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

[sony12]

So it looks like info about this photo has dried up again. The lady who was doing those podcasts has moved away from the photo so now we are left again with rather or not the people involved in the photo being taken ever come forward. The lady doing the podcasts did say she was contacted by a police officer at one time and he told her that a lady contacted him a long while ago and said that she was the girl in the photo. However according to his story the computer that he stored the info about the call on crashed so everything about the call was lost. So hard to say rather that story was true or just something completely made up.

 

[aThousandYearsWide]

Could Gary Michael Hilton be responsible?

He killed Meredith Emerson in 2008 after holding her hostage in his van for 3 days. He is serving 5 life sentence, and one death sentence for 3 different states (GA/NC/FL). He is currently in his early 70's so would be in his 40's at the time of the photographs discovery.

 

[Marjolein]

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

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

There is s strong resemblance. I also find it remarkable that the polaroid was found exactly 1 year after Doreens disappearance.

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Wow. Great point, Marjolein.

There is s strong resemblance. I also find it remarkable that the polaroid was found exactly 1 year after Doreens disappearance.

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

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

 

[Marjolein]

I was wondering if the girl could actually be a boy. I'm saying this because the dark haired child reminds me a lot of a guy i used to know. I'm not saying it's him (it's not), but he had long hair too and sometimes people would confuse him for a woman. Could a teenage boy have such smooth legs? I think the body could be male.

 

[sony12]

There is s strong resemblance. I also find it remarkable that the polaroid was found exactly 1 year after Doreens disappearance.

First comparison I have seen in a long time that you couldn't just automatically dismiss. Different eye brows though and the girl in the polaroid has a darker complexion in general. Think the girl in the polaroid would be more than just one year older as well. After reading Doreen's profile it sounds like her dad may have done something to her as it sounds like he was real abusive.

 

[sony12]

I was wondering if the girl could actually be a boy. I'm saying this because the dark haired child reminds me a lot of a guy i used to know. I'm not saying it's him (it's not), but he had long hair too and sometimes people would confuse him for a woman. Could a teenage boy have such smooth legs? I think the body could be male.

No it's a female. She is in those awkward mid teen years and sometimes girls that age havn't developed those real feminine features just yet and tend to look a little boyish.

 

[sony12]

Given that we have now seen the updated picture (that is a lot clearer than the one we were all looking at for years) I do find it incredibly difficult to believe that people would take photos out in the open of kidnapped children bound and gagged. I also still can't get over the fact that the girl does infact look like she is just sitting on her hands.

Sure we will never know for sure but given the new revelations we have gotten over the past several months I think it is even more likely that this whole thing was faked.

 

[Marjolein]

I thought the resemblance was better than Tara Calico, but you're right, Doreens father seems to be a suspect. Still the date is remarkable.

 

[gitana1]

I think the dog logo that the boy is wearing might be intended to be Spud Mckenzie. He was a popular dog used in commercials during the late '80's (he debuted as a Super Bowl commercial for the Giants/Broncos game in early '87).

I think this is pretty good evidence to make a safe conclusion that this pic was staged (and if it wasn't staged these would be about the dumbest kidnappers you could possibly imagine).

For it to be real these supposed kidnappers would be taking photos of two kids in an open van during the middle of the day where anyone within the general area could see. If they walked by the back of the van they could potentially see what was going on by looking at the back window. If they walked by the front of the van they could see by looking at the front window. And they could potentially see by looking in at the side the people were taking the photos at. If real it would be extremely risky to take an outside photo like this during the middle of the day pretty much anywhere a long the coast of Florida.

I'm no kidnapper but even I know that if you were going to take a photo like this of two kidnapped kids you would want it to be taken in a house and preferrably in a basement somewhere. Not outside in the middle of the day in a vehicle with a back and front window where people could potentially see what was going on. There is a reason why people who do kidnap kids usually lock them away somewhere and if they do let them out they are extremely careful about the circumstances that the kids are alllowed outside in.

I can see why this photo has been darkened quite a bit over the years to the point where you can't see all the light shining in on the scene. The pic is a lot more believable when you can't see everything that was involved with the original. That also could be a reason why nobody has come forward regarding this photo as well. The photo has been altered so much by this point that it pretty much is an entirely different picture than the one that was actually taken.

The expressions on the kids' faces don't look staged. The boy especially looks terrified and despondent. I'm not sure how we get that all the windows in the van were open from that photo. Some light shows in part of it but that doesn't mean all the windows could be seen through.

Regardless, there are plenty of empty lots or rural areas where someone could take a van and photograph captives without fear of detection.

It doesn't seem at all connected to Tara Calico but I don't think it's fake. The supposed "spacing" of the girl's arms doesn't impress me either. Their expressions look real. Maybe their abductor posed them or told them to pose a certain way. That doesn't mean they weren't abducted.

 

[Triss]

I'm sorry if this was brought up before, but I just saw two more photos on this Jane Doe's wikia page and I was wondering if you guys saw them too. Do you think it is the same girl in all 3 pictures?
Link: http://unidentified.wikia.com/wiki/Gulf_County_Jane_Doe

 

[Gardener1850]

I'm sorry if this was brought up before, but I just saw two more photos on this Jane Doe's wikia page and I was wondering if you guys saw them too. Do you think it is the same girl in all 3 pictures?
Link: http://unidentified.wikia.com/wiki/Gulf_County_Jane_Doe

Those three pictures don't look like the same girl to me at all, JMO. In the close up one compare the difference between the eyebrows-- shape and distance between eyelid and brow are different. In the second one, with the guy, her hair is a different texture, appears lighter in color and she has bangs on her forehead.

