A confession, a discovery and 2 arrests: 5 years since break in Tara Grinstead Case
Ryan Alexander Duke confessed "spontaneously and unsolicited" to agents on February 22, 2017, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
'Five years is way too long to wait'
The man accused of killing Tara Grinstead 16 years ago is set to face trial this spring.
A pretrial motions hearing is scheduled for March 8 and 9 for Ryan Duke.
The trial is expected to begin in early May after being delayed at least twice -- once after Duke's lawyers argued that the state should pay for experts to testify on Duke's behalf, and the second time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Five years ago this month marked a turning point in a mystery that drew national attention -- a confession, a discovery, and two arrests.
It was five years ago, February 22, 2017, when according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Ryan Alexander Duke confessed "spontaneously and unsolicited" to agents.
The GBI says Duke told them he was completely responsible for murdering Tara Grinstead, the Ocilla teacher and beauty queen. That confession broke 11 years of silence and unanswered questions and opened another chapter in this investigation.
"I was in shock. I had just gotten used to the fact that we weren't going to know and that was going to have to live the rest of my life without knowing anything," said Maria Woods, Grinstead's childhood friend.
"Through these 11 years, the GBI and other law enforcement have received hundreds and hundreds of tips," said JT Ricketson, then GBI Special Agent-in-Charge, during a news conference in February 2017. "Each lead was thoroughly exhausted. Unfortunately, all ended with a dead end over the last couple of days."
On February 22 2017, GBI agents charged Duke with murdering Grinstead, burglary and concealing her body.
"The first thing I want to do is thank God for answered prayers," said Connie Grinstead during a press conference in February 2017. "We always believed it would be solved, but didn't know when."
Five days later, interviews led investigators to a pecan orchard outside Ocilla in Ben Hill County.
Nearly 40 GBI agents and two anthropologists converged on the Hudson Pecan Company.
The company is owned by the family of Bo Dukes, who has no relation to Ryan Duke.
Investigators said Ryan Duke strangled Grinstead in October 2005 while burglarizing her home.
He then asked Bo Dukes to help move her body, investigators said.
"We moved her body to a wooded area with a bunch of wood and burned it over a span of like two days," Bo Dukes said to investigators in a recorded video interview.
GBI agents revealed during Bo Dukes' trial in May 2019 that they found human bone fragments at that orchard.
GBI holds news conference on Tara Grinstead case
"Thinking that was her last resting place was sickening. I thought I had prepared myself for anything, but nothing really prepared me for that," Woods said.
But nearly three years after Bo Dukes was convicted and sentenced to 25 years, the man who's accused of killing Grinstead is still waiting to stand trial.
"I pray we get some answers. I'm ready for that to happen. Hopefully, we'll get some of the same results as we got with Bo," Woods said.
Ryan Duke is set to stand trial beginning May 2.
Tara Grinstead's sister, Anita Gattis, tells 13WMAZ that this is a difficult time for their family. She said in a statement that "Five years is way too long to wait for a trial even with the pandemic. Tara's killer should have already gone to trial and justice should have already been served."