Missing for 11 Years … 33 Year Old Ryan Alexander Duke Arrested & Charged with the murder of 30 Year Old Tara Grinstead

AN ARREST HAS BEEN MADE IN THE 11 YEAR OLD TARA GRINSTEAD MISSING PERSONS COLD CASE …

It has been 11 years since 30 year old Tara Grinstead went missing, but there has now been an arrest in the case. According to reports, 33 year old Ryan Alexander Duke has been arrested and charged with the murder of Tara Grinstead. The Irwin County High School teacher was 30 years old when she vanished on Oct. 22, 2005 from her home in the farm town of Ocilla, about 165 miles south of Atlanta.

An arrest has been made in connection with the killing of a Georgia school teacher and former beauty queen who went missing 11 years ago, authorities announced Thursday.

Ryan Alexander Duke, 33, has been charged with the murder of 30-year-old Tara Grinstead, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

Duke, a graduate of Irwin County High School where Grinstead taught history, was arrested Wednesday, officials said.

It was not immediately clear if her remains were found.

Ryan Alexander Duke Arrested

UPDATE I: Tara Grinstead: Ex-student accused of murdering missing Georgia teacher.

Ryan Alexander Duke has been arrested in connection with the death of Tara Grinstead, Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman J.T. Ricketson said.

Authorities said Duke was arrested Wednesday evening after a tipster came forward with new information this week.

“This gentleman (Duke) never came up on our radar through the investigation,” Ricketson said. Asked if more arrests were possible, he said, “That’s a very good question. Again, we have several more interviews to do.”

Ricketson declined to say how Grinstead and Duke knew each other and would not say if authorities know what became of Grinstead’s body.

Connie Grinstead, the missing woman’s stepmother, told reporters she thanked God “for answered prayers.”

“We always believed that it would be solved,” she said, reading a statement at the courthouse news conference. “We just did not know when.”