WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:04.280 Ronnette Swanson is joining us. She is the mother of 2 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:07.759 Brandon Swanson joining us from Minnesota. Thank you so much 3 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:10.800 for joining us from Marshall, Minnesota. Actually, first of all, 4 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:12.480 I want to ask you, miss Swanson, you were on 5 00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:15.679 the phone with your son a large part of those 6 00:00:15.720 --> 00:00:17.960 early hours when you were trying to find him and 7 00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:21.600 he was trying to find you. He wasn't hurt at all, right, 8 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:24.039 I mean the car went into a ditch, but he 9 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:24.920 seemed to be okay. 10 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:29.320 Oh, correct, he said he was fine, that he was 11 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:32.200 not injured. And you know, in fact, when we did 12 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:35.200 find his vehicle, there was no damage to it. It 13 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:38.920 was simply muddy from being on a gravel road, but 14 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:40.159 no damage to the vehicle. 15 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:45.320 What was it like that night to be going through 16 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:49.560 this and so close to your son, but so far 17 00:00:49.759 --> 00:00:51.359 from your son? 18 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:58.039 Yeah? You know, as you know, as Brandon tried to 19 00:00:58.079 --> 00:01:00.359 explain to us where his location was, and he was 20 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:04.840 extremely sure of himself. He felt confident in where he 21 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:07.680 was at and that we were the ones that were 22 00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:11.920 confused about, you know, how to get to him. And 23 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:15.560 as the conversation went on, is the minutes ticked by 24 00:01:15.719 --> 00:01:18.120 y you know it? It it came to a point 25 00:01:18.120 --> 00:01:20.640 where it's as long as Brandon was on the phone, 26 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:23.640 as long as he was talking, as long as we 27 00:01:23.719 --> 00:01:28.079 had contact, it was okay. We would be okay. But 28 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:33.239 the minute that he that that call dropped, I just 29 00:01:33.799 --> 00:01:36.239 became sick. I knew it was wrong. I knew it 30 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:43.400 was very, very bad, and just could hardly fathom, you know, 31 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:44.799 what was happening at that point. 32 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:48.040 Well, I can imagine, I mean to to take a 33 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:52.640 breath now, when the call just hung up like that, 34 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:56.959 with Brandon in dire distress. I mean, those were the 35 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:00.000 words that he seemed to utter when he said, Oh, 36 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:02.040 did you try to call him after that? And what happened? 37 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:05.480 Oh? Yes, we did, you know, we we didn't immediately 38 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:07.760 hang up the phone. We you know, we called his name. 39 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:11.639 We tried to, you know, thinking that he still had 40 00:02:11.639 --> 00:02:13.400 the phone, that it was very near him, that he 41 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:15.439 could pick it up. We'd he'd hear our voice, and 42 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:19.479 we called out to him several times and we realized, 43 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:24.759 you know, he's he's not there, So we did We 44 00:02:24.879 --> 00:02:29.960 called him back several times, thinking, you know, he'll he'll 45 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:32.120 see the phone light up, even if he didn't have 46 00:02:32.199 --> 00:02:34.479 it on ring, he would see his phone light up 47 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:37.840 when the call came in and he'd find it, you know, 48 00:02:38.039 --> 00:02:42.319 he'd answer the call, and it just didn't happen time 49 00:02:42.360 --> 00:02:44.759 and again, just it just went unanswered. 50 00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:54.800 Hello friends, Steve Stockton here with you in this video 51 00:02:54.919 --> 00:02:58.960 we bring you a strange case of Brandon Swanson. On 52 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:01.120 the night of May third teenth, two thousand and eight, 53 00:03:01.719 --> 00:03:05.439 nineteen year old Brandon Swanson from Marshall, Minnesota, went out 54 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:07.479 with some friends to have a few drinks and some fun. 55 00:03:08.360 --> 00:03:11.120 It was a Tuesday night, but Brandon had just completed 56 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:14.280 his first year of Minnesota West Community and Technical College 57 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:16.439 that day, so he and his friends who went to 58 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:18.840 the nearby town of Lynn to hang out and celebrate. 59 00:03:20.439 --> 00:03:23.599 Between ten thirty and eleven pm, Brandon left the friends 60 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:26.159 he originally set out with and drove to another friend's 61 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:29.000 house in Camby to say goodbye to yet another friend. 