NOTE: This article originally published on Oct. 22, 2006. A graduate of the high school where Tara Grinstead taught was charged Monday with murder in the case.
Splashed across a billboard on one of the town's main streets is a color photo of a smiling young woman wearing an understated black dress and a plain, silver necklace. She looks poised, confident and destined for a life of achievement.
All of her hope and potential seemingly evaporated a year ago, when 31-year-old Tara Grinstead, a popular high school teacher and beauty queen, vanished without a trace.
Her disappearance on Oct. 22, 2005, sent shock waves through the community and touched off a massive investigation that included extensive searches by hundreds of volunteers in the forests and ponds of Irwin County and surrounding counties in South Georgia.
All that remains are fading memories and her haunting image on that missing person billboard along with some posters around town.
Friends and relatives say Grinstead was too responsible, too committed to her students and school to run off for personal reasons.
They fear the worst.
"I think quite obviously that after a year we pretty much have to assume that she's not coming back, " said Bobby Conner, principal of Irwin County High School, where Grinstead taught history. "We just wish we knew something, and we don't."
The clues don't add up to much, and even police can't say for sure she was a victim of foul play. A cellphone she always carried was found in her home. Her unlocked car was in the driveway. Her purse and keys were gone.
As news of her disappearance spread nationally, volunteers with tracking dogs and electronic gadgets poured into Ocilla, a town of 3,300 about 165 miles southeast of Atlanta. The case also attracted swarms of psychics, to no avail.
Theories abounded on the Internet, the mystery was hashed out on national cable TV talk shows and supporters posted a $200,000 reward for information leading to her safe return.
After a year, her fate remains unknown, and authorities still are treating her disappearance as a missing persons case.
"We're continuing to investigate . . . and it's very active, " said Gary Rothwell, special agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Perry office.
He said the Grinstead case file has grown to thousands of pages and his office has been assisted by FBI agents and state and local authorities as far away as California and New York.
"We're continuing to generate leads and pursue them, " Rothwell said. "Hopefully, at some point, we'll get the lead that will make everything fall into place."
Investigators have interviewed several of Grinstead's former boyfriends, but Rothwell said the investigation hasn't been limited to them.
The Ocilla Police Department put up the billboard and has handed out posters with Grinstead's photo. Some downtown businesses still display the poster in their windows.
"The community still feels a void, " said Police Chief Billy Hancock. "We desperately want to fill that void with some kind of answer in order to have closure for the family and the community."
Brenda Roberson, owner of Brenda's Drapery & Antiques, said one of the first questions from out-of-towners is "Any news on the schoolteacher?" Other residents say they hear the same question when they travel.
"It'll always be in the back of everyone's minds because if it was a violent person who did something to her, they could do it to you, " Roberson said. "This lady was not one to just disappear. She had a great job and she was loved by the kids."
Residents still are mystified that in an age of DNA analysis and other scientific crime detection tools, one of their own could vanish, seemingly without a clue.
They'll honor Grinstead during a ceremony today, a week before the town holds its 46th annual Sweet Potato Festival. On the day she was last seen, Grinstead had helped contestants in last year's Miss Sweet Potato Pageant with their hair and makeup before attending a cookout with friends.
She was reported missing two days later when she failed to report to work.
Conner, the school principal, said the ceremony on the anniversary of Grinstead's disappearance will rekindle memories. A year ago, he had the painful task of removing personal items from her classroom and preparing her students for a new teacher.
