by Seamus McGraw

March 30, 2006

advertisement

OCILLA, Ga. (Crime Library) — Acting on what they describe as promising tips, friends, relatives and volunteers are planning to resume their search this weekend for missing schoolteacher and former beauty queen Tara Grinstead.

Tara Grinstead

Larry Gattis, the missing woman's brother-in-law, declined Wednesday to describe the precise location of the search, but acknowledge that the teams, aided by cadaver dogs, would be dispatched to areas of two counties next to Irwin County, where Grinstead lived and where she was last seen some five months ago.

As in other recent searches, the targeted locations will be announced on Saturday when searchers arrive in Ocilla. Gattis has said that the family has insisted on the secrecy because they worry that advance notice might tip off any potential suspects.

So far, authorities have declined to identify any potential suspects in the case that began on Oct. 22, when 31-year-old Grinstead vanished after returning home from the annual Sweet Potato Festival and dinner with friends. Despite a series of massive searches, aided in some cases by high-tech aerial surveillance equipment provided by the nationally known search and rescue operation Texas EquuSearch, authorities say they have found no evidence that conclusively points to Grinstead's fate. The case officially remains a missing person probe. Although authorities have not identified any potential suspects, they have interviewed, in some cases several times, men in Grinstead's life — including her former longtime boyfriend. All have insisted that they had no role in her disappearance.

Next Page

Return to full Tara Grinstead coverage

Photo Gallery

Video Clips

For more daily crime news