62 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:31.960 His friends who were with him and Lynn said that 63 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:34.199 when he got into his car to make the short drive, 64 00:03:34.439 --> 00:03:37.560 he wasn't intoxicated, and other witnesses who saw him that 65 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:40.560 night all agreed he was not by any means intoxicated 66 00:03:40.599 --> 00:03:43.680 when he arrived at the friend's house either. They said 67 00:03:43.719 --> 00:03:46.080 he had one shot of whiskey and then left some 68 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:49.560 time after midnight to head back to Marshall. Presumably he 69 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:52.039 was headed home at that point. The Director route from 70 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:54.639 Camby to Marshall is a thirty minute drive on Highway 71 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:59.639 sixty eight. Technically the next day, on May fourteenth, that 72 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:02.360 around one thirty of the morning, Brandon got his car 73 00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:03.759 stuck in a ditch along. 74 00:04:03.479 --> 00:04:04.240 The gravel road. 75 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:08.319 He tried calling multiple friends for help, but unfortunately no 76 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:11.120 one answered the calls and Brandon remained stuck on the 77 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:14.280 side of the road. Around one point fifty four am, 78 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:16.560 Brandon called his parents and told him where he was 79 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:18.759 and what had happened, and asked if they could come 80 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:22.199 and get him, as he needed a ride home. His parents, 81 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:25.040 Annette and Brian Swanson, agreed to come and pick him 82 00:04:25.079 --> 00:04:27.079 up and ask where he was so they knew where 83 00:04:27.079 --> 00:04:29.759 to go to find him. He told them he was 84 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:32.360 between Marshall and Lynn, and he assured them he wasn't 85 00:04:32.360 --> 00:04:35.839 injured at all, but just wanted to get home. When 86 00:04:35.879 --> 00:04:38.480 his parents arrived at the location Brandon had given him, 87 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:42.279 he wasn't there and was nowhere in sight. His mother 88 00:04:42.439 --> 00:04:44.519 called him on his cell phone and the two decided 89 00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:46.759 to start flashing their lights to alert the other of 90 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:49.680 where they were. They all assumed at this point that 91 00:04:49.720 --> 00:04:51.759 they must have been very close to one another but 92 00:04:51.959 --> 00:04:55.360 were just missing the other somehow Annette could hear her 93 00:04:55.399 --> 00:04:57.920 son flashing his lights, and she informed him she was 94 00:04:57.959 --> 00:05:02.720 doing the same. We're flashing our lights. We're flashing our lights, 95 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:07.879 to which Brandon replied, don't you see me. Both Annette 96 00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:10.959 and Brandon were very frustrated at this point, and Brandon 97 00:05:11.079 --> 00:05:14.279 ended up hanging up on his mother. She immediately called 98 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:16.560 him back with the intention of apologizing to him for 99 00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:20.000 getting worked up a bit herself. Brandon answered and told 100 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:22.519 his mother that he could see the town's lights referring 101 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:24.519 to Lynn, and that he was just going to start 102 00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:27.240 walking in the direction of town. He told her to 103 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:29.000 just meet him in the parking lot of a local 104 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:32.040 tavern in the town of Lynn. She agreed to meet 105 00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:35.560 him there. As his parents drove to the tavern, they 106 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:38.879 maintained contact with Brandon, with Brian staying on the phone 107 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:39.240 with him. 108 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:41.800 Brandon told his father he was going. 109 00:05:41.639 --> 00:05:43.360 To cut through some fields to take a kind of 110 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:46.079 shortcut and save some time on his trip. Since he 111 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:50.160 was walking along the way Brandon was telling his father 112 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:53.120 over the phone what he was seeing and passing. He 113 00:05:53.160 --> 00:05:56.439 walked on gravel roads, saw two fence lines, and heard 114 00:05:56.519 --> 00:06:00.920 running water. About forty seven minutes into the car, Brandon 115 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:06.360 yelled and then the call disconnected. Brian Swanson later said 116 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:08.480 it sounded as though his son had fallen down or 117 00:06:08.600 --> 00:06:13.279 possibly slipped. Brian Annette tried repeatedly to call Brandon back, 118 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:16.560 but he never answered the phone again. It would just 119 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:19.120 ring and ring until sometime the next