S1E19: Brooke's Story
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More than 40 GBI agents swarmed a pecan orchard in Ben Hill County this afternoon. Not one, but two former students from that school under arrest. With the intent to and did call serious bodily harm to the person of Tara Grinstead. Charging Ryan Alexander Duke with the murder of Tara Grinstead. From Tenderfoot TV in Atlanta, this is Up and Vanished, the investigation of Tara Grinstead. I'm your host, Payne Lindsey.

In today's episode, I'll be playing my phone calls with Brooke Sheridan, Bo Duke's girlfriend. A couple months ago, she reached out to me on Facebook, and one day I gave her a call. This is our first conversation together. Hey, Payne. You could have contacted me months ago.

You have let people defame my character, my professional life, all over that discussion board. Now is that appropriate discussion board etiquette? Especially if you were trying to solve a murder case. I don't think so. When are you going to get your story straight, Payne? Do you want the true story or do you want what's going to sell ratings? You want the truth?

Here's the truth. I found out on January the 10th what happened to Tara. Bo told me everything. My mother contacted an old friend of hers who used to work for the DA in order because I had known for a month before I went forward to the GBI. Bo and I were broken up at the time when he told me everything. When you're living with postpartum stress disorder,

And you know, you know that you have nothing to live for. And I see that. You know, I'm a medical professional. I can see that. People act like he's a pompous asshole. He's not. He's been living with us for a long, long time. The way that this affected him was not something I'd like to speak about and get posted on a podcast because this is somebody else's life that I'm talking about. But let's just say that he was not in a good place, okay?

Bo told me everything. He told me everything. Took me out to the spot, everything. Bo's been telling people throughout the years exactly what happened.

There was just things over the course of our relationship that I knew were off. And basically, he felt that he owed me an explanation because of the way that he had tried to basically shut me out of his life. He never thought anything good would come to him because of this. Like, he's tried to make himself pay over the years. I let it sit with me for a couple weeks. Because, I mean, you have to digest something like that. That's not just something you say, oh, here, let's go talk about it.

Okay. And a couple of weeks, well, I guess a couple of weeks later, Bo and I broke up. Less than a week later, I would say. You know, no relationship is perfect. And, you know, I then sat down with my family and I told them.

I said, you know, Bo has told me something and I need to get it to the correct people. My mom had called her old buddy that was a retired district attorney to find out, you know, if there were being legal ramifications for me having known for a month and not saying anything.

So her district attorney buddy put her in contact with the GBI agents that had been on the case. And she told the GBI when they contacted her that, you know, Bo has told Brooke something about the Terragrance said case. I don't know exactly what she said to the GBI, but she said in contact with them. And then, like I said, I told her, I said, mom, I said, you know,

you've got to get them to the house, do something. Because I was at work, I couldn't talk to her. A couple days later, Agent Shadel contacted me. He came over to the house that day. I sat down with him for a couple hours, took him out to the orchard, and I told him everything. And that, in turn, started the cycle of leading to Ryan's arrest. The problem was, is I could not remember his roommate's name.

being Ryan. I couldn't remember his name. I mean, there are text messages that, you know, I can show you between me and the GBI agent. Bo told me that basically the following Sunday after she had gone missing, I guess she went missing on a Saturday night, the next Sunday early afternoon,

that Beau had gone, Beau had been at home asleep. They'd had to get together at their house. And the next morning, Ryan comes to Beau and wakes him up and says, I killed Joe Grinstead.

And he's like, "What?" And then Bo goes to the other roommate, who I'm sure you know by now. It's Ryan's brother, Steven. And then Bo goes and asks Steven, "Did your brother tell you the same thing?" And he's like, "Yeah." Well, they didn't think anything of it because, you know, they're like, "Whatever." Well, then Monday, when she goes missing, that's when Bo's like, "Holy crap. What happened?"

You have to remember that Ryan did not have a vehicle at the time. He was using Bo's vehicle. The following Wednesday, Ryan says, "Hey man, you know, come with me. They go take a ride." And that is where Ryan pulled up onto Tara's body with Bo in the truck and it was on the orchard that his family owns. I mean, what else do you want to know? So you were saying that Bo was having a get-together at his house. Where was Ryan?

