Up and Vanished - S1E13: Who is Ryan Duke?
Episode Date: February 28, 2017In the first ever press conference for Tara Grinstead, the GBI makes a very big announcement. Who is Ryan Duke? To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audac...yinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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uh just um about three or four messages asking uh if i had heard that the red program of some of this stuff had been arrested
oh nothing there's never been one there's trying, but he won't give any clue.
But it did say it's major. I don't know.
Hey, Mr. Brian Kruger from Channel 11 here in Atlanta. How are you?
I wanted to check in and listen to your podcast. It's great.
But there's some sort of major movement in this case.
So it sounds like an arrest has been made.
You know, obviously we don't know the details.
I don't know what went away or...
Yo, cancel all plans today.
I'm going to Osceola.
They made an arrest on somebody.
Hi, Peyton.
This is Sally with ABC News.
I work with Nightline.
For 161 miles, continue on I-75 South.
So somebody from Osceola in the administration said that he was arrested and he was a former student.
You know, I don't know, was it a confession or a DNA match?
But I've been told that it was an arrest they were questioning ryan dukes he admitted to it while they were questioning
him and left him led the gbi to where he burned her body at he lived he lived right there close
to tara and i said he's 33 years old now. He's a former student.
Well, they said, well, I requested him. He said, look at this.
Ten years ago today marked the last time anybody you couldn't see or talked to Tara Grinstead.
Officially, police are calling this a missing persons case. GBI officials say investigators say it's a crime.
An $80,000 reward is being offered for impolition.
Where is Tara Grinstead?
From Tenderfoot TV in Atlanta, this is Up and Vanished, the investigation of Tara Grinstead.
I'm your host, Payne Lindsey.
Hey, guys. and vanished, the investigation of Tara Grinstead. I'm your host, Payne Lindsey.
Hey guys, if you haven't heard the news yet, the GBI held a press conference on Tara Grinstead last Thursday, for the first time in 12 years. Today I'm going to walk you through my entire
experience in Osceola this past weekend, starting with my arrival at the police station,
one hour before the GBI press conference. Hey, how are you? You good?
You doing all right?
Yeah, I'm pretty overwhelmed, honestly.
Oh, yeah?
Good to see you.
All right.
You said good news there, right?
Yeah, man.
I'm pretty excited.
I hope you did, but I'm scared as well, right?
I put a mic up there.
I was kind of like, what is this going to do?
Okay.
Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.
I was freaking out.
The next place I went was the Osceola Star newspaper to see Dusty.
I mean, we were just here the other day talking about this.
Like, thinking that it'll never be solved.
So what's this?
Dusty already found a picture of the guy, rumored to have been arrested.
Obviously, it's big news.
I imagine there's going to be a crowd there.
Yeah.
The courtroom in Osceola was completely packed to the walls.
Every news station in the state of Georgia was in that building.
The anticipation was growing as I placed my microphone up on the stand.
We all waited anxiously for the press conference to begin.
Good afternoon. Thank you all for coming.
I know most of you have gotten short notice and all today,
but it's certainly worth the drive to come here today to hear what we've got to say.
And I really want to begin with a word of prayer from my pastor,
Joey Whitley, and County Commissioner Chairman.
If you would, let's all stand and begin with a word of prayer.
Let's pray. Father, thank you that you've allowed us to be here.
We've come together, Father, for whatever announcement this may be.
And God, we just want to thank you that you've been with the men and women that have been for years searching to do it more than they could to solve this case.
And God, for our community that's been behind our law enforcement,
God, forgive us all of our many sins and shortcomings for us.
In the name of the Lord,
and all God's children and saints.
Amen.
Before we get started,
I just want to say our thoughts and prayers
go out to Tara Grinstead's family.
Connie and Billy Grinstead
are right over here to my right.
I'd like to recognize the local community here.
As you can see, this courtroom is packed.
I also want to
take a moment to thank the media. You guys have been just phenomenal in this whole endeavor.
