PA PA - Ray Gricar, 59, Bellefonte, 15 April 2005 - #5

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I've tried to develop a witness list from published sources:


4/15/05 in or near Lewisburg

1. Woman at Museum 12:00 Noon, reported Centre Daily Times (CDT)

2. McKnight’s witness, c. 5:00 PM, includes Mini, CDT

3. Witnesses, Mini being moved in lot, c. 5:30-6:30 PM (multiple), CDT

4. Alvey, Remember When owner, in SoS, in the evening (after 6:00 PM), possibly 4/16/05, reported Daily Collegian (DC).

4/15/05 in Bellefonte

1. Fenton, Courthouse, metallic colored car, 3:00 PM,
CDT.

2. Grine, 3:00 PM or 4/14/05


4/16/05 in Lewisburg

1. Bennett, lunchtime, CDT

2. Workers, 2, saw RFG at the SoS, just after lunch, CDT

4/18/05 in Wilkes-Barre

1. Man at bar, Highland Avenue, evening, PPG. Called BPD 4/22/05

2. Bartender, identified after police checked
 
On the prior thread, I said:

I'm guessing that the second witness contacted the PSP or BPD. I'm told that he was not from the Wilkes-Barre area (and not from Centre County) and that he would be the type to have MEGA-credibility. I've heard, second hand of the account, and it would fit with someone trying to somewhat disguise his identity. They talked for about 5 minutes, so it wasn't just walking past the guy on a street.

Now, we have two witnesses that put Mr. Gricar in the same place, a bar in Wilkes-Barre, at the same time, the evening of 4/18/05. Both are sure and both got more than a fleeting glimpse of him. Both may have identified his voice. While the bartender is probably credible, the second witness has major credibility, on a number of levels. This is what would move my numbers.
Click to expand...

This report was it.
 
It does sound like he just walked away from his old life. I don't think he would commit suicide because of his brother and the pain that he saw his nephews go through much less what it did to Ray. I think he just decided to start a new life and left everything behind including his car. Someone must have picked him up in the parking lot and that is why the dogs couldn't find his scent outside of the parking lot. I would also imagine that he had been socking money away for awhile maybe under someone elses name in some other city.

If he did just walk away I would bet that he has contacted his daughter sometime since and has sworn her to secrecy. He must have had his reasons for leaving but I don't think he would just disappear and leave his daughter never knowing where he is. That would be as bad as his brother committing suicide and his nephews having to cope with it.

This might be a case like Nick F. and we may never know what really happened to Ray.
 
In September of 2005, Mr. Gricar's daughter passed a polygraph.

I still need to be convinced that this walkaway, though the more that comes out, the more likely it becomes.

Basically, the question is, if Mr. Gricar left Lewisburg, how did he get out? The Wilkes-Barre location is just over 70 miles from where the car was found. He didn't grow wings and fly there.
 
The fourth anniversary of Ray Gricar's disappearance will be 4/15/09.
 
Detective: Gricar researched how to destroy hard drive
By Sara Ganim
BELLEFONTE — Before he disappeared April 15, 2005, former District Attorney Ray Gricar used his home computer to search the Internet for information on “how to wreck a hard drive,” “how to fry a hard drive,” and “water damage to a notebook computer.”

Ray Gricar's laptop computer at the Bellefonte Police Department on August 1, 2005. The computer was found missing the hard drive.

Tuesday, one day before the fourth anniversary of Gricar’s disappearance, Bellefonte Police Det. Matthew Rickard released information that raises the question as to why Gricar might have wanted to destroy that hard drive.

Gricar, who was planning to retire in eight months, went for a drive through Brush Valley, toward Lewisburg, on April 15, 2005, and hasn’t been heard from since.

What was believed to be his county-issued laptop computer hard drive was found in the Susquehanna River six months after he disappeared, separated from the computer itself, which was also found in the river.

Two FBI labs and Kroll Ontrack, a company that was able to recover data from hard drives on board Space Shuttle Columbia after it crashed, both evaluated the hard drive, but both attempts to recover information were unsuccessful.

The water damage from the Susquehanna River was too much.


More at link:
http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/story/1228044.html
 
Tomorrow is the anniversay of Ray's dissapearance.....really baffling. I think of him so often...he and Tybee are the reasons I am here.


Where are you Ray????? Do we need to find you and put you at peace, or did you run and are OK? So many questions.

My thoughts are with Ray and all involved in the coming days.
 
Pandora said:
Detective: Gricar researched how to destroy hard drive
By Sara Ganim
BELLEFONTE — Before he disappeared April 15, 2005, former District Attorney Ray Gricar used his home computer to search the Internet for information on “how to wreck a hard drive,” “how to fry a hard drive,” and “water damage to a notebook computer.”

Ray Gricar's laptop computer at the Bellefonte Police Department on August 1, 2005. The computer was found missing the hard drive.

Tuesday, one day before the fourth anniversary of Gricar’s disappearance, Bellefonte Police Det. Matthew Rickard released information that raises the question as to why Gricar might have wanted to destroy that hard drive.

Gricar, who was planning to retire in eight months, went for a drive through Brush Valley, toward Lewisburg, on April 15, 2005, and hasn’t been heard from since.

What was believed to be his county-issued laptop computer hard drive was found in the Susquehanna River six months after he disappeared, separated from the computer itself, which was also found in the river.