Ryan was there. But when they all passed out, that's when Ryan had taken his truck and left. How many people were there? Oh, let's see. Maybe about seven or eight. Okay. Do you know people's names? Um...

I would have to, I'd have to go back to my memory book, because honestly, I'm not from Missoula. I don't know these people. I know that it was Ryan, Beau, Ryan's brother, and then some other people that were there. They, after they had all passed out,

You know, apparently that's when Ryan had taken her car and done whatever he did. To this day, Beau cannot tell you what Ryan's motive was. Nobody knows, unless Ryan has... Beau didn't ask him, "Why did you do this?" Oh, he asked him several times. Several times. And what was Ryan's response?

You would have to take that from Bo's mouth, but he's not going to talk to you. But he would never say things. I mean, honestly, that's the big thing. Nobody knows but God and Ron himself. It's not odd to you that... It is very odd. It is very odd. I mean, you would think that if you were to go to the links that Bo did to help cover this up, he would get some sort of definitive answer out of him.

And he said, well, one, he used my truck. I mean, it was definitely going to pin it on me. So I don't know if Ryan said something that day to Bo or not, saying basically, look, it's going to get pinned on you, man. I don't know. The thing that, and I, you know, and I've tried and I've tried and I've tried. I'm like, why do you think he did it? Why do you think he did it? And he seems to think it was to Bo that,

from him knowing Ryan as well as he did. I mean, because they were best friends. You never saw one without the other, and that's true. He didn't. Bo basically thinks that it was some kind of sexual thing, or it was he wanted to see what it would feel like. Now, as far as what happened the night that Tara was killed, I don't know. Bo doesn't know. And that's the truth. That is the God honest truth. Did Ryan use Bo's truck to take her body to the pecan orchard? Yes.

Yes. What time did they pass out that night? Bo and everybody else? Probably, I would say 1-ish, 12-ish. I mean, I don't know. It wasn't there. I would say, I mean, if there had been a football game that day, I'm assuming they had probably been drinking all day. I mean, so I don't know. This seems odd that Ryan would sneak out presumably sort of early and be unnoticed.

Well, I mean, I don't know, you know, I don't know what time he left, but I know that he didn't come back until later that next day. Now, I do know that, I mean, what all have you been told, and I can justify and tell you yes or no?

Okay, when Ryan shows him the body, is Bo by himself? Is someone else with Bo? What's going on there? It's just Bo and Ryan. It's just Bo and Ryan. And then what happens? Apparently, now I don't have finite details on this, but I'm going to give you the best synopsis that I can. And this is all going from my memory and what I've been told.

and also what has been backed up by the GBI. When I took the GBI out to the orchard, there was a back corner that he took me to, but apparently she had been moved back in the cut.

like off the path where the orchard like it wouldn't it wasn't out in the middle of the orchard does that make sense so and where i led the gbi agent to the first you know that day that i took him out there so i would only that she was there um that she had been there for a couple of days because you could tell you know

without going into glory details, I mean, if you know the difference between Liver Mortis and Ritter Mortis, I'm assuming, they moved her and they disposed of her body. Do you know how? Burning. You also have to remember that during pecan season, they purposely do controlled burns. And behind there, there was like pine trees

When they took her off the beaten path and did what they had to do, I don't know how long it took. I didn't really want to know the gory details. Bo stayed out there for weeks. What do you mean? He slept in his truck and stayed out there for weeks because he was, he had to come to terms with it and make peace with it because he couldn't believe what he had done. And he was trying to apologize. Why did he do it? What, burn her body?

That was my first phone call with Brooke. I still couldn't wrap my mind around the idea that Bo had no clue why Ryan had done this. That seemed incredibly odd. And the idea that Bo went along with this heinous act because Ryan inadvertently threatened him, that sounded fishy too.

The next time I talked to Brooke, I asked her some more hard-pressing questions, and she started giving more details. We'll listen to that call next, after a quick word from one of our sponsors. Save on Cox Internet when you add Cox Mobile, and get fiber-powered internet at home and unbeatable 5G reliability on the go. So whether you're playing a game at home, or attending one live,

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Because of the graphic and sensitive nature of the next part of this episode, I wanted to give you a heads up. This is not at all suitable for children. So please, use your best discretion. Were you ever privy to what actually happened to her purse and her keys? No, I was not. They were thrown in a dumpster in Fitzgerald behind a laundromat. What laundromat?