The disappearance of terror has caused not only state and local news coverage, but this has also
hit our national news. Please know that you have had an impact, a significant role in this
investigation, and I am confident that today we have reached the point where we are in this investigation because of that involvement.
On Saturday, October 22, 2005, Tara Grinstead went missing from her residence.
The Osceola Police Department responded to her residence.
Immediately, they suspected foul play.
Additional law enforcement resources
were requested. The Irwin County Sheriff's Office and the GBI came in and began a search at Tara's
house. Tara's home was searched extensively for several days, which produced little physical
evidence. As with all missing person cases, the investigation started focusing on Tara's close friends and associates.
Tara was very well known in this community and well liked in her community.
So she had many contacts and friends in various parts of the community.
As the hours turned into days, days into weeks, weeks into months, and eventually months into years, the search efforts never ceased.
Through these 11 plus years, the GBI and other law enforcement officers have received hundreds and hundreds of tips.
Each and every tip that came in was vetted and checked against what we had already done in this investigation.
Each lead was thoroughly exhausted.
Unfortunately, all of these leads ended with a dead end until the last couple of days.
A few days ago, an individual came forward and reported that they had information into
Tara's disappearance.
This information made it to my office and our case agent, Jason Shadel, was sent out
to conduct an interview.
This interview generated several more interviews, which was followed up by the rest of
our office here. Through these interviews, enough probable cause was discovered so we could swear
out an arrest warrant charging Ryan Alexander Duke with the murder of Tara Grinstead. Duke was
taken into custody yesterday afternoon and a warrant was issued this morning. I'm sure that there are going to be many questions.
I may be able to answer some of those questions,
but in the interest of the integrity of our investigation,
I may not be able to answer or respond at this time.
Before I take any questions, Connie Grinstead would like to make a brief statement.
Please respect her privacy and refrain from asking her any questions.
Thank you for coming today.
On behalf of Billy and myself, the first thing that I want to do is to thank God for answered prayers.
We would also like to thank the GBI for all of their years of hard work and dedication to Tara's
investigation. We always believed in the GBI and their dedication to her case. We always believed
that it would be solved. We just did not know when. We would also like to thank all of the local law enforcement for cooperating and working
with the GBI through the years as well as many others in this community and
beyond. We lived in Ocilla for eight years. Tara lived with us here for four
of those years. When we moved here you welcomed us with open arms and treated us as if we were one
of your own. You did the same thing for Tara when she moved in with us, and we are so grateful to
you for that. She was able to fulfill many of her dreams right here in Osceola.
many of her dreams right here in Osceola.
She loved being a teacher, and she was very good at it.
So many people have been hurt by this.
We hope and pray that with time,
this community can finally have closure and start to heal from this.
For us, this just starts another chapter in a very long and painful journey. We ask that you keep us in your prayers.
Our wounds are deep and our hearts are broken. We realize that everybody is going to want answers. You'll have a lot
of questions and that will come in time but for now we ask of the media to
please respect our privacy and give us the chance to grieve and to process all
that has taken place. Thank you.
As I stated earlier, I can try to field a couple of questions,
but again, the integrity of our investigation takes precedent over everything else.
Can you tell us anything about Ms. Rinsland's remains?
I'm not allowed to answer that at this time. Thank you.
How old was Brian Duke in all of his relations to Tara?
What I can say from our investigation was he did attend that high school and graduated about three years prior
to the incident has he confessed to this has he confessed to this i'm not allowed to answer that
question was he alone again i i can't speak to certain aspects of this investigation, so at this time I'm not allowed to answer that.
That's a very good question, and again, we have several more interviews to do and investigative actions,
so it would be hard for me to answer that at this time.
Had you previously interviewed throughout the investigation?
I can say that this gentleman never came up on our radar through the investigation.
Right now, I'd like to thank you all for coming.
I'm sorry, this is about all the questions I can answer at this time.
Again, we have several more investigative actions that we're going to be taking, more people to interview.
But we just wanted to share with you guys that we did find the person that was responsible for Tara's death.
