The Day Ocilla Stood Still

The Day Ocilla Stood Still

  7:53 AM    Unknown

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This was something I wrote to settle myself down after the crazy events of February 23, 2017. The result was an article that was part opinion piece, part report and part narrative story. It's essentially a piece of gonzo journalism about the events of that day. I apologize for the irreverent style, but this was just my attempt to record the events of that strange day for myself. My reports in The Ocilla Star newspaper will be much different.

I woke up that Thursday morning, February 23, 2017, with my arm thrown halfway off my bed and some sort of critter biting my knuckle. I crushed it, hoping it wasn't a flea because I recently let a friend bring a dog that wasn't supposed to have fleas in my house, yet I watched it biting at fleas the whole time. It was 9:30 a.m. Figuring I had a late day due to a ribbon cutting in the afternoon, I went back to sleep.

At about 11 a.m. my phone rang, dashing my dreams of sleep. I towed myself out of bed and answered. It was one of my best friends, Eric, whom I regrettably had neglected in recent months. He wouldn't be the last long-lost friend who decided to call me that day.

He told me there was a press conference about Tara Grinstead scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Irwin County Courthouse. I was interested, of course, but after 11 years of dead ends, rabbit holes and false alarms, I wasn't overwhelmed with confidence that the case would be resolved. Then, a police officer beeped in while I was talking to Eric.

The police officer said for me to wear my very best clothes to the courthouse at 2:45 p.m. (For the record, I wore the best clean clothes I had available, blue jeans and a burgundy button-up, untucked). The officer passed the phone to another officer who proudly proclaimed that the conference would include "very good news." My interest level increased quickly past the point of excitement.

As I feverishly showered, tooth brushed and deodorized myself, I considered what the "good news" could mean. I thought it must mean that there must at least be an arrest in the case, perhaps even Tara was found. I even entertained the idea that she might be alive, and that brought a sheer amount of joy to my heart that surprised me. I could think of no one I would rather be able to interview, not because I'm a journalist, but because it would mean she was alive.

My car has a belt that squeals so loudly I'm probably considered a public menace in my hometown of Irwinville, which was 10 or so miles from Ocilla, the Irwin County Courthouse, and the 3 p.m. press conference. My car also recently developed a tic where random lights come to life on the dashboard. It's so unreliable that I went to my mom's to borrow her car, because I was hell-bent on getting to Ocilla that day.

But my mom wasn't home, so I called work, The Ocilla Star newspaper, and told Miss Beverly, our advertising executive, that if I didn't make it to Ocilla in 30 minutes, to come find me where I broke down. If I had crashed or passed out, she better have found some way to resuscitate me.

This is all 100 percent true, but I made it to Ocilla without the need of a rescue.

As a former Boy Scout, I know about being prepared, when I want to be. So I was desperate to have every base thoroughly manned for this press conference. At home, I deleted all the songs off an MP3 player that has a record feature. I found a microphone that had a long cord covered in cob webs and Dr. Pepper spatter. I grabbed a pair of head phones for reasons I cannot fathom. At work, I read in the user manual how to take videos with the camera I got for Christmas. Still not done, I went to City Hall and borrowed the city's audio recorder it uses to record meetings under the thin pretense that the press conference was an event the City of Ocilla would want recorded for posterity.

At work, the phone rang incessantly with curious friends and those genuinely thoughtful people who wanted to make sure the local paper covered the press conference, because even though those police officers said I was the only one to receive a personal invitation, plenty of media got an impersonal invitation because Facebook was clogged with announcements about the press conference from news agencies across the state.

My friend, Payne Lindsey, host and creator of the Up and Vanished podcast about the Tara Grinstead investigation, arrived at The Ocilla Star office winded and wild eyed. We had both heard the name circulating around town and social media, and it was a name neither of us had heard before the day began. This was someone out of left field, or as GBI Special Agent in Charge J.T. Ricketson said later, someone not on our radar.