Now, I don't know if when this happened, the laundromat was there. Because from my understanding, the city of Fitzgerald, you know, that little strip, that highway or whatever, has been more developed than it was back then. But if I'm not mistaken, I believe that his aunt actually owns a laundromat there now. I don't know if it was there then. I know it's there now. From what I understand that, you know, from what Bo has said,

Like, he doesn't know if he tried to put her body in the dumpster and couldn't do it. And he just tossed her purse and her keys there and then took her to the orchard. But I don't know why he just, I guess he just wanted to get rid of them. And that's when I'm thinking that probably Beau made the connection that he probably tried to dump her body there first and he couldn't. You know, because I would assume that lifting a body into a dumpster over your head

would be quite difficult and he used a credit card to get into her home she asleep or something yes why do you go there your guess is as good as mine her car would have been in the carport it would have been pretty obvious that she was home like you that's why the burglary charges or the you know i don't think he went there like i said to rob her

You see what I'm saying? I think it was more of a sexual thing. I don't know, Payne. I don't know what his motive was. How did Beau not get any sort of answer out of him, even if it was a lie or something? I just, I can't imagine being in that position and accepting no for an answer. Well, from what Beau told me a few months ago,

I believe when he asked him, and I can't, don't quote me word for word on this, but Ryan basically said, you know, it's your truck, it's your family's land, what are you going to do? You know, like, kind of like, you know, it's on you. Did Bo describe to you what Tara looked like? Yes, he did. He said that she was laying face up,

that she looked like bluish and she had bruises around her neck, that she did not have on any clothes. She had no clothes on? No. What were her clothes? I don't know. He never said. At what point did he say, okay, I'll help you out? Probably when Ryan said, you know, what are you going to do?

It's your truck, your land, your family's land. You know, I mean, at 21 years old, if you think a murder is about to get pinned on you, you know, I don't, I don't know. I wasn't there. I wasn't, I'm not him, but I can imagine being a young, dumb 21 year old. You just kind of act on, on, I don't know. Like I can't explain it. I don't know what he thought. And he was scared. I mean, I,

If you were 21 years old and your friend did something like that, I think you or anybody would be scared to death. Who else knew about this over the years? His ex-wife. And I know that there was... He never told anybody in his family. I don't believe. He had told an army buddy of his. He had told his best friend. He had told...

I mean, I don't really know all the people that he's told, but that's just the people that he's mentioned to me. And, you know, his ex-wife had threatened him for years of going to the—she basically blackmailed him, you know, saying, if you leave, I go to the cops and I tell them everything. That's why they were together longer than they should have been. Every time he asked Ryan about it or talked to him about it, it was a look of shame.

It was he was shameful. It wasn't like, you know, oh, I snapped or it was a look of shame, which I think and to me makes sense of why he went there with an intent to do something, you know, like sexual assault or rape or something like that, because he was ashamed to tell anybody that that's why he did it. So why didn't Bo just go to the cops back then?

He was scared he was going to get pinned on him. You know, I guess he did it after, you know, it was put on his family's land. I mean, there was tons of things. His grandfather, you know, was a representative. You know, it was just the backlash, I guess, would have come back. And, you know, I don't know. I don't know why he didn't. I can't answer that. But I can only say that what he's told me is that he was scared. Why did he do it now? Why did he come forward now?

Because I made him confess. How did you make him confess? Like I told you before, you know, when I found out we were still together, we broke up shortly thereafter. I went, you know, and I found out January 10th. And I'm like, I was trying to go through text messages and stuff today when I told, you know, my sister to come to my mom's house and, you know, I need to sit down and talk.

of when that date was. I believe it was probably early February when that happened, when I told my family and my mom. And then my mom made the call because, you know, I needed to know if there were going to be legal ramifications for me knowing for a month, you know, and then not saying anything. But when I found out, we were still together.

And I didn't know if he knew that I told what the ramifications from him would be. I didn't think he would have done anything to me. But that's just the kind of thought that goes through my head. I had to make sure that I was away from there when all this came out. So I told my mom. She talked to her district attorney buddy.

