an inch from murder - weblog

« Natalee Holloway case - new developments | Main | Teresa Halbach: Waiting in the Dark »

November 06, 2005

'An open wound': Community desperate to find missing teacher

OCILLA - When Kenyatta McDonald's house burned down this summer and she lost everything, it was Tara Grinstead who made sure the high school senior had what she needed.

"I was mainly worried about school and how I was going to pay for things because we were struggling," she said.

Grinstead bought her things she wanted and things she needed, such as clothes and shoes.

"She was right there, even if I needed a hug or a shoulder to cry on she was there," McDonald said.

This year, she saw Grinstead three times a day - before school and on the way to her trigonometry and word-processing classes.

"It's really been tearing me up inside. I'm used to walking past her classroom every day, speaking with her and giving her a hug or something," said McDonald, who took Grinstead's history class last year. "Now I can't see her. I don't know where she is or what's wrong with her."

Grinstead is the small-town beauty queen and confidant of her students at Irwin County High School in Ocilla. Her disappearance two weeks ago has brought national attention to this town of 3,300.

"This is a small community. This is really shock," Irwin High principal Bobby Conner said. "We all expect this type of thing to happen in Macon or Atlanta, but this is hard for us to swallow."

She's a teacher who bought students prom dresses when they couldn't afford them. The students paid her back over time. But she put her students in a fake jail when they didn't pay fake taxes with their "Grinstead dollars" - part of her lesson on taxation without representation.

"She's just been so close to students in her classes," Conner said. "Any type of kid she could talk with, the A-plus students who are basically care free and those kids who are at risk."

Sixteen days have passed since Grinstead was last seen or heard from about 11 p.m. Oct. 22 at a former Irwin County superintendent's house, where she and some friends cooked out and watched a football game. Friends and family tried to call her that next day, but they couldn't reach her. Monday, Oct. 24, she was reported missing when she didn't show up for work. It was unlike her not to call.

What investigators say they have found so far leaves a lot to the imagination.

The clothes she wore Saturday night and her cell phone were found at her home. Her car was outside, unlocked, which her sister, Anita Gattis said was unusual. Her pocketbook and keys were gone, police said.

Grinstead is single and lived with her dog, Dolley Madison, and her cat, Herman Talmadge. There was no clear sign of a struggle at her home, police said. A broken lamp was found inside her bedroom, and her alarm clock was found under her bed.

Authorities have specifically mentioned the possibility that she was abducted or that she left with someone she knew and something happened between the two of them. A GBI investigator said they are still considering all possibilities and have plenty to do in the case.

Irwin County Sheriff Donnie Youghn said there are no suspects in the case.

Youghn said that family, friends, colleagues, her former boyfriend of six years and anyone else who could give them information about her life have been questioned. A man arrested in March on the charge that he banged on the windows of her home also has been questioned several times, Youghn said.

"I don't think anybody has been ruled out (as a possible suspect) yet because I don't think they have anything pointing to one particular person," he said.

Ocilla Police Chief Bill Hancock had similar views.

"Certainly anyone that had any acquaintance with her is someone that they're trying to question and find out information from," Hancock said. "We certainly don't want to call anyone a suspect at this point. I wish we could. I wish we did. I wish we had a suspect."

By the end of this week, the search will have covered all 358 square miles of the county. Volunteers and law officers have searched on foot, on horseback, by helicopter and with cadaver dogs but haven't found a trace of her, said Youghn, whose office is leading the search.

Authorities have also said the tips they are receiving haven't been solid. Youghn said as time passes it becomes more likely that foul play was involved.

"Let me put it this way: When time has gone by as long as this thing has, it really takes our hope away," he said.

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/13094144.htm

Posted by Nealus at November 6, 2005 09:27 AM

Comments

Post a comment