Stolen Beauty

A Young Teacher And A Financial Analyst Vanish. Are Their Cases Linked?

(CBS)  This story was originally broadcast on July 1, 2008.


Tara Grinstead, an 11th-grade history teacher in Ocilla, Ga., disappeared without a trace in October 2005. Three months later, another young woman, Jennifer Kesse, also vanished in Orlando, Fla.

There were some similarities in the cases, leading investigators to wonder: are these disappearances somehow linked?

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Student Dana Wilder remembers feeling a sense of dread when she heard an announcement in school that teacher Tara Grinstead should report to the office.

Dana was sitting in class at Irwin County High School on that Monday, Oct. 24, 2005. "I knew something was up then. I knew Tara would just not come to school. I think it got all the student's minds worried," Dana remembers.

Besides being a beloved teacher, 30-year-old Tara was also a mentor and friend to Dana, especially when it came to Tara's passion for beauty pageants.

Just two days earlier, Dana had been at Tara's house with some other girls to get ready for a big local event in this small town, the "Miss Georgia Sweet Potato" pageant. "She was in a great mood. Which of course, whenever she did hair and makeup for any pageant girls she was in a great mood," Dana remembers.

Tara's stepmother, Connie, and father, Billy, say Tara fell in love with pageants as a teenager. Besides winning crowns, the pageant victories also fulfilled another goal for Tara: money for school.

But none of her successes meant more to Tara than winning the title of Miss Tifton in 1999. Best friend Maria Hulett says the title meant Tara could now fulfill her lifelong dream of competing in the Miss Georgia pageant. "It was, for her, more than a dream come true. It was the chance for her to be really proud of herself," Maria remembers.

Tara didn't place in the competition, but was thrilled when her friend Osjha Anderson won. Her friends say after the Miss Georgia pageant, Tara refocused on her career in education. "She wanted to be a principal. She was well on her way," Osjha says.

By the fall of 2005, she was teaching by day and taking classes by night; she applied for a doctoral program. Tara was even filling in as an assistant principal from time to time.

Everything seemed to be going so well, until that October morning.

By the time Police Chief Billy Hancock arrived at Tara's house, nobody had seen or heard from Tara for 34 hours. "When I arrived the car was parked in the carport. You could actually see it as you were pulling up," he remembers.

Hancock says the fact she had gone missing but her car was still there was "certainly a red flag."

But maybe most disturbing was a latex glove, found laying in the front yard.

Hancock noticed that inside the house everything appeared to be normal. "I walked through the house. No apparent sign of struggle, no forced entry," he remembers. "Her cell phone was in the charger by the nightstand. Her pocketbook and keys were missing."

Asked what his gut feeling was as he walked through that house, Hancock tells Van Sant, "I did have kind of a gut feeling that something was wrong."

At 11 a.m., Chief Hancock called Gary Rothwell, a special agent at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Rothwell's initial impression? "It appeared that Tara may have left on her own. However, we had a glove, a latex glove that we couldn't explain. That glove indicates foul play to us."

He was also intrigued by something else found at Tara's house: a business card found wedged in the front door of Tara's home.

Investigators sealed the house, and took Tara’s car and the glove in for processing. Then they started reconstructing her last known movements.

[D8N950]

the man when the camera take a picture to him getting out from the car. Jenifer was not with him so he came alone and when he run in front of the sea focus on his shoes it's a littel wierd? but why he was running fast? and going on that way mybe somthing is there

[ofc3goalie]

So if there were creapers working on her appartment (in Florida) and the dude on camera looked like he was wearing some trashy stuff you''d paint in or work in, then why aren''t we looking for a migrant worker who may be linked to both hometowns? I mean it''s prolly to late now but some suggestions have to be made.

[ofc3goalie]

So if there were creapers working on her appartment (in Florida) and the dude on camera looked like he was wearing some trashy stuff you''d paint in or work in, then why aren''t we looking for a migrant worker who may be linked to both hometowns? I mean it''s prolly to late now but some suggestions have to be made.

