Episode 21

Statute of Limitations

Original Air Date    06.19.2017

In This Episode

Payne Lindsey explores new evidence of the 2005 orchard search and Philip Holloway weighs in on the statute of limitations.

“I think it's about to flip upside-down. A lot of rumors in this case end up being true.” - Ocilla Local

People in this Episode

Dusty Vassey
Reporter for the Ocilla Star who started covering Tara’s case a week after her disappearance. He was a strong ally and supporter of the podcast. Dusty passed away on September 8, 2017, after a battle with cancer.

Dusty Vassey

Journalist, Ocilla Star

Jim Deal (alias)
A friend of Bo Dukes who allegedly knew what happened to Tara. He was listed on the suicide note, and was also in a picture with Bo Dukes and several other boys in the back of a truck.

Jim Deal (alias)

Bo Duke's friend, on Suicide List

Bo Dukes
Eight days after the arrest of Ryan Alexander Duke, Bo Dukes pleaded guilty to concealing the death of another, tampering with evidence, and hindering the punishment of a criminal. Dukes was in the same class as Ryan Duke at Irwin County High School.

Bo Dukes

Arrested Accomplice

Dr. Maurice Godwin
Private forensic detective who investigated Tara’s disappearance, beginning in 2006. He investigated her home and firmly believed there were signs of foul play.

Dr. Maurice Godwin

Private Forensic Detective

Evidence in this Episode

Door Knob and Lock Kit

Door Knob and Lock Kit

“If you truly have nothing to lose, then why are you still keeping a secret? The obvious answer is, maybe, there's more to this story.” - Payne Lindsey

Transcript

Speaker 2: Like I said, I don't know who you're connected to but especially if you're somewhere at night rambling around the county, just be careful. I have a lot of distrust because of things that I have seen. When my father-in-law was the sheriff, I know for I'll say 95% fact that a murder was covered up as a suicide. Things go on there. I don't put anything past anybody. Everybody can have a dark night of the soul.

Intro: More than 40 GBI agents swarmed a pecan orchard in Ben Hill County this afternoon.

Not one but two former students from that school under arrest...

With the intent to and to cause serious bodily harm to the person of Tara Grinstead.

Charging Ryan Alexander Duke with the murder of Tara Grinstead.

Payne Lindsey: From Tenderfoot TV at Industrious Atlanta, this Up and Vanished, the Investigation of Tara Grinstead. I'm your host, Payne Lindsey.

Maurice Godwin: She told me in O11, it was a tan shirt like sheriff deputies wear. And then, there was dark brown pants with a tan stripe down each side.

Payne Lindsey: What kind of uniform does this look like?

Maurice Godwin: Sheriff's department.

Payne Lindsey: Several months ago, before the arrest of Ryan Duke and Bo Dukes, Maurice Godwin shared a tip with me that he felt was very important. Right around the time I began looking into this information, the news of the arrest broke and the entire focus of my investigation shifted instantly but now that the dust is settling, I've gone back through all of this information and this tip in particular, stood out to me. It all started with an email. He received an anonymous email from someone who claimed that they had found an old sheriff's uniform buried in the woods in Ocilla.  This is how the email read:

Tipster: "A law enforcement type uniform was found buried approximately six feet within the embankments of what is now a dry creek bed. The 911 dispatcher asked that I remove the item from the location I'd found them in and bring them to the Sheriff's Department. The items I turned in are one beige, short-sleeved law enforcement type shirt with circular dark brown patches on each shoulder having no visible markings on them, one pair of size 42 dark brown trousers with beige stripes down each leg and with the words "comfort action 3" printed on the inside waistband.

I asked to leave my name and number with the Irwin County Sheriff's Department dispatcher in the event anyone needed to know the location of where I'd found the clothing. I wrote my name and number and was told he, I didn't ask his name, would turn over the items to Investigator Rogers in the morning. It appears the rushing current caused by heavy rains in the past has eroded the creeks embankments exposing the clothing that was deeply embedded in the root system and very visible. I found the shirt on the embankment directly across from the trousers. I stopped looking for anything more and left the location in the event the area needed to be investigated. I'm not sure what, if anything else, is in the mounds of dirt. This creek fills quickly after heavy rainfall in the area the items were found in, maybe covered in water soon.

