Payne Tells All: The Tara Grinstead Case

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0:43$5 first deposit required. Bonus issued is non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. A new true crime podcast from Tenderfoot TV. In the city of Maus in Belgium, women began to go missing. It was only after their dismembered remains began turning up in various places that residents realized a sadistic serial killer was lurking among them. The murders have never been solved. Three decades later, we've unearthed new evidence. Le Monstre, Season 2, coming October 31st. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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1:45Up and Vanished in the Midnight Sun is intended for mature audiences and may include topics that can be upsetting, such as emotional, physical, and sexual violence, rape, and murder. The names of survivors have been changed for anonymity purposes. Testimony shared by guests of the show is their own and does not reflect the views of Tenderfoot TV or Odyssey. Thank you so much for listening.

2:10Since Up and Vanish first came out in 2016, it's grown into something I never could have imagined. When I started, I was just a guy with a microphone, diving into an unsolved case, feeling like an absolute imposter in the world of investigative journalism. I wasn't a detective. I wasn't a lawyer. I was just obsessed with finding the truth. And yet somehow this crazy idea caught fire. It created pressure in communities, reopened old cases, and brought long-forgotten disappearances back into the spotlight. What happened in season one was lightning in a bottle, but it wasn't an accident. It was the result of pure pressure.

2:53The podcast gave a voice to Tara Grinstead's loved ones. It turned whispers into conversations, and conversations into headlines. And before I knew it, I was standing right in the middle of something that was much bigger than me. I remember the first anonymous tip I ever got. It was only three weeks into the podcast. Someone told me Tara might be buried under a house in Osceola. It sounded insane. But I thought, what the hell? And drove down there. I crawled under the house with a flashlight in one hand and my little podcast recorder in the other. The whole time I was thinking, what am I doing?

3:31This is insane. What am I looking for here? A body? Evidence? I truly didn't know. But I knew I had to look. It was scary in there. By the time I drove back to Atlanta, I already had voicemails from neighbors. That's because the Georgia Bureau of Investigation had just been there too. searching the exact same spot. Hmm, that's weird. Did I beat them to the tip? Or were they tracking what I was doing? Either way, it was a moment of realization for me. This was the moment I realized that Up and Vanish wasn't just a podcast, it was a lightning rod. Three episodes in, and law enforcement was on my tail.

4:14Whether the community or law enforcement liked it or not, they were all paying attention. then something else happened a local news station in south georgia reached out to me at this point i had never talked to a real reporter before but i was eager to tell them what had happened the story about the crawl space was supposed to air on monday then three hours later the same reporter called me back angry he accused me of making the whole thing up just to get media attention. What? It didn't make any sense. How could I have faked something that the police themselves took seriously and responded to?

4:52Were they making it up too? I realized that Osceola and South Georgia as a whole was a tight-knit place, and anything I said or did would always be found out eventually. This was my first taste of the double-edged sword of investigative podcasting. And it made me realize something. Law enforcement didn't want someone like me poking around in their case. Maybe they were just worried I'd interfere, or maybe they didn't have anything new to go on. And this podcast had just forced them back into the investigation after years of silence. Either way, I wasn't going to stop. I started from square one.

5:35I went through every person of interest ever named in Tara's case. Every ex-boyfriend, every acquaintance, every lead. All people and things that had been discussed for a decade, well before I came into the picture. And I also called people who had never spoken to the media before. I spent hours watching old news footage, looking for things that connected or things that were inconsistent. Then something happened that I never could have been prepared for. the arrest of two former students of Tara Grinstead. Suddenly, attorneys were calling me. Investigators were following up on my work, and I found myself carrying a gun in my backpack for two months.

6:16I'm not kidding about that. I was worried that one of these suspects, who had nothing left to lose, might decide to take me down with them. What I uncovered wasn't just about Tara Grinstead. It was about small-town politics, fear, in a decade-long silence that had allowed this case to go unsolved. Since then, Up and Vanished has taken me from South Georgia to the mountains of Colorado, from an Indian reservation in Montana to the Arctic Circle of Alaska. Every case we've covered has been an active, ongoing investigation, unfolding in real time. Every new episode, every new lead, all created pressure while being under pressure.

6:57But for every piece of information that actually made it into the podcast, there was an enormous amount of evidence that didn't. Leads that I never had time to fully investigate. Clues that seemed insignificant at the time, but now, years later, mean something totally different. And I've been recording all of it. Even though the season may have ended, I never stopped investigating. And I never stopped recording it. And now, it's time to let some of these secrets out. For the next month, I'm taking you through every case we've covered in Up and Vanished. Every week, we'll revisit a past season, tightening the narrative, filling in the gaps, and revealing new information that's never been made public.

