Acquitted of murder, man sentenced for hiding teacher’s body
A Ga male has been sentenced to 10 several years in prison for hiding the dying of a well-known higher university teacher whose disappearance remained a secret for extra than ten years
OCILLA, Ga. — A Ga man was sentenced to 10 decades in jail Monday for hiding the death of a well known high school instructor whose disappearance baffled spouse and children, mates and investigators in her rural hometown for more than a ten years.
Ryan Alexander Duke was sentenced in Irwin County Superior Court just 3 times immediately after a jury acquitted him of murder in the 2005 death of Tara Grinstead. Duke testified that he gave investigators a phony confession soon after a mate killed Grinstead. He was convicted only of concealing her death.
The 10-12 months sentence imposed by Decide Monthly bill Reinhardt was the maximum punishment permitted. Duke has by now served about 50 {22377624ce51d186a25e6affb44d268990bf1c3186702884c333505e71f176b1} that time in jail awaiting trial.
A history instructor and previous splendor queen, Grinstead vanished at age 30 from her household in Ocilla. Even as yrs passed, her loved ones held out hope that Grinstead would be identified alive until finally Duke told investigators in 2017 that he killed Grinstead and with the assist of a close friend burned her system to ash.
“Every day, they couldn’t discover Tara,” Judge Reinhardt advised Duke at sentencing. “And it is legitimate that inspite of regardless of what your egocentric emotions ended up for not coming ahead, you had to the electrical power to prevent that discomfort for a long time.”
Five a long time in the past, Duke instructed brokers with the Ga Bureau of Investigation that he had damaged into Grinstead’s dwelling in Oct 2005 to steal cash for medications. He saidhe fatally struck Grinstead when she startled him.
But Duke recanted his 2017 confession all through his demo, testifying to the jury that he built it up underneath the influence of medicines and in dread of the true killer — his close friend with a related final name, Bo Dukes.
Prosecutors insisted Duke’s confession included aspects only the killer would know — these as Duke telling investigators he termed Grinstead’s dwelling from a pay out mobile phone right after fleeing the household to see if she would response. When she did not, he explained, he returned to uncover her lifeless.
“He confessed for the reason that he acquired caught,” Grinstead’s sister, Anita Gattis, told the courtroom for the duration of Duke’s sentencing hearing. “There is almost nothing sanctimonious about that.”
Investigators also uncovered Duke’s DNA on a latex glove found in Grinstead’s garden. Nonetheless, his testimony sewed enough question with the jury that he was acquitted of all expenses besides for concealing her dying.
Duke testified that his mate, Dukes, in 2005 woke him up inside of the mobile home they shared and informed Duke he had killed Grinstead. He testified that Dukes showed him Grinstead’s purse and wallet.
He said they the two took Grinstead’s overall body to the pecan orchard and burned it. Investigators later found bone fragments at the website, but explained DNA assessments in search of to match them to Grinstead had been inconclusive.
Dukes was identified as to the witness stand but declined to reply thoughts, invoking his Fifth Modification proper in opposition to self-incrimination.
Dukes is already serving 25 a long time in jail right after staying convicted in 2019 of concealing Grinstead’s dying, providing fake statements to investigators and hindering the apprehension of a criminal.
