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Author Topic: Tara Grinstead msg 10/22/05 Ocilla, Georgia Presumed deceased  (Read 102737 times)
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« Reply #100 on: March 09, 2017, 09:17:59 PM »

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"I can look back over the past 10 years and there were no steps wasted, and there are no regrets,'' she said. "I did all I knew to do and I think that gives me greater peace now." "I've lived every parent's worst nightmare and I'm the parent that nobody wants to be," she said.

Beth Holloway, 2015 interview with Greta van Susteren
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« Reply #101 on: April 11, 2017, 04:59:09 PM »

Good read, I have many of the same questions.

http://rationaltoafault-dustyvassey.blogspot.com/2017/04/if-i-was-on-grand-jury.html

Rational To A Fault

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

If I Was On the Grand Jury

Photo: GBI Special Agent Jason Shoudel leads Ryan Duke into the courtroom for his first appearance Feb. 23, 2017 as Irwin County Clerk of Court Nancy Ross looks on.

If I Was on the Grand Jury

In less than 24 hours, the Irwin County Grand Jury will convene for the first time since Ryan Duke was arrested and charged with the murder of Tara Grinstead.

We don't know for sure that Ryan Duke's case will be heard by the Grand Jury, and if it is, the grand jurors will only hear one side of the story, the prosecution's side. But they can ask questions.

If I was on the Grand Jury, I would have a lot of questions I would want answered.

The first and most important question is "Why?" Why do investigators believe Ryan Duke killed Tara? Why do they believe he did it? What was his alleged motive?

I may be able to answer the first "Why?" I've been told Bo Dukes told investigators Ryan did it. I believe a DNA link was made to the glove found in Tara's yard. I've even been told Ryan confessed.

But I've never heard a satisfying answer to why he may have killed her. Not once.

And even if I'm right with my above assertions what do they tell us? Bo Dukes is someone who stole from our military during war time. Can he be believed? All a DNA link to a glove tells us is that someone was in Tara's yard. It doesn't tell us if that someone killed her or even if she was killed at all.

I would ask for what proof there is that she was murdered.

Even if Ryan confessed, could you believe a man who has kidney problems, who might be slowly dying, might take a fall to protect someone, possibly friends or family or a romantic interest? Beyond the rumors of renal failure, we know Ryan has kidney problems because they were mentioned in reports when he was arrested in 2010.

I would ask if Ryan is dying.

If all the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has as far as evidence linking Ryan to that house is the testimony of a thief, a link to a glove that places him outside, not inside, and the confession of a dying man, then if I was on the Grand Jury, I would have even further questions.

You see, I've heard a few rumors that supposedly originated with Ryan Duke, and in those rumors, if they are true, he told someone he was taking the fall. One of those rumors I consider to be more than a rumor since I can follow a "chain of custody" back to Ryan himself. Ryan told someone who told someone I trust who told me.

And what Ryan told this someone is that Tara died accidentally and some people freaked out and tried to cover up her death. And while I don't believe everything about this story, one part of it rings true in my ears.

Supposedly, in this story, she died in a pecan orchard, not at her home.

I think that before Ryan Duke was arrested most people believed Tara left her home voluntarily when she disappeared in 2005. The evidence seemed to suggest that.

It still does.

If I was on the grand jury, I would have lots of questions about whether Tara even died at her home. I think the evidence strongly suggests otherwise.

Why are there no clear signs of a struggle? Dr. Maurice Godwin's investigation into the case showed things that could indicate a struggle, such as a broken lamp and a broken necklace clasp, but the initial law enforcement officers on the scene said there were no signs of a struggle. At best, we can say the evidence is inconclusive as to whether there was a struggle.

Why are there are no signs of forced entry into Tara's home? Again, Godwin found evidence that suggests it would have been easy to open one of her windows, but I've never heard of any actual evidence that someone used that window or any other to enter her home. Again, at best the evidence is inconclusive.

Why was her purse missing? Would someone kill Tara, drag her body to a vehicle and also take her purse? Why? To make it seem like she left voluntarily or that the crime was a robbery of some sort? It doesn't seem plausible. Could it be to hide DNA or fingerprints? Again, not likely. Without resorting to fanciful thinking, the missing purse strongly indicates that she left on her own.

Why were her keys missing or the pageant tape she was supposed to watch that night? Perhaps they were in her purse? Someone might take the keys to be able to freely enter her house or drive her car, and the pageant tape may not have existed at all, but considered along with the other evidence, it seems unlikely someone would take the time to steal them.

