Irwin County Judge Bill Reinhardt said Monday that 33-year-old Ryan Alexander Duke will stand trial beginning April 1, 2019.
Duke has been charged with the murder of Tara Grinstead who has been missing since 2005 when she disappeared from her hometown of Ocilla in South Georgia. Duke was indicted in 2017, along with Bo Dukes who was charged with helping dispose of the body.
The judge still must weigh in on where the trial will take place. The defense has requested the case be moved out of the county because of the publicity, and prosecutors have agreed, but a judge has the final say.