November 2015

Sadly, it has come to my attention that the Task Force for Tara Calico has come to a close. The Task Force which consisted of Albuquerque Police Department (APD), Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department (BCSO), Valencia County Sheriff's Department (VCSO) and lead by Homeland Security was abruptly closed and the case file will be returned to the Valencia County Sheriff's office.

I was not really able to get answers out of Homeland Security other than people had been reassigned to other jobs or positions, but when I prompted VCSO they stated to me a culmination of things had happened. First being that Sheriff Dan Houston from BCSO who had worked with Sheriff Louis Burkhard at VCSO to form the task force was no longer in office and the new Sheriff was no longer interested in allocating resources and money to keep the task force going (which they had done for the last two years thanks to Dan Houston). Secondly, the Director at Homeland Security in charge of the task force had been reassigned and the new Director had no interest in Tara's case.

SIDE NOTE: I keep getting asked about the State Police involvement in the task force.

Early on there were individuals that were interviewed anonymously and somehow that information was getting back to the individuals from the community who are close to the people who committed this crime against Tara. Threats were made to people who had come forward, and the task force investigated how this information was getting back into the community & found out who the leaker was. Turns out officers who work for New Mexico State Police are connected to people who are involved in this crime and the agency was FIRED and/or DISMISSED from the task force. There was a vetting process to make sure the rest of the task force didn't have any ties to these families in Valencia County, that none of them were from Valencia County themselves or had relatives or friends in Valencia County. The Homeland Security investigation continued with no other incident.

Melinda