Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Tara Grinstead mystery solved with former student’s arrest

Episode Date: February 24, 2017

The mystery of Tara Grinstead’s disappearance 11 years ago is solved with the arrest of a former student of the high school where the beauty queen taught history. Ryan Alexander Duke’s arrest comes weeks after someone who knew the secret of Grinstead’s fate decided to talk. Payne Lindsey, whose “Up & Vanished” podcast is credited with renewing interest in the case, joins Nancy Grace and Alan Duke to discuss the revelations in this episode. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. On Saturday, October 22nd, 2005, Tara Grinstead went missing from her residence. As the hours turned into days, days into weeks, weeks into months, and eventually months into years, the search efforts never ceased. This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We always believed that it would be solved, we just did not know when. A few days ago an individual came forward and reported that they had information into Tara's disappearance. Through these interviews, enough probable cause was discovered so we could swear out an arrest warrant charging Ryan Alexander Duke with the murder of Tara Grinstead. Duke was taken into

custody yesterday afternoon and a warrant was issued this morning. For 11 years, she did not know what happened to her daughter, her beautiful daughter, her daughter she raised, her daughter she watched walk down the catwalk to become a beauty queen, a daughter that went on to become a high school teacher in a little town who then disappeared without a trace. But tonight, bombshell, an arrest in the murder of beauty queen turned teacher murdered 11 years ago. And yes, I'm talking about Tara Grinstead. I'm Nancy Grace and this is Crime Stories.

Thank you for being with us. In the last hours, an arrest goes down in the case of missing woman Tara Grinstead. Authorities say they think they have cracked the case of a teacher who has been missing 11 years. GBI states a suspect is in custody in connection with the 2005 disappearance of high school teacher Tara Grinstead. I will never forget when Tara went missing. I remember driving to Osceola, a little town. It looks like it's straight out of a fairy tale. It's beautiful, bucolic. And talking to her mother with the grief just under the surface the grief of not knowing where is my daughter of touring Tara's home it was beautiful like a little jewel box everything was there everything was in place just one thing missing

Tara right now joining me the Duke Duke, what went down today? The GBI calls this news conference, and we don't know what it's about. There are rumors going around that there was an arrest. They were very vague. Yes, an update. Well, I knew immediately when they said there was an update, they were not going to say, well, we got nothing, okay? I knew they were going to say something.

Well, what they said was really something. Special Agent in Charge J.T. Rickinson made the announcement. On Saturday, October 22, 2005, Tara Grinstead went missing from her residence. The Osceola Police Department responded to her residence. Immediately, they suspected foul play. Additional law enforcement resources were requested. The Irwin County Sheriff's Office and the GBI came in and began a search at Tara's house. The troubling thing when you're working an investigation into a missing person's case

is that there's generally very little evidence. Tara's home was searched extensively for several days, which produced little physical evidence. As with all missing person cases, the investigation started focusing on Tara's close friends and associates. Tara was very well known in this community and well liked in her community, so she had many contacts and friends in various parts of the community. As the hours turned into days, days into weeks, weeks into months, and eventually months into years, the search efforts never

ceased. Through these 11 plus years, the GBI and other law enforcement officers have received hundreds and hundreds of tips. The GBI handles unsolved cases in the same manner we handle our active investigations. All open files are reviewed every couple of months. That way we do not have cold cases. Each and every tip that came in was vetted and checked against what we had already done in this investigation. Interviews were conducted. Searches were executed.

Multiple DNA samples were collected. Each lead was thoroughly exhausted. Unfortunately, all of these leads ended with a dead end until the last couple of days. A few days ago, an individual came forward and reported that they had information in the terrorist disappearance. This information made it to my office and our case agent, Jason Shadel, was sent out to conduct an interview. This interview generated several more interviews, which was followed up by the rest of our office here. Through these interviews, enough probable cause was discovered so we could swear out an arrest warrant charging Ryan Alexander Duke with the murder of Tara Grinstead.

Duke was taken into custody yesterday afternoon, and a warrant was issued this morning. Wow. Okay, that's an announcement. The breaking news is the arrest and the murder of Tara Grinstead is no longer a missing case, a missing persons case. We now know that Tara is dead. Who is the guy they arrested? What do we know about him? Ryan Alexander Duke. And let me first say, no relation.