He put her in contact with the GBI and she had talked to the GBI, you know, within at least it may have not even been a day from the time that I told her. She gave them my contact number in order for me to talk to them because I was at work when she had called them. Then the GBI agent came to my house. We sat down and talked. I took him out to the orchard. Now, all of my stuff was still because Bo and I were living together.

when he told me. And all of my belongings were still at his place. I mean, most of my stuff anyway. And so, you know, I had asked the GBI agent, like, what do I do? You know, I still have to go over there and get my stuff. And he said, I'd only had that Wednesday and Thursday off. And so I

He basically said, by Friday, you know, you need to make arrangements to go over there and get all of your stuff because by Friday, it's going to have to come out. Like, we're going to go question butt. And he said, would you be willing to wear a wire and go over there and talk to him or record a phone conversation? You know, what are you willing to do? And, you know, me thinking as a woman,

I didn't really see Bo in that kind of light to where he would do something to me. But one, he was upset over the breakup. Two, you know, there were other things that had gone on between us that led to why we broke up. So I don't know what kind of state of mind he was in. And I didn't want to go over there wearing a wire, you know, and me having to be moving stuff, getting stuff in my car, whatever.

And so, you know, I'm just thinking, what if it slips out of my pocket or, you know, because it's like a recorder and then whatever. So he said, I said, no, I don't need, I don't, I told him I didn't need one. And then I went over there to get the rest of my stuff. And I told him basically,

I didn't bring it up right then, but I was just having casual conversation. You know, how have you been? Are you doing okay? Because I had spoken with him on the phone before that, but I called him to ask him if it was okay if I came over there to get my stuff. And he was very upset. He was crying. He was just not, he wasn't himself, basically. So I went over there. I can't remember if it was a Wednesday or Thursday that I went over there, but I

I went over there to get my stuff. I asked him, you know, how are you doing, whatever. And I said, and granted, I was angry with Bo because of all of this and because, you know, it was a little rough patch on our relationship. I was angry. And that's when I was finally, I was done, you know, and I was mad because I had moved my life and my career down there. So I start boxing up stuff and I was like, Bo, I said, this is not good.

I said, you can't hang on to all of this for the rest of your life. Because I knew what it had already put him through. And, you know, dealing with that demon, it was awful. And I went over there and I told him, I said, you need to come clean about all of this. I said, you can't put this on my conscience. I said, and that family deserves to know. I said, how would you feel if it was me?

I said, and nobody had talked. I said, and you knew that somebody knew what had happened to me. I said, how did you feel? And he broke down and he started crying. And he said, I know, I know. And I said, you have to confess. I said, there is no option. I said, because if you, and I told him, I said, look, I've already talked with the GBI. I said, you have to confess. You know, I said, you need to tell them everything. I said, you made this decision a long time ago.

And I said, and I understand that you were scared. And I understand that, you know, whatever went on in your head. I said, but you have to come forward. I said, because that family needs closure and the people that are innocent need to be, their name needs to be cleared. And he said, okay, okay. He said, I know, I know. I don't, I know what would have happened if he hadn't come forward and this hat and ball came out in the open. What's that? He would have committed suicide. How do you know?

Because this wasn't the first, I mean, it wasn't the first time that he had talked about it or attempted it. I mean, if you deal with a demon like that for so long and it just grabs a hold of you and it eats at you and you think you have, you don't deserve to live, but you can't, I mean, and you had held on to it for years. And then you finally come forward with it. I mean, and he knew that he wasn't stupid. He said, you know, I'm a convicted felon.

You know, this is going to completely put me, you know, back up under the jail. I mean, all of that was just a snowball effect. You know, he just, he thought about all of it and I guess he just stayed quiet. And he also had a loyalty to a friend, you know. It had just all been coming to a head. He knew that I was over some of his behaviors. He knew that I was just over the relationship. And I told him, I was like, what is it?

And I said, whatever it is, I said, you need to tell me. I said, you have to tell me what it is. But I made him tell me everything. He showed me where Tara lived and just kind of drove me around. He then took me out to the orchard. I mean, it's just kind of a scary place. It's very scary looking. He took me out there and then he showed me the path they had taken her down that day that he and Ryan went out there.

because it was basically timber and pine trees back there. Because it's like the orchard, if you went there at night, you'd get lost. You would have to kind of look at it during the daytime to go to that particular back corner. But I remembered it very vividly when I took the GBI agent back there. I took him to the corner and I said, that's the path that he went down. He did not take me to the actual spot back in the back because I wasn't going back there. I was scared. I mean, I was just...

