Payne Tells All: The Tara Grinstead Case

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Speaker 5 Hey, it's Payne. We have some incredible news to share.

Speaker 6 Our latest podcast series, Wisecrack, was just named one of the best of 2025 by Apple Podcasts.

Speaker 8 It's an amazing honor.

Speaker 6 Not only was Wisecrack selected, but the first episode called Knock Knock was also chosen as one of the best episodes of the year.

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Speaker 2 Up 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.

Speaker 2 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.

Speaker 2 Thank you so much for listening.

Speaker 12 Since Up and Vanish first came out in 2016, it's grown into something I never could have imagined.

Speaker 12 When I started, I was just a guy with a microphone, diving into an unsolved case, feeling like an absolute imposter.

Speaker 13 in the world of investigative journalism.

Speaker 23 I wasn't a detective.

Speaker 24 I wasn't a lawyer.

Speaker 25 I was just obsessed with finding the truth.

Speaker 20 And yet somehow this crazy idea caught fire.

Speaker 23 It created pressure in communities, reopened old cases, and brought long-forgotten disappearances back into the spotlight.

Speaker 19 What happened in season one was lightning in a bottle.

Speaker 23 But it wasn't an accident.

Speaker 18 It was the result of pure pressure.

Speaker 8 The podcast gave a voice to Tara Grinstead's loved ones. It turned whispers into conversations and conversations into headlines.

Speaker 13 And before I knew it, I was standing right in the middle of something that was much bigger than me.

Speaker 20 I remember the first anonymous tip I ever got.

Speaker 8 It was only three weeks into the podcast.

Speaker 12 Someone told me Tara might be buried under a house in Osilla.

Speaker 22 It sounded insane, but I thought, what the hell?

Speaker 21 And drove down there.

Speaker 18 I crawled under the house.

Speaker 19 with a flashlight in one hand and my little podcast recorder in the other.

Speaker 21 The whole time I was thinking, what am I doing?

Speaker 29 This is insane.

Speaker 24 What am I looking for here? A body?

Speaker 17 Evidence?

Speaker 12 I truly didn't know, but I knew I had to look.

Speaker 17 It was scary in there.

Speaker 31 By the time I drove back to Atlanta, I already had voicemails from neighbors.

Speaker 12 That's because the Georgia Bureau of Investigation had just been there too, searching the exact same spot.

Speaker 23 Hmm, that's weird.

Speaker 12 Did I beat them to the tip?

Speaker 21 Or were they tracking what I was doing?

Speaker 31 Either way, it was a moment of realization for me.

Speaker 19 This was the moment I realized that Up and Vanished wasn't just a podcast, it was a lightning rod.

Speaker 32 Three episodes in, and law enforcement was on my tail.

Speaker 12 Whether the community or law enforcement liked it or not, they were all paying attention.

Speaker 30 Then something else happened.

Speaker 27 A local news station in South Georgia reached out to me.

Speaker 16 At this point, I had never talked to a real reporter before, but I was eager to tell them what had happened.

Speaker 26 The story about the crawlspace was supposed to air on Monday.

Speaker 22 Then three hours later, the same reporter called me back.

Speaker 24 Angry.

Speaker 13 He accused me of making the whole thing up, just to get media attention.

Speaker 28 What?

Speaker 8 It didn't make any sense.

Speaker 11 How could I have faked something that the police themselves took seriously and responded to?

Speaker 21 Were they making it up too? I realized that Osilla and South Georgia as a whole was a tight-knit place, and anything I said or did would always be found out eventually.

Speaker 23 This was my first taste of the double-edged sword of investigative podcasting.

Speaker 32 And it made me realize something.

Speaker 19 Law enforcement didn't want someone like me poking around in their case.

Speaker 12 Maybe they were just worried I'd interfere or maybe they didn't have anything new to go on.

Speaker 13 And this podcast had just forced them back into the investigation after years of silence.

Speaker 21 Either way, I wasn't going to stop.

Speaker 23 I started from square one.

Speaker 8 I went through every person of interest ever named in Tara's case.

Speaker 12 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.

Speaker 24 And I also called people who had never spoken to the media before.

Speaker 15 I spent hours watching old news footage.

Speaker 13 looking for things that connected or things that were inconsistent. Then something happened that I never could have been prepared for.

Speaker 20 The arrest of two former students of Terek Rinstead.

Speaker 7 Suddenly, attorneys were calling me.

Speaker 13 Investigators were following up on my work.

Speaker 19 And I found myself carrying a gun in my backpack for two months.