Why did her dog, Dolly Madison, not make a loud enough fuss to wake neighbors if someone was attacking her owner inside her home? Why was Dolly, an inside dog, left outside? Did Tara let her out when she left to go elsewhere?

Why was Tara missing at all? I haven't researched this, but common sense will tell you that most murder victims are left where they die. Why take the risk of moving a body, especially when the killer would have to drive a nerve-wracking 20 minutes to the pecan orchard where her remains were believed to be disposed of.

Furthermore, how could a relatively small man like Ryan Duke carry her body on his own? It would be possible, probably, but also very difficult.

Why was her seat let back in her car? Although this might be explained by an investigator letting it back while processing the car for clues, a more likely reason is that someone taller than Tara, who was short, drove the car.

Why were her tires muddy on the car she kept impeccably clean? She was not known to drive anywhere muddy on the night she disappeared. Did someone drive the car somewhere muddy, such as a pecan orchard with a pond?

Why was $100 in cash found inside her unlocked car? Wouldn't Tara have brought the money inside if she was home for the evening?

One of the reasons I keep asking all these questions is a new clue I recently learned, or at least, it was a new clue to me. An eyewitness told me that she was coming home on the night Tara went missing and she looked over at Tara's house and saw the carport light on, and Tara's car was missing at 1:30 a.m.

Where was her car? Could someone have driven the car back to Tara's yard and worn latex gloves to hide their fingerprints? Could that same person have dropped the glove in Tara's yard as they walked to the road to be picked up, and in a twist of irony, the thing they hoped would disguise their identity would one day be used to identify them?

I think it's possible.

But there could be evidence we in the public don't know, evidence that clearly indicates what happened and why. But we don't know.

And if I was on the Grand Jury, I would want to know, because I am very afraid we were being sold a lie, not by the GBI, but by those the GBI has chosen to believe. I don't know what the purpose of this lie could be, who it could be trying to protect, or what the truth actually is, but the clues do not seem to add up to the picture the GBI, and possibly Bo Dukes and Ryan Duke, are presenting.

If I was on the Grand Jury, I would want answers.

And the thing is, I am on the Grand Jury. At least for now. And I do want answers.

I was chosen for my first Grand Jury in February, not knowing that an arrest would be made in the Tara Grinstead case just a few weeks into my 6 month term. I might be struck from the Grand Jury because of my coverage of the case or I might even ask to be excused because it might complicate my continuing coverage, but right now I'm on it.

Frankly I haven't made my mind up about Ryan Duke, so I would consider myself impartial in that regard, and no one in the jury room will be ignorant of the case, probably in part because they've read articles I've written. I think it might be good to have someone as knowledgeable about the case as me in the jury room, because I will ask questions and seek the truth, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who will be knowledgeable or who would ask questions.

And it's entirely possible the GBI has the right guy and the right story, and that the evidence is overwhelmingly in support of that story, but it's also possible, from what we know, that the GBI accepted an incomplete or even faulty story they wanted to hear to solve a case that seemed unsolvable for more than a decade.

We might know more and already have answers, but a gag order in this case and the usual secrecy of law enforcement investigations have left more questions than answers, and as I've said before, suspicion fills the vacuum left by secrecy.

If I'm not on the Grand Jury for whatever reason, I want the other jurors to know the questions I would ask. Because we need the truth more than a misled conviction.  If the wrong man is convicted or guilty parties go free, then there is no justice.

And everyone seems to want justice for Tara, but there can be no justice without first knowing the truth.

If the evidence is there, then by all means, I hope the Grand Jury indicts Ryan Duke, but the first job of the grand jurors is to make sure the evidence is there. Find the truth, with or without me.

Dusty Vassey at 4:46 PM
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I stand with the girl, Natalee Holloway.

"I can look back over the past 10 years and there were no steps wasted, and there are no regrets,'' she said. "I did all I knew to do and I think that gives me greater peace now." "I've lived every parent's worst nightmare and I'm the parent that nobody wants to be," she said.

Beth Holloway, 2015 interview with Greta van Susteren
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« Reply #102 on: April 12, 2017, 03:04:35 PM »

http://www.walb.com/story/35133551/ryan-duke-indicted-for-the-murder-of-tara-grinstead

Ryan Duke indicted for the murder of Tara Grinstead
Wednesday, April 12th 2017, 12:44 pm EDT

OCILLA, GA (WALB) -
Ryan Duke has been indicted by an Irwin County grand jury.