day, when the 120 00:06:19.160 --> 00:06:22.079 calls started going straight to voicemail and it was assumed 121 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:25.800 that the phone had died. Brandon Swanson hasn't been seen 122 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:27.920 or heard from since the end of that faithful call 123 00:06:27.959 --> 00:06:32.680 with his father that night. That same morning, May fourteenth, 124 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:35.199 two thousand and eight, Brandon's parents called the police to 125 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:38.360 report him as missing. As it's usually the case, the 126 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:41.560 police didn't take the call very seriously, insisted that they 127 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:44.839 wait a little while, as it wasn't unusual for young 128 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:47.720 men Brandon's age to go missing voluntarily for a bit 129 00:06:48.040 --> 00:06:52.120 without telling their parents. Later on in the day, cell 130 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:55.160 phone records for Brandon's phone were retrieved and they showed 131 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:58.879 his last things were from near Porter Minnesota, which is 132 00:06:58.920 --> 00:07:01.480 about twenty five away from where he seemed to have 133 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:04.399 thought he was in Lynn. There was no way the 134 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:08.959 town he saw was Lynn. Shortly before noon, the authorities 135 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:13.000 began their official search for Brandon. At around twelve thirty PM, 136 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:16.519 his vehicle, a Chevrolet Lumina, was found in a ditch 137 00:07:16.600 --> 00:07:20.879 bordering the towns of Lincoln and Yellow Medicine. Lincoln County 138 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:23.959 Sheriff Jack Mazeki stated that the ditch was positioned where 139 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:26.759 Brandon wouldn't have been able to gain any traction to 140 00:07:26.759 --> 00:07:29.360 be able to drive himself out of it. There was 141 00:07:29.399 --> 00:07:31.959 no visible damage to the vehicle and no signs of 142 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:35.240 foul play or injury at the scene. In the months 143 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:40.000 following his disappearance, law enforcement conducted searches on horseback, using 144 00:07:40.040 --> 00:07:44.480 ATVs and even foot searchers, but to no avail. They 145 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:47.839 even utilized sniffer dogs and searched around and near several 146 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:51.279 bodies of water. The dogs ended up leading their handlers 147 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:53.639 to the edge of the Yellow Medicine River, which led 148 00:07:53.639 --> 00:07:56.399 authorities to come to the conclusion that Brandon had somehow 149 00:07:56.480 --> 00:08:00.000 fallen into the water. This led them to a conduct 150 00:08:00.199 --> 00:08:03.000 extensive searches in the river but they came up empty 151 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:06.720 every time. Because of this, they then concluded that if 152 00:08:06.759 --> 00:08:09.480 Brandon did indeed fall into the water, he must have 153 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:11.560 made his way back out of it at some point 154 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:14.800 and didn't drown. They believed he just got himself out 155 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:18.279 of the river and continued on his way walking. Their 156 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:21.240 conclusion then was that he must have died of hypothermia 157 00:08:21.319 --> 00:08:23.759 due to the temperature dropping below forty degrees on the 158 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:27.680 night that he went missing. Search dogs also alerted to 159 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:31.360 human remains being near Mud Creek. However, authorities never found 160 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:34.919 any remains at all in this area, let alone Brandon's. 161 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:38.559 Authorities believed Brandon could have been anywhere within one hundred 162 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:42.240 and twenty two square mile radius of the river ten 163 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:45.600 years after he seemingly disappeared into thin air the Yellow 164 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:50.639 Medicine County Sheriff Bill flood. Instead, it's a huge area 165 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:53.000 if you take that immediate area where the car was 166 00:08:53.480 --> 00:08:55.399 and in the timeframe when he was talking on the 167 00:08:55.399 --> 00:08:58.240 phone with his parents, Who knows what direction he went 168 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:02.679 and how far he traveled. A volunteer firefighter named Darren E. 169 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:04.919 Delzer came up with his own theory as to what 170 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:08.000 could have happened to Brandon. He took everything he had 171 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:11.039 learned about the case and put it all together. He 172 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:14.120 noted that Brandon always wore glasses because he was legally 173 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:17.519 blind in his left eye. However, on the morning he 174 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:21.279 went missing, he'd left his glasses in his car. Based 175 00:09:21.320 --> 00:09:24.559 on