7:38And then, on the fourth week, Up and Vanished and The Midnight Sun will return. And not just one episode, a real finale. And here's my message to those who know something but have stayed silent all these years. Now is the time to come forward. This isn't just a plea for new tips. It's also a warning. to those who are sitting on the truth, because I know you are. We know a lot more than you think we do. And so does law enforcement. Law enforcement is still investigating. And we know how it works. They always go a little easier on those who come forward first. So if you have the knowledge, don't be the last one to speak.

8:16Because arrests are coming. Justice will be served. I won't be the one putting the cuffs on you, but I've talked to the guys who will. I don't control the timeline, but I do control what I report. And after years of waiting, I'm beyond ready to tell you what I know. So get ready. Up and Vanished, the recap series, starts now. And then the final chapter of season four will begin.

8:50Ten years ago today marked the last time anybody would've been to see or talking to Karen Grinsdale. Officially, police are calling this a missing persons case. GBI officials say investigators are in a conundrum. An$80 ,000 reward is being offered for the contribution. Where is Tara Grinstead? From Tenderfoot TV in Atlanta, this is Up and Vanished. I'm your host, Payne Lindsey. It's been a long time since season one. A lot happened. Or maybe you haven't heard it before. Either way, let's break it all down and get back up to speed.

9:25Osceola, Georgia. A small, quiet town with just over 3 ,000 residents. It's the kind of place where life moves slowly. Neighbors greet each other by name, and the biggest events of the year are local football games and beauty pageants. But in October 2005, Osceola's sense of peace was shattered. Tara Grinstead, a 30-year-old high school teacher and former beauty queen, disappeared from her home without a trace. Tara wasn't just another face in Osceola. She was a beloved figure, a history teacher at Irwin County High School, a mentor to young women competing in beauty pageants, and a warm familiar presence in the community.

10:08She was the kind of person everyone looked up to. Saturday, October 22, 2005, began like any other day for Tara. She attended a beauty pageant to support her students, then spent the evening at a barbecue with friends. Around 11pm, she left the gathering and drove home. It was an ordinary night. But by Monday morning, Tara's life and the life of Osila had changed forever. When Tara didn't show up for work, her co-workers knew immediately that something was wrong. Tara was dependable, responsible, and deeply dedicated to her students. She never missed school without calling. Concerned neighbors went to check on her.

10:56What they found raised even more questions. Tara's car was in the driveway, but the house was locked. Inside, her purse and keys were missing. And in the yard, there was a single latex glove. A strange and chilling clue. Tara Grinstead had vanished. Ocilla quickly rallied around Tara's family. The town organized searches. Volunteers combed through woods and fields. And investigators followed every tip they received. For weeks, Tara's face was everywhere. Billboards and in the news. But no answers came.

11:39As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months, hope began to fade. Despite their efforts, investigators were left with no solid leads. The latex glove, which was sent for DNA testing, didn't match anyone in their database. And as the case grew colder, theories and rumors began to take over. Some people believed Tara had been abducted. Others speculated that someone close to her was involved. But without evidence, the case stalled. For Tara's family, the pain of not knowing was unbearable. Her stepmother later described those years as a living nightmare. Every day, they woke up with the same question.

12:26Where is Tara? And then, more than a decade later, something happened. The case grew cold, but years later, Tara's story piques the interest of Atlanta filmmaker Payne Lindsey. The question that has haunted this small South Georgia town for more than a decade, and a question podcaster and Atlanta filmmaker Payne Lindsey set out to answer. What happened to Tara Grinstead? In 2016, a podcast called Up and Vanish brought Tara's case back into the spotlight. The podcast dove deep into Tara's story, revisiting old leads and uncovering forgotten details. The podcast wasn't just entertainment. It was an investigation.

13:13By regularly keeping a case in the public's eye, whether it be on television, radio, podcasts, social media, etc., You never know who's going to see it. Up and Vanished has gained the attention of millions as people learned about the arrest of Ryan Alexander Duke. In February 2017, after 12 years of mystery, there was breakthrough. Ryan Duke, a former student of Tara's, confessed to her murder. More than 40 GBI agents swarmed a pecan orchard in Ben Hill County this afternoon. They were digging for clues to help solve one of the state's most notorious missing persons cases. Anthropologists use specialized equipment to sort through the dirt, hoping to find skeletal remains of the missing former beauty queen.

14:05In 2005, investigators received a tip about a burned body in the pecan orchard, but nothing came of it. The report was buried in a case file for over a decade. We searched a lot of places. all the way down below Osceola. I went to so many places, I don't even remember. Going on all them hunts. It was a shock to me. She's right here. Less than a mile from where I live at. I passed there every day, right by where she was at. But you don't know.

