THE FBI has announced a £16,000 reward for help in an infamous case in which a photo of a 19-year-old woman was found in a car park a year after she disappeared.
Tara Calico never returned after setting out on a bike ride near her home in the city of Belen, New Mexico in September 1988.
In July the following year, a Polaroid image showing a woman thought to be Tara with her hands tied behind her back and black tape over her mouth was found in a car park in Florida, 1,500 miles from where she had last been seen.
A young boy, similarly bound and gagged, can also be seen in the image, but he has never been identified.
Tara's mother believes the woman in the image to be Tara, saying a scar seen on her leg is very similar to one Tara had on hers.
The FBI has now offered a $20,000 (£16,000) reward for information that leads to Tara's whereabouts.
Announcing the reward, special agent James Langenberg said it was "time for someone to come forward and help us finally bring Tara home."
"Tara had her entire future ahead of her when she vanished," he said.
"Law enforcement has never given up the search for this young lady, checking out numerous tips and conducting countless interviews over the course of more than 30 years."
FORENSIC ANALYSIS OF PHOTO INCONCLUSIVE
Tara set off on her favourite bike ride, a 36-mile route near her home, at 9.30am on Thursday September 20 1988.
She rode the route most mornings, often with her mother, Patty Doel, but Doel had stopped accompanying her because she thought she was being stalked by a motorist.
Doel encouraged Tara to begin carrying mace to defend herself, but Tara rejected the idea.
Tara was last seen riding along a highway at 11.45am, with several witnesses claiming to have seen her being followed by a light-coloured Ford pickup truck.
She had asked her mother to come and pick her up if she hadn't returned by midday because she had plans to play tennis with her boyfriend that afternoon.
When she didn't returned, Doel went searching along the route, contacting police after failing to find her.
Officers found parts of Tara's Walkman and a cassette tape along the route, and believed she may have intentionally scattered the pieces in an attempt to leave them a trail.
Besides the photograph, no trace of Tara has ever been found.
Forensic analysis by London's Scotland Yard agreed with Tara's mother that the photo depicted was her daughter, but a later analysis by the Los Alamos National Laboratory didn't.
FBI analysis proved inconclusive.
In 2013, the FBI set up a six-person task force into the disappearance, but no arrests have ever been made.
A computer-generated likeness of what Tara might look like now has also been shared.
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