I'll skip ahead.

At 3 p.m., Ricketson announced the worst kept secret in Georgia, that Ryan Alexander Duke was charged with murder in the death, no longer disappearance, of Tara Grinstead. The announcement was a relief, to actually hear that an arrest was made, satisfying a sense of justice, but the announcement also brought a heart-breaking finality to those lingering hopes that Tara would be found alive and well some day. Though I didn't know her myself, I saw that silly dream I had of interviewing her one day disappear, and I felt aching condolence when I embraced one of her closest friends on the courtroom floor.

Even though the law enforcement officers seemed to announce "We got our guy," the announcement also felt, in a way, hollow, because for hours many of us had heard the rampant rumors about what would be announced. We heard there were multiple arrests. We heard remains were found. We heard these rumors, but the Georgia Bureau of Investigations would not confirm them.

But the GBI didn't deny them either, which just made those questions more resonant in the minds of those of us who wanted answers.

My most pointed unanswered questions were about a scenario I learned about before the press conference began, from a phone call I received earlier while still at the office, so let's return to that time period. Someone called to talk about the then upcoming press conference. I said, "It's crazy because it's someone that's never been on anyone's radar," which the GBI later said, too.

But this person, a reliable source, said that wasn't entirely true. He said that shortly after Tara disappeared in 2005 there was talk about Ryan Duke killing Tara, but I'm going to hold onto the details for now until I can verify them. This was all based on second-hand or even third-hand knowledge, but I was told this story hours before the press conference officially revealed Duke as the arrested murder suspect. And the information jibed with other rumors rippling through town, including names of people and descriptions of locations.

Later in the night, Payne recorded an on-the-record interview with someone making some very similar claims to those made by my source. I am sure Payne will play all or most of the recording on Up and Vanished.

But my source also told me that a specific person heard about these allegations against Duke at the time, presumably in 2005, and this specific person reported the information to law enforcement. Later, I saw this specific person and asked if it was true. He said "No comment."

Of course, none of these rumors are confirmed to be true. We've spent 11 years talking about rumors and speculation which contained very little truth if any, but if I had been taking notes when I talked to my source or if I had conducted the interview Payne did later, I would feel comfortable printing the story both sources portrayed, although their claims would be attributed. Because if they knew of this story before Duke was announced as the murder suspect, and at least my source absolutely did know before the announcement, then that means Duke was not totally off the radar. It means that some people suspected Duke's involvement some time ago, probably years ago, possibly a decade or more.

Backtracking to earlier, I arrived at the courthouse at 2:30 p.m., thinking I would manage to get there early and get a good seat. I hadn't anticipated that every media outlet east of the Mississippi would descend on Ocilla. The array of video cameras slammed together in the front of the courthouse seats reminded me of an invasion of spidery robots.

And the people! Just this month, I've attended meetings in that courtroom full of angry people opposing tax-cutting measures by the county and another meeting of angry people opposing closing voting precincts. Neither so fully filled that courtroom's first floor, and I had forgotten the courtroom even had a balcony, but I heard some folks were worried it might collapse, although they may have been jesting.

It was loud and boisterous as people discussed the upcoming announcement, but the room turned library quiet when the press conference started. I imagined the other half of the community outside the courtroom glued to their computer screens and smart phones, watching live streams of the event. It was as if Ocilla stood still.

When the press conference was over, I told County Chairman Joey Whitley, "If you have any bad news about the county, this is the week to share it. Nobody will notice."

I conducted some interesting interviews. I could feel the relief pouring from former Special Agent in Charge Gary Rothwell, who was especially happy that those people tried in the capricious court of public opinion were finally exonerated in the public's eye. At least, most of the public's eye. One person told me that the GBI was wrong and she knew who really did it, because God told her so. Anything is possible I suppose, but I think I'll believe the GBI's conclusions for now.

