Missing
Tara Faye Grinstead
Grinstead, approximately 2005; Ryan Duke in 2017; Bo Dukes in 2017
Date and time person was reported missing : 10/22/2005
Missing location (approx) :
Ocilla, Georgia
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 11/14/1974 (46)
Age at the time of disappearance: 30 years old
Height / Weight : 5'3, 100 - 110 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : Possibly black sweatpants and gray New Balance sneakers.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Grinstead has a small tan-colored birthmark on the front of her shoulder. Her ears and navel are pierced.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Grinstead was last seen at approximately 11:00 p.m. on October 22, 2005 at an acquaintance's residence in the vicinity of the 700 block of west 3rd Street in Ocilla, Georgia.
There was a Miss Sweet Potato pageheaderant and Grinstead, a former beauty queen, was helping contestants with their makeup. She left the residence and evidently arrived at her home in the vicinity of Alder Street and west Park Street in Ocilla. She has not been heard from since.
Grinstead missed church services the following day, which is atypical of her behavior. She was employed as an eleventh-grade history teacher at Irwin County High School at the time of her disappearance, and was reported missing on October 24 after she failed to show up for work and did not notify anyone she would be absent; this behavior is uncharacteristic of her.
Authorities checked Grinstead's house and found it locked. Her white Mitsubishi 3000, the clothes she was last seen wearing, and her cellular phone were at her home, as were her cat and dog. The only items missing were her purse, keys, and the earrings she was last seen wearing.
A single latex glove was found on the front lawn, and a business card was wedged in the front door. Grinstead's bedside alarm clock had fallen on the floor and was broken, some beads were scattered across the floor, one of her bedposts was damAge at the time of disappearance: d and her bedroom lampshade was askew, but there were no other indications that a struggle had taken place.
Her car was found unlocked, there was $100 in cash in the console, and there was clay on the tires. Her loved ones stated it was uncharacteristic of her to leave her car unlocked or to drive it on dirt roads. The car seats were also reportedly adjusted to fit a person taller than Grinstead. Her purse and keys were missing.
At the time of her disappearance, Grinstead lived alone and was unmarried. Her boyfriend of six years had ended their relationship a few weeks before. Grinstead's ex-boyfriend was questioned in her case, but denied any involvement. Their relationship had been troubled, but there had never been any indication of violence.
A former student who had been arrested for harassing Grinstead was also questioned and maintained his innocence in her disappearance. The business card found stuck in Grinstead's door turned out to be from a married police officer who lived in a nearby town. He frequently visited Grinstead's house. He said he tried to see her on Sunday night, but she didn't answer the door. He left two dozen messAge at the time of disappearance: s on her phone that weekend. He maintains his innocence in her case.
Investigators stated all three men had alibis, but none of their alibis completely covered the 34-hour period during which Grinstead went missing. DNA was recovered from the latex glove in Grinstead's yard and checked against the men, but it didn't match any of them.
In February 2017, there was an unexpected break in the case when Ryan Alexander Duke was arrested and charged with Grinstead's murder. Authorities stated that until a few days before his arrest, Ryan wasn't "on the radar" of the investigation at all. He's awaiting trial for burglary, aggravated assault, murder and concealing a death. In March, Bo Dukes was also charged with concealing a death.
The two men had been classmates at Irwin County High School, where Grinstead worked, but had graduated several years before Grinstead disappeared. Photos of both of them are posted with this case summary. (Because of the similarity in the men's surnames; they will be referred to by their first names in this account.)
Ryan confessed that he had broken into Grinstead's home, found her in bed and strangled her. He asked Bo, his friend, to help dispose of the body. Bo stated he and Ryan took Grinstead's body to Bo's uncle's pecan farm in Ben Hill County, Georgia and disposed of it. In a videotaped confession to police, Bo stated they covered Grinstead's body with wood and burned it for two days "until it looked like it was all ash." Authorities were only able to find scattered bone and tooth fragments, too small to test for DNA, at the farm.
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
