Ray Gricar
Encyclopedia
Ray Frank Gricar was an American
attorney
who served as the district attorney
of Centre County, Pennsylvania
, from 1985–2005. On April 15, 2005, Gricar went missing
under mysterious circumstances and has not been heard from since.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Gricar received his Juris Doctor
degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law
and began his career as a prosecutor
for Cuyahoga County
. He moved to State College, Pennsylvania
, around 1980 and after a brief stint as an assistant district attorney, Gricar was elected district attorney of Centre County in 1985. He was re-elected four times before announcing that he would not run for re-election in the 2005 campaign.
Gricar was reported missing to authorities after failing to return home from a road trip. His car was found in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
, with his cell phone inside, and his laptop
computer was found in the adjacent Susquehanna River
; other than that, very little trace of Gricar has been found. When he had been missing for over six years with no trace of his whereabouts, Centre County authorities declared Gricar legally dead
on July 25, 2011.
, a prestigious Catholic school in Gates Mills
. Gricar went on to attend the University of Dayton
, where he became interested in studying law after working as an intern for the prosecutor's office. After graduating, he moved back to Cleveland to study law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law
. He obtained his Juris Doctor
and subsequently took a job as a prosecutor for Cuyahoga County
, specializing in prosecuting cases of rape
and murder
.
Gricar moved to State College, Pennsylvania
, around 1980, when his wife took a job at Pennsylvania State University
("Penn State"). He opted to become a stay-at-home dad to his young daughter following the move; however, when news spread that a prosecutor was living in the area, Centre County
District Attorney David E. Grine offered Gricar an assistant position, which he accepted. In 1985, the incumbent district attorney, Robert Mix (Grine's successor), chose not to run for re-election, and Gricar ran for the open position. He won the election by a margin of 600 votes.
A part-time job when he was first elected, Gricar successfully campaigned to make the Centre County DA job a full-time one in 1996. He was re-elected as DA in 1989, 1993, 1997 and 2001. During his tenure as DA, Gricar prosecuted the perpetrator of the 1996 Hetzel Union Building shooting
at Penn State. In 1998, Gricar declined to press charges against longtime Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky
following allegations of sexual abuse; 13 years later, in 2011, Sandusky would be arrested and charged by the Pennsylvania Attorney General
's office on multiple counts of child sexual abuse
. In 2004, Gricar announced he would not run for re-election and would retire from both the DA job and as a practicing attorney in December 2005, shortly after his 60th birthday.
at the time of his disappearance.
Ray Gricar's older brother, Roy, disappeared from his West Chester, Ohio
, home in May 1996. His body was found a week later in the Great Miami River
; authorities ruled his death a suicide
.
) on April 15, 2005, Gricar called Patty Fornicola, his live-in girlfriend, to inform her that he was driving through the Brush Valley area northeast of Centre Hall. Fornicola reported Gricar missing 12 hours later when he failed to return home.
Gricar's car, a red MINI Cooper, was discovered the following day in an antique store parking lot in Lewisburg. His county-issued cell phone was inside, but his laptop computer, keys and wallet were missing, and there were no signs of foul play. Police and family members noted that the location where the vehicle was found – adjacent to two bridges over the Susquehanna River – bore some similarities to the location where the vehicle of Roy Gricar, Ray Gricar's older brother, was located before his body was found in the Great Miami River in Ohio in 1996.
Authorities searched the river and its banks in the days following the vehicle's discovery, but found no sign of Gricar. Pennsylvania authorities asked the FBI
to analyze Gricar's bank accounts, credit card records and cell phone records, but found no clues as to where he may have been.
