GBI: Suspect arrested in Tara Grinstead murder

Published 4:14 pm Thursday, February 23, 2017

A suspect has been arrested and charged with the 2005 murder of Tara Grinstead, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Thursday.

Ryan Alexander Duke was arrested Wednesday for Grinstead’s murder, and GBI is confident he is responsible for Grinstead’s disappearance, GBI officials said.

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Duke graduated from Irwin County High School, where Grinstead taught, a few years before Grinstead disappeared, the GBI said.

Grinstead vanished from her hometown of Ocilla in October 2005 and was never seen again.

For more than 11 years, her case remained unsolved even though the GBI followed up on hundreds of leads.

GBI said the investigation is ongoing and would not give details on motive or if Duke acted alone.