One day in mid-1989 a woman picked up a Polaroid snapshot in the grounds of a convenience store in Port St Joe, Florida.  What that person looked at was a chilling document, an instant picture of two young and frightened humans, one a female of 19 years of age, the other a mere child, a young boy of 10 years. They were obviously bound with their wrists behind their backs and gagged, with black tape across their mouths, and they were stuffed into the back of a van. And they were not playing 'tying-up' games, for both young people had been missing from their families for many months! 

This mysterious photograph was the first clue the two families had since they had disappeared. It was also the last.
 
One cannot easily forget the look of abject terror in the little boy's eyes.  The girl's face, even more clearly visible than the boy's, is almost curiously expressionless. Why the photo was taken is perhaps a puzzle, but only part of the whole mystery.

For these two young people had been abducted a year or more earlier in New Mexico, some 2,000 km (1,250 miles) away from where the photograph was found.  The boy was the first to be kidnapped. Just 9 years of age then, Michael Henley was on a camping trip to Albuquerque with his family on 21 April 1988, when, only 20 minutes after the family arrived at the campsite, he simply disappeared. 

Five months later, on 20 September 1988, only 120 km (75 miles) away, Tara Calico, then aged 19, was cycling not far from her home in Belen, on roadway 47. She was last seen being followed by a Ford pickup truck with a canopy.
 
A driver recalled that there had been a white van parked next to his car where the photo had appeared; it had no windows, only a sliding door. Technical analysis by police experts indicated that the photo could have been taken as early as April, three months before being found.

Perhaps every bit as chilling as the sight of the bound and gagged young people was the fact that lying beside Tara in the photo was a book, its title clearly (perhaps even intentionally?) visible.  It was Virginia Andrews' horror story, My Sweet Audrina.  Ironically this book, which Tara's mother, Mrs Patty Dole said was a favourite of Tara's, tells the story of a sadistic grandmother who keeps some small children locked in an attic.  One cannot help but feel strongly there is a reason for the careful placement of the book. Questions arise. Did the girl tell her abductor she liked the story? It is hardly likely she was carrying the book with her while she was cycling. Or did the abductor know she liked the book? 

What fate awaited these two young people?  Nothing further has been heard or seen of them since.  But the fact that they were apparently still alive months after their abduction indicates that some form of enslavement was possibly the chief motivation of their captors. Speculation has continued ever since. Meanwhile Tara's grieving mother hoped against hope that one day she would see her daughter again. Alas, Patty died in May 2006 from complications following a series of strokes, never having seen Tara back home.

It was perhaps mere chance - being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as often happens in crimes - that delivered Tara into the hands of her abductors. That fateful day - 20 September 1988 - Tara, a University of New Mexico sophomore, was worrying about a flat tyre. She was planning playing tennis with her boyfriend, meeting him at 12.30, and told her mother before riding off: 'If I'm not back at noon, come get me.' Patty Doel left the house at 12.05 to look for her, without success. And in spite of a massive national effort, including search parties, appearances on America's Most Wanted and Oprah, there was just nothing - until the appearance of the photo. Not only had Tara disappeared but so had her bicycle.  All that was found were remnants of Tara's Walkman and bits of a broken cassette tape.

Michael Henley had been with his family on a turkey hunting trip in the Zuni Mountains, south of Grants, and about 100 km west of Albuquerque. The boy had gone off alone, playing close to their campsite and when he didn't return the family searched unsuccessfully for him. He had simply vanished.  Years later the remains of a young boy were found in the same area. It seems probable these were the remains of Michael Hensley but if this is the case, who was the young boy in the van? The mystery of the Polaroid remains.