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

[Cappuccino]

I'm not sure about the girl, but that photo of the boy looks like a hoax. I fully agree with the poster who said that the "gag" looks like it was scribbled onto the pic with felt tip pen.

 

[JeannieC]

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????

I read the same thing but have never been able to locate where! I'm with you....ANYBODY?

 

[buffetoflies]

I'm not sure about the girl, but that photo of the boy looks like a hoax. I fully agree with the poster who said that the "gag" looks like it was scribbled onto the pic with felt tip pen.

The gag was drawn on with a marker. Come on Carl you don't gotta look closely to see that. If you compare that picture with the gagged boy in the van they look somewhat alike. It's like someone sent the drawn on gag pic to the police so they'd start looking at the case again. It's like some people think the boy with the drawn on gag is the other boy in the side by side. It looks to me like the drawn on gag pic was printed out or was from color newspaper picture.


http://www.forthelost.org/images/bound.jpg

Jeaninne, I've tried looking for those other pictures as well, and was unable to find them. If they were on a geocities site or another of that type of hosting site that was popular 6+ years ago they are gone because those types of sites were shutdown completely a couple years ago.

Word on the street so to speak is that one of them was a person wrapped in bandages on an Amtrak train with the person next to them making faces as if the person was a baby. I haven't seen the pic, but if the bandaging was like in this video: Burn Survivor Recovery - YouTube it could have been a person who was burned... that's how the dressings are for that.

 

[JeannieC]

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.

I can see the similarities. The eys and eyebrows, the ears resemble. It seems possible to me.

 

[JeannieC]

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!

Are you thinking Horse racing? Gary Hilton? He at one time drove a white van and he took pictures of victims. I wish LE would release the photos. Might solve a few cases if they did. jmo

 

[girlinblue]

I read about this photo years ago and I'm disappointed to say that I forgot about it completely until browsing the forum today. I am trying to read all the old threads and mesh out all the information but it's gonna take awhile and I'm impatient so I'll just ask - were the mailed photos ever tested for prints? I understand why the envelope wouldn't be, but what was inside was only touched by the person who mailed it and the person who opened it. Fingerprints on parchment materials last for years, AFAIK.

 

[ThePhantom]

Every time I see the heading for this thread pop up a chill runs through me. I've always thought the young lady was Calico -- the boy, I cannot figure out. Let's see if another set of pictures is sent around the 25th anniversary of Tara's disappearance -- sometime around 2014...

 

[iamnotagolem]

My first thought when I saw this pic - the boy looks like he's laughing, I doubt this is real.

My husband's immediate reaction - it's staged the girl looks bored

I read through the entire thread. I compared pics with Tara, I don't see the resemblance. I have to agree it looks like kids just playing around. Like a previous poster mentioned, they may live in another country, they may have never seen this picture, today is the first time I've seen or heard of it. I have a friend who closer resembles the girl in the pic than Tara does, but I'm certain it's not her.

My personal opinion is the kids in the pic are siblings, they look very much alike. I disagree with the kids ages. I think the girl looks 12ish and the boy 7ish. She's not very developed, I think her legs look longer b/c of the angle of the picture.

I wish I knew what the girl's shirt said, and what is on the boys shirt as well.

 

[Mozenrath]

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.

 

[banana&custard]

Hi this is my first time posting here so sorry if this has already been answered!

With regards to the tape used has any one else considered the fact that It may be the type of bondage tape they sell in adult shops?

 

[CarlK90245]

Hi this is my first time posting here so sorry if this has already been answered!

With regards to the tape used has any one else considered the fact that It may be the type of bondage tape they sell in adult shops?

I didn't know there was tape made expressly for that purpose. LOL.

I would think regular-old duct tape would work just fine. Or if they are worried about it being too sticky, masking tape. It seems to me that this would only be a concern for them if this was staged. If they really were kidnapped, the kidnapper probably wouldn't care if it was painful to them to pull the tape off.

 

[kdsmith21]

I am not sure how to post photos on here (but have tried 2), but, the boy looks like he has on a gold chain and pendant... and the 2 "white spots" behind him, when blown up look like a dog to me. Looks like the flash got the dogs eyes... there is a boy missing from Washington who was wearing a gold necklace..William Downey, he bears a strong resemblance...

I was going to post the picture and draw a red circle around the "dog" and the necklance and pendant... or at least what I think is a dog and a necklance... kind of a large brown or brindle looking dog with a longer nose..
I think I read the police determined the photo was taken in the back of a late 80's toyota cargo van (I know that was also the type of vehicle that was parked in the spot where the picture was found... )...
NECKLACe/PENDANT- DOG EYES

lighter dog | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

DOG
it stands out when I lighten the picture (to me looks like a dog's head)

Anybody else see it? I wonder if the police could find out if anyone remembers someone who had a van like that and a dog?

