More than 13 years after a South Georgia high school teacher and one-time beauty queen vanished without a trace, a trial has begun for a man charged with concealing her body and lying to police.
Tara Grinstead’s disappearance in October 2005 stumped her hometown of Ocilla for more than a decade until authorities charged two men in 2017. Prosecutors say Ryan Duke killed Grinstead after breaking into her home to steal money for drugs, then enlisted his friend Bo Dukes to help him move the body and burn it in a pecan orchard.
A trial for Dukes, the alleged accomplice, opened Monday in nearby Wilcox County south of Macon. Dukes is charged with concealing a death, hindering apprehension of a felon and lying to police.
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