Speaker 31 I'm not kidding about that.

Speaker 26 I was worried that one of these suspects, who had nothing left to lose, might decide to take me down with him.

Speaker 13 What I uncovered wasn't just about Terric Rinstead.

Speaker 19 It was about small-town politics, fear, and a decade-long silence that had allowed this case to go unsolved.

Speaker 21 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.

Speaker 21 Every case we've covered has been an active ongoing investigation, unfolding in real time.

Speaker 23 Every new episode, every new lead, all created pressure.

Speaker 24 while being under pressure.

Speaker 12 But for every piece of information that actually made it into the podcast, there was an enormous amount of evidence that didn't.

Speaker 21 Leads that I never had time to fully investigate, clues that seemed insignificant at the time, but now years later mean something totally different.

Speaker 24 And I've been recording all of it.

Speaker 13 Even though the season may have ended, I never stopped investigating, and I never stopped recording it.

Speaker 19 And now, it's time to let some of these secrets out.

Speaker 26 For the next month, I'm taking you through every case we've covered and up and vanished.

Speaker 13 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.

Speaker 24 And then, on the fourth week, Up and Vanished and the Midnight Sun will return.

Speaker 31 And not just one episode, a real finale.

Speaker 13 And here's my message to those who know something, but have stayed silent all these years. Now is the time to come forward.

Speaker 8 This isn't just a plea for new tips.

Speaker 12 It's also a warning to those who are sitting on the truth because I know you are.

Speaker 24 We know a lot more than you think we do.

Speaker 16 And so does law enforcement.

Speaker 8 Law enforcement is still investigating and we know how it works.

Speaker 21 They always go a little easier on those who come forward first.

Speaker 19 So if you have the knowledge, don't be the last one to speak because arrests are coming.

Speaker 18 Justice will be served.

Speaker 20 I won't be the one putting the cuffs on you, but I've talked to the guys who will.

Speaker 17 I don't control the timeline, but I do control what I report.

Speaker 13 And after years of waiting, I'm beyond ready to tell you what I know.

Speaker 23 So get ready.

Speaker 19 Up and Vanished, the recap series, starts now.

Speaker 18 And then, the final chapter of season four will begin.

Speaker 1 Ten years ago today marked the last time anybody in Finn State were talking to Tara Grinstead.

Speaker 35 Officially, police are calling this a missing person streaming.

Speaker 35 $80,000 reward is being offered for the future.

Speaker 36 Where

Speaker 26 is Tara Grinstead?

Speaker 12 From Tenderfoot TV in Atlanta, this is Up and Vanished.

Speaker 16 I'm your host, Hayne Lindsay.

Speaker 19 It's been a long time since season one.

Speaker 17 A lot happened.

Speaker 12 Or maybe you haven't heard it before.

Speaker 28 Either way, let's break it all down and get back up to speed.

Speaker 4 Osilla, Georgia. A small, quiet town with just over 3,000 residents.
It's the kind of place where life moves slowly.

Speaker 4 Neighbors greet each other by name, and the biggest events of the year are local football games and beauty pageants. But in October 2005, Osilla's sense of peace was shattered.

Speaker 4 Tara Grinsted, a 30-year-old high school teacher and former beauty queen, disappeared from her home without a trace.

Speaker 4 Tara wasn't just another face in Osilla.

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 4 She was the kind of person everyone looked up to.

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 4 Around 11 p.m., she left the gathering and drove home. It was an ordinary night.
But by Monday morning, Tara's life and the life of Osilla had changed forever.

Speaker 4 When Tara didn't show up for work, her coworkers knew immediately that something was wrong. Tara was dependable, responsible, and deeply dedicated to her students.

Speaker 4 She never missed school without calling. Concerned neighbors went to check on her.
What they found raised even more questions. Tara's car was in in the driveway, but the house was locked.

Speaker 4 Inside, her purse and keys were missing. And in the yard, there was a single latex glove.
A strange and chilling clue.

Speaker 4 Tara Grinsted had vanished.

Speaker 4 Osilla quickly rallied around Tara's family. The town organized searches.
Volunteers combed through woods and fields, and investigators followed every tip they received.

Speaker 4 For weeks, Tara's face was everywhere, billboards, and in the news, but no answers came.

Speaker 4 As 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.

Speaker 4 The latex glove, which was sent for DNA testing, didn't match anyone in their database.

Speaker 4 And as the case grew colder, theories and rumors began to take over.

Speaker 4 Some people believed Tara had been abducted. Others speculated that someone close to her was involved.
But without evidence, the case stalled.

