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It is important that you view this evidence with an open mind at all times and reach no final conclusion until the trial is over. Do not jump to conclusions before all of the evidence is presented. I instruct you, ladies and gentlemen, you must decide this case for yourself solely on the testimony you hear from the witness stand and the exhibits admitted in evidence. You may not visit any scenes depicted by the evidence. You may not utilize any books or documents not in evidence during your deliberation.
Likewise, during your deliberations, you may not discuss the case with anyone other than your fellow jurors. Therefore, you may not communicate with anyone about the case from your cell phone, through email, BlackBerry iPhone, text messages, or on Twitter, through any blog or website, or by any other social networking websites, including without limitation Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
If there is any coverage of the case by the newspaper, radio, television, or other media, you should be careful not to consider it at all in reaching your verdict or in your deliberation. Do not independently investigate any facts or visit any scenes depicted in the evidence. During a trial, the jury can consider only the evidence that is produced in court.
under my supervision and the law that I give you in my instructions. Now, that completes my preliminary instructions. We're going to have our opening statements. Before I do that, I need to take up a matter outside of the presence, so you will make yourselves comfortable. ♪
This case is like a fire. I hate to use that terminology, but it really is. It burns everything and everyone around it. Those are the words of GBI agent Jason Shadel. One hour, nine minutes into his interview with Bo Dukes on February 21st, 2017.
and I cannot agree with him more. Everybody who comes in contact with this case cannot leave unaffected. This case has consumed Ms. Grinstead's family.
This case has consumed the lives of every suspect and their families throughout the years. This case has consumed the lives of the accused. This case has consumed the community, and it has surely affected each and every one of you. You have heard things and seen things over the last four days that are simply unheard.
tragic things that when you have left this courtroom you have not been able to get out of your head these are the types of things you would want to talk to a counselor but you can't even talk to each other because of the oath that you took these are things that will likely be in your memory long after your duty as a juror in this case is over
This story is a decade in the making. October, March, 13 years since Tara's disappearance. Duke's capture came just a few miles from where he's accused of helping a high school buddy dump and burn the body of beauty queen Tara Grinstead in 2005. Dukes was out on bond on that case. Testimony is underway for the man accused of covering up the murder of a Georgia teacher. Beau Dukes is one of the men accused in Tara Grinstead's death. And today we heard from family members and a man
who went to basic training with Dukes. Yeah, Justin, that soldier testified that he reported to police multiple times that Dukes told him that he was involved in hiding the body of Tara Grinstead. The judge seated a jury in the trial tied to a murder of a Georgia teacher. Investigators say Tara Grinstead's murder happened in Irwin County. The trial is taking place north in Wilcox County against the man accused of helping clean up and cover up this murder in 2005.
On March 18, 2019, Bo Dukes went to trial in Wilcox County, Georgia, for charges related to the death of Tara Grinstead. We've asked Philip Holloway to guide us through his trial. So he stood trial for two counts of making a false statement to the GBI about his role in connection with her death. He was also charged with concealing a death, and the last count of the indictment was hindering the apprehension of a criminal.
The maximum penalty he was facing for all of those charges was 25 years in prison. And not surprisingly, that's what he got. One thing that struck me as odd about this particular case is how they managed to get this trial done in one week's time.
If you go back and look at it, you can see it all on YouTube. It's out there. They picked a jury in like half a day. This county is just like one county over and everybody in the area is familiar with the case. And the jury had a verdict before the day was out on Friday. Now, the legal system has been a long and a winding road for Bo Dukes. It has led him to this trial. And before him is a brick wall.
That brick wall is reasonable doubt, and you can only convict him if each of those bricks, each of those doubts are knocked down by the state, and you are satisfied that they have proven to you beyond a reasonable doubt he is guilty of the offenses that have been alleged.
Let me explain to you why the state cannot tear that wall down. Counts 1 and 2 in this indictment charge that Mr. Bo Dukes knowingly and willfully covered up Ryan Dukes' confession of murder by denying to the GBI that he discussed, Mr. Dukes discussed, Tara Faye Grinstead of John McCullough during that 2016 interview.