14:46Somebody knew all along, but just wasn't nobody talking. I think if somebody went to the police and told them to search their arches up there, and then they didn't let nobody else know about it, that was wrong. I think something very, very peculiar going on. They will definitely protect their own. That's the way these people have always been. I'm from Irwin County. I went to school there. This has been going on ever since I was a teenager. It's nothing new. That's corruption in Irwin County. That's what you get. I feel like there's even more people than I even suspect that's involved in it. I'm glad that some of it's finally coming out and people are actually knowing part of the truth.

15:47Ryan, did you do it? Ryan, did you do it? Why did you murder her? He was pathetic walking into that courtroom that day, walking up those steps. How did you know Jara?

16:09He held his head down the whole time. Anything you want to say, Ryan?

16:20Why'd you kill Tara? America wants to know. Did you think you'd get away with it?

16:30How he could walk around every day in that little town and know what you have done for all those years, I don't know how someone can live with that. I wouldn't have one minute of peace every day. I don't know if I could survive it. To lose a child like that has to be the worst thing in the world.

16:57The idea of him going to rob her, of what? She's a schoolteacher. Small little house. I always felt he was a person that maybe had a crush on her for a long time. Being a nice person, she just spoke with him, and he just might have taken it the wrong way. Yeah. I think his intent that night was not to rob anything. Well, you keep hanging in there with it. I love you. Love you, too. I hope it'll soon end.

17:36Thank you.

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18:46The hand that rocks the cradle. A Hulu original. What do you know about her? Now streaming. You think if you try hard enough, you can stop bad things from happening. But you can't. Good help. Get out! Is hard to find. You need me to do this. A Hulu original, the hand that rocks the cradle. Reddit R, now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus. For bundled subscribers, terms apply. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Tara Grinstead's family. I'd like to recognize the local community here. As you can see, this courtroom is packed. I also want to take a moment to thank the media. You guys have been just phenomenal in this whole endeavor.

19:29The disappearance of terror has caused not only state and local news coverage, but this has also hit our national news. Please know that you have had an impact, a significant role in this investigation, and I am confident that today we have reached the point where we are in this investigation because of that involvement. As with all missing person cases, the investigation started focusing on terror's close friends and associates. Tara was very well known in this community and well liked. Through these 11 plus years, the GBI and other law enforcement officers have received hundreds and hundreds of tips.

20:10A few days ago, an individual came forward and reported that they had information into Tara's disappearance. Enough probable cause was discovered so we could swear out an arrest warrant charging Ryan Alexander Duke with the murder of Tara Grinstead.

20:49I think they might have both been in it from the very beginning together. I've always felt like that. That's just my opinion. Who am I to know?

21:04If it's all right, can I just talk? Yeah. Okay. So, is it okay to say the name Bo Dukes? Yeah. Okay. So, what I hear is that he's involved too. I knew Bo was crazy. I knew he was off.

21:27There's another kid, his name is Bo Dukes, with an S.

21:34This group of people had engaged in quite a bit of bad behavior over the years, and they were used to covering for each other. Dukes, Bo Dukes, is the grandson of a former state representative from Irwin County.

21:58I grew up in Irwin County since the second grade. Ryan, he was a good friend of mine. There wasn't a grade that we can't remember. I think they're very confused. I think everyone's very anxious. I think everyone's asking why. I don't think anybody saw it coming in this direction at all. I know I never would have. He wasn't a dumb guy, but he wasn't sophisticated. So for the things that I've heard that happened, that's sophisticated. He's not a resourceful guy. I never thought of him as resourceful. So I couldn't imagine him. You had some supposedly just to meet the GBI and they couldn't crack Ryan Duke.

22:44That doesn't make sense on its own. I heard both names first. These two guys are involved. How do you know Ryan? Ryan and I went to school together. We still kept in touch over the years. A good bit, you know, like phone calls. How would you describe Ryan? A very calm individual, non-confrontational guy. Was there a dark side to Ryan? Not really. Not that I ever know of. I don't know. I mean, the Ryan you know, is that guy capable of murder? The Ryan Duke I know is not capable of murder, no. I do think Ryan had a hand afterwards. And going along with Bo's story, I think Ryan bought it hook, line, and sinker, honestly.

23:30Why would he do that? Ryan's that type of guy. You've heard of stories about him being a loyal friend, and all that's true. If he liked you and he knew that you was in need. That's a little more than loyalty, right? Well, small towns, there ain't many people. You've got to stay pretty close to your friends, you know. So you think Ryan would knowingly take the rap for a murder that he didn't commit? I don't think he's going to take the rap. I think that's where that not guilty comes into play.