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Beautiful, Beloved, Missing: Search Intensifies For Teacher

Psychics Join Searchers In Irwin County

Authorities in Ocilla have stepped up their search for a popular teacher and beauty queen who has been missing for nearly two weeks.

Nearly 200 people, along with search dogs and psychics planned to join the search Saturday in the south Georgia town.

Friends said that Tara Grinstead, 30, had attended a beauty pageant in Fitzgerald the night she disappeared. She was reported missing Oct. 24. Officials with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that her car was in her driveway, but her purse and keys were missing.

Authorities questioned her former boyfriend and a student who recently broke into her home, but they have not named any official suspects. "We don't have any evidence that suggests foul play," said Irwin County Sheriff Donnie Youghn.

The community has held six prayer vigils for the popular history teacher.

"All the guys in our school like Miss Tara," said student Emily Lavender. "She is beautiful; she is somebody everybody wants to be like."

An $80,000 reward was being offered for information leading to Grinstead's safe return.

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