Count two alleges that he knowingly and willfully covered up that he assisted Ryan Duke in destroying Ms. Grinstead's body by denying that he discussed burning the body with John McCullough. Now, the state has presented to you 20 some odd witnesses, over 90 exhibits.
But you don't need to look but at a handful in order to find the answers and to find that there is a reasonable doubt as to these two charges. It took me several days to sort of decipher what I thought the defense strategy might be. The defense seemed to be hanging its hat on semantics. They wanted the jury to think about exactly what words were said. I think part of the defense was that
If Bo made these statements to his army buddy and then lied about it to the GBI, that it wasn't really a lie because they were trying to say that he was intoxicated when he made those statements to the army buddy to the point maybe that he didn't remember it. So when he was questioned by the GBI later, the idea was that if he said it didn't happen, it is because he didn't remember that it happened. I think that was at least part of the defense.
Now, Mr. McCulloch, I want to direct your attention to a person by the name of Bo Dukes. Do you know a person by the name of Bo Dukes? Yes, sir. And how do you know a person by the name of Bo Dukes? I was actually at Fort Sill, Oklahoma at Charlie 119, in which I attended basic training there and began in November of 2006. All right. And when you were there at Fort Sill, Oklahoma for basic training, is that when you met Bo Dukes? Yes, sir. All right.
All right, and the person you know is Bo Dukes. Is he in the courtroom? Yes, sir. Okay, can you tell me what he's wearing, please, sir? Yes, sir. He's wearing a jacket with a tie with a comb-over little hairdo. Now, how long does basic training last? It's normally nine weeks, but because of how it fell whenever we attended, it was actually a two-week Christmas exodus break in between, so totaling about 11 weeks.
And when you talk about a Christmas break, what did you do for that Christmas break in November of 2006? Well, I first initially had planned to go home to see my family because I'm pretty close with my family and stuff like that. But, you know, he had mentioned something about, hey, man, you know, it would be cool. You can come back to Georgia, you know, and we can hang out and stuff like that if you really don't have too much going on in Texas. And I was like, oh, man, you know, I've never been to Georgia. So I was like, okay, that's cool. I'll go, you know.
And tell me how you spent the weekend. Well, you know, obviously we're on break, you know, we're in the military, so it's very strict. You know, you can't drink alcohol, you can't, you know, actually do anything quote-unquote fun. You know, we hung out and stuff like that. All right, tell me how it was that these statements came up. Well, it was, you know, pretty late at night, and, you know, he had been drinking and, you
Also used some substances in the sense of cocaine. And I was driving, which I'm very adamant about, you know, not drinking and driving and, you know, doing stuff like that. And I didn't want him to drive, even though it was his mom's car. It was a little black three series BMW. We had stopped because he had needed to drink.
stopped at a convenience store, parked in the parking lot. And I actually went in alone, got some drinks, came back outside. So we're sitting there, and he seemed like something was bothering him, possibly. And he just started to come out and say, hey, you're my battle, right? You're my battle buddy, right? And I was like, yeah, man. When you say battle buddy, what did you understand that to mean? Well, whenever it was explained to us, whenever any...
guess wartime situation or battle situation that you always had that buddy with you so you know you're not alone so somebody can always watch your back. You know when he referred to you as his battle buddy what did he tell you? Well he had just asked if I was his battle buddy and I said yeah and he was like well man he was like you know I need to tell you something and that's whenever I've was pretty much shocked to the extreme and it messed with me pretty good. And what was it that shocked you?
the fact of I had made comments previous in the day to whenever we were riding through town because I've never been to Georgia so we rode around Osceola, Rochelle, Fitzgerald, just oh man, yeah, look at this. Basically taking me around and showing me around town. I had mentioned something about seeing a billboard and it had a really, really pretty lady that was on it and I was like, man, that's crazy. What's going on with that? And that was, like I said, the previous conversation we had
but he had brought it up and said, "Do you remember that billboard that you had seen?" And I was like, "Yeah." And he was like, "I know what happened." And then I was like kind of shocked with that and was like, "What?" - Did he tell you what happened? - To an extent, yes sir.
