Who's who? People that are somehow involved in Tara's case.

[christine2448]

Faye Grinstead-Tara's Mother

Billy Grinstead- Tara's Father (lives in AL, married to Connie)

Connie Grinstead-Tara's Stepmother

Anita Gattis-Tara's sister

Larry Gattis- Brother in law, married to Anita, a physician

Gabe Gattis- Tara's nephew, son of TG & LG

Joe Portier- Neighbor

Myrtle Portier- Neighbor

Marcus Harper- Ex boyfriend

Larry Harper- Father of Marcus

Anthony Vickers - former student of Tara's, had supposed relationship with Tara, was arrested for knocking loudly on Tara's door/ disturbing the peace.

Heath Dykes- Police Officer in Perry, friend of Tara's, possibly the one who made 20 plus calls to Tara, last known person to be at Tara's 12:15 am Monday.

Maria Hulet - Friend of Tara's

Megan Evans - One of the last people to talk to Tara via Phone, Beauty pagent Contestant

Ojda Anderson - Friend of Tara's

Michael Lankford - former LE with Ocilla PD and Irwin County Sheriff's Office... house he was "watching"
mysteriously burned down on 11-7-05 along with his vehicle that was to be turned in to creditor voluntarily.

Rhett Roberts - Son of Tara's Landlord, someone Tara Dated

John David Anderson - the guy that processed Tara's car from the other county and had a k-9 that couldn't pick up Tara's scent past the driveway. He is also married.

Jim Perry - Dated Tara along time ago, Lives in Ohio.

Billy Hancock - Ocilla Police Chief

Dusty Vassey - Tifton Gazette

Dominic Turner - GBI

Gary Rothwell - GBI

GBI - Georgia Bureau of Investigation

Bill Barrs - Detective

Sean Fletcher Ocilla LE

Maurice Godwin - Dr. G Forensic Investigator

 

[christine2448]

Please add if I missed someone, or information is incorrect. TIA.


ETA: The people we feel need to be discussed in length we can start separate threads for, such as POI's.

 

[KimF]

Does anyone know the name of the LE that Marcus Harper was riding on his calls with? Have they checked his DNA? Just curious!

 

[RememberTara]

Does anyone know the name of the LE that Marcus Harper was riding on his calls with? Have they checked his DNA? Just curious!

Sean Fletcher, I heard his DNA was tested.

 

[KimF]

Do you know if they gave him a lie detector test? I always thought that his alibi was fishy!

 

[RememberTara]

I heard he took a polygraph.

 

[concernedperson]

I heard he took a polygraph.

Do you know if he passed?

 

[believe09]

Anyone have links showing Mr. Fletcher's alibi, which was Marcus Harper unless I am crazy, checked out and if he took a lie detector test??

 

[christine2448]

Copied from Crime & Justice forum...does this help?

http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/original/...her_harper.html

Marcus Harpers Activities Were Well Documented Before Tara Grinstead Vanished

by Seamus McGraw

May 25, 2006

OCILLA, Ga. (Crime Library) — In the days after school teacher and beauty Tara Grinstead mysteriously vanished, investigators methodically tracked down and interviewed many of the men who had played a key role in her life, among them, Marcus Harper, a former police officer, Iraqi war veteran, and Tara's former long-time boyfriend.

And while, among some in Ocilla, suspicion loomed large around Harper, authorities determined that Harper could easily account for his whereabouts and his activities during most of the critical hours between the time Tara was last seen and the time she was reported missing. And while authorities are not prepared to rule out any possible scenario in the still unsolved mystery they have acknowledged among other things that they don't know the precise moment when Tara actually disappeared — they have noted that Harper has been able to back up his account with official documents and witnesses.

According to his own account, and statements by others, Marcus Harper had been at a local tavern on the night that Tara vanished a friend of Tara's had even spotted him there, according to Dr. Maurice Godwin, a criminologist who has been working on the case at the behest of Tara's family, and she called Tara between 10:15 and 10:30 that night, presumably to tell her so.

Sometime after 1 a.m., Harper left the bar and drove to Ocilla looking for a friend of his, Sgt. Sean Fletcher, an Ocilla police officer. Fletcher, of course, had known both Harper and Tara. In fact, he had been one of the officers who responded to a call at Tara's house earlier in the year when another young man in Tara's life, Anthony Vickers, was arrested for disorderly conduct after allegedly banging on Tara's door and then cursing out the officers who tried to calm him. Some have even speculated that Tara may have had some hard feelings toward Fletcher, suspecting it has been said, that Fletcher had told Harper that there was another man, a police officer from a nearby community, in Tara's house at the time. Fletcher has denied that, noting that in a small town like Ocilla, details like that have a way of making themselves known.

