GA - Tara Grinstead, 29, Ocilla, 22 Oct 2005 #2 *Arrests*

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Jennibee said:
Very surprised that the murder (allegedly) happened in her house.

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If so, he most likely strangled her which wouldnt leave any forensic evidence at the home and that is why the one lamp was turned over in the bedroom. Didnt one of the reporters say he confessed?

The aggravated assault ...........could that be sexual and they are listing it as an aggravated assault since her remains will not yield evidence of a sexual assault now.

He supposedly took her body to Fitzgerald and burned it from what I read on the first page, irrc. Even if he showed them where the remains were it may take months for an anthropologist and ME to find enough DNA to identify the remains as belonging to Tara.:(

He could have taken something simple like her cell phone or kept a necklace she may have been wearing and that would be enough for the burglary charges.

He will certainly be eligible for the death penalty since he was in the commission of other felonies when she was murdered which of course is the top felony. They can get him for first degree murder and felony murder.

The motive had to be sexual in nature IMO. He came there when he knew she was home. In his high school photo he is a neat clean cut nice looking young man. If his motivation was to rape her it shows rape is all about power and control. This guy at that time could have dated as many pretty young women as he wanted. I think he was fixated with Tara.

I never suspected any of the men she had relationships with nor anyone in her family. I felt the GBI may have gotten tunnel vision early on but no matter in the end they never closed the books on Tara's case. When they went back to interview others again is when someone put them onto this man who was the murderer of Tara. That is all that matters.

I am one who never gives up hope on cold cases and I also never think the police investigating them isnt doing anything to solve them either. I would think for investigators the cases that bother them the most are the ones unsolved where they are unable to give resolution to the families of the victims.

Now I can only pray that the GBI will continue to investigate little DeTrez Green's (the little two year old who's parents said he was 'swept away' in the Jan. tornado never to be found) missing case and they can find out what really happened to him and by whom.

My heart and prayers are with Tara's family and all who loves and misses her dearly. At least now they know she isnt coming home. I have seen parents of missing victims speak out and they said the hardest part is not knowing if their child is dead or alive.

I live about 45-50 miles from Fitzgerald but I read quite a bit about the crimes that happens there on my local news site and there seems to be a huge problem with drugs so I suspect if he was arrested before this it is drug related.
 
oceanblueeyes said:
If so, he most likely strangled her which wouldnt leave any forensic evidence at the home and that is why the one lamp was turned over in the bedroom. Didnt one of the reporters say he confessed?

The aggravated assault ...........could that be sexual and they are listing it as an aggravated assault since her remains will not yield evidence of a sexual assault now.

He supposedly took her body to Fitzgerald and burned it from what I read on the first page, irrc. Even if he showed them where the remains were it may take months for an anthropologist and ME to find enough DNA to identify the remains as belonging to Tara.:(

He could have taken something simple like her cell phone or kept a necklace she may have been wearing and that would be enough for the burglary charges.

He will certainly be eligible for the death penalty since he was in the commission of other felonies when she was murdered which of course is the top felony. They can get him for first degree murder and felony murder.

The motive had to be sexual in nature IMO. He came there when he knew she was home. In his high school photo he is a neat clean cut nice looking young man. If his motivation was to rape her it shows rape is all about power and control. This guy at that time could have dated as many pretty young women as he wanted. I think he was fixated with Tara.

I never suspected any of the men she had relationships with nor anyone in her family. I felt the GBI may have gotten tunnel vision early on but no matter in the end they never closed the books on Tara's case. When they went back to interview others again is when someone put them onto this man who was the murderer of Tara. That is all that matters.

I am one who never gives up hope on cold cases and I also never think the police investigating them isnt doing anything to solve them either. I would think for investigators the cases that bother them the most are the ones unsolved where they are unable to give resolution to the families of the victims.

Now I can only pray that the GBI will continue to investigate little DeTrez Green's (the little two year old who's parents said he was 'swept away' in the Jan. tornado never to be found) missing case and they can find out what really happened to him and by whom.