He had started to say, like I said, I know what happened. I was there and he had said that my friend had came to me and he said that his friend had showed up and said, man, I fucked up. And I said, what do you mean? And he said, well, he continued to tell me that he had
you know messed up and he needed his help he needed his truck his friend needed bo's help is that right yes sir okay and he had said that he had needed his help because he said that you know like i had mentioned that he had up and whenever he continued to explain of the situation you know i
I wanted to stop in disbelief because it's a severe thing, man, for somebody to be able to do stuff like that. But he had said that he had technically killed Tara to him.
The friend that said that. Yes, that he had beat her and accidentally strangled her and killed her and he didn't know what to do. So he needed his truck to be able to move her body.
And did Bo Dukes tell you if he loaned his truck to his friend? He said that he had went with his friend and used the truck, which was the white Ford F-150. He had said that they had went and recovered the body, and they continued to take it to the middle of the
his grandpa's or the Hudson pecan orchard and the exact location didn't tell me but had made the comment of you know we took her to the middle of the pecan orchard and burned her body and if I can roll back a little bit whenever I was in basic training he had made the comment which now it made sense of the sense of hey man it takes more than 1200 degrees to burn human bones
How many times did he make that statement to you? Two that I recall previous. When he said that they burned her body in the McConnell Orchard, was this with Bo Dukes and his buddy? Yes, sir. Did he tell you anything else about that? Just the sense that they burned her body and let it burn as long as they could. And whenever they were satisfied, they buried the rest. And did he tell you how they buried the rest? No, sir.
Did you ever go to the pecan orchard while you were here? I never actually got out and walked around the pecan orchard, but we did drive past a section. I'm not exactly sure what little town it was, but he was like, do you see all that over there? That's part of the pecan orchard. How did you react to what your battle buddy had told you? It messed me up pretty good. What do you mean it messed you up pretty good? It was just tough.
to deal with that.
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I think that anytime you've got a case that says high profile is all of these cases are everything connected to her death is extremely high profile. I was really surprised that his lawyer did not file a motion for change of venue because
I think it may have been a matter of strategy because he seemed to hit that head on. He would remind jurors that they're going to hear about a whole bunch of stuff about a murder, but he would also remind them that Bo is going to be tried and he's being prosecuted in another county for that. It obviously was not successful if that was the strategy because he was convicted.
One night, after a night of drinking, after a night of drug use, at 2, maybe 3 in the morning, Mr. McCullough tells you that Mr. Dukes makes statements to him about having burned a body, having made statements about Tara Faye Grinstead.
But according to John McCullough, when this is happening, Mr. Dukes is slurring his words. John McCullough describes him as all out of it. In fact, he tells you that Dukes was drunk and wasted the entire time they were on Exodus here in Osceola.
Introduce yourself to the jury. I'm Brooke Sheridan. Do you know the defendant in this case? Yes. How do you know him? He is my boyfriend. And now when you say he's your boyfriend, can you identify your boyfriend for us? Point him out, please. Right there. And what's his name? Bo Dukes. Mr. Rigby is going to give you the state's closing argument. He gets last word. It's kind of like an argument with a spouse. It's a problem with being a defense lawyer is the other person always gets the last word.
But listen to them. Listen to the state's case. Go back through, look at the testimony of their 20 witnesses, look at their 90 exhibits. When you do so, you will see that they have not proven the four charges in this indictment beyond a reasonable doubt. And it will be your duty to acquit.
You must understand that discharging that duty is not a free pass. Bo Dukes will stand trial in Osceola for the three charges the state has brought against him for the destruction of Terafay Grinstead's body. But that is a question.
for a different jury in a different county in a different trial. I found out on January 10th, 2017. When you say you found out on January 10th, 2017, what did you find out on January 10th, 2017? That he had helped dispose of her body. So what occurs on January 10th of 2017 that you learn that your boyfriend, in fact, had helped dispose of her body?