Speaker 4 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,

Speaker 4 where is Tara?

Speaker 4 And then, more than a decade later, something happened.

Speaker 38 The case grew cold, but years later, Tara's story piques the interest of Atlanta filmmaker Payne Lindsay.

Speaker 39 The question that has haunted this small South Georgia town for more than a decade, and a question podcaster and Atlanta filmmaker Payne Lindsay set out to answer. What happened to Tara Grinstead?

Speaker 4 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.

Speaker 4 The podcast wasn't just entertainment. It was an investigation.

Speaker 38 By 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.

Speaker 39 Up and Vanished has gained the attention of millions as people learned about the arrest of of Ryan Alexander Duke.

Speaker 4 In February 2017, after 12 years of mystery, there was breakthrough. Ryan Duke, former student of Tara's, confessed to her murder.

Speaker 40 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.

Speaker 41 Anthropologists use specialized equipment to sort through the dirt, hoping to find find skeletal remains of the missing former beauty queen.

Speaker 4 In 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.

Speaker 36 We searched a lot of places,

Speaker 36 all the way down below Old Scylla. I went to so many places I don't even remember going on all them hunts.

Speaker 17 It was a shock to me.

Speaker 36 She right here,

Speaker 36 less than a mile from where I live at.

Speaker 36 I passed there every day, right by where she was at.

Speaker 36 But you don't know.

Speaker 36 Somebody knew all along, but just wasn't nobody talking.

Speaker 36 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.

Speaker 36 I think something very, very peculiar going on.

Speaker 42 They will definitely protect their own. That's the way these people has always been.

Speaker 42 I'm from Erwin County. I went to school there.

Speaker 42 This has been going on for ever since I was a teenager. It's nothing new.

Speaker 42 That's corruption in Erwin County. That's what you get.

Speaker 42 I feel like there's even more people than I even suspect that's involved in it.

Speaker 42 I'm glad that some of it's finally coming out and people are actually knowing part of the truth.

Speaker 42 Brian, did you do it?

Speaker 30 Brian, did you do it?

Speaker 41 Why did you murder her?

Speaker 43 It was pathetic walking into that courtroom that day. walking up those steps how did you know tara

Speaker 43 he held his head down the whole time

Speaker 44 anything you want to say ryan

Speaker 38 why'd you kill tara

Speaker 15 america wants to know

Speaker 39 Did you think you'd get away with it?

Speaker 43 How 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.

Speaker 43 I wouldn't have one minute of peace every day.

Speaker 43 I don't know if I could survive it.

Speaker 43 To lose a child like that has to be the worst thing in the world.

Speaker 43 The idea of him going to rob her of what? She's a school teacher, small little house.

Speaker 43 I always felt he was a person that maybe had a crush on her for a long time.

Speaker 43 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.

Speaker 43 Well, you keep hanging in there with it.

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Speaker 16 I love you too.

Speaker 43 I hope it will soon end.

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Speaker 41 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.

Speaker 41 You guys have been just phenomenal in this whole endeavor. The disappearance of terror has caused not only state and local news coverage, but this has also hit our national news.

Speaker 41 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.

Speaker 41 As with all missing person cases, the investigation started focusing on Terra's close friends and associates. Tara was very well known in this community and well liked.

Speaker 41 Through these 11 plus years, the GBI and other law enforcement officers have received hundreds and hundreds of tips.

Speaker 41 A few days ago, an individual came forward and reported that they had information into Terra's disappearance.

Speaker 41 Enough probable cause was discovered so we could swear out an arrest warrant charging Ryan Alexander Duke with the murder of Terra Grinstead.

Speaker 47 Ryan Alexander Duke did in the county of Forstead commit the offense of burglary to live in State County October 23rd, 2005, when he did knowingly, intentionally, and willfully enter the residence of Terra Grinstead commit a felony therein.

Speaker 47 That being aggravated assault and murder.

Speaker 43 I think they might have both been in it from the very beginning together. I've always felt like that.

Speaker 43 That's just my opinion. Who am I to know?

Speaker 48 If it's all right, can I just talk?

Speaker 28 Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 48 So

Speaker 48 is it okay to say the name Bo Dukes?

Speaker 36 Yeah. Oh, God.

Speaker 24 So

Speaker 48 what I hear is that he's involved too.

Speaker 38 I knew Bo was crazy.

Speaker 16 I knew

Speaker 1 he was off.

Speaker 8 There's another kid. His name is Bo Dukes with an S.