My heart and prayers are with Tara's family and all who loves and misses her dearly. At least now they know she isnt coming home. I have seen parents of missing victims speak out and they said the hardest part is not knowing if their child is dead or alive.

I live about 45-50 miles from Fitzgerald but I read quite a bit about the crimes that happens there on my local news site and there seems to be a huge problem with drugs so I suspect if he was arrested before this it is drug related.
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Well put!

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I am thinking that Duke was an acquaintance or regular visitor to the shady/drug house that was down the street from her. Just a theory. Needed quick money and knew she wasn't home. However what I find odd is that Dolly was outside. No one that wasn't familiar with her would enter if they were in their right mind. So that makes me think he knew her. Guess time will tell. I am thinking we may see other arrests. I just think something isn't right. Too many stars aligned. Tara's emails? Acting crazy and showing up at Marcus' house?
 
This is why he was charged with burglary. He took her purse and keys trying to make it seem like she had ridden off with someone else. He wasn't there to do a burglary at all. IMO Those where afterthoughts after he had killed her.

Excerpt from WALBTV

Officials immediately searched her home. Very little evidence was found. Police said they found no signs of forced entry. The only things missing were her keys and purse.
 
Did anyone else catch the "this freaking lady" look on the speaker's face when the reporter asked him "What made you initially suspect foul play" and he was like "...She was missing"? He was getting annoyed that they kept asking evidentiary questions that he repeatedly said he couldn't answer.
 
It is easy for him to say now that it happened in the course of a burglary..Nobody else was there (I assume)...I guess it sounds better for him than that he went there to rape and kill her..But at least he is caught no matter how he said it happened. JMO
 
Did anyone else catch the "this freaking lady" look on the speaker's face when the reporter asked him "What made you initially suspect foul play" and he was like "...She was missing"?
Click to expand...

Yes I did notice that...It was like he wanted to finish with...:"you dummy"! lol
 
Jennibee said:
I don't even recall this scenario of burglary 'gone wrong' even being on my radar. I was almost certain it was someone she knew.

It goes to show.

All speculation obviously.

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I thought he was her student?
 
My apologies if this has already been asked/answered but is the man arrested the one that was stalking her? I thought I remembered on an episode of Dateline that she had a student who thought she was interested in her and would show up at her house.
 
Maybe he/they just thought, "woman home alone, she has fine jewels".........
proctorelites said:
That's just what the judge read. That he did commit aggrivated assault with his hands; leading to murder during the commission of a felony crime:, burglary and did conceal her body. I also saw local ppl commenting that other arrests are soon to come. Now whether that was just talk idk. But, the GBI officer did say that it was possible.

I have to say this, alot off ppl made comments that it didn't make sense that he was never on their radar. Well, I suppose it does if he was never arrested he had not been cosidered a POI. All this time alot of ppl thought (self included) it was someone close to her.
However, I think he may have been a stranger to her. So that would not have put him on their radar. Just bc he attended that high school does not mean they were close. She may know the face but not spend any time with him. Thats common in small towns. I lived in south georgia for 36 yrs and saw the some of the same faces daily, said hello, but they were strangers to me. So it would make sense if he burglarized her home and this murder occurred. Or he intended to harm her. His story is burglary so we may never know.

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mbk223 said:
My apologies if this has already been asked/answered but is the man arrested the one that was stalking her? I thought I remembered on an episode of Dateline that she had a student who thought she was interested in her and would show up at her house.
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No because LE said the guy was not on their radar.
 
sugarbritches said:
I am thinking that Duke was an acquaintance or regular visitor to the shady/drug house that was down the street from her. Just a theory. Needed quick money and knew she wasn't home. However what I find odd is that Dolly was outside. No one that wasn't familiar with her would enter if they were in their right mind. So that makes me think he knew her. Guess time will tell. I am thinking we may see other arrests. I just think something isn't right. Too many stars aligned. Tara's emails? Acting crazy and showing up at Marcus' house?
Click to expand...

