Classmate of Tara Grinstead’s alleged killer charged with ‘destroying the body’

After an extensive search for the remains of Tara Grinstead on a south Georgia pecan farm, authorities have charged the landowner’s nephew.

Bo Dukes, 32, is charged with concealing a death, hindering the apprehension or punishment of a criminal and tampering with evidence, according to the Ben Hill County sheriff’s arrest report.

Dukes was arrested by the GBI just before 11 a.m. Friday. He waived his right to a first appearance, officials said.

Grinstead, a former beauty queen, taught history at Irwin County High School, where Dukes and her accused killer, 33-year-old Ryan Duke, were classmates at one time.

Duke, no relation to Dukes, was arrested last week and charged with murder, burglary, aggravated assault and concealing a death in Grinstead’s slaying.

Bo Dukes’ uncle, Randy Hudson, the owner of Hudson Pecan Co., grows pecans at a farm on Bowens Mill Highway, just north of Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald Farm is roughly a dozen miles from the Ocilla home on West Park Street where Grinstead lived before disappearing more than 11 years ago.

Sometime between Oct. 23-28 in 2005, Dukes allegedly helped destroy Grinstead’s body there, hiding her death to keep his friend Duke from being charged with murder, according to arrest warrants issued Thursday.

Dukes was booked in the Ben Hill County jail and released just after noon on a $16,700 bond, television station 11Alive reported.

The Friday charges weren’t his first brush with the law.

In April 2013, Dukes and his wife, Emily, pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal $150,000 worth of property belonging to the U.S. Army.

Dukes worked as a unit supply specialist in the Army and ordered televisions, cameras, power tools, copper wire and other property to be directly shipped to his house, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia.

Dukes and his wife pawned the items for money, the release said. Both faced the maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

This story was originally published March 3, 2017 at 1:18 PM with the headline "Classmate of Tara Grinstead’s alleged killer charged with ‘destroying the body’."