This may have nothing at all to do with Tara Grinstead's case but many people I've spoken with suggested I write to your agency because the area hasn't been investigated. Whether related to Ms. Grinstead's case or not, it seems suspicious to find such items with no other clothing found buried or not in the same vicinity. I wasn't sure what if anything I should do about contacting someone other than the Sheriff's Department. Please accept my apologies if I have inconvenienced anyone by writing this."

Payne Lindsey: This person found an entire uniform buried in the woods. Shirt, pants, shoes, everything.

Maurice Godwin: She bagged it. She took it to the Irwin County Sheriff's Department and the Irwin County Sheriff's Department, they never got back with her. Of course, you know there was so much mud and water and stuff, anything forensically is probably lost on all of it. It is odd that you would find something like that buried in the middle of nowhere. And finally, I got her contact information and talked to her and I have that recording.

Payne Lindsey: Eventually, Maurice spoke to her on the phone to get some more details and this is what she told him.

Tipster: I contacted the police department and they told me just to put it in a bag and bring it up there to them. And so, I did that and I never heard anything out of them. It was a short-sleeve shirt and the pants were tan and they had a dark brown strike up them. And I even went to the point of calling my uncle who was in law enforcement in Cordele. I even called him to come down here with me because it scared me so bad and I didn't want to mess with it and he was the one that told me that police aren't supposed to dispose of uniforms like that. You're supposed to turn them back in.

Payne Lindsey: Besides the fact that this was a strange way to dispose of a police uniform, there was something else about the uniform in particular that made this discovery appear a bit more ominous.

Tipster: It had the circle on the sleeve of it but there was no patch there. There was a brown spot where a patch was supposed to be.

Maurice Godwin: On each side were badges but the center area of the badge on each side on the sleeve had been cut out.

Payne Lindsey: The sheriff patches on both sides of the uniform that would normally indicate the department and the officer's name had been ripped off.

Tipster: When the creek beds dry, it's about a seven foot from the ground to the dirt road. So I actually found it buried kind of when they re-did the road. That's the only thing I can figure out when it got there.

Maurice Godwin: So somebody made a quick stop in the middle of the night and buried that.

Tipster: Or they threw it out when they knew that somebody was going to come back in and fill it up the next day. I don't know. And this place isn't that terribly far away from the place that burnt down right after it happened either.

Maurice Godwin: You mean Snapdragon?

Tipster: Right. It's not terribly far. It's within five miles of there.

Payne Lindsey: Ocilla is pretty tiny, so the fact that this found relatively close to the house that mysteriously burned down on Snapdragon Road wasn't that big of a surprise but it was definitely interesting. This story grabbed my attention but as far as its relevance to Tara, I was pretty unsure and even doubtful. If this lady did in fact find this uniform buried in the woods, I wanted to at least see some pictures of it to prove that this was even real.

Maurice Godwin: She actually photographed it and video taped it but she said that her computer was old and it had a broken screen and she couldn't get the video or anything to work, couldn't pull it off of the hard drive or whatever. Even had somebody offer to pay for it but never went through it.

Payne Lindsey: She claimed that her computer's hard drive wasn't working and she couldn't recover the files. So at this point, I was ready to drop the lead entirely. Even if she was telling the truth about this, it having any link to Tara seemed like a big stretch and without being able to see the items myself and prove that they even existed, this was just a lost cause. But then about a month later, she called Maurice again and said that she fixed her computer and recovered the files and to my surprise, she sends over several pictures of the uniform and a video of it. Now she had my attention.

Tipster: Here is the spot where the pants were found. Right down below it is the shoe that I found that was buried in the ground just a little bit deeper than it is now. Maybe six, seven feet from where I found the pants, that's where the shirt was found. That's the patch on the left sleeve.

Acquaintance of Tipster: Show them the zipper.

Tipster: There's the zipper.  It zips up and it buttons up but see there's a patch. There a size 42 and on the inside it says, "Comfort Action." This is the embankment up to the dirt road. It's about seven feet from the top of the dirt road to where we're at now. These items were found approximately six feet in the ground.

