This time, as family members and volunteers prepared to scour the remote swamps and shallow lakes outside Ocilla this weekend, they are keeping their destination a secret, in part, they say to avoid tipping off any potential suspects. Instead, they will disclose the targeted site, a small patch of land known to only a few in town, and then only as a kind of hidden haven, only on Saturday morning when the searchers convene.
As many as six dog teams are expected to join, the search, said Larry Gattis, which was prompted by what he would describe only as a "hot tip."
Gattis also said he is certain that the search will not trigger the kind of contentious confrontation that occurred last week when teams of searchers fanned out to scour property owned by the family of Tara's former boyfriend, Marcus Harper, a man who has been the target of rumors since the young woman vanished on Oct. 22. Authorities have not identified Harper, or any of the other men in Tara's life as suspects, and are still treating the matter as a missing person's case.
