Is Ryan Duke Not Guilty? Confession And Sentence Details

Ryan Duke & Tara Grinstead did not have any direct relationship.

However, Tara was the then-girlfriend of Bo Dukes who was best friends with Ryan Duke according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Ryan and Tara knew each other through their mutual friend but they did not have any other direct connection or relationship.

Prosecutors said that Ryan broke into Grinstead’s home sometime after she was last seen on Oct. 22, 2005. Grinstead, a teacher at Ryan’s former school, Irwin High School, is believed to have walked in on him burglarizing her residence, and he fatally struck her according to Law And Crime.

Although Ryan was alleged to have a sexual relationship with Tara, he had denied any such relationship since the very first day of the trial. He never admitted to having any kind of relationship with Tara.

Ryan Duke was found not guilty of Tara Grinstead’s murder by a jury recently according to WSB-TV.

However, he was found guilty of concealing the death of Tara. Among his six charges which include Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Murder, Aggravated assault, Burglary, and Concealing the death of another, he was found guilty of concealing the death of another and not guilty of all other charges.

Ryan’s sentence has not come to the surface yet, but according to Justia, a person found guilty of concealing the death of another can be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years, a fine of not less than $1,000.00 nor more than $5,000.00, or both.

He confessed that Bo had said he killed Tara but did not know exactly how the murder took place.

Similarly, Ryan confessed to investigators in 2017, telling them he got Bo to help burn the body. But Ryan has since flipped the script: he now says that it was Bo, his former schoolmate, who killed Grinstead, and it was Bo who recruited Ryan to help burn the body.