Payne Lindsey: After examining the pictures and video of the uniform and comparing it to the uniforms worn by local law enforcement, Maurice and I determined that it was a sheriff's uniform, likely an Irwin County sheriff's uniform. So, what exactly did all this mean? I'll be honest with you, I still don't know but as I learned more and more about this search that happened in the pecan orchard shortly after Tara went missing, it got my gears churning.

Let's back-up for a moment. According to Dusty Vassey and several inside sources I have, local law enforcement conducted a search of the pecan orchard not too long after Tara went missing. Based on a tip they received that Ryan and/or Bo had mentioned killing Tara to some friends at a party and according to my source, the agency that conducted this search was both the Irwin County and Ben Hill County Sheriff's Department.

Unknown source: A Irwin County Deputy drove to the Ben Hill County line and met up a Ben Jill County deputy and then went to the pecan orchard. They didn't look in the right spot but they did look around in the pecan orchard.

Payne Lindsey: I believe this party happened on the following Friday after she went missing. There was a bonfire that BO and Ryan were having with several friends. This also lined up with what one of Bo's friends told me, a former Army buddy.

Bo’s former friend: What I remember is that he helped get rid of a body on the pecan farm and he burned it. There was a party spot I guess that they talked about. I kind of remember Bo saying that they had a party out there. I remember it being real haunting, enough for me to remember if you're having parties out there routinely, that gives you a way to conceal you know a fire just burning out there is going to raise questions but a fire out there where a bunch of people are partying, that's not as peculiar and I think that could have even been the plan.

Payne Lindsey: It was possible that on that night Bo and Ryan were still burning Tara's remains in front of people. Perhaps Bo or Ryan mentioned to one of their friends at this party in a drunken state what had happened to Tara while they were still destroying evidence right there in front of everybody. I've since learned all the names of those who were there that night and almost all of them are in that picture I've been sent back in August of 2016 when this podcast first started. The guy with his arm around Bo in the picture, who I'm calling Jim Deal was also listed on the suicide note. And as you heard at the end of the last episode-

Jim Deal: They arrested Ryan. Me and him was talking in the store down in Ocilla. He says, "I think it was Bo that said, talking about this is where Tara died, or we burned her," or something of that nature, and somebody told the cops, but they just didn't pursue it.

Payne Lindsey: One of his friends confirms that Jim Deal knew what happened to Tara, too. Because someone at that party, either Ryan or Bo, likely told them. And then Jim Deal, along with a few other friends from the party, informed local law enforcement. Then they went out to search there. And for whatever reason, they searched in the wrong spot and never found anything. Didn't inform the GBI about it, and just went about their business. With one or both of the local sheriff's departments having conducted the search. The discovery of that sheriff's uniform found buried in the dirt, seemed a little more ironic. Is it related? I don't know. But right now, I'm putting all the cards out there on the table. All this is happening in real time right now. And every time I mention something new on the podcast, someone new reaches out to me with more information. For example, in the last episode, I was going through the old newspaper archives with Dusty Vassey.

We found at article about a search that happened in Queensland, which is essentially right where the pecan orchard is. The officers listed as those in charge of the searches were Alan Morgan and Nelson Paulk. Both of from the Irwin County Sheriff's Department. Within 24 hours of releasing the last episode, I got a phone call, from someone who had more information about the these officers and that search in the pecan orchard.

Tipster 2: I mean, he was one of the main investigators. He took on the diagram and the sheriffs telling the search party for the go and he rode with Nancy Grace when she came down here, he was the one that took her around, showed her everything they had searched. From what Alan said to us, and this is back, this goes all the away back to when they went to the pecan orchard the first time. Alan Morgan, both Nelson Paulk and Alan Morgan were part of that first investigation just a couple of weeks after she went missing in that pecan orchard. They learned of the party scenario and where the party was, there was a kit given to them, from what I understand about the party and fire. Alan Morgan never made it up to the pecan orchard.

Alan was told, when he got to about the Ben Hill county line, that he was to turn around and go back. He was told to turn around about the time he got to the county line. Somebody had to be up there in that orchard in order to tell him to turn around and go back. I don't know if there was anything that they found, there was anything substantial, or he was just turned around because they didn't want him up there. Newt Hudson was Bo's granddaddy. And back then, he had a lot of pull and you didn't mess with him. He was a state representative at the time, lot of money in the community. He was just powerful.

