this is "nightline." >> tonight, break in the case. a beauty queen gone missing. >> everybody was a suspect. nobody was a suspect. >> police hitting dead ends until now. almost 12 years later, a suspect arrested. once a student at the same school where she worked. what led them to the alleged killer. plus planet earth ii, the sequel to the hit bbc series taking us inside the drama of life in the wild. survival and love in the world's most remote and beautiful places. using cutting-edge technology and miraculous ingenuity. >> there was one guy that he had an eagle he had trained to carry cameras. >> to capture the stunning theater of mother nature. inside the oscars. behind the scenes of the producers of the biggest night in show business.

a peek into the luxurious green room. and what's the connection between sunday's academy awards and austin powers? but first the "nightline 5." >> mom's got this cold. stuffy nose, no sleep, mouth breather. >> just put on a breathe right strip. it instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than cold medicine alone. shut your mouth and say good night, mouth breathers. breathe right. meta appetite control. it helps put some distance between you and temptation. clinically proven to help reduce hunger between meals. for metamucil, the number one doctor-recommended brand. >> number one in just 60 seconds. in our suvs, you feel every mountain we've ever conquered. in our sports cars, you feel every podium we've ever climbed.

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thank you for joining us. a stunning breakthrough in a high-profile missing persons case. for more than a decade, police have been searching for answers in the disappearance of a georgia beauty queen. finally an arrest made. tonight learning how police tracked down the suspect. here's abc's matt gutman. >> reporter: she was a beloved high school teacher and an experienced beauty pageant contestant. 30-year-old tara grinstead vanished in 2005, her disappearance an unsolved mystery that consumed this small southern town and made headlines across the country. >> tara grinstead was beautiful on the outside and on the inside. she had won several beauty pageants. >> reporter: she was crowned miss tipton, reportedly last seen at a cookout with friends, then she went missing. >> her disappearance almost two weeks ago has galvanized this community. >> reporter: her family desperate for answers, even creating this website to try to solicit tips. but the mysterious case went cold.

>> good afternoon. thank you all for coming. >> reporter: just this week, nearly 12 years later, a break in the case that has plagued this community for so long. >> i can say that this gentleman never came up on our radar through the investigation. >> reporter: it was saturday, october 22nd, 2005. tara had reportedly been up with friends at that cookout. little did they know it would be the last time they'd see her alive. she was reported missing shortly after. >> the ocela police department responded to her residence. immediately they suspected foul play. >> reporter: her home was locked. her car in her driveway. her dog was left outside. only her purse and keys were missing. >> tara's home was searched extensively for several days, which produced little physical evidence. as with all missing person cases the investigation started focusing on tara's close friends and associates. >> everybody was a suspect, nobody was a suspect.

the gbi and local police, irwin county, worked like dogs on this case. >> reporter: television host and former prosecutor nancy grace reported on this story, visiting tara's family and home in ocela, georgia. >> when i went into tara's home, the most eerie feeling came over me. to this day i remember meeting with tara's family. and that sense of longing. that sense of really giving up hope they would ever find her alive. but just wanting answers. >> reporter: the community rallied together, holding vigils and wearing t-shirts with her picture. >> i cannot even express how my family and our friends -- i mean, the outpouring of love for tara. >> that's her there. >> reporter: maria woods harper met tara in high school. they became close friends. >> that's us on the way home from one of our beach trips. tara was full of energy, full of

hope. she had a lot of faith. she made herself a pageant girl. not because she wanted to be the prettiest girl. not because she wanted people to think she was beautiful. she wanted scholarship money. >> reporter: through these 11-plus years the gbi and other law enforcement officers have received hundreds and hundreds of tips. each and every tip that came in was vetted and checked against what we had already done in this investigation. each lead was thoroughly exhausted. >> reporter: all those leads a dead end. and the case grew cold. but years later, tara's story piques the interest of atlanta filmmaker paine lindsay. >> after digging i found out this is the largest case file in the state of georgia. so that in itself, just the general mystery surrounding the whole thing, drew me in. >> reporter: he decides to create a podcast called up and vanished to help generate new leads in her disappearance. >> this is up and vanished, the investigation of tara grinstead. i'm your host, payne lindsay.