It was a completely surreal moment, a moment Osula had been waiting for for nearly 12 years.
I felt so many different emotions all at once.
I thought a lot about how to describe that moment.
The only thing I can think of is the final scene in the movie Big Fish, directed by Tim Burton.
At the very end of the
movie, a son takes his dying father to the water to metaphorically set him free. For years, he had
told his son whimsical and seemingly unbelievable stories about his life, full of these mythical
and larger-than-life characters. But as he takes his dying father to the river, all these characters
he had talked about over the years begin emerging and eventually surround them.
As it turns out, all the characters in his father's life were real people.
That's exactly what this was like.
Every voice of locals that you've heard in this podcast were all in one room together, shaking my hand, congratulating each other.
I always knew these were real people, but they couldn't have been more real on this day. And as sad as this day was, it was also a day of celebration and relief.
The community came together as a whole for the first time in a very long time.
And in this moment, together, we accepted the truth.
Even my grandma was there with her friend Melba.
How about that? That's unbelievable.
Always good to see you.
I think you've given the juice to this whole case.
I think so.
And this is love here in Mission, Melbourne.
Nice to meet you.
And that's Nancy Mitchell.
She's in the first episode with her cowboy figure.
I know.
And I've heard her several times cowboy t-shirt. I know. And I almost did it one time.
They're famous.
I know.
Her son is like one of my children.
He's a long-term friend.
Congratulations.
I was talking to your grandmother.
She was taking video like a pro.
Oh, yes. She's good, yeah.
I taught her well.
I love you.
I love you, too. Okay. All right. What's going on, man? How you doing, man? Pretty good. love you, too.
Okay.
All right.
What's going on, man?
How you doing, man?
Pretty good.
Good work, man.
Hey, man.
Y'all, too.
This was the beginning of a resolution,
the beginning of long-awaited answers in this case.
My grandma was so excited, she left my mom this voicemail.
Hey, Don, this is Mom.
I just now got back home, so I was in the courtroom,
and you've got to be mighty proud of your son.
I'm certainly proud of my grandson.
I mean, he really got that case going again.
And a lot of people, the local people who would listen to the podcast,
this one lady came up and she said, I want to shake your hand.
She said, I've listened to all the podcasts. And she said, you really got this thing going.
When the FBI made all the announcements, you probably see it on the news, he just thanked the media.
So pain was in the media in general, but they didn't, you know, seek him out.
I'm just so proud of him.
I mean, I really think if it wasn't for pain getting started on, I don't think this thing would have been solved.
I really don't.
I called Rosie. I'm going over there and have a glass of wine. I need to celebrate. And I don't
like to drink by myself. So I'm going to go over there. She was here last night. So I'm going over
there. Bye bye. We still don't know exactly why the tipster came forward now, 12 years later.
But I hope the renewed interest from the podcast at least helped create an environment
that encouraged the sharing of truth throughout the whole community.
An Atlanta filmmaker who produces an internet podcast is credited with keeping interest in the story alive.
Filmmaker Payne Lindsey is credited with keeping the case in the public eye through his podcast. Justin, an Atlanta filmmaker turned podcaster, is on a mission to solve the 2005
disappearance of Tara Grinstead, and his new project is getting a lot of people talking.
Documentary filmmaker and amateur investigator Payne Lindsey. The case grew cold, but years later,
Tara's story piques the interest of Atlanta filmmaker Payne Lindsey. He decides to create a podcast called Up and Vanished to help generate new leads in her disappearance.
It's a question that has haunted this small south Georgia town for more than a decade.
And a question podcaster and Atlanta filmmaker Payne Lindsey set out to answer.
What happened to Tara Grinstead?
set out to answer what happened to Tara Grinstead. Investigators will not comment on whether Payne's podcast or news coverage directly led to this latest tip, but analysts say keeping the story
in the news can help investigators. By regularly keeping a case in the public's eye, whether it be
on television, radio, podcasts, social media, etc., you never know who's going to see it. His podcast,
Up and Vanished, has gained the attention of millions. That number spiked by more than
700,000 on Thursday as people learned about the arrest of Ryan Alexander Duke. What role do you
believe your podcast had in making this arrest? A lot of people are crediting it with solving this murder mystery.