No relation. Ryan Alexander Duke, he's 33 now. He attended high school where Grinstead taught history. Was he there when she was teaching? Yes. As we heard the GBI agent Rickinson say, they're not revealing much about how he knew her if he was in her class or homeroom or whatever, but he was a student there when she was a teacher. He graduated three years before the alleged murder. She's a high school history teacher. She's young.

She's beautiful. All the students love her. She does a lot school history teacher. She's young. She's beautiful. All the students love her. She does a lot of extracurricular activities with them. I'm just projecting here. I bet he had a crush on her. There were students we do know who did. I'm not even going to mention these names anymore. Because they are off the POI list.

Of course they had a crush on her. She's beautiful. She's not that much older than them. No, she was 31 years old. There's no, no, no, no, no suggestion she ever had a relationship with any of these students. They had a crush on her. And I'm sure unrequited. There was one who, a couple years after he graduated, was arrested for banging on her door.

He was infatuated with her. And he was on the POI list, but now he's, he was cleared after a search and everything. He was cleared, but it turns out. Look, people do a lot of dumb things when they're in high school. Okay. Including having a crush on a teacher that is not a killer make. Now this guy, what do they, what exactly is he charged with? He's charged with burglary. That means he is believed to have broken into her home. He's charged with assaulting her, which is obvious. You mean a sex assault or killing her?

They didn't say sexual assault. They said assault, putting his hands on her in a criminal way, murdering her, and then illegally disposing of the body. Where do we think the body is? They're not saying. The GBI was very careful not to even say if they knew. Wow. Okay, how did it all go down? So the case has been simmering now for 11 years. So how do the police, how did GBI finally crack it? Somebody walks in their office and says what?

Somebody walked into the Irwin County Sheriff's Department and said, I've got something to tell you about Tara Grinstead. And that triggered a trip to Osceola by the GBI agent who was focusing on the case. And he interviewed a couple of folks. But how did the witness know that this is the guy, that Duke is the guy? They're not telling us how. They're not telling us who this was. But it did, within a couple of weeks, lead to a warrant for the arrest of Ryan Alexander Duke. And they're really not saying if he's confessed or not. Hmm. Hmm. Okay. So somebody walks into

the Irwin County Sheriff's Department, says, I got to tell you something about Tara Grinstead in a couple of weeks. This arrest goes down pursuant to warrant. That quickly. And it's interesting to hear the GBI saying that Duke was not on their radar. A lot of people were on this radar. A lot of them. We've talked about them. You've talked about them in the podcast recently. But not this guy. On Wednesday, they take Duke into custody.

On Thursday, an arrest warrant was issued. Through the interviews, enough probable cause was discovered so we could swear out an arrest warrant charging Ryan Alexander Duke with the murder of Tara Grinstead, says Richardson. Listen to Connie Grinstead. Thank you for coming today. On behalf of Billy and myself,

the first thing that I want to do is to thank God for coming today. On behalf of Billy and myself, the first thing that I want to do is to thank God for answered prayers. We would also like to thank the GBI for all of their years of hard work and dedication to Tara's investigation. We always believed in the GBI and their dedication to her case. We always believed that it would be solved, we just did not know when. We would also like to thank all of the local law enforcement for cooperating and working with the GBI through the years, as well as many others in this community and beyond. We lived in Osceola for eight years. Tara lived with us here for four of those years. When we moved here, you welcomed us

with open arms and treated us as if we were one of your own. You did the same thing for Tara when she moved in with us and we are so grateful to you for that. She was able to fulfill many of her dreams right here in Osceola. She loved being a teacher and she was very good at it. So many people have been hurt by this. We hope and pray that with time this community can finally have closure and start to heal from this. For us, this just starts another chapter in a very long and painful journey. We ask that you keep us in your prayers. Our wounds are deep and our hearts are broken. We realize that everybody is going to want answers. You'll have a lot of questions, and that will come in time.

But for now, we ask of the media to please respect our privacy and give us the chance to grieve and to process all that has taken place. Thank you. Now, it's very unclear what really sparked the new tip. Now, there has been the ongoing podcast about Tara's disappearance called Up and Vanished. Incredible series. Yeah, incredible. And we have talked to Payne about it in depth.