I'm not the type to go trekking back in the woods in the middle of the night. And then he showed me that and that was pretty much it. And I knew that there was something about that orchard that he never liked because, you know, when he worked for his family's peeing company, he never liked to go out there, you know, when they spray or the trees or when they mow, whatever, he never liked to be out at

that particular orchard. And then it kind of made sense as to why after he told me. So what do you think should happen now? What do you mean, like, legally? I don't know. At all. I don't know, because I don't... I mean, I hope that justice is served. And what is justice to you? I don't know, Payne. Like, I'm just...

I can't tell you what justice is to me because I'm in a really, really tough spot. But you can't be selfish about it either, though. I'm not selfish about it. Put your feelings for him aside for a second and think about justice. You know, Ryan is where he is supposed to be, in prison. What about Beau? Do I agree that he got off with nothing? No, I don't. I don't agree.

None of this would have had to happen had Ryan not done what he did. But think about how many more people it affected if Bo had just told the police what happened 12 years ago. How do you think people who were accused and had to change their names on Facebook for a decade feel about that? I'm sure they're angry. I mean, I'm...

I'm angry for them. Like I said, I'm trying to put myself in the situation and have dealt and known this thing for over a decade. Like I said, it was just a news story to me back then when I found out about it. Do you think Beau will issue an apology? He's already said that he wants to speak with the family if he's, you know,

That's been something that he's thought about for a long, long time. But, you know, is it something that they want to hear? I don't know. I mean, it's just something that absolutely has to be done. Yeah, I mean, this is something that he's thought about for a long time.

The day that I went over there and told him, he said, you know, he was upset about our family. I mean, he always has been. And I think that through the years, he's always felt that he deserved whatever shitstorm came his way. You know, he was just waiting on something to happen to him. And sometimes he would put it into, you know, he had a self-destruct button all the time.

And I think that without him coming clean about it, that was his way of paying his dues, if that makes sense. When I say paying his dues, he's never allowed anything good to happen in his life since this. If he really, truly felt that way and was accepting the fact that he could live a terrible life and deserved to live a terrible life, then he should have just walked his ass in the jail. He was planning on it, but he, I mean...

I mean, when I told him, he was ready to go to jail. He was ready to. Yeah, well, at that point, he had to. You'd already told him. I mean, it's not like he was oblivious to going back to prison. But clearly, he chose to live a free life versus pay for what he had done. Free life as in free out of prison. He made a conscious decision every day that he woke up to not tell what happened to Tara. That's correct. He did.

He chose to be selfish. I mean, he even thought about becoming a soldier for hire, like a mercenary. I mean, that's a death wish. A private contractor for the military, that's a death wish. You're not protected by the U.S. military. I mean, that's what he wanted to do. There was a point in time when he was ready to go. Like he had his passport, everything ready to go. Because that's what just, I guess that was his way of paying for

He was ready to pay with his own life because, you know, if it wasn't taken in the line of duty or if it wasn't taken, he would have taken his own. It's even more selfish to kill yourself and not tell Tara's parents what happened to their daughter. Well, I'm sure that he would have said something. I mean, I try to empathize with people.

I see manifestations of PTSD in people all the time. I see manifestations of drug addiction in people all the time. And they make dumb mistakes. And then when they become sober again, they don't know who they were at the time. You know what I'm saying? I try to be an empathizer. You know, I don't look at somebody who has a drug addiction as, you know, oh, they're just an addict. That's all they are. It's a disease.

I try to be an empathizer. And I guess that's just who I am. I don't know. And it may make me an awful person. I try to empathize with people in all parties involved. I don't think that because somebody makes a mistake, a grave mistake, that they should be deserted for the rest of their life. I don't empathize with riots.

Because what he did was out of malice. What he did was awful. If what Ryan did was awful, what Bo did, what was that? Just not as awful? It's preservation. I mean, it's self-preservation. Burning a body? Okay. So if it hadn't, if it wouldn't have been burned, if it had been disposed of some other way. That's not the point.