Speaker 8 This group of people had engaged in quite a bit of bad behavior over the years, and they were used to covering for each other.

Speaker 8 Dukes, Bo Dukes,

Speaker 8 is the grandson of a former state representative from Irwin County.

Speaker 48 I grew up in Irwin County since the second grade.

Speaker 4 Ryan, he was a good friend of mine.

Speaker 9 There wasn't a grade that we can't remember.

Speaker 48 I think they're very confused. I think everyone's very anxious.
I think everyone is asking why. I don't think

Speaker 48 anybody saw it come in this direction at all.

Speaker 48 I know I never would have.

Speaker 16 He wasn't a dumb guy, but he wasn't sophisticated. So for the things that I've heard that happen,

Speaker 16 that's sophisticated.

Speaker 48 He's not a resourceful guy. I never thought of him as resourceful.

Speaker 16 So I couldn't imagine him.

Speaker 48 He had some supposedly just to meet the GBI, and they couldn't crack Ryan Duke.

Speaker 48 That doesn't make sense on its own. I heard both names first.

Speaker 48 These two guys are involved.

Speaker 33 How do you know, know Ryan?

Speaker 49 Ryan and I went to school together.

Speaker 50 We still kept in touch over the years. A good bit, you know, like phone calls.

Speaker 10 How would you describe Ryan?

Speaker 50 A very calm individual, non-confrontational guy.

Speaker 9 Was there a dark side to Ryan?

Speaker 50 Not really. Not that I ever know of.

Speaker 37 I don't know.

Speaker 13 I mean, the Ryan you know, is that guy capable of murder?

Speaker 50 The Ryan Duke I know is not capable of murder, no. I do think Ryan had a hand afterwards in going along with Bo's story.

Speaker 37 I think Ryan bought it hook, line, and sinker, honestly. Why would he do that? Ryan's that type of guy.

Speaker 50 You've heard his stories about him being a loyal friend and all that's true. If he liked you and he knew that you was in need.

Speaker 37 That's a little more than loyalty, right?

Speaker 37 Well, small towns, there ain't many people.

Speaker 50 You got to stay pretty close to your friends, you know.

Speaker 33 So you think Ryan would knowingly take the rap for a murder that he didn't commit?

Speaker 50 I don't think he's going to take the rap. I think that's where that not guilty comes into play.

Speaker 51 We have breaking news today in the case of Tara Grinstead, the teacher that went missing from Irwin County in 2005. 32-year-old Bo Dukes has been arrested by the Ven Hill County Sheriff's Office.

Speaker 51 Now, he has already bonded out, but he is charged with street charging.

Speaker 34 The hunt continues for convicted felon Bo Dukes. So far, he is still on the run.

Speaker 52 Zach Merchant is live at the scene of Duke's latest alleged crimes. We join him now live.

Speaker 34 It was here on the 300 block of Charlestown Way that Bo Dukes took two women to his home, threatened them with a gun, raped one of them, and now is on the loose.

Speaker 10 We still consider him armed.

Speaker 49 So anytime we're hunting somebody disarmed, he's running, he doesn't want to go to jail. Yes, we consider him dangerous.

Speaker 34 The man they're hunting is Bo Dukes, Dukes, one of the two suspects in the Terra Grinstead murder case. He's accused of helping hide her body and now a new slew of allegations of violent crimes.

Speaker 4 Up and Vanish reignited public interest in Terra's case, sparking new tips and new theories. One of those listening was criminal defense attorney Ashley Merchant.
She was captivated by the story.

Speaker 4 and after speaking with Payne Lindsay in 2017, decided to dig even deeper. What Ashley didn't know at the time was that she would later go on to represent the man accused of killing Tara.

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Speaker 17 So, what really happened to Tara Grinstead?

Speaker 13 That's a question I get asked a lot.

Speaker 25 A question I've thought a lot about.

Speaker 30 One I've lost plenty of nights of sleep over.

Speaker 19 After Ryan Duke was found not guilty, I remember sitting outside in my car, just sort of shell-shocked, a little bit numb.

Speaker 20 How on earth was he found not guilty?

Speaker 8 But at the same time, was he guilty?

Speaker 13 There was so much conflicting evidence on both sides, the whole thing was a mess.

Speaker 27 And what I felt the most upset about, to be honest, was how weak the prosecution was.

Speaker 12 And I mean that sincerely. I know it's a hard job.

Speaker 29 I'm not saying that I'd be any better at it.

Speaker 23 I probably wouldn't be.