[catfemme]

I strongly believe that both of these cases can be solved -but Jennifer''s case should have been solved first-because I believe the police were hot on the killers trail without knowing it and he was right under their noses. If the cases are linked-which I can''t see-even having several common denominators- two beautiful women, professionals, abducted and missing and living in neighboring states. If they are connected or have the same killer-I definately believe more than one person is involved. I also believed (in the case of J.K.) he/they can only be caught by the people/person who hired them at the employment agency becasue all of there documentation will most likely be false. Nuff said

[catfemme]

One thing I am positive of-they can find that guy on the video because either he is stupid or cocky-and both personalities always get caught-the return of the car during the day time near the cameras and walking past suggests you are really stupid and have some sort of story concocted why you have the car because people at the condos know you or you are thumbing your nose at the cops. I thought about the cell phone and perhaps her brother''s friend was let in -someone she wouldn''t feel threatened by and had a reason to come back and be let into her condo at night-but this seems like a dead end if she went missing in the morning-indicated by a wet shower and clothes still on the bed-if the video gave the correct info. Also, did they check for fingerprints on her purse and prints for other items in her purse since her cell phone and keys were missing-that is where women keep them and maybe the killer got them out of her purse.

[catfemme]

I think the key to getting someone to recognize him is the hair cut. The clothes do look like they belong to a painter and the shoes but he is too small to have man handled Jennifer. Who ever this guy is or guys, they have b-lls. I believe this case would have been very solvable and the person who mentioned the dogs in their comment had a great idea-maybe they should still try-animals can smell blood-no matter how old. I believe she never left the complex-initially, and they moved the car to make it look as though she wasn''t there. Maybe her body is now in a building or at a dump site close by. I''m not sure if it is in one of the condos because the smell would have been atrocious at some point and would have been investigated.

[catfemme]

In the case of Jennifer K, the police mention the shower was wet and a blow dryer was out-what about wet towels? Why were the clothes still on the bed? Did someone grab her from the bathroom, who had a key to her apartment? There had to be more than one person-how to get her out without being noticed all the way to the car? Maybe they took her into another apartment-because I believe more than one person was involved. The video definately shows a guy with a latino "bowl" hair cut. Yet, his skin is not dark enough for a latino in Florida-but the hair is definately black and not fair. Also, if you measure the strides, they belong to a guy and they get longer once he gets in front of the gate-which indicates he knew the camera was there and his head slightly turns on the last image. Why? Why be stupid enough to return to the scene of a crime that you have gotten away with? Maybe because he went to work that day, business as usual to throw off suspicion. Of course if you don''t show up for work you will be a prime suspect-maybe that was what he was thinking about while sitting in the car. Yet, he looks like he is between 17-21-very young.

[catfemme]

In the case of Tara G.. My strongest suspicions lie with the police officer from out of town. What was the need to leave over a dozen messages and your business card in the door of someone''s house you have been to and know so well? He had been seen there many times. Wouldn''t she already know his number if they are intimate friends? I believe he was trying to throw suspicion off himself and he also put the glove there just to throw the police off the trail-naturally they would cling to that glove since you can check for prints-and this would give the family and the police something to hope for. Its easier to not get caught by putting yourself at the crime scene because you won''t get grilled as much if it appears you have nothing to hide. If the criminal was actually stupid enough to leave a glove behind and it is the smoking gun, I would then check the prints of the wife-not run it through the system-unless to check for other jealous females. Maybe the phone calls and business card was a warning to try and get to Tara before the wife did-but my gut feeling is its the police office who left the card. Tara was a woman who created a lot of jealousy-probably because of insecurity-especially being thirty, unmarried and unable to obtain the one man she loved even though she was constantly being told how beautiful she was.

[debofar]

I think the person who was driving Jennifer Kesse''s automobile should be identified, by looking into where he may cash his pay check(s) at the end of the week. If he is an illegal alien he will probably cash them at the bank where the check was initially made, with an illegal alien ID, rather than a driver''s license. There is something about him, that I agree he is not a citizen, and an immigrant. Perhaps, his white jumpsuit and shoes are not painter''s wear or he removes a covering from his shoes when he leaves his place of work. Because, the unknown person did not appear to have "paint on his shoes." Nevertheless, he may be a delivery person for anything from a bread truck; to a FED Ex truck. As well, it appears that the person may be young, rather than old.

[csicantonmi]

Just a simple question to investigators the pictures of the car they recovered of jennifer kesse. in the center council there was a key & 2 pills not saying she was a drug user but just maybe they were her abductors? construction beats up the body so people takin pain killers and or muscle relaxers could have a perscription for these items and if workers names were optained then they could check to see if the perscriptions were too. im just saying it would be easy to overlook or maybe it was gum or a breath mint but still a good lead & maybe prints on the key?