I don't recall the exact events that led up to it, but I do know that he had had a severe panic attack. And after I got him calm, I told him that he needed to tell me what was going on, and he proceeded to tell me what had happened. What did he tell you? He told me that his roommate had gone into her home,
strangled her and that he had put her body on or he had taken his truck and put her body on Hudson property in Fitzgerald and that he helped to destroy the body. Okay, so I want to be kind of clear because you said the word he a couple of times. Who was it that you were told killed and strangled Tara Grinstead? Ryan Duke.
Ryan Duke. Bo Dukes. Ryan Duke.
Did Bo Dukes tell you whether or not he was ever inside Tara Grinstead's home? He told me that he was never in her home. Did Bo Dukes tell you why it was his roommate, that being Ryan Duke, had killed Tara Grinstead? No. Now, I want to go back to the details of the day that Ms. Grinstead is murdered. Did Bo Dukes tell you how he first learned that Ryan had killed Ms. Grinstead? Yes. Tell us about that.
He said that the following Sunday morning or early afternoon that Ryan had come home and he had woken Bo up and Ryan said, woke him up and I guess kind of startled Bo and said, I killed Tara Grinstead. Did he know what time of morning it was on Sunday when that occurred? Early afternoon, maybe lunchtime.
When he says, I killed or I strangled Tara Grinstead, what was Bay's response? He thought that he was kidding. Did he tell you why he thought his friend would be kidding about killing someone? No. I know that they had been drinking the night before, but he didn't really say why he thought he was kidding. When is the next time that they have a conversation about Miss Grinstead, they being Ryan and Bay? Wednesday, the following Wednesday.
And how does that conversation occur? They were at the house, and Ryan and Bo, I guess, had asked Ryan about it. And Ryan said, you know, I need to show you something. And then they took Bo's truck out to the orchard. Now, when you say that Bo asked Ryan about it, why was Bo now asking Ryan about something he thought was a joke? Because that Monday, Stephen...
Duke had come home and said that Tara had been reported missing. And it was at that point that Bo told Stephen that your brother told me that he had killed her. Did Bo, in fact, go with Ryan to the orchard that day? Yes. And when you say the orchard, what do you mean by that? Fitzgerald Farms.
So Bo says that he goes out with Ryan to the orchard. What does he find when he gets there? He said that Tara's body was laying there. Can you tell the jury about that? Yes. He said that she was laying on her back, that she...
There was discoloration, the discoloration of the body where I guess a liver mortis had set in, where the blood had held to the bottom. There was also blue, like bluish marks around her neck, strangulation marks. And one thing I do particularly remember is he talked about ants. There was a lot of ants. Did he tell you if he did anything after seeing her laying there naked and dead? No.
He was in shock. What did he and Ryan do after that? They moved her body to another area down a path into a wooded area. They went to a woodshed that had pecan wood, and they brought the wood back to burn the body. Did Bo tell you how many days it took to burn the body? Two.
He didn't think that there was anything left from what he had said. Yes. Moderate.
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Go to knix.com and get 15% off with promo code TRY15. That's knix.com, promo code TRY15 for 15% off life-changing period underwear. That's knix.com. As they burned her body, they buried the truth with her. They buried the truth about what happened to this beautiful young lady as they buried her body in the straw with household trash.
Dirt. That's where they left her. They buried the truth with her. I'll just say it. Poor Bo. He has panic attacks and anxiety attacks because he helped destroy somebody's body. Poor Bo.
This was not a case about Tara's murder. This case is about Vodook's and Vodook's lies and his hindering and his concealment. But as Mr. Fox went through the charges with you, we had to tell you about how she was murdered because that's part of the proof in this case. We don't have to prove to you, but we had to prove you about the malice murder, hindering apprehension of a felon. This is, of course, why we have to prove to you malice murder and that he was killed by Ryan Alexander Dukes.
