Killing of Tara Grinstead

Tara Faye Grinstead (born November 14, 1974, in Hawkinsville, Georgia) was a history teacher at Irwin County High School in Ocilla, Georgia, where she had taught since 1998. She held the title of Miss Tifton in 1999 and competed in the Miss Georgia pageant, and she held a master's degree in education from Valdosta State University.

On the night of October 22, 2005, Grinstead attended a beauty pageant, for which she was a coach, and a barbecue. She failed to report to work on the morning of Monday, October 24. Co-workers alerted police, who found her cell phone inside her home and her car outside, but her purse and keys were missing. There were no signs of forced entry or struggle. Local police called in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) given the seriousness of the case.

The case drew renewed national attention in 2008 through a CBS News "48 Hours Mystery" report, which noted similarities to the disappearance of another young woman, Jennifer Kesse, in Florida. Investigators disclosed that DNA had been recovered from a latex glove found in Grinstead's yard; the DNA was determined to belong to a man but did not match any of the dozens of individuals compared against it, including men known to have been associated with Grinstead. In 2009, videos surfaced online from a self-described "Catch Me Killer" who claimed Grinstead as one of his victims; police identified the video's creator, Andrew Haley, and determined the claim to be an elaborate hoax, eliminating him as a substantial lead.

The case remained unsolved for over a decade, with GBI investigators stating it had "never gone cold." The 2016–2017 podcast "Up and Vanished" was credited with helping generate new investigative leads and public interest.

On February 23, 2017, the GBI announced the arrest of Ryan Alexander Duke, a former student at Irwin County High School, for Grinstead's murder and concealment, based on a tip received by investigators. Court warrants alleged that Duke was burglarizing Grinstead's home when she caught him, and that he strangled her and removed her body. On March 3, 2017, Bo Dukes, a former classmate of Duke, was charged with attempting to conceal a death, hindering apprehension, and tampering with evidence; additional charges followed in August 2017.

A gag order issued by an Irwin County judge was challenged by Georgia television stations and ultimately struck down by the Georgia Supreme Court in March 2018. Bo Dukes's trial began March 19, 2019; he was convicted of helping cover up the murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Ryan Duke's murder trial, delayed from 2019, began May 9, 2022. Duke pleaded not guilty and attributed the killing to Dukes. On May 20, 2022, Duke was found not guilty of murder, aggravated assault, and burglary, but guilty of concealing a death; he was sentenced to the maximum ten years in prison. In February 2025, an appeals court threw out additional related charges brought in a separate Georgia county, without affecting the original sentences.