Duke is charged with five counts, including: burglary, aggravated assault, malice murder, felony murder, and concealing a death

Court documents from his previous court appearance say he broke into Grinstead's Ocilla home and used his hands to kill her, then disposed of the body.

The Tift Circuit Court has not set a trial date at this time.     
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« Reply #103 on: July 26, 2017, 08:34:47 PM »

https://art19.com/shows/crime-stories-with-nancy-grace/episodes/52134d1f-2705-4ef6-a377-aac16664dcbc

Today at 11:54 AM
Is the wrong man charged with killing Tara Grinstead?
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

The case against Ryan Duke for the 2004 murder of Ocilla, Georgia, teacher Tara Grinstead is built largely on what his roommate Bo Dukes told investigators. Dr. Maurice Godwin, the private investigator hired by Tara's family, now believes it was Bo Dukes who did the killing. Godwin talks to Nancy Grace about the latest in Grinstead case in this episode.
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I stand with the girl, Natalee Holloway.

"I can look back over the past 10 years and there were no steps wasted, and there are no regrets,'' she said. "I did all I knew to do and I think that gives me greater peace now." "I've lived every parent's worst nightmare and I'm the parent that nobody wants to be," she said.

Beth Holloway, 2015 interview with Greta van Susteren
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« Reply #104 on: August 18, 2018, 01:21:12 PM »

Suspects in missing teacher's death admit slaying: Documents
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA — Aug 17, 2018, 9:35 PM ET

EXCERPT


New court documents suggest that within weeks of a south Georgia teacher's 2005 disappearance, two of her ex-students told friends at a party they had killed her and burned her body.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Ryan Alexander Duke and Bo Dukes made the admission a month after Tara Grinstead was reported missing in October 2005. Court documents filed this week in Irwin County Superior Court say their comments were reported to police but they weren't arrested until 2017.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/documents-suspects-missing-teachers-death-admit-slaying-57251672
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Loving Natalee - Beth Holloway
Page 219: I have to make difficult choices every day.  I have to make a conscious decision every morning when I wake up not to be bitter, not to live in resentment and let anger control me.  It's not easy.  I ask God to help me.
_____

“A person of integrity expects to be believed and when he’s not, he let’s time prove him right.” -unknown
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« Reply #105 on: August 26, 2018, 01:57:58 PM »

This is INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Was this posted here last year??? How did I miss this?
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« Reply #106 on: September 02, 2018, 12:48:28 PM »

I think it is time to move this to presumed dead.
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« Reply #107 on: October 01, 2018, 01:40:39 PM »


I am adding this because the other article I read said 5 counts and this says 6 counts:

https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/tara-grinstead-case/update-grand-jury-indicts-ryan-duke-on-six-charges-in-tara-grinsteads-death/430706064

UPDATE: Grand jury indicts Ryan Duke on six charges in Tara Grinstead's death
Author: WMAZ
Published: 12:50 PM EDT April 12, 2017
Updated: 11:51 PM EDT April 12, 2017
UPDATE: 12:40 pm: The grand jury indicted Ryan Alexander Duke on six charges in the death of Tara Grinstead.

The indictment came down around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, about three and a half hours after the grand jury began hearng evidence against Duke.

He is charged with one count of malice murder and two counts of felony murder. He is also charged with aggravated assault, burglary and concealing the death of another.

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« Reply #108 on: October 01, 2018, 01:49:25 PM »

Suspects in missing teacher's death admit slaying: Documents
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA — Aug 17, 2018, 9:35 PM ET

EXCERPT


New court documents suggest that within weeks of a south Georgia teacher's 2005 disappearance, two of her ex-students told friends at a party they had killed her and burned her body.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Ryan Alexander Duke and Bo Dukes made the admission a month after Tara Grinstead was reported missing in October 2005. Court documents filed this week in Irwin County Superior Court say their comments were reported to police but they weren't arrested until 2017.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/documents-suspects-missing-teachers-death-admit-slaying-57251672


I am not sure why, but I cannot get this article, no matter if I click on the link or cut and paste the link itself.  Can anyone help? 

