November 5, 2005
Irwin County- Her family wants people to take a good look at Tara's picture. Two weeks ago Saturday was the last time 30 year old Tara Grinstead talked to anyone. Her family has worked hard to make sure as many people as possible see her face.
"We've got national and worldwide attention now, so I think everybody is very familiar with the name Tara Grinstead, missing Ocilla High School teacher, and that's what we wanted," said Anita Gattis, Tara's sister.
The family has a private missing persons recovery agency working to find Tara in addition to law enforcement and the community.
"We are working on a lot of things that maybe law enforcement is not and that's why we hired a private agency, because they are a little more lenient on what they do and where they go," said Gattis.
Her family is making an emotional plea.
"If you took Tara for whatever reason it started out if you needed to prove a point, you wanted to just scare her, it has spiraled out of control we all know that now because it's made national headlines. If you will call that tip line, tell us where she's at, she will be picked up by a private individual and there will be no law enforcement involved whatsoever," said Gattis.
Saturday more than 80 volunteers on ATV's and foot, horseback and by helicopter canvassed the more than 367,000 acres of Irwin County searching for any clue.
"We're just searching wooded areas, abandoned houses, anything that our search could come across or something that could be put, we're checking it out," said Deputy Alan Morgan, Irwin Co. Sheriff.
A national team that specializes in the search for missing children, KlaasKids Foundation from Pensacola, Florida joined the effort.
"We want them to pay special attention when they're out there running the roads, when the hunters are going into the fields they can be a little bit extra vigilant then just looking for the deer, you're looking for other things," said Brad Dennis, KlaasKids Foundation Director.
In hopes that some clue will lead them to Tara.
"We're looking for anything, we're not looking for a person we're looking for clothes, pocketbook, keys, anything we can find that might be of some help to somebody, but we've had no luck," said Wayne Dennord, Fire Chief and volunteer.
The searches have covered two thirds of Irwin County and Ocilla. The search is expected to continue over the next seven to ten days until the entire county is covered. You can find the anonymous tip line at www.findtara.com.
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