by Seamus McGraw
 |
| Tara Grinstead |
— They gathered together on a crisp winter's night, more than 100 of them by most accounts, ignoring the now worn yellow police tape that marked the boundaries of Tara Grinstead's modest yard, overlooking the forlorn jack-o-lantern that has now remained untouched for more than two months.
Among them were friends, and family, and others who have for more than two months now worked feverishly for the safe return of the missing beauty queen and high school teacher. They prayed. Some sang. And one by one, they placed ornaments, ornate and glimmering memorials to hope, hung with love on Tara 's Christmas tree.
"It was really touching," said Steve Rodgers, a family friend who works with a Florida-based missing children's organization and has also helped in the search for missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway. The Thursday night vigil the only Christmas celebration that Tara 's family has planned this year was not intended to be a memorial, Rodgers said. Instead, it was meant to be a testament to the hope that Tara would return home safely. And it was also a tribute, he said, to the ways in which Tara had touched her community. "I would say there was somewhere between 100 and 150 people," Rodgers said, all there to remember the 30-year-old who vanished without a trace on Oct. 22 following the annual sweet potato festival and beauty pageant. And it was done with a mix of melancholy and hope. "The first girl that Tara helped in a beauty pageant came and sang a beautiful song," Rodgers said, "and we all took our ornaments and hung them on Tara 's tree."
The tree is expected to remain in place for some time, perhaps as long as the case remains unresolved.
Another Possible Sighting
So far, there is little reason for optimism, authorities say. Despite hundreds, perhaps thousands of man hours spent searching for any trace of the woman, despite hours of interviews with friends, family members and even former intimates of Tara 's, authorities from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, as well as the local authorities, are still no closer to finding out what happened to the young woman. Officially, her disappearance remains a missing person's case, said John Bankhead, a spokesman for the GBI.
Next Page
Return to full Tara Grinstead coverage
Message Board
Photo Gallery
Video Clips
Tara's Tree
New $100,000 reward added to Tara Grinstead Case
Texas EquuSearch Brings Special Technology to Grinstead Case
Beth Twitty To Join Hunt for Tara Grinstead
Tara Sightings & New Timing Questions
Beauty Queen & Teacher Tara Grinstead Goes Missing
default
increase
decrease
email
print