I am not so sure. We have seen the most brutal cases happen when big and bad dogs were either outside or inside of the home with the victims. It did not stop the suspects from doing the murders and no one saw or heard a thing. Example: In the Greone mass murder case they had two huge pit bulls inside of the home with them. Shasta's brother was sure they would attack anyone who tried to harm his family. He was wrong and Duncan was a total stranger. Joseph Duncan told Shasta when he held her captive that he thought when he came in through the unlocked sliding glass door the first thing he would have to do is kill the two pit bulls. But he didn't have to kill either one. During the time he was bludgeoning three of the victims to death with a hammer inside of their homes he said the dogs only whimpered and ran under the dining room table, and stayed there until he took Shasta and Dylan with him after murdering their family members.

Dogs are as unpredictable as human beings are. That is why owners shouldn't ever expect their dogs to guard and protect them because there have been several cases where that just didn't happen. He could have thrown her treats and I don't know of one dog that will reject treats.

Wasn't her car also outside? I think he knew she was there and that is why he went there. IMO
 
oceanblueeyes said:
If so, he most likely strangled her which wouldnt leave any forensic evidence at the home and that is why the one lamp was turned over in the bedroom. Didnt one of the reporters say he confessed?

The aggravated assault ...........could that be sexual and they are listing it as an aggravated assault since her remains will not yield evidence of a sexual assault now.

He supposedly took her body to Fitzgerald and burned it from what I read on the first page, irrc. Even if he showed them where the remains were it may take months for an anthropologist and ME to find enough DNA to identify the remains as belonging to Tara.:(

He could have taken something simple like her cell phone or kept a necklace she may have been wearing and that would be enough for the burglary charges.

He will certainly be eligible for the death penalty since he was in the commission of other felonies when she was murdered which of course is the top felony. They can get him for first degree murder and felony murder.

The motive had to be sexual in nature IMO. He came there when he knew she was home. In his high school photo he is a neat clean cut nice looking young man. If his motivation was to rape her it shows rape is all about power and control. This guy at that time could have dated as many pretty young women as he wanted. I think he was fixated with Tara.

I never suspected any of the men she had relationships with nor anyone in her family. I felt the GBI may have gotten tunnel vision early on but no matter in the end they never closed the books on Tara's case. When they went back to interview others again is when someone put them onto this man who was the murderer of Tara. That is all that matters.

I am one who never gives up hope on cold cases and I also never think the police investigating them isnt doing anything to solve them either. I would think for investigators the cases that bother them the most are the ones unsolved where they are unable to give resolution to the families of the victims.

Now I can only pray that the GBI will continue to investigate little DeTrez Green's (the little two year old who's parents said he was 'swept away' in the Jan. tornado never to be found) missing case and they can find out what really happened to him and by whom.

My heart and prayers are with Tara's family and all who loves and misses her dearly. At least now they know she isnt coming home. I have seen parents of missing victims speak out and they said the hardest part is not knowing if their child is dead or alive.

I live about 45-50 miles from Fitzgerald but I read quite a bit about the crimes that happens there on my local news site and there seems to be a huge problem with drugs so I suspect if he was arrested before this it is drug related.
Click to expand...
The drug idea makes sense...here's something to think about. Was he aware of the $300 she made that night helping the girls prepare for the pageant? That would be pretty good reason to an addict. That $$ never made it out of her car console, so maybe not. I guess it could be a million scenarios that may never truly come to light. Just so glad her family has some answers and the ppl I was so rude about can resume life without the rumors.

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I'm excited over this arrest. It doesn't bring her back and it might not answer every question but it shows that we are able to solve the most unsolvable crimes even if the suspect might assume it was the perfect murder. Hope this shines a light for others to come forward to other unsolved murders, we will prevail and continue to pull more from the shadows.
 
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