue charity, which you'd expect to find on a t-shirts. I can't find the exact image, but if you google for "animal rescue logos" and view by image it certainly has that look about it. Someone might hit lucky an find a match?

 

[jccoa1999]

I was listening to the pod cast Last night and I thought I heard something about a lady claiming she was the one in the photo but never heard from her again! Idk if they got her name ,it didn't say but I wonder why or if, that was ever investigated. It also seems to me that the only reason the FBI got involved in the Tara calico case was because of this photo! Id have to say if I was Tara Calico's Mother I too would say whatever I had to say to keep the FBI involved in my daughter's case...even if that involved saying that the girl in photo was Tara even though I knew it wasn't! Sounds to me like they have Tara Calico's case solved,they just didn't have any evidence! Some teenage boys hit her with their vehicle by accident and their parents' helped get rid of the evidence so they wouldn't go to jail!

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[jccoa1999]

Idk about the animal rescue shirt either..in the 80's there wasn't an animal rescue place at every other house! There used to be a store for children (and adults)called BIG DOGS or something similar that had clothing with all kinds of dogs on them!

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[jccoa1999]

Also Tara Calico's eye brows are rounded and the girl in photo is squared off with the natural arch you have before you start messing with tweezing your eyebrows! My opinion only

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[jccoa1999]

And the "glowing eyes" behind the boy are the clips to the plywood paneling attaching it to the van!

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[sony12]

I was listening to the pod cast Last night and I thought I heard something about a lady claiming she was the one in the photo but never heard from her again! Idk if they got her name ,it didn't say but I wonder why or if, that was ever investigated.

Which podcast was that from? There are several on that site.

 

[Gravity Well]

I was listening to the pod cast Last night and I thought I heard something about a lady claiming she was the one in the photo but never heard from her again! Idk if they got her name ,it didn't say but I wonder why or if, that was ever investigated.

I re-listened and it did state a lady rang the police claiming she was the girl in the photo. Apperently the computer in which the officer recorded the details of the call crashed and all data was unrecoverable. She never got in touch again.

 

[Gravity Well]

Which podcast was that from? There are several on that site.

I think it is in the first episode

 

[jccoa1999]

I think it was episode 2... It had Tara's sister being interviewed

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[jccoa1999]

Considering the story about Tara Calico's disappearance had something to do with the sheriff's (at that time) son and it being considered a cover up type of story then I can see why Tara's Mother would do anything to have the FBI involved!!

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[jccoa1999]

I can also see why there was a convenient computer crash erasing all the information from the case

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[jccoa1999]

Which podcast was that from? There are several on that site.

Pretty sure it was episode 2.. it was 40 minutes long!

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[Gravity Well]

Pretty sure it was episode 2.. it was 40 minutes long!

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You're correct. Ep 2 just past the 34 min mark

 

[sony12]

Yep. I found it. Yeah one of those deals where she heard from a cop, who heard from a lady, but later on there was a computer crash that erased all the info about the call. So hard to say how legit that lead would end up being. Could be true but also a good chance that the story is complete bull. I would think though police would have back up plans in place in case they did have computers go down so they wouldn't lose important info like that.

 

[sony12]

Listening to that same podcast though it doesn't seem like the police are sold at all that the Calico case has anything to do with that photo. And the main individual driving the connection was Tara's mother.

 

[Gravity Well]

If it is a hoax then sad that it got linked to the Calico case taking it off in the wrong direction. Plus the real perpetrators of doing harm to Calico would no doubt be pleased with the misdirection. Although it has made the case more high profile than a host of others, so in a strange way helped with publicity.

Again, if a hoax, which I think is stronger possibility than ever, I suspect the folks responsible for the photo are aware of it. It was such a huge story back in '89, they must have been terrified of coming forward and what would have been a media backlash against them.

So long ago it would be great if with this new publicity, evidence and original photos they had the courage to come forward, even anonymously. It would close a dead end in the Calico case and solve what is after all still an investigation into two unidentified kids.

 

[jccoa1999]

Somewhere in this websleuth thread I read that the film for this particular photo of the 2 kids wasn't manufactured until 1989! Then I just read the following quote on another website about the 2 additional photos that were never released to the public! I guess my question is, is there confirmation anywhere that this particular photo's film manufacture date is 1989 or did this tidbit of info just get changed throughout the years of different people speculating?



Over those years, two other Polaroid photos were discovered, which may or may not be photos of Tara. Neither has been released to the public. The first, discovered at a Southern California construction site, is a blurry image of a girl’s face, her mouth covered with duct tape. The film used was not available until 1989, and the girl seems to be lying on a sheet similar to the blue-striped pillowcase in the original photo.

The final Polaroid shows a woman loosely bound and blindfolded in gauze, wearing large framed glasses. She seems to be riding on an Amtrak train next to an unidentified man. The image is on film that was not available until 1990.



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[jccoa1999]

Considering that there were no calls, missing persons,etc etc about these 2 young children in the photo, tells me it was an inside family joke or it was an actual kidnapping that has something to do with some high profile people and it was all covered up! Politicians or some other shady people that have connections! My opinion only of course

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