Darren's theory, we could assume Brandon also left him 176 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:26.480 in his car when he left in the ditch to 177 00:09:26.519 --> 00:09:29.039 start walking to go and meet his parents, and therefore 178 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:31.039 wasn't wearing them the whole time he was on the 179 00:09:31.080 --> 00:09:33.960 phone with his folks that night. He made a note 180 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:36.639 of the fact that right before Brandon said oh shit 181 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:40.080 and possibly slipped when the phone disconnected with the final time, 182 00:09:40.679 --> 00:09:45.600 he also said, not another fence. He concluded that Brandon 183 00:09:45.720 --> 00:09:48.440 must have fallen into an unmarked well or system, which 184 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:50.679 are very common in rural areas like the ones where 185 00:09:50.679 --> 00:09:55.120 Brandon went missing. There are theories such as Brandon simply 186 00:09:55.159 --> 00:09:59.399 left on purpose and orchestrated the whole disappearance. This theory 187 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:04.200 allegescy living under an assumed identity somewhere. Most people don't 188 00:10:04.200 --> 00:10:07.120 give this theory much credit, as if you remember, Brandon 189 00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:09.960 was calling his parents and several friends that night trying 190 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:11.080 to find someone. 191 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:11.960 To help him. 192 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:14.399 It makes more sense he really was trying to get 193 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:18.559 help that night, and not trying to purposely disappear. Theories 194 00:10:18.600 --> 00:10:21.879 of Brandon suffering some kind of nervous or mental breakdown 195 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:24.879 also don't hold much water, as his parents say he 196 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:27.440 was lucid while on the phone with him, and also 197 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:30.360 that he had no history of any kind of mental illness. 198 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:33.320 The initial theory that he had drowned and the theory 199 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:35.559 that followed stating that he may have made it back 200 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:38.200 out of the water and then died of hypothermia, has 201 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:42.279 been highly criticized as well. His phone was working for 202 00:10:42.360 --> 00:10:45.039 quite a while after the call with his father disconnected. 203 00:10:45.879 --> 00:10:48.399 It's been said that if the phone had entered the water, 204 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:51.440 which it presumably would have since Brian was holding it 205 00:10:51.480 --> 00:10:53.840 when this theory states he went into the water, it 206 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:57.080 would have immediately started going to boysmail right away, as 207 00:10:57.080 --> 00:11:01.200 it wasn't waterproof and would have been immediately broken. Sure, 208 00:11:01.399 --> 00:11:03.519 some people counted that by saying that the phone could 209 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:06.159 have fallen onto the ground when Brandon slipped into the water. 210 00:11:06.440 --> 00:11:08.679 But if that was the case, then why was the 211 00:11:08.679 --> 00:11:12.519 phone never found? Remember, there were extensive searches in and 212 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:15.039 around all the bodies of water in a large area 213 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:18.559 surrounding where Brandon's car was found and where he alleged 214 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:22.159 he was the night he went missing, so it's safe 215 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:24.240 to assume here that the phone would have been found 216 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:28.240 at some point. It simply wasn't. All of the abandoned 217 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:31.000 buildings in the area were also searched, and no human 218 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:33.799 remains and none of Brandon's personal facts were found in 219 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:37.440 any of them. This discredits the theory that Brandon might 220 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:39.759 have sought refuge and shelter in one of them and 221 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:44.200 died some other way while inside. Yet another theory is 222 00:11:44.200 --> 00:11:46.440 that perhaps Brandon was involved in a hit and run 223 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:49.600 or otherwise abducted, and that his remains were disposed of 224 00:11:49.720 --> 00:11:53.519 by the perpetrators. However, there's no evidence at all to 225 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:56.000 prove this theory or that foul play was involved in 226 00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:00.559 any way in Brandon's case. Brandon's parents believe their son's 227 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:04.080 disappearance might have been solved had police immediately started investigating 228 00:12:04.200 --> 00:12:06.399 instead of telling them to wait it out for a while. 229 00:12:07.559 --> 00:12:09.399 There's no law that says there needs to be a 230 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:11.639 waiting period for someone to be able to be reported 231 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:16.679 as missing. However, unofficially of course, priority is usually given 232 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:19.360 to cases where a foul play is obvious, where people 233 00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:21.399 are mentally or physically impaired. 