Authorities: Man arrested in case of teacher who went missing 11 years ago

OCILLA, Ga. — Authorities said Thursday they arrested a man on murder charges in the disappearance of a high school teacher in rural south Georgia more than 11 years ago.

Ryan Alexander Duke was being held in the Irwin County jail days after investigators received a tip linking him to Tara Grinstead, a teacher and former beauty queen missing since October 2005.

"We did find the person that was responsible for Tara's death," J.T. Ricketson, an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said at a courthouse news conference in Ocilla, about 165 miles south of Atlanta.

Duke had attended Irwin County High School, where Grinstead taught history, about three years before she vanished, Ricketson said. He declined to comment on how they 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."

It was not immediately known if Duke, 33, had a defense attorney.

Grinstead was 30 when she was last seen Oct. 22, 2005. The former Miss Tifton 1999 had spent the day helping contestants in a Miss Sweet Potato pageant in nearby Fitzgerald and then attended a cookout with friends in Ocilla. She was reported missing two days later when she failed to report to work.

Her house was found locked, with her cellphone inside. Her dog and cat were home, and her car sat parked in the driveway. But Grinstead's purse and keys were gone. A latex glove — the type worn by police officers and medical workers — was found in her front yard.

Police classified Grinstead as a missing person, saying there was no evidence she had been abducted. Still, authorities said they also couldn't rule out foul play.

A probate judge in Grinstead's home county declared her dead at her father's request in 2010, more than five years after she vanished.

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