I think that the podcast opened up
this atmosphere in Osceola
that created this trust factor
and a line of communication, an open channel.
It's been so long that these secrets have been kept
and it's just been such a tight-lipped,
uncomfortable thing to talk about here.
But I think the podcast maybe helped
create an environment for the truth to come out
and I would hope that would be the case.
You got some early tips from the family's private investigator,
and you don't think that this case is over yet.
As following Tara Grinstead's disappearance says, this case is far from over.
Desiree Duncan caught up with the Atlanta filmmaker in Osceola
to get his reaction to Ryan Duke's arrest.
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But this day was far from over.
Up next was Ryan Duke's court hearing, and Dusty and I had a front row seat.
The sounds of Ryan's shackles echoed throughout the courtroom
as a bearded man limped towards the stand with his head down.
This is the First American Council of the Maastricht Court of Irving County,
where that bill was completed our day of January 2017.
My name is Taylor Koltaker. I'm the Chief of Maastricht here in Ir January 2017. My name is Taylor Coltec,
and I'm the Chief of Master at Southern Vermont County.
Could you please state your name?
I am Patrick Dagger, too.
What is your date of birth?
May the 30th, 1983.
Mr. Duke, you've been charged in the Lawrence Storm
by Special Agent Jason Chabelle with the offenses of burglary, aggravated assault, murder, and concealing the death in Arlington County, Georgia.
At this time, I would agree to your warrants.
Ryan Alexander Duke, who lived in the county of Forsyth, committed the offense of burglary to Witt and St. County October 23, 2005, when he did
notably, intentionally, and willfully
enter the residence of Karen Redstead,
that being 300 West Park
Street, Osceola, Irwin County, Georgia,
and without authority to do so, commit a
felony therein, that being
aggravated assault and murder.
Places of occurrence of said offense being
300 West Park Street, Osceola, Irwin County,
Georgia, and against the laws of the state of Georgia.
Ryan Almeida, the dude, did
an accounting of four said committed offense
and aggravated assault to it
in Settlement County, October 23,
2005, when he did
knowingly, intentionally, and willfully use
his hands in an offensive manner
and with the intent to and did cause
serious bodily harm to the person
that carried the incident. Said offense being described as aggravated assault with the intention to indeed cause serious bodily harm to the person that Tara grins at.
Settlement's been described as aggravated assault, Code Section 16-5-21,
and the endosupplement makes this aggravated that a warrant may be issued for his arrest.
When the hearing was over, I rushed outside to ask Brian Duke a question before they put him in the police car.
Why'd you kill Tara?
Why did Ryan Duke kill Tara?
He looked at me for a second, but then just dropped his head.
I was just an arm's length from him.
Ryan Duke's charges were murder, attempt to conceal a body,
aggravated assault, and burglary.
Was this just a burglary gone wrong?
I didn't really understand the burglary charge,
so I called somebody who would.
This is Colin Miller from Undisclosed.
Yeah, so it could be two things.
So as you noted, her purse and keys were missing.
Their theory might be that he entered the house with the goal of stealing property.
But in Georgia and many jurisdictions, it's burglary as long as you enter with the intent to either commit theft or a felony.
And so the theory could simply be he either entered her house with the goal of killing her or entered the house with the goal of assaulting her. And even under Georgia law, it could be that he entered with her consent. She
asked him to leave. He overstayed his welcome with the goal of harming her. And any of those
would allow for a burglary charge. So it doesn't have to be him committing theft for that burglary
charge to stand. Under Georgia law, you can be an uninvited guest. You could overstay your welcome.