 

[CeriW1980]

I too have followed this case from when it first originally aired on unsolved mysteries. I have long thought that they younger child was a girl with her hair pulled in a tight pony tail. I have never thought this was a hoax. I no some say kids fooling around, but what kids find this amusing? It does not look or feel like play to me. As to the book, I was a teenager back then and V.C. Andrews and her awful books were all the rage. We all read them, including me. I don't think you can say the book has anything to do with Tara Callico.

Thats unlikely TBH... The nasion, hairline and shape / expression of the face and eyes, and jawline, all suggest it is a boy of age 8-11... There's no sign at all of hair pulled back tight

 

[sony12]

Was just looking on yahoo images at this photo again and I came across this photo.

<modsnip>

Obviously it isn't the girl in the port st joe photo but it is the most striking resemblance to the girl in the van photo that I think I have seen so far. So much so that she could probably be able to pass at being her daughter.

Photo originated from a St. Augustine, Florida girls basketball camp.

I originally found that photo by typing in yahoo images 'egghead shirt 1989 girl florida'

 

[sony12]

Understandable. Even though we do pretty much just bring up people they may look like in this thread we shouldn't post pics of regular people who aren't attached to any missing persons situation.

That does raise an interesting question though. Say in the future it is discovered that the photos were a hoax and that the two individuals in the photo are just regular people living their lives now would we not be allowed to post up to date images of them on here so people could see what they currently look like?

 

[sloane7777]

Understandable. Even though we do pretty much just bring up people they may look like in this thread we shouldn't post pics of regular people who aren't attached to any missing persons situation.

That does raise an interesting question though. Say in the future it is discovered that the photos were a hoax and that the two individuals in the photo are just regular people living their lives now would we not be allowed to post up to date images of them on here so people could see what they currently look like?

In this case since it was a investigation with a case # maybe so, but only if they allowed it or if it was already in MSM then it would be fine , right?

 

[dotr]

June 25 2018
Tara Calico Mystery: The True Story Behind Notorious Polaroid Showing a Girl and Boy Bound in a Van
"In July 1989, 10 months after his teenage stepdaughter Tara Calico vanished near their home in New Mexico, a friend called John Doel with word of something strange: A photograph had surfaced in Florida showing a young woman and a boy who’d been bound and gagged — and the woman looked just like Tara.

The image, a color Polaroid in good condition discovered by a woman in a convenience store parking lot, made national news. Both apparent victims faced the camera, their mouths taped and arms pressed together behind their backs, as though tied up."

It appeared they were in the back of a vehicle — perhaps a van — and they seemed in obvious distress.

But who were they? Were they really captives? And was the photo a clue to Calico’s fate?
"Calico’s mom, Patty Doel, believed until her death that the photo showed her daughter"
"Another New Mexico family felt the same about the young boy, saying they believed it was their missing son, 9-year-old Michael Henley, according to Rowland.

Michael reportedly disappeared in April 1988, while hunting with his father."

 

[sony12]

June 25 2018
Tara Calico Mystery: The True Story Behind Notorious Polaroid Showing a Girl and Boy Bound in a Van
"In July 1989, 10 months after his teenage stepdaughter Tara Calico vanished near their home in New Mexico, a friend called John Doel with word of something strange: A photograph had surfaced in Florida showing a young woman and a boy who’d been bound and gagged — and the woman looked just like Tara.

The image, a color Polaroid in good condition discovered by a woman in a convenience store parking lot, made national news. Both apparent victims faced the camera, their mouths taped and arms pressed together behind their backs, as though tied up."

It appeared they were in the back of a vehicle — perhaps a van — and they seemed in obvious distress.

But who were they? Were they really captives? And was the photo a clue to Calico’s fate?
"Calico’s mom, Patty Doel, believed until her death that the photo showed her daughter"
"Another New Mexico family felt the same about the young boy, saying they believed it was their missing son, 9-year-old Michael Henley, according to Rowland.

Michael reportedly disappeared in April 1988, while hunting with his father."

Good article. Really even more evidence to show that the girl in the image wasn't Calico. Tara still looks older in the photo taken in 1987 than the girl in the photo looked in 1989. I imagine Tara was a good 5 years older than the girl in the van photo.

I am glad the article went into the things about the photo that makes it look like it might not even have been real.

They said the photo made national headlines prior to even being connected to the Calico case. Was it pretty common back in those days to take random photos of unknown people and make such a big deal of it that it ended up appearing on tv? Because you don't see that kind of thing anymore. But then again we didn't have the internet back then, many people still did not have home computers, and there obviously were no cell phones, so I guess if they wanted to try to spread the word to get some attention on it they had to put it on tv.

I'm certain though that if this image had never been attached to the Calico case the picture would have been long since forgotten about. It probably wouldn't even have found its way to the internet because quite frankly it is one of the more harmless looking bound and gagged images there are on the web.

 

[sony12]

Maybe harmless wasn't a good word to use. The pic being one of the more mild bound and gagged images on the web may be more appropriate to say.

 

[sony12]

I wonder what happened to Gravity Well. She brought some really good new thoughts and info to the table about a year ago but hasn't posted on the forum since then. Looking at her posting history this was the only case she posted about so she must of had some significant interest in it. I remember at the time I thought she may possibly have been the girl in the photo given that she seemed to know some significant things that people hadn't seemed to have brought to the table yet throughout the history of the threads about this case.

Gravity Well if you are still out there roaming these forums come back and lets see if we can get any discussion going about this case again.