 

[kdsmith21]

I give up .. here is a link to the picture (I think...sigh)

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/86965940@N05/8330252763/" title="lighter dog by PetAngelFla, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8218/8330252763_80a13caae5.jpg" width="307" height="250" alt="lighter dog"></a>

 

[Swamp Fox Trot]

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8218/8330252763_80a13caae5.jpg

Yeah could be a dog.

I am not sure how to post photos on here (but have tried 2), but, the boy looks like he has on a gold chain and pendant... and the 2 "white spots" behind him, when blown up look like a dog to me. Looks like the flash got the dogs eyes... there is a boy missing from Washington who was wearing a gold necklace..William Downey, he bears a strong resemblance...

I was going to post the picture and draw a red circle around the "dog" and the necklance and pendant... or at least what I think is a dog and a necklance... kind of a large brown or brindle looking dog with a longer nose..
I think I read the police determined the photo was taken in the back of a late 80's toyota cargo van (I know that was also the type of vehicle that was parked in the spot where the picture was found... )...
NECKLACe/PENDANT- DOG EYES

lighter dog | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

DOG
it stands out when I lighten the picture (to me looks like a dog's head)

Anybody else see it? I wonder if the police could find out if anyone remembers someone who had a van like that and a dog?

 

[kdsmith21]

wonder if it might be someones own children. People are often cruel and abuse their own children, tie them up, starve them, beat them or worse... but I guess it would be odd that they would photograph abusing their own children, seems more like something someone would do for a souveneir to remember and relive the kidnapping

 

[margarita25]

Ooooh my goossshh!!!! I remember this! Wow.

 

[kdsmith21]

I agree the resemblance is very strong, and the boy in the polaroid that was sent to the paper and police in 2009 - if you look (or add his photo beside these 2 pics) looks like an OLDER VERSION of the SAME BOY... ear shape, eyes, hair line, nose... just a couple of years older... makes me think they are keeping these children for trafficking or sex slaves or something and at least did not kill them or at least not for several years...

And the girl also bears a resemblance to an OLDER AMY YAKEMICH, November 1981 AZ - her neighbor is suspected of threatening to kidnap her and use her for human trafficking and was the last person with her (Raymond Diaz) he is in AZ prison until theyear 2046 for charges from October 1981 (kidnapping, sexual assault and burglary).. there was supposedly a confession to raping and killing Amy, but no body was ever located and he was never charged with her disappearance. So, maybe he "sold" her and she was owned by the people in the white toyota van in 1989?

There was also a 12 year old boy Brian Bleyl missing less than 10 miles from her in Phoenix in February 1981... I thought maybe the unidentified boy in the picture might be him, but he would have been too old in 1989 (21- boy in polaroid is way younger than that).. would have made a great case had he been the right age (for the 2 of them to be together)...

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.

 

[looks like rain]

I agree the resemblance is very strong, and the boy in the polaroid that was sent to the paper and police in 2009 - if you look (or add his photo beside these 2 pics) looks like an OLDER VERSION of the SAME BOY... ear shape, eyes, hair line, nose... just a couple of years older... makes me think they are keeping these children for trafficking or sex slaves or something and at least did not kill them or at least not for several years...

And the girl also bears a resemblance to an OLDER AMY YAKEMICH, November 1981 AZ - her neighbor is suspected of threatening to kidnap her and use her for human trafficking and was the last person with her (Raymond Diaz) he is in AZ prison until theyear 2046 for charges from October 1981 (kidnapping, sexual assault and burglary).. there was supposedly a confession to raping and killing Amy, but no body was ever located and he was never charged with her disappearance. So, maybe he "sold" her and she was owned by the people in the white toyota van in 1989?

There was also a 12 year old boy Brian Bleyl missing less than 10 miles from her in Phoenix in February 1981... I thought maybe the unidentified boy in the picture might be him, but he would have been too old in 1989 (21- boy in polaroid is way younger than that).. would have made a great case had he been the right age (for the 2 of them to be together)...

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

 

[believe09]

I am on the fence, tbh, as to how long trafficked children are held or kept alive. Keeping them into their 20's or even late teens is pretty risky I would think, especially if they are held over a period of years.

That being said, there is a market for bound children/teen photos-we have seen them pop up in the Johnny Gosch case and the Taj Narbonne case. I am sure there are many others as well.

I find this case to be so perplexing....if these children are still alive now as adults, I wish they would step forward.

 

[kdsmith21]

I would think they would kill them as well when they reach adult hood unless they are like Jaycee Dugard, just too afraid to escape - they have been brainwashed and terrified so long- but at some point in young adult hood, I guess they can't possibly keep them forever- makes you wonder, maybe the push them into adult porn or prostitution and drugs and let them accelerate their own demise by overdose, addiction or suicide -or do they let them go and they are too afraid to come forward (or embarrassed).

But it makes looking for unidentified body matches much more difficult. The year of death and the age of the deceased will be way off from the children or teens we would be looking for a match.