The point is that it wasn't disposed some other way. First of all, Bo burned her body. That's not self-preservation. But if Bo had gone back to the police back then, I guarantee you the way that things have worked out thus far, he would be on death row right now. Why would they believe Bo or why would they believe Ryan over Bo?

You're putting all your trust into the cops, into law enforcement, okay? Up until this point, they've gotten it wrong. Somebody hid it from them. But back then, if he would have gone and said, hey, it wasn't me. It was my buddy who was clean-cut, all-American guy. But yeah, it was my truck. And yeah, it was put on my family's land. I know it doesn't make sense. But hear me out.

If you were Marcus Harper, if you were Higgsites, or if you were these people that had been accused of a murder for years and years and years, you're in your own hell. If you're presenting the evidence like in a podcast like you do, people believe what you say. People believe the media. People believe what you say because you are their only source. What's your point?

My point is, is that you can paint a picture however you see fit. If you're going to present like this is real life, you have to see both sides of the story. That's naive to think that I don't have anything to fear because the people judging you and that are going to have your life and your fate in your hand are just people. You know, we don't know. You're not a prosecutor. I'm not a prosecutor.

And the evidence, Bo would have not known anything had Ryan not pulled her up on her body that day. Did he make a grave decision? Yes. It was a heinous, awful decision. He said, it's your truck. It's your family's land. What are you going to do? Do you really trust? I mean, they don't know the ins and outs, the ups and downs of law enforcement and legalities. All he says is, oh, my God, he used my truck. Oh, my God, it's on my family's land. It's going to look like I did it.

Why not just do the right thing and not worry so much about your damn self? That's been his problem for 12 years. Constantly worrying about himself. Just tell the truth. I have never agreed that he did not go to the cop at all. But from a selfish person's perspective, because we're all creatures. I mean, we're all about ourselves. You know what I'm saying? Everybody is. Everybody is out for their own reason. You know, I could see at 21 years old,

I don't know what any of us would have done. I can tell you right now what I would have done. Go to the cops. But it's easy to say on the other side of the fence. It's easy to say. It's also easy to do. 911, it's three digits. It's called weighing the odds and he didn't make the right decision. He made the wrong one. That doesn't even matter. It's not even about Bo.

He did something that was very wrong. Let's just agree with that and not even try to explain why he made this awful decision. It's only about Tara. And he can do the right thing by issuing a public apology. He can't because he's under the gag order. Oh, well, that's just super convenient. He had about four or five days to do that before the gag order was in place. How do you... I mean, would it have hurt the family or helped them? Is that a serious question?

Yes, it's a serious question. Would an apology hurt or help them? But Penny, you have to understand, do you, and how do you put 12 years of feelings on paper? I don't know. That's his job to figure out.

He's had 12 years to figure that shit out. He's had 12 years to figure out how to apologize. If he doesn't know how to do it... And you don't think that he's been thinking about it for 12 years? I really actually don't. But he's a written apology? I mean, just because he didn't issue a written apology, a formal public apology... All I'm saying is that that's what he should do. And you're giving me excuses of why he hasn't done it. How many excuses do we give him before we just say, wow...

He's just not a good person. Okay. If he's going to write a public apology, how does he give that to the family and to the public? He has an attorney, doesn't he? Look, I'm not even going to talk about it. It's pointless for me to try to help you guys figure out how to apologize. That's so stupid. It's not something that he hasn't thought about. You know, I can't say that he didn't start writing one. But you can't say that he did either. Yes, I did.

I did see where he started writing letters. How far did he get? I am? Two pages. This is a cry of shame that he couldn't finish it in time. But you have to understand how this has affected other people's lives. I am only doing in my position what I have prayed about, what I have soul searched about, because I wouldn't be able to handle on my conscience

Knowing what happened to Tara and also knowing that I deserted me, Bo's brother and his mom are really the only people he has. That's his and his father. He doesn't talk to people. I'm the only person that he's ever confided everything in. And I would have to live the rest of my life knowing that he doesn't

Did something to himself. And along with the fact that Tara, something happened to Tara. Does that make it okay? And I understand it's about Tara. But there are also innocent people involved here. And things that have been said about me, you know, I didn't deserve to be put in the spotlight like that. How many people listen to your podcast? A lot. Thousands? Millions?