And to be honest, I think I share Rothwell's sentiment. Although it must have been a truly awful 11 years for Tara's family and friends to suffer without any answers, it must have been something even more traumatizing for people like Marcus Harper, Heath Dykes, and some others, people who also cared about Tara, but who were unfairly judged and condemned by so many, especially in public forums. What relief they will feel to be able to walk about their hometowns without the accusing looks and whispers. Hooray for them to finally have some peace!

And to some degree, I feel exonerated myself, since I was one of the 200 or so people whose DNA was tested in this case, even though I never met Tara.

I was told to wait at the courthouse until 4:30 p.m. because Duke would be presented for a bond hearing. More than half of the news crews either didn't know or just didn't stay for the event, but that still left more than 10 cameras in the courtroom. Those who didn't stay missed out on a far more informative event.

While the press conference only revealed that Duke was charged with murder and provided almost no details about the crime, the bond hearing listed four charges and the basic details of those offenses. He was charged with burglary, aggravated assault, concealing a death, and murder.

This is the picture those charges and their details paint, along with known details about her disappearance: We knew Tara left a barbecue at the school superintendent's house at about 11 p.m. Oct. 22, 2005, and that was the last she known to have been seen alive. Some time after midnight on Sunday, Oct. 23, and I would guess probably some time in the early morning, Duke is alleged to have entered Tara's home against her will with the intent of committing a felony, which could mean he intended to rob the house or do harm to its occupant. Tara was killed due to some aggressive action using the hands, such as strangulation or beating, and Duke is alleged to be the culprit. Then, Duke is alleged to have moved Tara's body from her home.

Even though those details leave out important aspects such as motive, mode of entering her home, and whether accomplices were involved, if true, these details tell us far more than we've ever really known about Tara Grinstead's disappearance because this is the first time we actually know something was definitely part of the crime.

Sometimes you learn more by what isn't said than what is, too. The district attorney for the Cordele Judicial Circuit not only was at the press conference, he spoke at it, and he sat in with the local assistant district attorney during the bond hearing. This strongly suggests to me that some charges against someone are forthcoming from the Cordele Circuit, which includes Ben Hill, Crisp, Dooly and Wilcox counties. Of course, I heard rumors about Wilcox County all day long, and I'm determined to get to the bottom of it.

There are still miles of unanswered questions, but as of right now, we don't know if oft discussed clues like the latex glove or the black truck had anything to do with the case at all. What we, the public, know is very little now, because Ryan Duke was not someone picked apart by the media and public opinion. It's almost like starting over at the beginning, but now those of us who want to know what happened are not wandering blind and dumbly pointing fingers.

I spent most of the night talking with Payne and his friend Donald about the case, tracking down leads and discussing implications. I got plenty of phone calls from long-lost friends, a former girlfriend, and even my brother, who lives in South Carolina and had not called me in months. One friend, a fan of the podcast, even sort of accidentally broke into The Ocilla Star office, but it was my fault for not shutting the door well. It was a bit of a tense moment though, when I returned and found the back door wide open.

All of these friends wanted to know what I've learned. They wanted the scoop.

So this is it.

That's not entirely true, of course. There are rumors like the ones I discussed earlier and details about them, but I'm mostly holding back until I can get more verification. As I've said, we've been dealing with tons of untrue rumors for 11 years now. I'm trying to vet all these rumors and make them facts, but that may be an impossible task.

I will say this though. From what I'm hearing, this case may not end with Ryan Duke. This case may be more complicated than we imagined when people were busy speculating about police cover-ups or secretive love affairs. It could just be as simple as "We got our guy," which was the general feeling I got from the press conference, but the more I hear, the less I think he was the only guy.

Only time will tell. For years, law enforcement officers have said Tara's case was not cold.

It's still not.

I want to make an appeal to anyone reading this who knows more to contact me. If you know something about Ryan Duke, what happened to Tara that night, or anything else you think might be relevant, contact me on Facebook or by emailing ocillastar@windstream.net . Even if you don't want your name used, you might be able to point me in the right direction.