234 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:22.919 And when younger children are involved. 235 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:26.120 A missing eighteen year old who disappeared after night out 236 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:29.039 drinking with some friends just didn't seem too important to 237 00:12:29.080 --> 00:12:32.799 the police until hours after the fact, and so much precious. 238 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:33.360 Time had been wasted. 239 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:37.039 An Ad and Brian Swanson proposed a law be written 240 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:41.080 up in their son's name, Brandon's Law, which would quote 241 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:44.399 require law enforcement to take a missing person's report without 242 00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:49.159 delay after notification of someone missing under dangerous circumstances, no 243 00:12:49.240 --> 00:12:53.600 matter the missing person's age, immediately conduct a preliminary investigation 244 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:56.559 to determine if the person is missing and who the 245 00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:59.799 person is in danger, and promptly notify all other law 246 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:05.799 enforcement agencies of the situation. Brandon's Law, which was sponsored 247 00:13:05.799 --> 00:13:10.200 by former House Minority Leader Marty Seifert and Senator Dennis Frederickson, 248 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:13.559 was signed into law by Minnesota's then Governor Tim Paulini 249 00:13:14.039 --> 00:13:17.080 on May seventh, two thousand and nine. The law officially 250 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:20.080 went into effect on July first, two thousand and nine. 251 00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:25.559 This still leaves one very big question, though, what happened 252 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:28.799 to Brandon Swanson? How could he have been so off 253 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:31.080 about where he was when he was telling his parents 254 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:33.519 he was near Lynn and they were flashing their lights 255 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:36.840 at each other but not seeing one another. What led 256 00:13:36.919 --> 00:13:39.480 him to yell the expletive into the phone and hang up? 257 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:42.639 Why wasn't his phone or any of his other belongings 258 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:46.279 ever found? There has literally been no trace of him 259 00:13:46.279 --> 00:13:48.240 since the last time he was heard shouting into the 260 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:54.919 phone that faithful night. Hello, friends, welcome to our latest video. 261 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:03.159 Today we're going to be discussing the frightening disappearance Tara Calico. Now, 262 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:06.360 many times in this community we come across cases that 263 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:10.039 are so incredibly baffling we struggle with their humanity and 264 00:14:10.120 --> 00:14:14.360 wondering how something like this could actually happen. While we 265 00:14:14.440 --> 00:14:16.919 cover hundreds of cases on this channel of people who 266 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:20.399 have gone missing, some who have been found unfortunately deceased, 267 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:23.879 and still others who have no trace at all has 268 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:28.080 ever been found. As they say, the devil is in 269 00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:32.080 the details. It's the smallest details. Sometimes they can either 270 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:34.799 make or break a case, or that can leave us 271 00:14:34.840 --> 00:14:37.360 scratching our heads and being even more confused than when 272 00:14:37.399 --> 00:14:42.600 we first started out The disappearance of Tara Calico is 273 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:44.720 one of those cases where you kind of feel like 274 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:47.600 you're right on the brink of having the answers, only 275 00:14:47.639 --> 00:14:50.279 to find the next bit of information bringing you right 276 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:55.240 back around to the beginning, right back at square one. 277 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:59.039 This sad and frightening case is one of thousands where 278 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:03.639 the person was subducted had never seen or heard from again. However, 279 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:06.399 it's the little clues along the way which makes this 280 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:11.799 case stand out so much. Tarah Calico was from Berlin, 281 00:15:12.279 --> 00:15:15.080 New Mexico, and this is where her home was when 282 00:15:15.080 --> 00:15:17.480 she left it on the morning of September thirtieth, nineteen 283 00:15:17.559 --> 00:15:20.879 eighty eight. Tara was nineteen years old at the time 284 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:24.080 and had her whole life ahead of her. She had 285 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:26.200 no idea that when she went out for a usual 286 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:28.759 bike ride at nine thirty that morning, and it would 287 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:30.639 turn out to be the last time she would ever 288 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:31.519 see her home again. 