Now, Duke is pictured in his high school annual. He graduated Irwin County High School three years before Grinstead goes missing. Now, Grinstead taught history to 9 and tenth graders at Irwin County High. That would have included, I believe, Ryan Alexander Duke. And even if he wasn't in her class, he could have seen her and gotten a crush on her. He was coaching the cheerleaders. We don't know enough about this guy yet. Was he on the football team or what?

Now, we also know that they said, and I quote, the search for Grinstead's remains continues. Now this case has stumped the GBI and local police for 11 years and me. I've been to the scene. I've been to the home. I've gone all over Osceola looking for clues, looking for evidence, testing theories. And the theories never really got anywhere. Why? Because police and all of us were looking at the usual suspects, boyfriends, exes, guys she worked with. There were some high school students that police looked at, but not this guy.

Why not him? Why, Alan? Hindsight 2020, that's going to be interesting. Looking back, what was missed that could have led to Ryan Duke earlier? And I think examining that is going to be an industry in itself. You know, they've got the rubber glove DNA that was found on the lawn. They just didn't know who to compare it to. They didn't know who to compare it to because if you've not been convicted of a crime, they don't have your DNA

unless you came forward and volunteered, as some people did. But this guy, when he was 21, 22 years old, not have a criminal record and stayed clean since then, he's now 33 because he knew that he didn't want to have to give any DNA. But does the partial fingerprint that they also have, does that match? They're not saying. Bet it does. Now, we know as far back as 2006, her sister Anita has always said that Tara, her sister, left with somebody she knew. There was no sign of a struggle. I could see this guy getting Tara to come outside. And once she comes outside, bam, it's over. He's got her. Yeah. I mean, I don't think there was a struggle in the home. Let's talk about what this guy looked like in

court. Oh, man. Go ahead. This tiny little courtroom had television cameras in it. So we could really look really close at his face. He hardly ever opened his eyes. He reminded me sort of with the beard and everything of like the Unabomber, you know, Ted Kaczynski had sort of that look, but maybe not as smart. He just kept looking down at the table in front of him. Hardly speaking, he spoke two times that I remember. And that was once, do you want a court appointed attorney? And he says, yes, I want a court-appointed attorney. Do you have any questions? No. That's about all he said, and he just shuffled on out after a 15-minute appearance in the courtroom. But he looked like

the last dozen years haven't done him well. No, I imagine the stress of knowing what he had done hung on him. I mean, I would think that it did. But, you know, it's always interesting to me. Her Mitsubishi 3000 GT was found unlocked in her carport. $100 cash in the console. And there was clay on the tires. Her sister said Tara would never have left her car unlocked and never drove on dirt roads. So I always thought that somehow he was in her car when she got into the car.

Remember she went to that cookout that night? Right. Right before. The school superintendent. And I always wondered if he was not in the car and took her somewhere and killed her. Well, one of the interesting clues with that was people noted that she was 5'3", short, and that her car seat was kind of back when they found it. Yep, I remember that.

So what now? Now we know that there's been an arrest, but we don't have a body. We don't know where the case is going. We don't know if it's going to be a death penalty case. We know very little more other than he's in custody. Another issue is where does the family go now? Because their whole last 11 years has been about seeking justice, finding the killer.

Well, this arrest ends that. Now they've got to start grieving. As Connie Grinstead said, this is just the beginning of a new phase. It's going to be a lot of time sitting in that courtroom. It's been moved up to superior court, of course, from the magistrate. It's going to be a lot of time, a lot of court hearings, the grueling, difficult phase that is the prosecution, unless, of course, they come up with a plea deal.

But if they come up with a plea deal, Nancy, is there any chance there would be the death penalty involved? I would not do a plea on this guy. I would not take anything less than life. And depending on what happened to her, depending on did he assault her, did he rape her, did he torture her, did he feed her body to the gators, depending on that, I wouldn't enter any kind of deal right now. I mean, no way. I would have to know what happened to her body before I would even consider a plea deal.

I mean, they can get him for life in prison at the very least if there's DNA. Ryan Duke is from a family that has been in Osceola for a while. I don't know if you would call him prominent or whatever, but his family is an important part of that community. So it's not like he was some drifter that came out of town. He was not like some stranger. He was a member of the community. And now this community, I think it's important that it's able to move on.

