ABBEVILLE, Ga. — Bo Dukes, one of the men connected to the the Tara Grinstead case, was found guilty of concealing her death and lying to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation by a jury on Thursday in Wilcox County Superior Court.
He will be sentenced at 9 a.m. Friday.
Grinstead was the south Georgia beauty queen and teacher who vanished from her home in Ocilla in Irwin County back in October 2005.
Dukes was convicted of four charges in Wilcox County: two counts of making false statements, one count of hindering apprehension or punishment of a criminal and one count of concealing the death of another.
This came after a four-day trial that brought forth 21 witnesses, multiple recordings of GBI interviews and harrowing pictures of human bone fragments and GBI searches in a pecan orchard.
Dukes still faces charges in Ben Hill County for allegedly burning Grinstead's body on his uncle's pecan orchard, and in Houston County for allegedly sexually assaulting two women at gunpoint.
He's previously served federal prison time for stealing $150,000 from the United States Army.
Ryan Duke, the other man connected to the case, is charged with murdering Grinstead. His trial is set for April in Irwin County.
Grinstead's sister, Anita Gattis, said she was relieved when the verdict was handed out.
"We finally got a little bit of justice for Tara. I know we have two more trials to go, and I hope we get the same verdict in those two, but I was very thankful that the jury actually saw the truth," she said.
COMPLETE BO DUKES TRIAL COVERAGE:
DAY 3: 'It's stuff you can't even tell a therapist:' GBI interview footage of Bo Dukes shown at trial