Ocilla, GA —(Crime Library) On Thursday, October 27, Tifton Gazette reporter Dusty Vassey published an article about the investigation into Tara Grinstead's disappearance noting that police helicopters and K-9 dog tracking units were already helping in the search, and that a $10,000 reward was being offered for information leading to Tara's returning safely home.
Already online, several weblogs devoted to tracking missing persons cases, such as the Missing & Abducted Blog, were highlighting the mystery of Miss Grinstead's disappearance. At the Myspace.com site kept by South Georgian Michele Bassett, people who knew Tara Grinstead came to get updates on the case from links Bassett posted to both blogs and mainstream media sources. One reader of Bassett's, Erin Womack, left the following comment:
"I met Tara when she became Miss Tifton 1999 - I really hadn't seen much of her since until about a month ago (...) Tara looked the same as I remembered her. We spoke briefly, and she said she was doing very well teaching in Irwin County. My heart goes out to her family, friends, and all the people in her community looking for her. I pray that she is safe and returns home soon. I think we are all doing the right things like spreading the word. It is amazing how much support there is in south Georgia..."
The population of Ocilla, GA barely tops 3,300, and small southern towns are legendary for gossip — mostly due to literature written by native southerners, like Eudora Welty and William Faulkner. Naturally, as the days paced away from the Saturday night when Tara Grinstead was last seen, speculation ran rampant. The Tifton Gazette reported that a man had once been arrested for disorderly conduct for pounding on Grinstead's door, and even though local authorities said there was no reason to suspect the incident was related to Tara's disappearance, still, tongues wagged.
Yet none of the early speculation seemed to include the possibility that Tara Grinstead had intentionally disappeared. That just didn't seem to fit. As the one-week mark since Tara's vanishing neared, the search continued in and around Ocilla, GA, and students and faculty at Irwin County High, along with Tara's family and friends, continued to worry, wonder, and pray.
Tara Grinstead is 5'3" and weighs around 125 lbs. She has brown hair and brown eyes. If you have information about her disappearance, please call GBI agent Dominic Turner or Detective Bill Barrs at (229) 468-7494. A .pdf document about this missing person can be found at www.ocillapolice.com, the website for the Ocilla, GA Police Department.
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