At about 1:49 a.m., Fletcher was checking doors in downtown Ocilla when he received a call from the dispatcher telling him that Harper was looking for him, according to the account Fletcher has given to authorities. Fletcher contacted Harper, the two joined up, and they walked Fletcher's beat together. In the course of the next hour, Fletcher had at least one conversation with another police officer.

Fletcher and Harper searched for Bennie Merritt

Shortly after 2:45 a.m., Fletcher was summoned to a house on West 4th Street where a local man, Bennie Merritt, known for his erratic behavior, had allegedly walked inside and had refused to leave. Harper joined Fletcher on that call, as did two other police officers from the Irwin County Sheriff's Department. By the time they arrived, Merritt, who had already been the subject of a prior minor police call earlier that night, was gone. But according to Fletcher and the records investigators have reviewed, while there, Harper chatted with the residents.

A few minutes later, Fletcher and Harper left the residence and searched for Merritt, a neighbor of Tara's, who had allegedly frightened the couple on West 4th Street. Authorities reported that the man appeared intoxicated and was later apprehended by a sheriff's deputy, but not before he had allegedly frightened the night clerk at a local gas and convenience store about a mile outside of Ocilla.

According to records reviewed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, both Fletcher and Harper responded to the call at the all-night service station and market, and by the time they were done, it was 4:28 a.m.

A few minutes later, Harper headed home.

In the days following Tara's disappearance, investigators reviewed the details of Harper and Fletcher's activities, activities for which the pair were able to identify some nine witnesses, two of them police officers, one of them a dispatcher, and the rest citizens, including Merritt who had been the focus of so much of their attention that morning.

They also took a close look at Merritt, as well, authorities have said.

But so far, the investigators have turned up no evidence to suggest that any of them were involved in Tara's disappearance, which remains, now seven months, as she vanished, a missing person's case. Harper, along with several other men questioned during the probe, has denied involvement in the teacher's disappearance, and law enforcement officials have repeatedly said that they have no suspects in the case.

But that has done little to dampen suspicion in some quarters. Nor has the detailed and apparently well-documented account of Harper and Fletcher's travels that night.

Godwin, who has said that neither he nor the GBI have ruled Harper in or out as a potential person of interest in the case, put this way in an email exchange Wednesday with Crime Library: "Marcus's alibi is too perfect."

 

[believe09]

Thanks, Christine! I was pretty sure I had read this article and I am also sure we have it here somewhere.

 

[prayingmom]

For Gabe Gattis, I think you meant son of AG & LG

Faye Grinstead-Tara's Mother

Billy Grinstead- Tara's Father (lives in AL, married to Connie)

Connie Grinstead-Tara's Stepmother

Anita Gattis-Tara's sister

Larry Gattis- Brother in law, married to Anita, a physician

Gabe Gattis- Tara's nephew, son of TG & LG

Joe Portier- Neighbor

Myrtle Portier- Neighbor

Marcus Harper- Ex boyfriend

Larry Harper- Father of Marcus

Anthony Vickers - former student of Tara's, had supposed relationship with Tara, was arrested for knocking loudly on Tara's door/ disturbing the peace.

Heath Dykes- Police Officer in Perry, friend of Tara's, possibly the one who made 20 plus calls to Tara, last known person to be at Tara's 12:15 am Monday.

Maria Hulet - Friend of Tara's

Megan Evans - One of the last people to talk to Tara via Phone, Beauty pagent Contestant

Ojda Anderson - Friend of Tara's

Michael Lankford - former LE with Ocilla PD and Irwin County Sheriff's Office... house he was "watching"
mysteriously burned down on 11-7-05 along with his vehicle that was to be turned in to creditor voluntarily.

Rhett Roberts - Son of Tara's Landlord, someone Tara Dated

John David Anderson - the guy that processed Tara's car from the other county and had a k-9 that couldn't pick up Tara's scent past the driveway. He is also married.

Jim Perry - Dated Tara along time ago, Lives in Ohio.

Billy Hancock - Ocilla Police Chief

Dusty Vassey - Tifton Gazette

Dominic Turner - GBI

Gary Rothwell - GBI

GBI - Georgia Bureau of Investigation

Bill Barrs - Detective

Sean Fletcher Ocilla LE

Maurice Godwin - Dr. G Forensic Investigator

 

[Krimi]

Marcus is likely the perp, or one of his buddies. I recall a report that after Marcus jilted her for a much younger girl, Tara was contacting Marcus' parents and perhaps others to shame him. Marcus and/or the last persons to have contact with her.