And in either case,
it could just be you have the goal of harming or killing and that's burglary. You know, you don't know 100%, but I'm sure your podcast has played a role because you don't often see this type of
information coming out of nowhere a decade and a couple of years after the fact. So be interested
to see what develops in the news. But I have to
imagine that this has some connection with either directly your podcast or secondhand, thirdhand
people have heard about it. And that led to this break in the case. So we have one person in jail,
the GBI is being very tight lip. What should we expect in the coming days and weeks and really
the next year? Right. Well, I saw that he's scheduled to have a grand jury proceeding on April 12th,
and that's where the grand jurors will decide if there's probable cause.
And if so, they'd issue what's known as a true bill and there'd be an indictment and the case could go to trial.
As you said, from some of your reporting and the other reporting, it seems like there might be other individuals involved. And you could imagine with that additional arrests and probably people trying to strike a plea deal in
exchange for implicating other people. Now, the purpose of a grand jury, it's just like trial
jurors are receiving a summons in the mail. And it is secretive, though, as opposed to a trial. And so those grand jurors basically hear the prosecution's case. The prosecution,
it's a one-sided hearing. They call their witnesses. They don't have to present exculpatory
evidence. And the jury, after that, decides whether to indict or not. And again, that would
be secretive. That wouldn't be the press reporting on it and saying, this is day two of the grand
jury and this witness testified.
It's secretive.
All you hear is at the end of the process, whether they indicted or not.
To me, it looked like he was just wearing the weight of the world.
And it's like 12 years of something had just changed him.
Yeah, I saw some of the footage too.
And he looked completely disheveled and disoriented.
And he was shackled, but he was still sort of limping around.
And yeah, you imagine if he committed this horrible crime 12 years ago
and has gone uncaptured over these years, how that could wear on you
and what you might do to sort of ease some of that pain.
And we'll see.
But certainly that video footage was compelling.
What I would expect next would be, are there going to be additional arrests?
And that could lead to more details about what exactly happened 12 years ago coming out.
But I don't see much coming out from Ryan Duke himself.
If there's other individuals involved, it might be a game of getting one to implicate another by either offering them immunity or decreased charges.
Back to the point of the burglary, a murder being committed during the course of a burglary in
Georgia is an aggravating circumstance, which means there's the option of putting the death
penalty on the table. And to the extent there might be some bargaining with Ryan Duke himself,
it might be, if you implicate some of the other people involved,
we won't pursue the death penalty.
We'll just pursue life.
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Once the day was over, I immediately searched for anyone in Osceola who knew Ryan Duke.
I had to know more about this person.
After hours of digging, I found a former high school friend of Ryan's, and he agreed to meet with me.
I grew up in Irwin County since the second grade.
Gotcha.
So Ryan and I, we go, he was probably born and raised in Osceola.
So there wasn't a grade that we can't remember.
Not being together.
He was a good friend of mine.
He was a really nice guy.
You know, when you're in high school, there are cliques,
but it's not like you're a mafia of any type.
So to say the word loyal is odd, but he would be a loyal friend.
He would be that guy.
If you need it, he's there.
Just, he was a good friend. He would be that guy. If you need it, he's there. He was a good guy.
Does it surprise you?
Very much.
Very much a surprise.
I would have never thought this,
and I know that is a cliche.
I have seen enough TV
and listened to enough
My Favorite Murders to go.
You never expect it.
Never in a million years.
Any about them that you could look back and say,
well, you know, I don't know.
Well, Osceola is a small town.
82 people were in our graduating class.
82 or 88.
What?
Small class.
So one thing I learned about Osceola
going to city after city after city all throughout
georgia that i found it was different with other friends that i met and had is that you
and osceola are exposed very young age to everybody it doesn't matter white black rich poor you are this amalgam of a class and everybody adapts and everybody
gives and everybody takes on personality on lifestyle so to say that something was odd is
is almost normal it's almost it's almost normal to yeah, I mean, he kind of does his own thing every now and then.
Or, yeah, he lives in that part of town.
But, I mean, when we hang out, it's all of us.
It's all backyard football.
