Congressman To Meet With FBI To Discuss Missing School Teacher
Kingston Looks For Federal Role in Four Month Old Search for Tara Grinstead

By Seamus McGraw

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(Crime Library ) OCILLA, GA (Jan. 24, 2006) Though he has nothing but praise for the way the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has handled the four month old probe into the fate of missing school teacher and beauty queen Tara Grinstead, Congressman Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) says he plans to meet, perhaps as early as Wednesday, with FBI officials to discuss the young woman's mysterious disappearance.

"I don't sense that they're sitting on anything, I think they're vigorously pursuing this," Kingston said of the state's leading investigative unit during a brief interview Tuesday with Crime Library. "This is you know high profile so that they're not going to let it get on the back shelf."

Kingston, a seven-term Republican and a member of the House GOP leadership, made his comments after a brief meeting with Grinstead's family and local authorities spearheading the search for the missing woman. Kingston, whose district includes the rural Georgia community where Grinstead was last seen, credited the GBI with conducting a thorough investigation, thus far. Investigators, he noted, have quizzed all the key players in the missing teacher's life, including family members and former boyfriends. But if authorities have learned anything that might shed light on Grinstead's fate, he said, they're keeping it to themselves.

"Everybody has checked out...those that were close to her, but then again there could be things that the GBI for their own reasons don't want to disclose up to this point," the congressman said.

Despite his praise for the GBI, Kingston said he has scheduled a meeting with federal investigators to discuss a possible FBI role in the probe. "The FBI has not really been called in on the case, they're gonna help the GBI if they're asked, but right now the GBI has been handling it themselves, there's no federal hook," he said. Kingston said he plans to explore with FBI officials "what it is that we can do, what would bring them in."

While the FBI can assist local and state authorities, and offer its technical and investigative expertise as a resource to them, it is generally barred from actively participating in a case unless it is a major crime that crossed state lines or unless it involves a violation of federal laws.

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Contact Seamus McGraw at seamusm@ptd.net