Malice murder does not have to be planned out. It doesn't have to be premeditated in the state of Georgia. It can be formed in an instant. That's what the law in the state of Georgia is. Jumping on somebody and strangling them in their bed while they're asleep absolutely is malice murder. We learned so much in this case. They managed to get all of this evidence in about the state versus Ryan Duke, but it all came out in the case of the state versus Bo Duke's.
He was accused of lying about a murder, so they had to prove that some murder occurred. They also had to prove that he lied to the GBI essentially about what they believe Ryan's role in Tara's death was. So we got a pretty good preview of all of...
the state's case that we think they're going to have against Ryan. Now, in Ryan's trial, they will be more in-depth, to be sure, but we learned a lot about what the state thinks happened in her death. One of the lingering questions that's been out there, it's been discussed a lot, not only in the podcast, but in the media and social media. The big question is whether or not any remains were ever recovered.
And while it's true that no DNA testing has been done on any of the bone fragments that we now know were recovered, circumstantially, they did prove that Tara's remains were found. Because after all, they found what they know to be some human bone fragments there.
They could not definitively prove it was her through DNA, but you had two people, Bo Dukes and Ryan Duke, telling them that in this general area, this is where we burned her body. I think everybody's on the same page that these two guys acting together destroyed her body in that location. Who else would be there if it's not her? So circumstantially, they proved that Tara's remains have been found.
It takes 1,200 degrees to burn human bones. It took 1,200 degrees to burn the bones of Tara Fager Enstead. It's hard to look at, I understand. The con wood burns really hot because what we know is it burned the bones of Tara Fager Enstead. A cheerleading coach, a high school teacher, a winning personality with a beautiful smile.
And what did Bo Dukes and Ryan Alexander Duke do to this beautiful lady? They set her on fire and they left her with a tooth. A tooth that won pageants, the smile on billboards, the smile on missing persons posters. They reduced to bits of skull, vertebra, the teeth.
Bo Dukes seems to be a one-man, multi-jurisdictional crime spree. He's got federal charges. Of course, he's convicted and he's got, for whatever it's worth, a pending probation revocation. But look, this 25-year sentence that he just got is going to more than consume any time he's got left on federal probation. So as a practical matter, you know, right now he's serving at least 25 years. I'm thankful for this opportunity to address the court.
To the Tara Greenstead family, I'm truly sorry. Your long suffering has been unimaginable. My actions are cowardly, callous, and cruel. I was more interested in self-pity and self-preservation than doing the right thing for Tara and for you. I pray for your forgiveness. I apologize to those who were cast in our cloud of suspicion for so long. Reputations with their friends and family destroyed. I can never undo that damage.
and i sincerely apologize to the local communities i'm sorry for the years of uncertainty of suspicion and mistrust placed even on law enforcement community by my actions i apologize to my own family to my mother to brook sheridan and her family my actions and failures i'm responsible for alone i failed tara grinstead i failed her family i failed the local community
and I hope these proceedings have given some closure to the many people hurt by my actions. And I want each of you to know that I am truly remorseful. Thank you. When I watched the sentencing in this case, I can tell you the judge just looked disgusted. He absolutely looked like this is probably the most horrible human being I've ever had to sentence. That was my takeaway. I've seen a lot of sentencing in my life. I've seen...
People go to prison for a long time. I've seen judges reluctantly pass sentence. I've seen judges reluctantly send people to prison. This judge was not reluctant. He had no qualms whatsoever about sending him to prison for as long as he possibly could. Up and Vanished is an investigative podcast produced for Tenderfoot TV by Payne Lindsay, Mike Rooney, Christina Dana, and me, Meredith Stedman.
Executive Producers Payne Lindsey and Donald Albright Additional Production by Resonate Recordings as well as Mason Lindsey Voice Over by Rob Ricotta Our Intern is Hallie Badal Original Score by Makeup and Vanity Set Our Theme Song is Ophelia performed by Ezra Rose Our Cover Art is by Trevor Eiler Web and Social Design by Station 16 Special Thanks to the Team at Cadence 13
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