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GBI Makes Arrest in 11-Year-Old Disappearance/Murder Case

After over 11 years of investigation, an arrest has been made in the Tara Grinstead case. Ryan Duke, 33, was arrested Wednesday for murder in connection with Grinstead’s disappearance, and is in custody in Irwin County.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation held a press conference Thursday at the Irwin County Courthouse. Officials said that Duke was a former student, and attended school the same time Grinstead taught there. The GBI said they were happy to be able to bring some relief and peace to the Grinstead family.
Tara’s step-mother, Connie, said that she knew people wanted answers, but asked that the media respect her family’s privacy. “These wounds are deep,” she said.
Grinstead disappeared in October 2005 and officials haven’t had any huge breaks in the case. Officials suspected foul play and a massive search by the Ocilla Police Department, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Irwin County Sheriff’s Office was launched. Community volunteers came out and assisted officials with the search. Very little evidence was found during the search of Grinstead’s home.
According to the GBI, since Grinstead’s disappearance, officials have conducted hundreds of interviews, hundreds of leads have been investigated and multiple search warrants have been executed. None of which produced information leading to Grinstead’s whereabouts.
A pond in Ben Hill County was searched in February of 2015, but no new evidence was found. Recently, the GBI received a tip that produced several interviews that had not been conducted during the 11 plus years.
The GBI stated that those interviews led to enough probable cause to secure a warrant for Duke, who had not been on officials radar before the tip. This is still an active case and GBI expects to conduct several more interviews over the next few weeks.
The search for Grinstead’s remains is still ongoing.
Source: WALB Albany

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