TIFTON — On the one-year anniversary of Tara Grinstead’s disappearance in Ocilla, family and friends will hold a luminary service in her memory on from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday at the Irwin County Courthouse.

The public is invited to attend and luminary bags will be available for anyone who wants to come and place one in her memory. The organizers said markers will also be provided so guests can write a personal note to Tara or her parents.

Last April hopes were raised in solving the Ocilla teacher’s disappearance when a newly discovered witness surfaced in the case. The man, who was visiting Grinstead’s neighbor the night following her disappearance, said he saw a man aged 20 to 30 parked in Grinstead’s yard in a black 1990s-model Chevrolet truck. The witness, who was interviewed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, was located by Maurice Godwin, a private forensic investigator.

Grinstead was last seen around 11 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, 2005.

That day the former beauty queen had attended the Georgia Sweet Potato Pageant in Fitzgerald and assisted some of the contestants with their hair and makeup. Grinstead, who is 5’3” and weighs 110 pounds, had been Miss Tifton in 1999 and Miss Charisma of the Georgia Sweet Potato Pageant in 1998.

After the pageant, Grinstead went to a friend’s house for a cookout and left there around 11 p.m.

No one saw or heard from Grinstead on Sunday.

GBI agent John Bankhead said Grinstead made it home from the cookout, changed clothes and then disappeared.

On Monday, Oct. 24, when Grinstead did not show up for work at Irwin County High School, her co-workers became concerned when they were unable to get in contact with her. They called the Ocilla Police Department and reported her missing. The Ocilla police went to her home and found her car in the driveway. The car was unlocked. Her family said that she never left her car unlocked.

The door to her home was locked but her purse and car keys were missing.

Her dog, which was always kept inside at night, had been left outside Saturday night. Neighbors heard the dog barking early Sunday morning.

In her bedroom, a bedside lamp was turned over and broken.

Tara Grinstead still has not been found despite numerous searches, national media coverage and a reward that has reached $90,000.

“I am optimistic this case will be solved,” said GBI Special Agent in Charge Gary Rothwell with the Perry office. “I think this is a solvable case.”

Rothwell then added,“ I just don’t know when (it will be solved). That would just be speculation.”

Rothwell said “a tremendous amount of work” has gone into the case. He said that at one point more than 40 GBI agents were involved along with local law enforcement and the FBI. He said the case is still being actively worked.

“The investigators never quit,” Rothwell said. “Interest in the case and media attention comes and goes, but we are still here working.”

To make his point, Rothwell said he had a case solved just last year that had occurred in 1987.

Rothwell likened the investigation process to a mathematical equation, trying to solve for a variable.

“We get information that doesn’t make sense, then we turn up a lead, and suddenly it fits,” he said.

Asked if he had ruled out any suspects in the case, Rothwell explained that the GBI does not use the term “suspect.”

“In a case like this it is virtually impossible to rule anyone out,” Rothwell said. “There are too many scenarios.”

The case is still being worked as a missing persons case.

“She was obviously the victim of foul play,” Rothwell said. “But we don’t have any evidence at this time that it was a homicide.”

Rothwell points out that even though the case is officially listed as a missing persons case, “it is absolutely worked the same as if it were a homicide.”

Rothwell said he is aware there has been a lot of speculation about who is responsible for Grinstead’s disappearance, especially on the Internet.

He is familiar with the Court TV board.

“I would be very careful about taking any of that as factual,” Rothwell said.

Ocilla Police Department Chief Billy Hancock said the Grinstead investigation is still active and ongoing.

“We’re still trying to find out where she is,” Hancock said.

Hancock said all the leads in the case have not been exhausted and they are still working leads.

“We want very much to resolve this for her family, the community and the students,” Hancock said.



To contact reporter Jana Cone, call 382-4321.