Up and Vanished is a rare gem in the space.
Many dramatisations, podcasts and documentaries cover a solved or cold case years after the fact with very few developments and, Up and Vanished was almost the same.
That was until breaking news happened in real time, breathing new life into the podcast and giving addicted listeners even more to chew on.
Payne Lindsay is the fearless host of the series, which launched in August 2016 and focuses on the disappearance and murder of school teacher and Miss Georgia beauty queen Tara Grinstead.
New episodes are being released from today, with Lindsay covering the trial of Ryan Duke, who has been charged in relation to her disappearance and murder.
Who is Tara Grinstead?
Grinstead, 30, was a former Miss Tifton who had competed in the Miss Georgia pageant three times. She graduated from Middle Georgia College in Cochran and in 2003 earned a master’s degree in education at Valdosta State University.
In 1998, she began teaching history at Irwin County High School in Ocilla, Georgia.
When did Tara Grinstead go missing?
Grinstead was last seen alive leaving a dinner party on October 22, 2005.
Police visited her home two days after she went missing and found her car parked in the driveway. Upon entering the home, they found her mobile phone charging and the clothes she had worn to the dinner party were still on the bedroom floor. There was a broken lamp propped up against a wall and a bedside clock was discovered under the bed but was six hours off.
However, other than that, there was no sign of a struggle – or Grinstead.
The investigation into her disappearance became the biggest in the history of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).
In 2010, Grinstead was officially declared dead. Her body has never been found.
Who are Ryan Duke and Bo Dukes?
Grinstead’s case went completely cold but Up and Vanished has been widely credited with propelling it back into the spotlight.
Six months after the first episode aired in 2016, the GBI received a tip about Ryan Duke.
Three years prior to her disappearance, Duke had attended Irwin County High School where Grinstead was employed as a teacher.
In February 2017, Duke was arrested and charged with burglary, aggravated assault, murder and concealment of a body.
Bo Dukes, a former classmate of Dukes with no familial relation, was arrested and charged with attempting to conceal a death, hindering apprehension and tampering with evidence.
During a press conference about the shocking new developments, an investigator said: ‘You guys have just been phenomenal in this whole endeavour.
‘Please know that you have had an impact, a significant role in this investigation and I am confident that today we have reached the point where we are in this investigation because of that involvement.’
While he didn’t mention the Up and Vanished podcast specifically, many took it as gratitude to Lindsay’s work.
In March 2019, Dukes was convicted of helping conceal Grinstead’s death and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Dukes told investigators two years prior that he helped Duke burn the body of a woman he’d accidentally Ki**ed.
Duke’s trial began this week and is expected to last four to six weeks.
Lindsay has been subpoenaed to possibly appear as a witness.
When are the new episodes of Up and Vanished released?
Lindsay has announced he will be releasing new episodes about the Grinstead case as the trial continues over the next few weeks.
The first new episode was released on May 3 recapping what’s happened so far.
Up and Vanished is available on streaming platforms.