Payne Lindsey: That search happened. And according to her, Alan Morgan from the Irwin County Sheriff's Department was called out there to the pecan orchard, but was then told to turn around right when he got there.

I think it's safe to assume that any police officer sent to investigate something in a murder case would not just turn around and go back home unless somebody else in law enforcement they trusted told them to do so. Not just some random person. So who told him that? And why? And what about the other officer, Nelson Paulk? Was the one that made it out there that day? It's possible.

This case has become very muddy. It's very sad, but it seems like a lot of people knew what happened to Tara all these years and kept it a secret. And my goal is not to assign blame to anyone, my goal is to find the truth. If law enforcement searched the pecan orchard in 2005, that needs to be known. If this case could have been solved 12 years ago, that needs to be known. How do you think people like Marcus Harper or Heath Dykes feel about that? And if several friends of Bo and Ryan knew about those too, why did they never say anything else?

As I've been digging around in these areas, to put it point blank, it's become a very uncomfortable task. Those who knew about this don't want me digging around anywhere. And many of these people have made that very clear to me. I've offered to protect their identity, disguise their voice, and I've even offered for them to go off record entirely, just to find out the whole truth here. But none of them will do it. If you truly have nothing to lose, then why are you still keeping a secret? The obvious answer is, maybe, there's more to this story.

A few weeks after I started digging into this, I hit a frightening road bump. My Facebook account was hacked.

Donald Albright: Yeah, I mean Facebook is in there trying to do something too, so I'm not sure how much.

IT Professional: I just logged into the account.

Payne Lindsey: What's the email address?

IT Professional: It's upandvanished@yahoo.com, and they also made it paynelindsey06@yahoo.com. They also deleted your one that was affiliated with your Facebook account, and theirs was there.

Payne Lindsey: At first, I wasn't sure if this hack was related to the case at all. My wife Cassie had one of her IT friends trying to trace down who did this. While I was in a cab on the way to the airport in New York City. A very inopportune time.

IT Professional: But I'm gonna actually look up the names that I saved the pin on that picture, and see if I can find anything with it.

Payne Lindsey: Okay.

IT Professional: But there is, I think he's using software that you use to trace IP addresses. He's like, "you know, we should be able to find who this person is, but what we really needed to do was get back into your Facebook but that's gone too.

Payne Lindsey: When I looked it up after I email ... it was super late, I looked it up and it was still active. And there was nothing new on your page or the up and vanished page as far as post.

IT Professional: You're back. You just came back. You don't have a picture. This is so weird.

Payne Lindsey: What the hell?

Whoever did this, somehow compromised my email account associated with my Facebook. And when my wife was able to regain access to the email account, she saw that whoever did this, had made two new email addresses. And one of them was upandvanished@yahoo.com. I didn't make that email address. Clearly, this hack was related to the case. Eventually, I was able to regain access, but I was still pretty unnerved by it. Everything in this case right now has a new aura to it. People in this case are pushing back. But I'm not stopping.

With so many secrets in this case, it makes the Gag Order look even more suspicious. A gag order in general, is supposed to be the last resort. But in this case, it was signed by the judge and put into effect just four days after Ryan's arrest. The Gag Order states that anyone in law enforcement cannot talk or comment on this case in any way. What is everyone so afraid of? I have a couple of theories on that. The first one I'll share with you as this: remember Bo's friend Darren? The former Army friend who sent me all those screen shots of his text message conversations with BO? In Darren's conversations, BO told him this:

"Maybe they have some problems with their case due to the statute of limitations."

It turns out, there was an earlier search done by local guys. Who'd never reported it to the GBI. I don't know when it occurred, but the clock starts ticking on the statute then.

I showed this to Dusty Massey, while sitting in my car one night recently in Ocilla.

Dusty Vassey: Do you mean that that, actually, can allow him to get off?

Payne Lindsey: That's what he's saying.

Dusty Vassey: That's why they want to keep that shit quiet. That's why they want to keep that shit too fucking quiet. 'Cause it might jeopardize their case. It might jeopardize all of it. At least the charges against Bo, I don't know about Ryan. I don't think so about Ryan, but it said something about statutes of limitations being waived because they were not aware of the crime until a certain date in the charges, the arrest warrants against Bo. Holy shit dude.