289 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:35.159 Her mother rode with her in the morning's up. 290 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:37.799 Until very recently when she felt that two were being 291 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:40.600 stalked by passing motorists and was too scared to continue 292 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:44.000 on these morning rides with her daughter. This would be 293 00:15:44.039 --> 00:15:47.559 a strange and sad coincidence and foreboding that neither mother 294 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:50.320 nor daughter had any idea would be so relevant and 295 00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:53.399 possibly close to the truth until it was too late. 296 00:15:54.919 --> 00:15:57.440 As far as they were concerned, this day was no 297 00:15:57.480 --> 00:15:58.200 different than all. 298 00:15:58.120 --> 00:15:58.720 The rest. 299 00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:05.399 Ordinary Tuesday morning, or so it seemed. Tarah refused the 300 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:08.080 mace her mother suggested she carry along with her following 301 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:11.759 the alleged stalker incident, and insisted her mother was just 302 00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:15.200 being paranoid. Sarah had a date to play tennis with 303 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:18.399 her boyfriend at twelve thirty that afternoon and asked her 304 00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:20.080 mother to come and pick her up if she wasn't 305 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:24.000 home by noon. When eleven thirty hit and still no 306 00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:26.840 sign of Tara, her mother, Patty, set out to go 307 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:30.600 and pick her up. As plan, she drove the usual route, 308 00:16:30.679 --> 00:16:34.519 but this time Tara was nowhere to be found. This 309 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:37.279 was long before the days of cell phones, so Patty 310 00:16:37.399 --> 00:16:39.639 wasn't able to just call her daughter and ask where 311 00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:42.000 she was or why she wasn't where she was supposed 312 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:47.240 to be. However, this was immediately concerning for Patty, and 313 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:50.279 she contacted the authorities pretty much right away and reported 314 00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:54.399 her daughter as missing. As they investigated further and searched 315 00:16:54.440 --> 00:16:56.279 along the route Tara was known to have been writing 316 00:16:56.360 --> 00:17:00.120 that day, they found pieces of her sony walkmen a 317 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:03.360 cassette tape. Though there was no way of knowing for 318 00:17:03.399 --> 00:17:06.319 sure that these items belonged to Tara, the family were 319 00:17:06.359 --> 00:17:07.519 pretty convinced, as they. 320 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:09.000 Knew what her belongings looked like. 321 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:12.279 Terara was a creature of habit and brought along the 322 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:15.359 same walkman, cassette player, and tape with her almost every 323 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:19.440 single day. Terra's family believed that she might have purposely 324 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:22.440 dropped these items to not only mark her trail, but 325 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:24.200 to alert whoever came looking. 326 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:25.720 For that she was in some kind of danger. 327 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:29.640 After all, there would be no other reason for her 328 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:31.680 to have just left her stuff broken and lying on 329 00:17:31.720 --> 00:17:36.039 the side of the road. During the investigation, several people 330 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:38.640 came forward and said that they had indeed seen Tera 331 00:17:38.759 --> 00:17:42.200 that morning riding her bicycle along the route where items 332 00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:47.039 were later found. Her bicycle, to this day, has never 333 00:17:47.079 --> 00:17:51.799 been located. No one witnessed her presumed debduction, however, and 334 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:54.079 there weren't many clues other than the people who claimed 335 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:56.519 to have seen her and the broken walkman. Scattered around 336 00:17:56.519 --> 00:17:59.319 the area where she was last seen by several passers by. 337 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:03.440 There were several witnesses who said they saw a light 338 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:06.559 colored nineteen fifty three Ford pickup truck with a camper 339 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:10.640 shelf following her, but the authorities were never able to locate. 340 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:11.319 The owner of the vehicle. 341 00:18:12.200 --> 00:18:15.279 It's unknown whether or not its connected to Terr's disappearance. 