MACON, Ga. — The man accused of killing Tara Grinstead with his bare hands goes to trial next week.
Grinstead is the Irwin County teacher and beauty queen who vanished from her Ocilla home in 2005.
Ryan Duke is charged with her murder (along with the following):
- Count 1: Malice murder
-Counts 2 & 3: Felony murder
-Count 4: Aggravated assault
-Count 5: Burglary
-Count 6: Concealing death of another
A Wilcox County jury convicted a second man, Bo Dukes, on 4 counts related to the Grinstead case just last week.
-Counts 1 & 2: Making a false statement
-Count 3: Hindering apprehension of a criminal
-Count 4: Concealing death of another
But Bo Dukes still faces 3 more charges in Ben Hill county.
-Count 1:Concealing death
-Count 2: Hindering apprehension of a criminal
-Count 3: Tampering with evidence
"I was not prepared for them to go into so much detail of the evidence, concerning the murder. I was thinking we would address that at Ryan's trial," Anita Gattis told 13 WMAZ on Friday at the conclusion of Bo Dukes' sentencing.
Gattis is Grinstead's older sister.
"I'm a little bit relieved now that we've seen this. It's going to kind of prepare us for this 6 to 8 weeks that we're going to have in Irwin County," said Gattis.
In a 2017 interview with the GBI agents, Bo Dukes claimed that Ryan Duke killed Grinstead and dumped her body on a pecan farm. Then, Bo helped Ryan burn it.
In the two years since law enforcement arrested both men, there's been leaked confessions, a gag order imposed in the case, and a lot more twists and turns.
Gattis says, through all of this, she just wants to remind people who Tara was.
"Tara was a sister, an aunt, a sister-in-law, a daughter, and a phenomenal teacher. Her students loved her... there was so much more than her just winning pageants," said Gattis.
Duke and Dukes are graduates of Irwin County High School, where Grinstead taught American History.
When she disappeared in 2005, the two men were living together in a trailer outside Ocilla.
Ryan Duke's trial starts next Monday in Irwin County Superior Court.