You know, Osceola was hardly even on the map before Tara Grinstead disappeared. The fascination, the mystery, the interest in that has caused people to actually veer off the interstate, go and look at Ocilla. But it was always for a dark reason. So there's the dark cloud that hovers over these small towns when they have these crime mysteries. I mean, we've seen this in Midlothian, Texas, with the Missy Beavers case, where it turns people inside out. It makes people suspicious. And I think for the town of Osceola, there are a lot of people that are relieved. You know, did you notice what the other thing Ricketson said?

He was asked, are more arrests possible? And he said, that's a very good question. Again, we have several more interviews to do. I mean, if somebody knew about this and harbored him, but he wasn't a fugitive. So they're not harboring a fugitive, but covering the concealment of a body. That's a crime. He didn't run from the town. He stayed in the town.

What does that tell you, Nancy? That this guy, if he murders somebody, and it's this hugely publicized case, intensely investigated, the most investigated missing person case ever in the state of Georgia. Huge file. And you stick around the town. You must have some confidence, some belief that you really covered your tracks. Right now, I want to pause and thank our sponsor, Simply Safe, for making this podcast possible. So often we are looking for missing people or trying to solve unsolved homicides. And today we bring some degree of closure. There will never be complete closure for the Grinstead family.

To this chapter in criminal justice, and that is the missing teacher from Ocilla, the beauty queen, Tara Grinstead. SimpliSafe makes home security affordable for everyone. So many people believe they cannot afford home security systems. I've got one. I turn it on when I'm home, when I leave the home, when the children are with me, because it gives me peace of mind. $14.99 a month, and your home is monitored independently.

It's not plugged into your home landline or your cell line. It has its own independent monitoring, and that makes me feel good. Go to simplisafe.com slash Nancy for another 10% off. SimpliSafe, thank you for making our Tara Grinstead podcast possible today. With us now, Payne Lindsey, who's been on the Tara Grinstead case for so long, looking for answers and was in court today. Payne, thank you for being with us. What happened in court? The first part of the court session was the press conference where the GBI announced that they had arrested somebody, Ryan Duke, for the murder of Tara Grinstead. They didn't give very many details. They were pretty tight-lipped about it. So once that ended, about two hours later, they had a hearing where Ryan Duke walked

out in the courtroom and stood before the judge with his state-appointed attorney. And he didn't say anything. He had his head down. He was very quiet. He had his eyes closed for a lot of it. He was kind of very, almost like he was limping and kind of just very mopey. And it was, he kept his head down. It was a very strange demeanor and it looked like he had been wearing the weight of the world is what the way I can describe it. Payne, what do we know about Ryan Duke? What have you been able to find out about

him there in Ocilla? I know that he was a former student of Tara's. I know that some of his friends and Tara had, I believe, hung out before. And really, as far as definitively know, that's all I can really say. There's other things that have been coming to me that I'm kind of trying to decipher. But the fact that I know is that he was a former student, and he is most likely the person who killed Tara Grinstead. And I believe that there are some other friends of his that I've been sort of looking into for the past couple of months, just different things I'd heard and been investigating that also knew about this. And we may hear about some of this in the media in the next couple of days.

Payne, what do you think happened the night Tara was killed? I think that Ryan Duke came to Tara Grinstead's house either with somebody else or by himself and he planned to either hang out or just meet up late night and I think that she let him in because she knew who he was and things took a sour turn. There was something happened and he snapped and he strangled her in the house. And then I believe that he used himself and a buddy or two or three to dispose of the body in a pecan orchard on the other side of town that was very off the map. Payne, who do you believe was the tipster? I don't know exactly who it is specifically, but my thinking is that the atmosphere that's been created over the past six months to a year with the community of Osceola just talking again. And, you know, obviously rumors are flying, but

truth is flying too. And I think that there was an open line of communication with people. And, you know, obviously rumors are flying, but truth is flying too. And I think that there was an open line of communication with people. And for the first time in 11 years, people were comfortable again, talking about it. And I think somebody felt the pressure and somebody slipped up and said something or somebody felt guilty and someone overheard something, somebody knew something. And then they told the GBI And the GBI did the right thing and went to investigate it. And I believe they went and nabbed Ryan Duke, who then confessed to this. And that's what I think happened. Payne, do you believe they'll cut a deal with Duke in order to find Tara's remains? I don't really know. I feel like, in general, the community wants answers,

so I can see why that option could be on the table. I don't really know, though. I don't have any sources that have told me that. I don't know if that would be true, but I honestly think that he confessed and just told them. But, I mean, it's not unlike the GBI or anybody else to offer something in order to get information. And how is the family paying? How is the Grinstead family? I never spoke to them, but I saw them in the courthouse today. Her mom was up there talking.