>> my first goal was to find out what happened to tara grinstead. my second goal was to find out who had nothing to do with this. >> reporter: he worked alongside local reporter dusty vasey to gather whatever new clues they could. now this week investigators reveal a shocking discovery. >> a few days ago, an individual came forward and reported that they had information in tara's disappearance. >> reporter: a tip leading to the arrest of this man, seen here in his first court appearance yesterday. 33-year-old ryan alexander duke was a student at the school at which tara taught. graduating about three years before she disappeared. he had no prior criminal record, but now he's been charged with murder and concealing her death. he's also been charged with aggravated assault and burglary. duke has not yet entered a plea. >> they're going to interview

him. if he doesn't talk, they really are sort of stuck with pulling his background apart and trying to figure out what are his movements? because clearly, for 12 years, he's been able to hide this crime. >> reporter: her family grateful that investigators never gave up on their beloved tara. >> we always believed that it would be solved, we just did not know when. for us this just starts another chapter in a very long and painful journey. we ask that you keep us in your prayers. our wounds are deep and our hearts are broken. >> reporter: investigators will not comment on whether payne's podcast or news coverage directly led to this latest tip, but analysts say keeping the story in the news can help investigators. by regularly keeping a case in the public's eye, whether it be on television, radio, podcasts, social media, et cetera, you

never know who's going to see it. >> did you have anything to do with the death of your wife? >> i don't know that she's dead. >> reporter: the hbo docu-series "the jinx" chronicled the life of robert durst, the series that led investigators in los angeles to hone in on a key clue in the unsolved murder of durst's friend susan berman who was found shot to death in her home almost 20 years ago. in tara's case, the details of exactly what that tip was, or who gave it, still under wraps as the investigation continues. >> usually a tip that's 12 years since the crime is going to be someone that either recently heard a piece of information about who was involved, or they've known all along and just never shared the information because of their relationship maybe with the person of interest. >> reporter: as for tara grinstead's friends and family, they continue to honor her

memory as the search for answers and her remains continues. >> everybody says closure comes with this. i don't know if you have closure, really, after 11 years and four months of not knowing. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm matt gutman in los angeles. next, an eagle-eyed view of mother nature courtesy of bbc america's "planet earth ii." later, the strange connection between this sunday's oscars and austin powers. >> yeah, baby! imy moderate to severeng crohn's disease. i didn't think there was anything else to talk about. but then i realized there was. so, i finally broke the silence with my doctor about what i was experiencing. he said humira is for people like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms

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in 2007, bbc america's "planet earth" series blew our minds with astonishing views of nature's hidden treasures. now with today's state-of-the-art technology they're getting closer to the world's wildest animals than ever before. here's abc's nick watt. >> reporter: this is nature as i've never seen it before. planet earth ii airing on bbc america. there's stirring music. ♪ slick camera work. bump-backs. >> during the breeding season the flamingos perform these peculiar courtship dances -- >> reporter: and of course the

now 90-year-old david attenborough's voice. >> lizards that soar like dragons -- >> reporter: it's 10 years since the mind-shattering "planet earth" won. >> it's a hard act to follow, it took us five years to make it. we had to go to places we hadn't been before. >> we can now show life on our planet in entirely new ways, bring you closer to animals than ever before -- >> camera technology is a big part of what we do. planting gyro-stabilized mounts. so you can lie there and move the camera past these creatures. makes the audience forget they're people, that they're even an audience. they feel, i'm there. >> reporter: motion-activated cameras at 16,000 feet to capture the reclusive snow leopard. >> i think it's probably the most amazing remote camera shot anyone's done anywhere.

>> reporter: planning a staff of 1,000, 40 countries, four years in production. >> it's like a military operation at times. sometimes we would have six or seven shoots going out in the same weeks. >> reporter: in this series there's talk of evolution, survival, freshly hatched marine iguanas instinctively know to run for their lives. >> people are so completely wrapped up in the drama. i think they also see a connection. they almost can put themselves in the shoes of that poor iguana. >> reporter: i find the series almost humanizes. i related, got emotional. heart-tugging drama. a daddy penguin desperate to feed his hungry kids, waiting amongst a colony of thousands, how will he find them? thankfully a happy ending. and there's a hapless hero on a mission for love.

>> that's an enticing call. from a female. >> reporter: will he? won't he? it's a slo-mo nail biter. a hollywood rom-com. >> could this be her? he does his best to put on a turn of speed. but she's not the one. she already has a baby. >> reporter: the island episode alone takes us places most of us will never go. madagascar. >> the island now has some 250,000 different species, most found nowhere else on earth. >> reporter: and galapagos, of course, for surfing seals and their extraordinary neighbors. >> sea-going iguanas. they are conveniently darrveget. but since there's little food for them on land, marine iguanas graze on the sea floor. >> reporter: there's a whole episode devoted to the mountains

and their lively inhabitants. >> some itches just have to be scratched. >> i've got two small kids as well. so i'm always on that kind of dad mission to make them smile. >> to best spread their scent, they really have to put their back into it. >> reporter: this footage actually shot by an eagle. >> there was one guy who had an eagle that he had trained to carry cameras. we thought, well, this is an interesting opportunity. >> reporter: the last show in the series dedicated to how they pulled this off. resilience. some gallows humor. >> they tend to use my tent as a poop spot. kind of get used to hearing at night a constant estimate on top of the tent. >> reporter: immense bravery. ♪