Two FBI labs and Kroll Ontrack, a company that was able to recover data from hard drives on board Space Shuttle Columbia after it crashed, both evaluated the hard drive, but both attempts to recover information were unsuccessful.

The water damage from the Susquehanna River was too much.


More at link:
http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/story/1228044.html
Click to expand...

The timing of this announcement is interesting.
 
Why is this coming out NOW??

snips

Before he disappeared on April 15, 2005, former Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar used his home computer to search the Internet for information on "how to wreck a hard drive" and "water damage to a notebook computer," police revealed Tuesday.

Investigators previously disclosed that they had, through interviews, heard Gricar was talking about ways to erase a hard drive with friends and colleagues about 16 months before he disappeared. A box for such software was seen at his house around January 2004.
"The investigation learned early on that Mr. Gricar had, in fact, purchased software to accomplish this," Rickard said. "It was believed that pending Mr. Gricar's retirement, he may have wanted to erase his county-issued laptop computer prior to returning the laptop to the district attorney's office."
 
So, preparing for retirement......or going.....where??

Police say Gricar might have been researching the topic because of his pending retirement. They believed he planned to keep the laptop computer. Authorities are still actively following leads in the case.

http://www.wrta.com/page.php?page_id=34663
 
Ray Gricar's disappearance has always been interesting to me -- perhaps because as a young reporter, I interviewed him once as a PSU college kid. Perhaps because I live so close to where he was last seen and know the area, perhaps purely because of the mystery surrounding his disappearance. I was in Lewisburg that day, and have often run thru my mind, "could I have seen him, or his mini -cooper in that parking lot?" I don't think so, because, I knew who he was, what he looked like. But, that doesn't stop my mind from searching.

With the new info released in our local paper today, I must admit that my first instinct was to think, "hmmm....seems to point to a set up". But, the more I think about it, the more the new info means nothing to me. It has failed to shed any light on the mystery, in my mind.

So, he looked up how to erase a hard drive memory? He was planning to retire in 9 months -- I'm sure he had a lot of personal information on his DA laptop, that he wanted erased before handing it over to the next DA. In fact, he apparently purchased the erasing program in 2004. And, if he was setting up his disappearance, would he really have discussed the "how to's" with collegues and family members, only to have their testimony brought to light later? For a smart man, that would have been pretty dumb.

Maybe, the Montour County DA is right -- maybe he was looking to erase the very info that was the cause of his disappearance (ie, the foul play scenario).

And, if he set up his disappearance, it would have taken months (if not years) of advance planning. Yet, there has been absolutely NOT one shred of evidence pointing to that.

Four years later, still a mystery. But, the latest press release has not changed my mind. I still think he was the victim of foul play, possibly because of a drug case he was working on with the joint task force.
 
maybe maybe, how, what??? I am just as confused today as when I was 4 yrs ago when I got the call from my sis that he went missing.:rolleyes::cool:
 
nittany90 said:
Maybe, the Montour County DA is right -- maybe he was looking to erase the very info that was the cause of his disappearance (ie, the foul play scenario).

And, if he set up his disappearance, it would have taken months (if not years) of advance planning. Yet, there has been absolutely NOT one shred of evidence pointing to that.

Four years later, still a mystery. But, the latest press release has not changed my mind. I still think he was the victim of foul play, possibly because of a drug case he was working on with the joint task force.
Click to expand...

I hat to disagree with Bob Buehner, but how on earth could a criminal have known that data was only on the laptop? How would he know where the laptop was?

In the case of long term things:

1. Mr. Gricar had a long term interest in the 1985 voluntary disappearance of Ohio police chief Mel Wiley. He was discussing the case, with which he had no personal involvement, at least eight years after it happened.

2. He had expressed an interest in erasing the drive 16 months prior to his disappearance.

3. He had registered the Mini Cooper in his girlfriend's name about 9 months before he disappeared.
 
J. J. in Phila said:
I hat to disagree with Bob Buehner, but how on earth could a criminal have known that data was only on the laptop? How would he know where the laptop was?

In the case of long term things:

1. Mr. Gricar had a long term interest in the 1985 voluntary disappearance of Ohio police chief Mel Wiley. He was discussing the case, with which he had no personal involvement, at least eight years after it happened.

2. He had expressed an interest in erasing the drive 16 months prior to his disappearance.

3. He had registered the Mini Cooper in his girlfriend's name about 9 months before he disappeared.
Click to expand...

Bolded, respectfully by me
In all the articles I have read, I never heard this mentioned. Can you cite the source? That puts a very interesting spin on the case, I must admit.
TIA.

If it was a walk-away, how did he plan it/sock money away for it? I'm sure the PD has examined his financial records very, very closely (this would be my very first line of investigation). To my knowledge, there were no suspicious financial movements either before or after April 15.

And, this case has been shown on the national (perhaps international) media. If he's out there, why has no-one seen him? Or even, reportedly seen him, since those reports of him being in a bar in Wilkes-Barre, dressed in a suit?

Again, simply having the interest to erase a hard drive, doesn't seal the deal for me. I'm curious about it, too, and I'm sure a search for "how to" would should up on my computer. Coincidence, possibly?

And, if it was suicide by jumping off the bridge, it's hard to believe that his body would not have surfaced after all these years (when his laptop and hard-drive -much smaller items, did).

I just want some hard evidence, pointing one way or the other. But sadly, I think the case is about to be officially closed by the BPD. Just a feeling.
 
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