OCILLA — The night Tara Grinstead disappeared, friends say she attended a beauty pageant at the Grand Theatre in Fitzgerald. She was a supporter of the pageant scene and a former Miss Tifton. After the Oct. 22 pageant, she reportedly ate dinner with friends and went to her home in Ocilla. Police, firefighters, Emergency Management officials, the GBI and volunteers have been looking for her ever since.

Grinstead’s coworkers reported the Hawkinsville native missing on Oct. 24. Police place her her last known contact with anyone at around 11 p.m. on Oct. 22. A search of her house turned up no clues. In fact, her house appeared undisturbed, according to Ocilla Police Chief Billy Hancock.

Volunteer searchers, mostly law enforcement and firefighters from across Georgia, gather daily at the Irwin County Senior Center, where Georgia Emergency Management Agency/Office of Homeland Security Area Eight Field Coordinator Diane May organizes grid and spot searches of Irwin County.

May says that the search teams, mounted on horseback or ATV, are looking for anything that might provide a clue as to Grinstead’s location. “They’re searching old barns and abandoned buildings out in the county.”

“They don’t know any details. They aren’t looking for anything specific. They are looking for anything that looks out of place, any personal effects that may lead to her,” May said Tuesday from the search command center.

May said that the number of volunteers that they have varies by the day, because a majority of them are public safety officials from other parts of the state. “They’re [mostly] law enforcement, firefighters, EMA [officers],” May said, “and a few volunteers.”

Grinstead’s disappearance and the subsequent search has garnered national media attention, with reports on CNN and Fox News, and friends and family members have set up a Web site, www.findtara.com. The Web site features pictures of Grinstead and her Irwin County High School room, where students and teachers have decorated her door with signs of support for her family, coworkers and the volunteers who are searching for her.

On Oct. 26, a $10,000 reward was offered for information leading to Grinstead’s safe return. Over the weekend, the sum was increased to $25,000. If you have any information regarding Grinstead’s whereabouts, please contact GBI agent Dominic Turner or Ocilla Police Detective Bill Baars at 229-468-7494. If you would like to volunteer in the search effort, please report to the search command post at the Irwin County Senior Center in Ocilla between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., or contact the command center at 229-468-9181 to find out how you can help.