Yeah. I mean, my name was mentioned in the last episode. In a conspiracy. Your podcast was titled Conspiracy. My mother's name. I never mentioned your name or your mother's name. I actually don't even know your mother's name. But you played your interview with Rebecca on your podcast. You could have chose not to. You're right. I chose to play your interview. That's correct.

So that is an extension of you. What you present on your podcast is an extension of you. It's your work, right? You are the creator of Up and Vanished. What's your point? I mean, I've played a lot of interviews. No, you can't control what people say on your discussion boards, but you can control what you play in your podcast. I really tried to give Brooke the benefit of my own doubt, but it was clear that we had some disagreements. We continued to communicate for several weeks off and on.

she would send me text messages and sometimes call me and i often wondered why is she doing this it seemed obvious through our first conversations that brooke was concerned with protecting beau's reputation and also that of her own and because she felt that people had the wrong idea about her and beau i gave her the opportunity to clear things up but as time went on i began to question her intentions even more why was she still talking to me

In episode 17, I released a segment of audio from Beau's friend that I called Darren. Darren was an old army buddy of Beau Duke's, and one time in the army, Beau had told Darren that he disposed of a body. When the GBI began investigating Beau, they reached out to Darren to help corroborate Beau's story. Over the course of about two months, Darren sent me screenshots of his text message conversations with Beau. He was also forwarding this same information to the GBI.

When it came time for me to release my phone calls with Darren on the podcast, he got cold feet. And at first, he only agreed to let me use a distorted transcription of the conversation. Or in other words, not his actual voice. Darren was still communicating with Bo at the time and trying to get more information, all on his own free will. And when I released the first segment of our call together with the distorted voice, Brooke began questioning its validity.

Darren denied to both Brooke and Bo that he had talked to me at all, for his own reasons. Brooke became very frustrated and called me again. Since this happened, Darren has agreed for me to use his real voice and his real name, which is Dustin.

This was my last phone call with Brooke. Dustin would never, ever say anything like that. He hates you more than Beau does. Dustin said exactly what he said on the podcast. I have proof. I did too, but he didn't. From who? I mean, from Dustin.

You didn't put the truth out, Payne. You never have put the truth out about Baye. Why are you trying to get people to go after him like you? I'm not. I'm trying to get to the truth. Do you see what you've done to his life? I understand he made a decision 12 years ago. Do you understand what you've done to his life? No, I don't. I mean, I know what decision you made. But he didn't need you to further... To talk about it? No, not even talk about it. But he didn't need you to paint him as a picture that he's not because you don't know him.

During the call, my spider senses started going off. I had the feeling that she was recording the phone call from her end too, which is perfectly fine and legal, but that also she was trying to catch me in some sort of lie. The problem was there was no lie to catch me in. The phone calls and the text messages with Darren, whose real name is Dustin, were all completely real and legitimate. But apparently, Dustin kept denying it to both Bo and Brooke.

And later that same night, Brooke uploaded a phone call she recorded with Dustin to the Up and Vanish discussion board. Dustin told both Brooke and Bo that it was his fiance that sent me all the text messages. And Brooke believed him. And I'm guessing she thought that posting this phone call would maybe discredit me. But I'm not sure if she accomplished her goal. Here's the call with Brooke and Dustin that she recorded. You be the judge.

Bo has been nice to you and tried to protect your identity. Have you, Dustin? Because you backstabbed him. Because of your fiancé, who went through your phone, stole those text messages, and sent them to Payne Lindsey. No, he didn't. No, he didn't, because I talked to Payne today. You said you're crazy, you don't know who he is anymore, and that you couldn't believe he was trolling the UAV boards.

You were trolling him too, Dustin. And you do know who Bo is. I want you to tell the damn truth. And why is that? Because Megan's got your balls in a mason jar? Well, she put you in this mess. And you're doing everything for her, including lying.

Actually, she didn't. Dustin did. And Dustin called me.