Speaker 45 But the facts are the facts.

Speaker 12 And what I do know is that they spent so much time bringing me and the podcast back into the narrative.

Speaker 28 This is about a murder.

Speaker 16 This is about Tara Grinstead.

Speaker 23 Not about up and vanished.

Speaker 12 But they just couldn't help themselves.

Speaker 16 They were so worried that the podcast had overly influenced people.

Speaker 30 Look, if it influenced anyone's opinion at all, then maybe there was some merit to it.

Speaker 21 Maybe in the five years that this trial was delayed, you'd come up with something better than I did.

Speaker 24 But you didn't.

Speaker 12 I felt very conflicted. I didn't know what happened to Tara.

Speaker 31 but it seemed like they didn't either.

Speaker 13 And there were some basic pieces of evidence that needed to be explained and connected.

Speaker 21 And that's what I'll hang my hat on.

Speaker 26 So, what do I think?

Speaker 28 I'll tell you.

Speaker 11 And I'm going to do it very carefully.

Speaker 21 We know that Bo Dukes and Ryan Duke were close friends.

Speaker 26 That's a fact.

Speaker 8 But they had very different personalities.

Speaker 13 Bo was controlling, manipulative, and had a history of deception.

Speaker 26 Like, actually,

Speaker 23 it's on his record.

Speaker 13 While Ryan, on the other hand, was seen as quiet, easily influenced, and struggling with personal issues.

Speaker 16 Their roles in Tara's disappearance have been debated for years, but one thing is clear. Tara was murdered.

Speaker 21 Her body was burned, and both of them were involved in covering it up.

Speaker 12 The official story, based on Ryan's 2017 confession and Bo's statements, is that Ryan killed Tara after breaking into her home to steal money.

Speaker 13 He allegedly strangled her when she confronted him and then turned to Bo for help disposing of her body.

Speaker 16 Together, they burned her remains in a pecan orchard over the course of two days, ensuring that no physical evidence was left behind.

Speaker 12 But here's where things don't quite add up.

Speaker 8 Ryan eventually recanted his confession, claiming he falsely admitted to the crime after being pressured by law enforcement and misled by Bo.

Speaker 26 On the witness stand, he flipped the story, saying that Bo was actually the one who killed Tara while Ryan was passed out drunk, and that Bo later dragged him into it, covering it up.

Speaker 12 And according to Ryan, Bo was disturbingly calm and even excited while burning Tara's body, even going so far as to touch her lifeless body in a perverse way before setting her on fire.

Speaker 30 Ryan claims he was terrified and went along with it out of fear.

Speaker 12 So, who's telling the truth here?

Speaker 16 Let's break it down.

Speaker 17 The evidence.

Speaker 24 Number 1.

Speaker 13 The glove and DNA. The random latex glove found in Tara's yard contained Ryan's DNA inside of it.

Speaker 15 That's a pretty big deal.

Speaker 12 If he never went to her house, well then how'd that get there? But there's something interesting about this glove that was never talked about enough. The fact that it was found right side out.

Speaker 12 As in, if you put on a latex glove and you take it off, it's going to be inside out, unless you carefully pull it off.

Speaker 15 But that's not how it was found.

Speaker 18 It was found like you would take it fresh out of the box or carefully removed.

Speaker 26 So did Ryan carefully remove it? To me, that seems to conflict with the idea that he accidentally dropped it.

Speaker 12 And if you were using gloves to move Tara's body, wouldn't you keep them on throughout the entire process?

Speaker 23 You never noticed that there was only one glove on your hand?

Speaker 26 So did Ryan carefully remove it?

Speaker 31 and accidentally drop it?

Speaker 23 Or was it planted?

Speaker 13 This is the strongest piece of evidence tying Ryan to the crime scene, which makes it very hard to dismiss.

Speaker 27 And the last thing I'll say about the glove is the place it was found.

Speaker 31 If Ryan Duke, by himself, removed Tara's body from her house and into her car wearing these gloves and then accidentally dropped one, it would make logical sense that you'd find it somewhere along the pathway between the front door of the house and the car.

Speaker 36 Right?

Speaker 36 Wrong.

Speaker 12 It was found in her yard, way off the path he would have allegedly taken.

Speaker 12 So while the DNA evidence is very strong here, these other questions must be answered, or else they start undermining its credibility.

Speaker 8 Number two, the confessions.

Speaker 12 Ryan's confession included details only the killer would know, like making a call to Tara's phone from a payphone the next day.

Speaker 13 Something the GBI never released to the public.