342 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:19.319 Tarre's case went cold fairly quickly, and her family and 343 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:22.240 loved ones were left with no answers and the perpetual 344 00:18:22.279 --> 00:18:25.759 fear that terror would be found to cease somewhere, along 345 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:28.039 with the perpetual hope that she would once again come 346 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:31.839 walking through the front door someday. That brings us to 347 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:35.200 June of nineteen eighty nine, when it seemed that new 348 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:38.400 life was breathed back into the case when terrifying new 349 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:41.640 evidence was possibly found in the parking lot of a 350 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:46.640 convenience store in Fort Saint Joe, Florida. A photograph was 351 00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:49.920 lying on the ground between two vehicles. The woman who 352 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:52.079 found the photo said it was found in the parking 353 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:56.000 space of where a white, windowless Toyota cargo van driven 354 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:57.920 by a man with a mustache believed to be in 355 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:02.039 his thirties was parked When she arrived at the store. However, 356 00:19:02.440 --> 00:19:05.039 despite the police setting up roadblocks in an attempt to 357 00:19:05.079 --> 00:19:08.039 intercept the vehicle, the man was never caught nor brought 358 00:19:08.039 --> 00:19:12.720 to interrogation. The picture in question was a polaroid which 359 00:19:12.759 --> 00:19:15.759 shows a little boy and a young woman, both bound 360 00:19:15.799 --> 00:19:17.720 and gagged and with terrified looks. 361 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:18.640 On their faces. 362 00:19:19.240 --> 00:19:21.519 Because of the duct tape and the gags in their mouth, 363 00:19:21.960 --> 00:19:23.920 it was hard to tell who the image was of. 364 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:28.039 It was theorized by investigators, however, that the young woman 365 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:31.119 in the photo was Tera Kalico, and that the boy 366 00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:34.960 was Michael Henley, also of New Mexico, who disappeared in 367 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.240 April of nineteen eighty eight. According to investigators, the picture 368 00:19:39.319 --> 00:19:41.920 had to have been taken after May nineteen eighty nine 369 00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:45.079 because the particular film used in the photograph was not 370 00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:49.400 available until then. The identification of the boy in the photographs, 371 00:19:49.400 --> 00:19:53.200 Michael Henley, seems unlikely because his remains were discovered in 372 00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:56.759 nineteen ninety in the Zuni Mountains, about seven miles from 373 00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:00.880 his family's campsite where he had originally disappeared, and seventy 374 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:05.680 five miles from where Tara Callico disappeared. There was much 375 00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:08.799 back and forth and conjecture about this polaroid, but in 376 00:20:08.839 --> 00:20:11.519 the end, the standing ruling is that it was not 377 00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:15.359 him in the picture. Please believe he simply wandered off 378 00:20:15.400 --> 00:20:20.319 and sadly died of exposure to the elements. Tara's mother, Patty, 379 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:22.359 believed that the girl of the picture was in fact 380 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:26.680 her daughter, though this positive identification was mainly made due 381 00:20:26.680 --> 00:20:28.519 to the scar the woman in the photo had on 382 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:32.000 her leg, which according to Patty, was identical to one 383 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:34.480 Tara had in the same exact spot on her leg. 384 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:38.240 Tara had received this particular scar due to an injury 385 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:40.480 she suffered from a car accident when she was younger. 386 00:20:41.880 --> 00:20:45.720 In addition, a paperback copy of V. C. Andrews's novel 387 00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:49.240 My Sweet Adrina, said to be one of Tara Callico's 388 00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:52.200 favorite books, can be seen lying next to the woman. 389 00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:56.440 Scotland Yard analyzed the photo and concluded that the woman 390 00:20:56.599 --> 00:20:59.720 was Tara, but a second analysis by the Loss almost 391 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:05.240 Sich Laboratory disagreed. An FBI analysis of the photo was inconclusive. 392 00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:08.440 This is where the case seems to take it even 393 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:11.799 more of bizarre turn. Twenty years after the discovery of 394 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:14.440 the photograph, which was of course widely shared by media 395 00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:17.599 at the time, pictures of a little boy were sent 396 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:21.400 to the Port Saint Joe Police Chief David Barnes. He 397 00:21:21.480 --> 00:21:25.200 received two letters, postmarked June tenth and August tenth, two 398 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:30.359 thousand and nine, from Albuquerque, New Mexico. One letter contained 399 00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:33.319 a photo printed on copy paper of a young boy 400 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:37.160 with sandy brown hair. Someone had drawn a black band 401 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:40.160