John Stephen | The Valdosta Daily TimesRyan Alexander Duke appears in an Irwin County courtroom Thursday afternoon.

VALDOSTA — Shackled hand and foot, Ryan Alexander Duke shuffled into the Irwin County courtroom Thursday afternoon mere minutes after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation publicly linked him to the mysterious 2005 disappearance of Ocilla teacher Tara Grinstead.

A large cluster of cameras captured his every move, his unruly hair and beard, his downcast eyes and somber face. His striped green-and-white jumper would have been comical were his reason for being there not so grave: a charge of murder.

Chief Magistrate Judge Heather Culpepper revealed Duke is charged not only with murder but with burglary, aggravated assault and concealing a death.

In the warrants, GBI Special Agent Jason Shanel said that “to the best of his knowledge,” Grinstead’s Ocilla home was broken into Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005.

There, Grinstead was assaulted and murdered, her body moved from the home and hid, Shanel said.

Duke uttered only a dozen words during the 15-minute proceeding. In a quiet, subdued voice, he told the judge he needs a court-appointed attorney and denied a preliminary hearing.

As the necessary papers were printed, signed and filed, the courtroom fell silent. Duke remained completely still, his eyes fixed downward, his only motion a subtle tapping of his thumb as he waited.

He left the same way he came, quietly and surrounded by law enforcement. His case is scheduled to appear before a grand jury April 12, Culpepper said.

Grinstead vanished in October 2005 when she was 30 years old. For more than a decade, the case remained unsolved, and her disappearance has become the largest case file in GBI history.

She was last seen on a Saturday when she went to a pageant and then to a barbecue before returning home. Friends and family discovered her disappearance when she didn’t show up for school the following Monday.

During the past 11 years, the GBI has followed hundreds of leads in connection to her case. They all led to a dead end until a couple days ago when authorities received a fresh tip, GBI agent J.T. Ricketson said.

The new lead caused the GBI to conduct new interviews, which ultimately led to Duke’s arrest, Ricketson said.

In the wake of the arrest, many questions regarding Grinstead’s disappearance remain unanswered. But GBI hasn’t yet commented on the new evidence leading to Duke’s arrest or many other pressing details of the case, saying the investigation is still active.

However, Ricketson hinted further arrests could be made and more questions answered in the coming days.