Speaker 26 This suggests that he had first-hand knowledge of of the crime.

Speaker 15 At the same time, his confession was vague and riddled with inconsistencies, possibly pointing to a false confession.

Speaker 8 You have to make all the other things make sense too.

Speaker 32 Number three, Bo's credibility, which is um none.

Speaker 21 Bo Dukes is a proven liar and a proven piece of shit.

Speaker 27 I don't know if you can listen to podcasts in jail, but I hope you heard that.

Speaker 8 He denied everything for over a decade and then suddenly confessed when he realized the walls were closing in.

Speaker 19 He had told multiple people over the years different versions of this story, sometimes even shifting the blame onto a boyfriend instead of Ryan.

Speaker 23 On top of that, Bo has since been convicted of violent crimes, completely unrelated to Tara's case, showing that he was capable of aggression and deceit.

Speaker 17 Number four.

Speaker 26 The jury's verdict.

Speaker 12 In Ryan Duke's trial, the jury did not convict him of murder.

Speaker 15 They only found him guilty of concealing a death, meaning they weren't convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that he was the actual killer.

Speaker 19 That's significant.

Speaker 12 It means that after hearing Ryan's confession, they were still unsure whether he was the one who actually killed Tara.

Speaker 23 So, where does that leave us? Here's what I think.

Speaker 12 Ryan Duke was undoubtedly involved.

Speaker 16 Whether he killed Tara or not, he played a role in disposing her body and keeping it a secret for over a decade.

Speaker 24 Bo Dukes knows more than he's admitted.

Speaker 32 He crafted a story that made him look like the good guy, like a helpless accomplice.

Speaker 23 But he had every reason in the world to lie to protect himself. Given his history, it's not far-fetched to believe that Bo himself may have been the one responsible for Tara's death.

Speaker 12 Again, I said it's not far-fetched.

Speaker 33 The reality is, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, between their two stories.

Speaker 24 Maybe Ryan really did break into Tara's house, but Bo got more involved than he let on.

Speaker 16 Or maybe Bo was the killer all along, and Ryan was just his pawn in the cover-up.

Speaker 26 At the end of the day, no one has been convicted for the murder of Tara Grinstead.

Speaker 8 Ryan is serving time for hiding her body, and Bo is in prison for covering it up.

Speaker 12 But the actual crime itself remains legally unsolved.

Speaker 27 And this is the most haunting part of the entire story. story.

Speaker 2 Up and Vanished in the Midnight Sun is a production of Tunderfoot TV in association with Odyssey. Your host is Payne Lindsay.

Speaker 2 The show is written by Payne Lindsay with additional assistance from Mike Rooney. Executive producers are Donald Albright and Payne Lindsey.

Speaker 2 Lead producer is Mike Rooney, along with producers Dylan Harrington and Cooper Skinner. Editing by Mike Rooney and Cooper Skinner with additional editing by Dylan Harrington.

Speaker 2 Supervising producer is Tracy Kaplan. Additional production by Victoria McKenzie, Alice Kanik Glenn, and Eric Quintana.
Artwork by Rob Sheridan. Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set.

Speaker 2 Mixed and mastered by Cooper Skinner. Thank you to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at UTA, Beck Media and Marketing, and the Nord Group.

Speaker 2 Special thanks to all of the families families and community members that spoke to the team. Additional information and resources can be found in our show notes.

Speaker 2 For more podcasts like Up and Vanished, search Tenderfoot TV on your favorite podcast app or visit us at tenderfoot.tv. Thanks for listening.

Speaker 2 Heather is a nurse practitioner from United Healthcare. We meet patients wherever they live.
During a house call, she found Jack had an issue.

Speaker 44 Jack's blood blood pressure was dangerously high.

Speaker 23 It was 217 over 110.

Speaker 2 So they got Jack to the hospital and got him the help he needed.

Speaker 44 He had had a stamp placed in his heart, preventing a massive heart attack.

Speaker 23 If it wasn't for my guardian angel, I wouldn't be here.

Speaker 2 Hear more stories like Jack's at unitedhealthcare.com. Benefits, features, and/or devices vary by plan area limitation and exclusions apply.

Speaker 34 Every story has layers, and sometimes the truth hides in plain sight. I'm Josh Dean, host of Chameleon, the podcast about people who transform, deceive, and survive.

Speaker 34 From con artists to unbelievable yet true occurrences, we dive into stories where nothing is ever quite as it seems. Because to understand the world, you sometimes have to change the way you see it.

Speaker 14 Listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.