I mean, I bet he played when we were in middle school.
We used to build these trophies out of, like, old stuff.
And then we would play backyard football for like championships and
stuff i mean we did that every sweep day today for years i mean and he would be there but a lot
of folks from my class a lot of folks younger than me would be there a lot of couple folks older than
me it just it was just all you're just a community yeah i mean you're a small community everybody has an older brother everybody has a younger brother so when you're just those few years apart y'all you kind of know
as far as odd osceola's full of rumors it's full of rumors and if it's all right can i just talk So, is it okay to say his name? Yeah.
Okay.
So, this is just rumors, but what I hear is that he's involved too.
But somebody said, you know, Ron joined the military, and then he'd ended up deserting.
I'd heard that, and I remember thinking, really, that's crazy.
And then they said, yeah,
supposedly he just got on a bad drinking binge,
and then it just molded into other stuff.
That kind of lifestyle has hit a few folks
that are around my age and about a year younger.
There was just a circle, and they got hooked on, you know,
once you get up to the realms of myth,
that all kind of has the same, that changes you in the same way, I guess.
Yeah, yeah.
And so I've heard that there's this group that just,
and they just went downhill,
and I just kind of figured he probably was part of that.
I don't know if that has any truth to it,
but I just kind of said, wow, maybe that was it.
So what's been playing in my head is saying,
well, did he perform this heinous act and then say, maybe I can escape through military?
I mean, there's pictures of me and him hanging out in my room that are just like a graduation.
I mean, we're arm in arm.
To be honest with you, I saw him in the courtroom.
I saw him and I just thought, there he is.
That's Ryan.
Wow. room i saw him and i just thought there he is that's ryan wow and i just you know i didn't really even see a shell of a person i just saw the whole the whole ride and
he had his head down his eyes closed and some people would tell me man he looks like it that
just been weighing on him and he just wants to release it and leave it.
That didn't to me.
It looked like he was scared.
To me, I thought, that's the guy.
He's scared.
He looks scared.
He looked really scared.
And if anything, I really felt like I just wanted to just say his name,
just say Ron.
I mean, I just kind of wanted to say, are you okay?
I mean, there's nothing I can do to make it okay,
and I definitely don't want to be the judge, the jury, or any part of it.
And I don't have a right to be.
You know, now it's complicated.
If it was all the rumors, all the rumors were simple.
All the rumors were like, yeah, but it's him, and it's crazy, and it's all this, and it just makes sense.
But now it's complicated. guy that's not connected and the loyal ron the ron that was i mean the loyalty part of it was
for sure a product of being in osceola not belonging to a little clique in high school
not judging not not having to be on a certain in a certain group of friends.
Let's take for instance, in Atlanta if you play guitar,
more than likely if somebody's in your class that also plays guitar,
more than likely not necessarily in your school, in your classroom,
but in your graduating class, they may do something.
If you have a science thing there's more likely there's
some other science people in osceola you get one if you're lucky of uniqueness and anybody unique
has an uphill battle it can have an uphill battle um i think it's changed a lot since I was in school, but you really have to learn other people.
You have to learn how to absorb somebody else.
And the people that can truly accept someone for who they are, that's how you end up with friends in Osceola.
truly accept someone for who they are.
That's how you end up with friends in Osceola.
Yeah, this isn't really a town that distance and location can separate classes and races and ideas.
This is one where everybody has to find their place.
You have to put effort into this community,
and if you want this to give back, and it will give back.
To me personally, I think that's what a lot of America is kind of going through some.
There's a lot of small communities going, yes, we exist.
We have the voice.
We are part of this whole thing.
I would say Osceola can be strong.
I would say, I mean, you can just go to a football game and see that.
You can let us ride in state, and you can see that.
I've seen us play some private schools and state championships and semifinals and stuff,
and we come up there in busloads, and they show up sitting down.
I mean, we're the inventors of rocks in a can, just being loud.
You need help with anything, anybody will help.
There is no divide.
I think the town is feeling relieved.