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« Reply #109 on: October 01, 2018, 01:58:36 PM »


http://www.tiftongazette.com/news/documents-suspects-in-missing-teacher-s-death-admit-slaying/article_c9d2ff78-a8a8-11e8-8994-b3c562be53cb.html

Documents: Suspects in missing teacher’s death admit slaying
Associated Press  Aug 26, 2018

Duke’s attorneys say in court motions that because it took so long to arrest them, all but the murder charge should be dropped, due to the statute of limitations.

“It is undisputed that Irwin County law enforcement knew of these crimes within months of the disappearance of Tara Grinstead,” a court motion states. “In fact, a search of the area where Ms. Grinstead’s body was allegedly burned was conducted ...”

*******

In another motion, Duke’s attorney asks that his indictment be dismissed because the language used is too “vague, ambitious and indefinite.” In April 2017, a grand jury indicted Duke on six counts, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, burglary and concealing the death of another.

In June 2017, Dukes was indicted on charges including concealing a death, tampering with evidence, and hindering apprehension of a criminal.

A hearing on the motions has been scheduled for Sept. 20 in Irwin County.

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« Reply #110 on: October 01, 2018, 02:15:05 PM »


https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/tara-grinstead-the-5-biggest-developments-in-the-case-since-the-arrests/93-588326722

Tara Grinstead: The 5 biggest developments in the case since the arrests

The investigation and court proceedings have spanned more than a decade, with no trial date set for either suspect
Author: WMAZ Staff
Published: 10:36 AM EDT August 28, 2018
Updated: 2:52 PM EDT August 28, 2018

1. Accused killer Ryan Duke pleads not-guilty - May 2017

**********************
2. Bo Dukes pleads not-guilty to hiding Grinstead's body - July 2017

*********************
3. Georgia Supreme Court throws out gag order - March 2018

********************
4. Duke's lawyers file more than two dozen motions in the case - August 2018

*******************
5. Ryan Duke gets new representation - August 2018

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« Reply #111 on: October 01, 2018, 02:37:26 PM »


I have not been able to find any results of the hearing that were to occur 9/20-21/2018.  I am not sure if the hearing was postponed.

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« Reply #112 on: May 14, 2022, 11:04:59 PM »

Several video clips from the trial at the link.

Justice for Tara!   

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/ryan-duke-trial-day-5-tara-grinstead-murder

Ryan Duke Trial Day 5: Forensic biologist and forensic anthropologist take the stand
Published May 13, 2022 7:13AM Updated 8:19PM

IRWIN COUNTY, Ga. - The first full week of testimony in the murder trial for Ryan Duke has wrapped up. The state continued calling witnesses as they work to prove why the jury should come back with a guilty verdict in the case.

On Friday, two key witnesses took the stand: the forensic biologist who tested the glove found at Tara Grinstead's home and the forensic anthropologist brought in who helped find Grinstead's buried remains.

Ashley Hinkle, a forensic biologist with the State Crime Lab testified she swabbed the glove in June of 2015.

"There was a profile that matched a toothbrush of Tara Grinstead and there was an unknown male profile," Hinkle said.

She described the various DNA tests performed on the glove hoping to find clues

"It was about 90% unknown male and 10% Ms. Grinstead,"

This DNA test was taken two years before defendant Ryan Duke’s recorded confession.

The state argues in 2017 Duke was swabbed, and his DNA positively matched that found on the glove.

The defense argued the validity of the report and test.

"With regards to the testing in this case, the technical leader in your lab she identified errors in your reports, correct) she was the one that found the errors (and she just found those errors last month) and that is correct," Hinkle said.

Anthropologist Dr. Ashley Gooding was brought in by the GBI in 2017 to help dig and identify possible human remains in the pecan orchard Duke claimed to have burned and buried Grinstead's body.

"It’s a portion of the human cranium. It’s a piece from the side here," Good said.

Gooding testified her team found finger, teeth and cranium bones in the area.

"Approximately 20 bone fragments that could be considered human bones."

If convicted of murder, Duke faces an automatic sentence of life in prison. A court fight over funding for his legal defense and the coronavirus pandemic contributed to long delays in the case going to trial.

A second person with a similar name, Bo Dukes, was convicted in 2019 for helping move and burn Grinstead’s body. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

The state hopes to rest its case on Monday.

Ryan Duke Trial Day 4 Recap

The jury heard the confession Duke made in 2017. Another video shown shows Duke leading investigators to where he says he dumped and burned her body.