I don't know if Bo Dukes was part of what they were told about. But would that matter? Because they knew the crime happened, damn, that's huge, dude. No wonder they were so concerned about it, but it's shady. I hate that the law says this, that somebody can actually get away with all this, but it's shady as the GBI was trying to keep it quiet, just so that their case wouldn't fall apart whey they're supposed to uphold the law.

Payne Lindsey: If the searched happened back in 2005, then according to the statute of limitations on the crime both committed, he may be able to get off Scott free. This seemed insane, and right or wrong, it seemed to make sense that a Gag Order would be in place to prevent that from becoming public. But could he really get away with this? I asked Philip Holloway to elaborate on this.

Philip Holloway: Here's the thing about the statute of limitations, if a law enforcement officer knows that a person has committed an act, not necessarily knows that the person committed a crime, but knows that someone committed an act, then the statute of limitations begins to run at that time. The statute of limitations can be tolled, that means the clock would stop ticking, if the act or the offender is unknown to the authorities but that tolling exception cannot be based on the subjective opinion of District Attorney as to whether or not there was enough evidence to file charges against a particular person at that time.

That, actually, comes from a case from 2015 called "Holloman versus State." Of course, there's no statute of limitations on murder, so if there' any evidence that ties Bo in any way to committing the actual murder, even if he's a party to the crime or an accessory rather than the actual perpetrator, then, theoretically, he could be charged with murder because there is no statute of limitations on murder. But, basically, for every other crime, there is a statute of limitations. For example, other crimes that are punishable by death or life imprisonment, that statute of limitations on those sort of things is seven years, and anything else, other than rape, which happens to be a 15 year statute of limitations, everything else is basically four years. Any felony that Bo's currently facing, the statute of limitations would be four years and that raises some interesting possibilities.

For example, Bo's lawyer figures this out, and decides, "hey, we want to challenge the charges against Bo, then he can file with the court something called a demurrer, in other words something called a plea in bar, basically, a challenge to whether or not the charges can proceed. And if the charges cannot proceed because they're barred by the statute of limitations, the question, then, becomes what leverage if any does the District Attorney has over Bo and how can he coerce, if you will, or force or encourage Bo to continue to cooperate to come to court and provide truthful testimony? Because if they don't have a criminal prosecution to hang over his head, he's a lot less motivated to participate in the process.

But here's the other side of that coin. We have, of course, lots of reason to believe that Bo has made statements to authorities. We know that he's made statements to third parties, we know that he has information, at a minimum, about what happened to Tara after she died, and we know that he's talked about that stuff. If they drop a subpoena in his hand, that subpoena is a court-ordered to come testify. And the law says when you testify, you have to testify truthfully. If he comes to court under a subpoena and he testifies in a way that the authorities believe to be untruthful, he could then be prosecuted for perjury.

Unless Bo just completely goes off the grid and can't be found, and they can't drop a subpoena in his hand, they still have some leverage because he's made statements. They can make him come to court, if he refuses to honor a subpoena, the Sheriff can, literally, pick him up, and drag him to the court kicking and screaming in handcuffs if necessary, because both sides, the prosecution and the defense are entitled to what's called compulsory process. That means they have the subpoena power of the court, they could also be subject to contempt of court if they don't comply with the court order, but usually, what happens is the judge will issue what's called a writ of attachment and basically authorizes the Sheriff to go pick the person up if they don't honor a subpoena.

If his testimony in court differs in any way from the statements that he made to law enforcement, not only could be potentially face a perjury charge, but his testimony in court could be impeached, that is, shown by the prosecutor, or the defense, to be different from what he's said in the past. And a prior inconsistent statement is in fact, what we call substance of evidence. So if a person is talking out of both sides of their mouth, they're saying one thing in court, but they said something else previously, then either side can argue that their previous statement is the statement that the jury should rely on.