>> reporter: patience brings pay dirt. >> ow! you do get bugs, you do get diseases, you do feel uncomfortable. but you generally feel that's compensated by what you see and what you achieve. >> reporter: there's also an episode our ban wildlife, our changing planet. they didn't do that in series one. animals often adapt and thrive in our manmade jungle. >> new york city has the highest density of nesting peregrines anywhere on the planet. down at street level, there is a lot of potential prey. a leopard. >> reporter: mumbai, india. >> every night under the cover of darkness they come out to hunt. >> reporter: sometimes, not often, people are their prey. usually it's pigs.

>> the highest concentration of leopards in the world is right here. >> reporter: given my line of work this might sound strange. one secret for me, lest host, more animals. we barely see david attenborough, it's all about nature. >> never have those wildernesses been as fragile and precious as they are today. >> reporter: we hear that wonderful voice and see these unforgettable images. i'm nick watt for "nightline" in los angeles. >> "planet earth ii" airs saturdays on bbc america. next, the producers of this sunday's academy awards taking us into the celebrity green room and revealing their biggest anxiety about the show. there's no party like a lobster party,

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you feel every mountain we've ever conquered. in our sports cars, you feel every podium we've ever climbed. and now, they've come together to create something you've never felt before. introducing the glc coupe. part suv. part sports car. all mercedes-benz. finally tonight, some of the hardest-working producers at this sunday's academy awards aren't even nominated.

here again is abc's nick watt. ♪ there's only you and i >> reporter: who will win the gorgeous gosling's "la la land"? >> i can't be the guardian. >> the other affleck, denzel, amy, emma? some nominees writing speeches they will never deliver. but the producers, rehearsing a show we know hundreds of millions will watch -- >> when you're asked to do a job like this, trepidation, anxiety? >> no. >> we chased it, then we got the job, then we got nervous. >> 4:00 a.m. hyperventilating? >> running time is our main anxiety. >> i was hoping you'd break the 4:23 record. >> no! don't jinx it. >> the chances are it's going to get political. >> we feel like it's their time to shine in that 45 seconds, to use that time -- by the way, it begins the minute they get out of the seat. >> reporter: for winners, 45 seconds to walk, accept, and speak. >> it's thrilling and scary. when the winners are up there,

they really have us by the thing that i can't say. >> we like the spontaneous moments. we'd take a streaker. >> reporter: that hasn't happened since '74. won't happen again. >> if i try to get in naked, it wouldn't happen? >> reporter: this producer pair worked together in austin powers days. >> oh, behave! >> reporter: they know how to entertain. >> i like the emotional moments like when halle berry won, her speech was really moving and emotional. >> this moment is so much bigger than me. >> reporter: that year by the way was the 4:23 longest show ever. >> if something like that is happening you're not going to start playing the music? >> no, no, of course not. it's not a case-by-case basis. >> unless it's someone who's wronged us in our careers. >> that's right. >> reporter: backstage the rolex green room is ready. the venetian crystal chandelier. no cameras allowed sunday night. they made me take my shoes off.

if only these walls could talk monday morning. i'm nick watt for "nightline" in hollywood. >> you can see the academy awards this sunday night right here on abc. thank you for watching abc news. and as always, we're online at abcnews.com and our "nightline" facebook page. thanks for the company, america. have a good weekend. good night. >> hey, everybody, i'm hoping to make some people very rich today. maybe $1 million rich. did i mention i love this job? let's play "who wants to be millionaire." [cheers and applause] [dramatic music] ♪ welcome to "who wants to be a millionaire." are you guys ready to play today? i am, too. our first contestant has been running a business

for the last 17 years and needs to win $1 million to help expand her family's restaurant. from tallahassee, florida, please welcome alicea acevedo. [cheers and applause] >> hi. >> alicea, how you doing? welcome. >> thank you. >> come on in. welcome to "millionaire." >> thank you. thank you for having me. i'm so excited. >> so, family business. you have the restaurant. >> mm-hmm. >> what do you need this money for? >> well, we found out we're not able to stay in our current location-- the one we've been in. it's actually been in that location for 22 years before our family got it. and we need the money to move it. it costs a lot a lot of money to move. architect, plans, furniture, all that kinda stuff. so, it'll help us out a lot. >> well, this would be a very good endeavor then. this is great. we need this money. >> yes. >> i like a good story. >> yes. >> well, let me tell you how you're gonna win $1 million. >> okay. >> 14 questions. money values growing from $500 all the way up to that $1 million. every question you answer correctly moves you one step closer to that top prize. remember, at any time you can walk away with the money