The search for a teacher and former beauty queen who vanished from her south Georgia home nearly 12 years ago finally yielded some answers Thursday as authorities charged a former student with her murder.
Tara Grinstead was last seen on Oct. 22, 2005, a day she spent helping contestants in a Miss Sweet Potato pageant and attending a cookout with friends in her farming community of Ocilla. The 30-year-old was reported missing two days later after failing to report at the high school where she taught history.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent J.T. Ricketson announced at a news conference Thursday that a tip days ago led authorities to arrest 33-year-old Ryan Alexander Duke and charge him with murder.
Duke had been a student at Irwin County High School, where Grinstead taught, about three years before the teacher vanished, Ricketson said.
“There’s relief for everybody that they have made an arrest, but people now are wondering what did really happen,” said the Rev. Joey Whitley, a Baptist minister and elected chairman of Irwin County, about 165 miles southeast of Atlanta.