"I can’t lie. I can’t live with myself I’m so sick of this," Duke said in a recorded video.

In his own recorded words, Duke walked GBI investigators through how he killed, burned and buried Tara Grinstead.

GBI Agent Jason Shoudel was on the stand to testify. Shoudel was the one who taped the confession.

"I was stealing from her purse and she snuck up on me. She snuck up on me and I hit her. It was reactionary. I ran. I didn’t know what else to do," Ryan said.

Duke said he was on drugs at the time he broke into Grinstead's Ocilla home and doesn’t remember how exactly he killed her.

Duke said he left the home in a panic but came back to remove the body.

"He actually made the motion in the interview and put his hands up like this mimicking how he held her body," GBI Agent Jason Shoudel said. "As he’s doing that he started getting emotional and said ‘she was so small’ referring to the size of her in his arms,"

Another video shown portrayed Duke leading investigators to the pecan orchard he claims he took the lifeless body.

"It should be an opening when we cremated her. It was an opening like that. Wide open space so the woods wouldn’t catch on fire," Duke said while trying to find the location.

The defense argued Duke was on pain pills and not in his right mind when he made the confession.

GBI Agent Shoudel testified Duke knew what he was doing, and that Duke told investigators he was mentally and physically cognitive.

Duke says he didn’t know Grinstead other than the fact that she was a teacher at the high school. He claims he realized this after she was dead.  Duke also admitted to taking her purse and keys and leaving a glove at the residence.

The state says DNA later showed the glove did have his DNA on it.

Ryan Duke Trial Day 3 Recap

Wednesday, prosecutors called two witnesses before dismissing the jury a lunchtime to debate how much of the Duke's confession can be shown. 

Witness Randy Hudson owned the pecan orchard where Grinstead's body was allegedly disposed. He's the uncle of Bo Dukes. Hudson said at the time he thought the burn site was an innocent bonfire.

"It was built out in the area where there just should not have been a fire," Hudson said.

GBI agent Gary Rothwell said GBI agents' reports included the names Ryan Duke and Bo Dukes in 2005. Rothwell said the GBI never followed up after their names appeared in an investigative summary.

Prosecutors asked Rothwell why no one followed up on a tip naming Ryan Duke and Bo Dukes as suspects.

"That is a question that has bothered me for years," he said. "I have talked to other agents and reviewed the documents and come to a recollection of what happened, and that is not an excuse for what happened."

Rothwell took the blame for the GBI assuming local law enforcement determined information indicating Ryan Duke and Bo Dukes as persons of interest were "unfounded." The GBI was overwhelmed with tips at the time and this one slipped through the cracks.

"That was a presumption that we should have never, ever made, but it happened, and it's my fault," Rothwell said.


Ryan Duke Trial Day 2 Recap

Tuesday, the witness list focused on the investigators who have worked the case over the years.

While it might have not been explosive "smoking gun" testimony, it did paint a picture of the scene police officers were met with during a welfare check at the high school teacher’s home 17 years ago when she failed to show up to work on a particular Monday in October 2005.

The morning started with testimony from Bill Barrs with the Ocilla Police Department, who was tasked with checking Grinstead’s home.

Several agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation also took the stand. They laid out the evidence collected at Grinstead’s property just following her disappearance.

Another main focus on Tuesday was the glove found just outside Grinstead’s home. Jurors heard the forensic analysis on that piece of evidence.

Jurors also heard voicemails left in the home.

Ryan Duke Trial Day 1 Recap

State and defense teams made their pitches to jurors and began examining witnesses.

The defense argued the prosecution has no evidence tying Duke to the house that night and Duke's confession was made under the influence of medication. The defense argued the case is about power and influence, which their client lacks.

The state went through photos and evidence, including a glove found at the home with the DNA of Grinstead and a man. Prosecutors said Duke took law enforcement to the pecan orchard where he confessed to burning and dumping Grinstead's body.

The state's witness called Grinstead's 79-year-old father, Billy Grinstead, to the stand, who broke down. Prosecutors called friends and acquaintances of the Georgia teacher and beauty queen.

One witness, Heath Dykes, testified to having a relationship with Grinstead while his was married. He went looking for her the night she disappeared and sparked the search for the woman when he alerted authorities the next day.

 

Who is Bo Dukes?

Bo Dukes told investigators his friend, Ryan Duke, confessed he had accidentally killed Grinstead and needed his truck to transfer her body.