The ironic thing about this, if, in fact, there is a statute of limitations problem and Bo can't be prosecuted, then it takes away a very strong defense argument because what happens is, defense lawyers will attack the credibility of a witness who's testifying under some grant of immunity or pursuant to some type of a plea deal that's conditioned on truthful testimony. In other words, they get in front of the jury and they say, "look, the only reason this person came in here and said this is because they have a lot to gain." The jury would be entitled to hear all about any deals that BO may have on the table. Whether it's immunity, or probation of whatever, and the defense can then use that as a way of saying this witness is not credible because he's simply being paid in the sense for his testimony.

Paid in the currency, which is, leniency from the prosecution. If Bo is simply testifying at the trial pursuant to a subpoena, and doesn't have any deal on the table because he can't be prosecuted, it takes away that argument and could, actually, play better for the prosecution. Of course, the downside would be that Bo simply gets away with doing whatever it is that he's alleged to have done and can't be prosecuted.

Payne Lindsey: A few episodes back, Dusty told me that he was called in by the GBI and questioned about a possible leak from the grand jury. Dusty spoke to somebody about this leak, who provided some inside information, but he wouldn't tell me his source. I don't blame him, but, thankfully, just recently, they came to me. Their voice has been disguised to protect them.

Dusty’s source: He said that Bo's standing over her when she woke up, and that it freaked him out so he hit her. And I said, "with what?" And he said, "well, hold on," so he started to tell me, he said he hit her and then, I guess it scared him and he left. He came back the next day, and wrapped her up in a blanket or quilt. What was crazy was his cousin was telling him, yeah, just right there in daylight, middle of the day, I'm thinking the morning time. But he went back and got her, and put her, wrapped her in blanket and put her in the back of the truck.

I guess, took her out to the orchard ... basically I guess happened in the dark, whenever he hit her, and then he freaked out and the left, and then he came back the next day, this is what the guy told me that he said. He didn't say anything about what he hit her with, to me, and that's when it all came out about the hand thing about it being from hands to hand and I'm thinking all that came out and then they started saying that all the GBI came down was asking Dusty about the leak, then I'm freaking out. I'm like, "God, dang, can I do anything without getting in fucking trouble for?" The guy did not tell me don't tell and he didn't say, and I'm thinking, if he's telling me that, there's no telling who else they're telling that.

Payne Lindsey: This was relatively detailed information. Though it sounded pretty crazy, it had some detail to it. And the only way the GBI would have that much detail, about how Tara was murdered, is if Ryan Duke or Bo Dukes told them. Where's the story coming from? Did Ryan confess when he was questioned? Or did BO tell the GBI the story? I've been in Ocilla several times recently, and I can tell you from being there, that most locals are not buying this narrative. But for all we know, that could be exactly how things happened, and maybe we're just missing the vital pieces that makes this whole story make sense.

I recently talked to a local from Ocilla, who told me what he's been hearing. Apparently, directly from the horses mouth.

Ocilla local: A friend of mine who I trust, he told me he had some friends in the GBI, he actually, I guess it would be illegal, but he did a ride along with these GBI agents that he grew up with. They basically told him that the story that they were told, I guess the GBI is following along to was that Bo and Ryan were together that night, and that they, basically, drove by her house and Bo dropped Ryan off. Rode around the block, I don't know if he parked or what, but came back around and Ryan was there, and just told Bo, "She's dead." The GBI are claiming that it was one punch to the temple, and that from there they took her body out to the pecan orchard.

From what they're kind of gathering is that, I know this is really creepy and I don't even know if it's been rumored around, but that he's done this before, entered into her house. Maybe watched her sleep, kind of had an obsession. That made me think, that's why she had the new door lock, and all those things too. I don't know if I believe that story or not, I mean all they're going off of is what Bo and Ryan's saying. That makes me not believe the story all together. Because I know if I was Bo, somebody who claims they were not involved whatsoever, willingly involving your self in a murder. This doesn't make sense. I wouldn't do that for my wife.

They also said that his immunity is off the table. That's what the GBIs had told my friend, that they caught him in a lie, breaking the terms of his immunity or something along those lines, they did say it's off the table. All of this is second hand, it comes from people I trust, I don't see any of these people making up stories like this. I fully believe that's what the GBI new and believed at the time based off the testimony, but to me, it seems like ... I don't know. I'm not that big of a conspiracy nut, but seems like BO corroborated stories with people he told, it just that the GBI goes and check up his story that he told them. Even their personalities, the story doesn't fit. The GBI said too that they took her car, basically, on a joyride, Tara's car, makes absolutely no sense.