Right after Brooke uploaded this phone call, Justin set the record straight, with me, and for everyone out there who's listening. Just understand that what I told her was not the truth. I was just trying to fucking play both sides. I was trying to get more information, and it backfired a little bit, okay? She's just really proving that she's a vindictive, crazy lady. I mean, that's all she's really doing. I've been trying to help you, and you understand that, right? I was just trying to help, man, and...

I was playing both sides and in order to play their side, I had to make up some fucking lies. I failed, man. It's my fault. I never told Dustin to lie to anybody. He chose to do that on his own, to try and get more information from Bo. After this call, he felt bad that maybe he had jeopardized my integrity as a journalist, but I told him that he didn't. It was then that he gave me permission to use his real voice.

In my conversations with Brooke, she kept telling me she was a victim in this situation and that the podcast brought her unwanted attention, even though at the time I hadn't even said her name yet.

But now, just a few days ago, Brooke did an exclusive televised interview with the CBS show 48 Hours, taking credit for having solved this case. CBS released a short segment of Brooke's interview on their website, and the full episode was supposed to air this past Saturday, but it didn't. Several up-and-vanished Facebook groups were outraged by the representation of Brooke and took it among themselves to do something about it.

Hundreds of Up and Vanished listeners sent countless emails and messages to the producers of 48 Hours expressing their concerns. I didn't ask them to do this. They felt compelled to on their own. And one day later, the 48 Hours episode with Brooke's full interview no longer appeared on the TV Guide. And instead, they played a rerun episode. By now, I've listened and re-listened to all my phone calls with Brooke over a dozen times. Several things stood out to me.

One, how in the world does Bo not know why Ryan killed Tara? He seems to know just about everything else, including details about Tara's purse and keys, and even how Ryan got into her house with a credit card. He would only know these details if Ryan told him. So, why was Ryan there in the first place? The fact that Bo couldn't answer this was a huge red flag to me. And what about those seven to eight people that were at Bo and Ryan's house that night? Who are these people?

And why wouldn't she tell me who they are? I just found it hard to believe that every single person had passed out and Ryan stole Bo's truck, drove 20 or more minutes to Tara's house on a whim, going unseen and undetected by 10 or more people. According to Bo Duke's arrest warrants, the crimes he committed occurred between October 23rd and October 28th, 2005.

So, if Bo Dukes is telling the truth, then the first time he saw Tara's body was that Wednesday, October 26th. But the arrest warrants state that these crimes happened all the way through October 28th, meaning that if Bo's story is true, they were destroying Tara's body the following Friday night, October 28th.

I've talked to multiple people at this point, who've all told me that Beau and Ryan routinely threw parties out there on the orchard. Even on the night of Tara's disappearance, Brooke told me that there were seven to eight people there that night. If these parties happened every weekend, and they were doing this on the night of Friday, October 28th, then there may have been people there. Potential witnesses, or even accomplices. The fact that Brooke would never reveal their names to me only added to my suspicions. Who was there?

And what do they know? Right before I aired this episode, I got a random phone call from another friend of Bo Duke's who served in the army with him. He, just like Bo's friend Dustin, was told a similar story. He and I were in separate units, but there were different units in the barracks. I was up on the very top floor and he was on the bottom.

What I remember is that he helped get rid of a body on the pecan farm and he burned it. I think he might have liked knowing that biggest secret. He said that the body was brought to him and he said that they built the fire and that they used diesel fuel because it might burn longer. Bo mentioned like

Letting that fire, like, burn, like, all night. There was a party spot, I guess, that they talked about. Kind of remember Bo saying that they had a party out there. I remember it being real haunting.

Enough for me to remember, if you're having parties out there routinely, that gives you a way to conceal. You know, a fire just burning out there is going to raise questions, but a fire out there where a bunch of people are partying, that's not as peculiar. And I think that could have even been, you know, the plan.

Thanks for listening to episode 19. This Thursday, we're having a Q&A episode, so please call us with any questions you have at 770-545-6411. And just a heads up, we'll be taking off this coming Monday for Memorial Day, but we'll be back again the following week with episode 20, coming on Monday, June 5th. Be sure to tune in this Thursday for our Q&A episode and a teaser for what's to come in the rest of this season.

Today's episode was mixed and mastered by Resonate Recordings. If you want to improve the quality of your podcast or start a podcast of your own, check them out at resonaterecordings.com. Thanks, guys. I'll see you Thursday.