You know, you can tell that it's still heartbroken about this. And it's even though there's a resolution or the beginnings of one, it's still very tough to find out the truth. And the truth isn't a pretty thing. You can definitely tell that they're still suffering. But there was a glimmer of hope that I saw, sort of an at ease feeling in the courtroom with everybody that we had finally come to some sort of conclusion. And for the first time in 11 years, we're getting answers and not just another false loot. As an avid listener to Up and Vanished, I'm looking forward to how you deal with this in future episodes. I know you've got a few left in the season. Again, thank you, Simply Safe, for making our podcast possible. What, Alan?

This is something I've been wanting to do with SimpliSafe because I've watched the video several times and being a techie, I'm impressed. Imagine if your home is being broken into. You don't have neighbors really, really close. What happens? The siren that sounds is incredible. It is ear shattering. If your neighbors don't hear that and know something is going on. They're going to hear it at the police station. Can I play that for you right now? Go ahead. Cover up your ears, Nancy. Okay, I'm a believer. I could hear that loud and clear. If your neighbor doesn't hear it, they'll hear it at the police station. Repeat. Thank you, Simply Safe. Now back to Tara Grinstead.

You know, Grinstead competed in Miss Georgia pageants. She was crowned Miss Tifton. Absolutely gorgeous. The day she goes missing, she spent the day helping contestants in a Miss Sweet Potato pageant in nearby Fitzgerald. And then she vanished. You know, I got a theory. Did this guy have a crush on her all these years and finally act on it and was rejected? What do you think?

I think that's a pretty good theory. And we don't know enough about this guy to know his personality, other than the fact that the GBI says he's a killer. And I guess that's about all we need to know. Well, I'm also happy for the GBI, because this is something they've been trying to crack for so long they've taken a lot of heat for not cracking it but you know i i understand why this guy was not on their radar he had never made any moves on tara grinstead hadn't stalked her hadn't showed up at her house nothing like that there's no reason to suspect him but if they can match up the dna or the fingerprint it's over plus i got a pretty god pretty strong feeling he confessed or made some kind of admission to the tipster looking at his face in court i kind of got that idea that he was

uh resigned to his fate the the other people who are really relieved of course they knew they were innocent but other people would look at them with the cyanide and talk about them on various well yeah you know because the boyfriend was the boyfriend as always the first person you look at is the lover the sweetheart but they never had enough to arrest him and this is why he's innocent then there was the principal at the school who she was at his house along with his family and other teachers. Was it the principal or the superintendent? It was the school superintendent. And, you know, that was unfounded.

There was never a rest because there was nothing to it. And down in Perry, Georgia, the police officer, who was a longtime family friend, who came to the house to check on her at the request of her mom that night, who left his business card in the door, just got all kinds of suspicion because he had checked on her. I think in hindsight, we all learned some lessons from this. And the lesson is? The lesson is let's be open-minded about it. And let's remember that not everybody can be guilty. that why are you looking at me because you're not guilty i think you're right i think you're right and that's got to be balanced with the fact that statistically murders are committed by people you know and that's true

in this case police just didn't know which way to turn all i know is this she can finally rest in peace okay that's what I know and I hope the same for her family tonight our prayers go on for the family of Tara Grinstead and a major major break in the case today thank you GBI you know Nancy we've been doing this podcast for about a month and a half how many podcasts have we done where a couple of days or so later, there was a huge break in the case? Karina Vetrano. Karina Vetrano. Tara Grinstead. Tara Grinstead.

Sarah Dunsey. Sarah Dunsey, you're right. That's why we do this. That's why we do it. That is why we do it. Nancy Grace, signing off from Crime Stories. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.