None of those GBI story made sense to me, or even as my friend was telling me, this doesn't add up at all. Tara's car, the seat was pushed all the way back. I know Ryan, he's about as all as I am, about 5'7, 5'6. And I tell you, we're not pushing any seats back. What I gathered from it was that if the seat is pushed back, there was someone tall that was driving that car. Well, I think Tara's 5'3, maybe, 5'3, 5'4. I don't understand it. Even Ryan's Facebook posting everything, he's not a man of his own words. Ti's a lot of quotes from different people, seems like a follower, or Bo’s more of a manipulator. All I can say is, there's nobody down here that believes a single word of the official story. I know people who's closed personal friends of the Hudson's and the Dukes, and they're like, "I think Bo did it.

They just base it off of knowing him. And hearing the story... listen here, I don't think someone who's sane even believes that somebody wasn't involved in a crime willingly involves himself and hides the body. None of that makes sense. Personally, I don't even think it happened at the house. It would makes more sense hat it happened the pecan orchard. I just don't see these two pulling off the perfect crime, transporting bodies, leaving nothing behind, it makes more sense that gloves were planted than it was that accidentally dropped them. How do you pull off the perfect crime but leave gloves?

I know one guy, he's real good friends with the GBI people, he's pretty up-to-date on what the GBI knows. From what he told me, they honestly had no choice but to believe it at this point. I think it's more of a thing, they're happy to close the case. Wanting to get it over and not hang over their heads kind of thing, but inside, I don't think anybody believes it, at that point, you had Ryan confessing to it, you have Bo, Bo's testimony with people to corroborate it, so it was leading down that path.

I'm believing that maybe Ryan's lawyer spoke some sense into him, hopefully, not sure. I mean but for to him basically enter into the not guilty plea. I think it's about to flip upside-down. A lot of rumors in this case end up being true.

Payne Lindsey: So what's going to happen next in this case? No one around in Ocilla seems to believe what they're being told anymore, and frankly, I don't either. Is the possibility of a search early on in this case going to let Bo Dukes escape Scott free? Well, according to the breaking news that came out just today in this case, the answer might be no.

Grandma Lindsey: Hey Payne, I don't know if you'll get this but it's Monday, 12:15 here, I just caught the tail end of this on the local news today, seems like there's something going on in Ocilla today. I thought you might want to check in to that, okay? Bye-bye.

Payne Lindsey: Big news came in today in the Tara Grinstead case. And the first person to hear about it was my grandma. Today, a grand jury hearing was held in Ben Hill county, and they indicted Bo Dukes on all charges.

News Reporter: A grand jury has indicted, in Ben Hill County, has indicted Bo Dukes for his alleged role in the cover up of the murder of Tara Grinstead. WGXA's Eric Mock is live outside of the Ben Hill County Courthouse, where he picked up that indictment and Eric, what do we find in that document?

Payne Lindsey: They're moving forward with all the charges for Bo Dukes. As far as Ryan Duke is concerned, it's unclear if the GBI will continue their current narrative when it comes times for a trial. Or if newfound information between now and then might affect that. Even though the whole story of what happened to Tara's still very unclear, one thing is very clear, Bo's admission to burning Tara Grinstead's body. If all the events surrounding this known fact that are still so murky.

Speaker 2: Like I said, I don't know who you're connected to, but especially if somewhere that night, rambling around the county, just be careful. I have a lot of distrust because of things that I've seen. And my father-in-law was at the sheriff's, I know for, I'll say 95% fact that a murder was covered up as a suicide.

Things go on there. I don't put anything past anybody. Everybody can have a dark night of the soul. Oh, honey, I'll tell you what, there's so many dark and dirty secrets in Ocilla, it is not to be believed. I could tell you things that would make your hair stand on the end.

Ryan is relation to Nelson Paulk who was the deputy that walked him in the courtroom for his arraignment that day. He's Deputy Sheriff.

Payne Lindsey: Thanks for listening, guys. There's only three main episodes left this season. Our story on the investigation of Tara Grinstead, will conclude with Episode 24. There's so much more to come in the final chapters of this story, and we hope by the end of this season, we know all the truth in this case.