I think they are.
I think they're feeling like they can put it down.
I think they're very confused.
I think everyone's very anxious.
I think everyone's asking why.
I don't think anybody saw it coming in this direction at all.
I know I never would have.
I've said this a couple times.
I said I hope that the town offers apologies for a lot of the rumors.
I think there are some people that evidently are owed some real apologies because in a
small town like this, there's nowhere to go.
You carry a rumor like you carry a cape.
ago. You carry a rumor like you carry a cape. But we had to have been, he had to have been 20, 20 years old, 21. There's no way he did that by himself. He wasn't a dumb guy, but
he wasn't sophisticated. So for the things that I've heard that happen, that's sophisticated.
He's not a resourceful guy.
I never thought of him as resourceful.
So I can imagine him.
He had some supposedly just to meet the GBI, and they couldn't crack Ryan Duke.
That doesn't make sense on its own to me personally.
Where did **** come in the picture?
Actually, I heard both names first.
So as being a classmate, you hear real quick, hey, did you hear that these two guys are involved?
So I heard both names originally.
But then they said, but I'm pretty sure Ryan confessed.
I thought, holy crap, really?
So I knew ****** was crazy.
I knew he was off.
And he was off all through high school.
He was an off guy. He was off. And he was off all through high school. He was an off guy.
He was nice.
I'll put it to you this way.
Because a ton of my classmates have called, a ton of folks have been calling me.
So I've had to kind of, I've had practice kind of explain this.
If you just said, did you know Ryan killed a guy?
I would say,
I guess I can see that really. But if you said, did you know he
killed a guy? And then he did what all the rumors are. I go, no, no way. He didn't do that. Or,
you know, did, did you know he killed this girl and hit about it for 12 years, 11 years
and did all this crazy stuff? I'd say, no, there's no way.
No way he did that.
But if you said,
hey, I think he did this,
I would go,
you know, he's kind of,
he's kind of crazy like that.
So,
where is
I don't have a clue. I don't, He's kind of crazy like that. So... Where is...
I don't have a clue.
I don't really know.
That's where by his house his car's on there.
Yeah.
It's life on that yard.
I've heard that no one knows where...
That's probably true.
I'm censoring this person's name because this is still an active investigation.
But the question is, did Ryan Duke act alone?
Or did he have an accomplice in Tara Grinstead's murder?
As the night came to an end, I crawled in bed in my hotel room, completely exhausted.
But right before I closed my eyes, I got a phone call.
And this person proceeded to tell me a very interesting
story. There were some kids
at a party, okay? And the
you know, the guy
Ryan Duke
was probably
20 or 21 years old when this happened
when he killed Tara. So he graduated
three years before
they
before this happened.
So he was out of high school for a few years.
He was a former student.
She had taught him.
They knew each other.
And right after she disappeared, a couple weeks after she disappeared,
there was a party, and this kid was talking.
He was drunk, and he was talking about having killed Tara
and Dr. Boddy at a pecan orchard in Fitzgerald.
Ryan Duke was saying that?
Ryan Duke said that.
And someone told me there's another one.
This is kind of weird, okay?
This is kind of weird.
There's another kid that they're looking for, same age, around the same age.
His name is ******.
kid that they're looking for, same age, around the same age, his name is. Somebody called me today, a friend of mine who followed this case really closely over
the years, and she sent me, the guy said, it's Daniel West, she sent me the name, you
know, Ronald Duke, I said, yeah, that's him. And then she calls me, and she says, is this
the Pecan Orchard story? And I said, yeah, the P.K. and Archer story?
And I said, yeah, it is.
Yeah, how do you know?
She said, we heard about this 10 years ago.
Thanks for listening, guys.
This coming Thursday, we're having a Q&A episode.
I'm sure you all have a bunch of questions.
So if you'd like them answered, just leave us a voicemail.
The number is 770-545-6411.
Again, that's 770-545-6411.
And as always, next Monday is a case evidence. And the Monday after that is episode 14.
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