PHOTO GIVES HOPE
TO FAMILIES OF 2
Picture Found in Florida Lot
Appears to Show Youths
Missing in Southwest
PORT ST. JOE, Fla., Aug 2 (AP) - The families of two young people who disappeared last year in New Mexico have said a photograph found in a Florida parking lot appears to show their children together bound and gagged.
Michael Henley, now 10 years old, vanished on a turkey hunt with his father in April 1988 in the mountains south of their hometown of Milan, N.M. Tara Calico, now 20, disappeared five months later while bicycling on a country road near her hometown of Belen, N.M.
Michael’s parents and Ms. Calico’s mother flew to this city in Florida’s Panhandle to meet with the police Tuesday. The photograph was found June 15 in a store lot where a white van had been parked, but the parents did not learn about it until the picture was shown Friday no the nationally syndicated television show, “A Current Affair.”
After spending two hours examining the photograph and talking with investigators on Tuesday, Michael’s mother, Marty Henley, said she was almost certain the boy shown tied up in the Polaroid snapshot was her son.
A Striking Resemblance
“He looks scared, real scared, but he looks healthy and I’m grateful for that,” Mrs. Henley said.
Her husband, also named Michael, said he wanted experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to compare photographs, but he agreed that the resemblance was striking.
“If it’s not Michael, it’s a little boy who looks very much like Michael,” Mr. Henley said.
The mother of Ms. Calico, Pat Doel, said she was convinced the young woman in the photograph was her daughter.
She said she was relieved that her daughter appeared to be healthy, and said she wanted that message to get through to the abductor.
“Strange as it may seem, I would thank him for keeping her alive,” Ms. Doel said. “I would thank him for taking care of her, seeing that she’s fed, seeing that she’s clean. I hope he values her life as much as we do.”
The parents said they were frustrated that the photograph, which police experts said could have been taken as early as April, was not enough to help locate the children.
“It’s frustrating for us to think perhaps we’ve got this close and can’t get any further,” Ms. Doel said.
Comparisons Are Planned
Chief Carl Richter of the Port St. Joe police said the F.B.I. had agreed to use other photographs of the children to compare them with the photograph in its Washington laboratory to firm the identifications.
He said the parents and investigators, while pleased to find the photograph, were worried about the consequences of its discovery.
“It could be devastating,” Chief Richter said. “Whoever has the children, if he hears about it, they may retaliate. It’s a possibility.”
The F.B.I. in Albuquerque has said that it is providing technical help to the authorities here and that as soon as the abduction is confirmed, the agency will officially enter the case.
The parents said they were alerted to to the picture by friends who saw “A Current Affair.” At first they were uncertain about the identifications, but Ms. Doel said that after taking the lack of makeup into consideration, she was convinced that the girl was her daughter.
The woman in the photograph is seen with a book by V.C. Andrews, which Ms. Doel identified as her daughter’s favorite author.