Jury selection begins in the trial of Ryan Duke for the murder of Tara Grinstead in 2005. OCILLA, Ga. - Jury selection begins this week in the trial of a man accused of killing south Georgia beauty queen and teacher Tara Grinstead, nearly 17 years after she vanished.Potential jurors will report to the Irwin County Courthouse Monday morning for a selection process the court believes could take a week and a half.Grinstead, a former Miss Georgia contestant and high school teacher in Ocilla, Georgia, was reported missing in 2005.
Authorities said she disappeared without a trace and enlisted the help of Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Family suspected foul play.
Eventually the case turned into a homicide investigation, despite Grinstead’s body never being found, and two men were arrested.
The Irwin County Courthouse in Ocilla, Georgia. (FOX 5) Ryan Alexander Duke, 36, is charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, burglary, and concealing a death in connection with Grinstead’s disappearance.A second man, Bo Dukes, was sentenced in 2019 to 25 years in prison for his part in helping conceal her murder.The case has received national attention partly due to the being featured in the podcast, "Up and Vanished," and to the unlikely setting of the crime.