He admitted to helping his friend burn the body until, "it looked like it was all ash."

In March 2019, Dukes was convicted of helping conceal Grinstead’s death and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Who is Ryan Duke?

Ryan Duke is standing trial for Grinstead’s murder

Defense appeals delayed Ryan Duke’s trial since the original 2019 start date.

A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent testified at a pretrial hearing that Duke "spontaneously and unsolicited" confessed to killing Grinstead after breaking into her home to steal money for drugs. GBI agents have also said DNA matching both Duke and Grinstead was found on a latex glove discovered in her yard.

Duke’s attorneys have said he made a false confession under the influence of drugs. They said in court filings that Duke was asleep at home when Grinstead was killed.

If convicted of murder, Duke faces an automatic sentence of life in prison.

Who was Tara Grinstead?

Tara Faye Grinstead was the youngest child of Bill and Faye Grinstead, born in 1974. She and her older sister Anita grew up in the Georgia town of Hawkinsville.

The talented signer was named Miss Tifton and competed in the Miss Georgia beauty pageant.

Grinstead graduated from Middle Georgia College and began teaching at Irwin County High School in Ocilla in 1998.

An Irwin County Probate judge declared Grinstead dead in absentia in December 2010.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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I stand with the girl, Natalee Holloway.

"I can look back over the past 10 years and there were no steps wasted, and there are no regrets,'' she said. "I did all I knew to do and I think that gives me greater peace now." "I've lived every parent's worst nightmare and I'm the parent that nobody wants to be," she said.

Beth Holloway, 2015 interview with Greta van Susteren
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« Reply #113 on: May 23, 2022, 07:17:10 PM »

Not guilty on five of six charges. 

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/ryan-duke-sentencing-tara-grinstead-case

Ryan Duke receives maximum sentence for concealing Tara Grinstead's death
By FOX 5 Atlanta Digital TeamPublished May 22, 2022 8:54AM
Updated May 23, 2022 6:04PM

IRWIN COUNTY, Ga. - An emotional trial in Irwin County concluded Monday with a judge sentencing Ryan Duke to the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison - with five years already served.

Friday, a jury found Ryan Duke not guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and burglary connected to the death of Georgia beauty queen and teacher Tara Grinstead. They found him guilty of one charge: concealing Grinstead's death.

"You should be punished according - not for murder, not for burglary, not for aggravated assault, because that's the way the system works. And everybody has to live with that," Superior Court Judge Bill Reinhardt said before giving out his sentence.

While Reinhardt acknowledged that Duke seemed remorseful on the stand, he pointed out Dukes' decision to not tell anyone had an impact on Grinstead's family and friends.

Ryan Duke had told investigators in 2017 he killed Tara Grinstead and helped burn her body. But when he took the witness stand during his trial, he insisted he was innocent.

Before the sentencing, Connie Grinstead, Tara Grinstead's stepmother, told the judge that "for over 11 years we went to bed every night wondering where Tara was and every morning we woke up with the same question - where is she?"

"There were some days that the heartache was so great we could barely even function," she said.

Connie Grinstead argued that the family pleaded and begged for any news about Tara for years and that Duke's "silence was deafening."

"We will always hate what this defendant did to Tara and to the people who loved her," she said.

Miriam Sealy, Tara Grinstead's school friend and childhood neighbor, fought back tears as she read a statement in front of the court.

"I hope Mr. Duke lives the rest of his life begging God for forgiveness every day from his dying breath," she said before asking the court to give him the maximum sentence.

Anita Gattis said her sister's disappearance threw her family into "an out-of-control spiral" that they've never escaped.

"Over the course of the last three weeks reliving this heinous act that Ryan Alexander Duke committed ripped open the wounds," Gattis told the court before calling Duke "evil," "sneaky dangerous," and a "vile human."

Duke's attorney's argued that he had been a "model prisoner" for five years while "waiting patiently for his day in court."

Day 9 recap
An Irwin County jury read not guilty verdicts on five of the six charges against Duke: malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and burglary.

 



Logged

I stand with the girl, Natalee Holloway.

"I can look back over the past 10 years and there were no steps wasted, and there are no regrets,'' she said. "I did all I knew to do and I think that gives me greater peace now." "I've lived every parent's worst nightmare and I'm the parent that nobody wants to be," she said.

Beth Holloway, 2015 interview with Greta van Susteren
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