Womans T-Shirt reportedly sent for testing (Tara Grinstead)

Court TV's Crime Library ^ | November 7, 2005 | Seamus McGraw

[smartin]

Ocilla, GA (Crime Library) - As the hunt for Tara Grinstead enters its third week, investigators over the weekend combed the shoreline and waters near Paradise Lake, looking for any clue to the young woman's fate or whereabouts, and recovered a woman's t-shirt.

Spokesmen for the Ocilla Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation could not immediately be reached for comment. But according to sources familiar with the probe, authorities recovered the T-Shirt, an oversized garment emblazoned with the words "Irwin County Woman's Softball." And have forwarded it to a crime lab for testing.

"It's the kind of thing you might sleep in," said one source familiar with the probe. It is known that Grinstead, who vanished from her home, apparently without a struggle, on Oct. 22, had a similar t-shirt, though sources believe hers was a different color.

Investigators have also reportedly recovered a necklace Grinstead had been seen wearing the night she disappeared. It was found over the weekend on the floor of her home, and had apparently been overlooked in earlier searches, a source said.

So far, authorities remain baffled about the nature and circumstances of the 30-year-old high school history teacher and former beauty queen's disappearance. Grinstead vanished on the night of Oct. 22, which was the night of the annual Sweet Potato Festival and beauty pageant that Grinstead had attended. According to authorities, Grinstead left the pageant and went to have dinner at the home of the former local school superintendent and his family. She was last seen around 11 p.m.

She was reported missing Monday morning when she failed to turn up at school. Police responded to her home and found little out of place. The clothes she wore that night were found in the home, as was her cellular phone, which according to sources familiar with her habits, she never left behind.

Investigators have been combing her computer hard drives, both from home and Irwin County High School where she taught 11th grade, they have interviewed scores of people, including long time friend and confident Capt. Heath Dykes of the Perry Police Department, Anthony Vickers, a former student who was charged with a disorderly person's offence after he allegedly banged repeatedly on the school teacher's door, and her former long time boyfriend, Marcus Harper. Friends and others familiar with Grinstead's history say she had been on "emotional roller coaster" for months following her breakup with Harper, and investigators had been hoping that he and the other men in her life could provide some insight into her state of mind at the time of her disappearance. Authorities have also been talking to the son of her landlord, and to a local man, described by neighbors, as suffering from emotional problems.

So far, however, the investigation has yielded few results, and while family members and friends privately acknowledge that they are beginning to fear the worse, authorities are holding steadfast to their insistence that her disappearance remains a missing person's case and there is, as yet, no evidence of foul play.

[smartin]

[cherry]

I fear the worse, pray for the best......

if this is violence, 10 to 1 its a repeat "offender".....

[smartin]

I think you're right.

[smartin]

A softball jersey found in Irwin County yesterday most likely did not belong to Tara Grinstead.

[smartin]

The search for Tara Grinstead has been called off by the police. Civilians will continue the search. Read more here:

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/5285235/detail.html

[Andy'smom]

Are you leaning more towards the offender theory, or someone who knows her?

[smartin]

You know, that is a great question.

I am leaning towards someone who knows her.

[smartin]

What about you? What's your theory?

[Andy'smom]

Well it seems the most likely theory based on who the police are interviewing.

[smartin]

Yep and I didn't like how nonchalant the former boyfriend seemed even though they say he is cooperating.

[johnnykov]

I am always thinking it is the ex-boyfriend or hubby in cases like this...it usually is. They are saying nothing on the Internet or even in the newspapers here in PA

[smartin]

They profiled her case on AMW and the only thing of significance is that Tara threatened to tell the parents of her former boyfriend Marcus Harper's girlfriend who is 18 that she is dating him, a man of 30.