On July 30, 2005, fishermen discovered Gricar's county-issued laptop computer in the Susquehanna River beneath a bridge between Lewisburg and Milton
. A Pennsylvania State Police
computer expert analyzed the computer and found that its hard drive was missing. Divers searched the area of the river near where the laptop was found over the next several days, but found nothing else. Two months later, a hard drive was recovered on the banks of the Susquehanna River about 100 yards (91.4 m) from where the laptop was found and is believed to be Gricar's; however, it was badly damaged, and analysis by the FBI, U.S. Secret Service
and the firm Kroll Ontrack – which had successfully recovered data from a hard drive recovered from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
– were all unable to recover any data from the hard drive. In April 2009, Bellefonte police revealed that before his disappearance, someone had used the home computer at Gricar's home to perform internet searches on topics such as "how to wreck a hard drive", "how to fry a hard drive" and "water damage to a notebook computer".
Gricar's disappearance has been the subject of at least two television documentaries: an episode of Haunting Evidence
first aired on Court TV
in June 2006, and an episode of Disappeared first aired on Investigation Discovery in February 2011. Additionally, an episode of CBS
' Without a Trace
featured Gricar's missing person information.
On June 30, 2011, Lara Gricar, Ray's daughter and trustee of his estate
, petitioned Centre County for a court declaration of presumed death
. County president judge David E. Grine approved the petition and declared Gricar legally dead on July 25, 2011.
A day after Gricar was declared legally dead, a man resembling Gricar was arrested on a misdemeanor charge in Utah and refused to reveal his identity to police. The "John Doe" was the same height and weight as Gricar and shared similar lips and some wrinkles with Gricar. Further, the man's fingerprints triggered no match. The similarities caused an internet sensation with speculation that Gricar had been found. Centre County authorities quickly sent copies of Gricar's fingerprints to Utah, hoping for a match. The man was eventually determined not to be Gricar.
After the revelations about the Penn State sex abuse scandal
in which it was revealed that Gricar had declined to prosecute Jerry Sandusky
, well-known forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht
said that "I believe that his disappearance is almost certainly related to this Penn State debacle." He continued, "You've got his car being found, locked with cellphones inside. The computers found and the hard drive is found there in the river. The body is never found. Looks to me like it was staged."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
attorney
Attorney
Attorney may refer to:*Attorney at law, a lawyer in some countries*Attorney general, the principal legal adviser to a government*Attorney-in-fact, a person authorised to act on someone else's behalf in a legal or business matter by a power of attorney...
who served as the district attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
of Centre County, Pennsylvania
Centre County, Pennsylvania
Centre County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is part of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 153,990....
, from 1985–2005. On April 15, 2005, Gricar went missing
Missing person
A missing person is a person who has disappeared for usually unknown reasons.Missing persons' photographs may be posted on bulletin boards, milk cartons, postcards, and websites, along with a phone number to be contacted if a sighting has been made....
under mysterious circumstances and has not been heard from since.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Gricar received his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Case Western Reserve University Franklin Thomas Backus School of Law is the law school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. It opened in 1892, making it one of the oldest law schools in the country. It was one of the first schools accredited by the American Bar Association and was...
and began his career as a prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
for Cuyahoga County
Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Cuyahoga County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. It is the most populous county in Ohio; as of the 2010 census, the population was 1,280,122. Its county seat is Cleveland. Cuyahoga County is part of Greater Cleveland, a metropolitan area, and Northeast Ohio, a...
. He moved to State College, Pennsylvania
State College, Pennsylvania
State College is the largest borough in Centre County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Centre County. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 42,034, and roughly double...
, around 1980 and after a brief stint as an assistant district attorney, Gricar was elected district attorney of Centre County in 1985. He was re-elected four times before announcing that he would not run for re-election in the 2005 campaign.
Gricar was reported missing to authorities after failing to return home from a road trip. His car was found in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
Lewisburg is a borough in Union County, Pennsylvania, United States, south by southeast of Williamsport and north of Harrisburg. In the past, it was the commercial center for a fertile grain and general farming region. The population was 5,620 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Union...
, with his cell phone inside, and his laptop
Laptop
A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...
computer was found in the adjacent Susquehanna River
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...
; other than that, very little trace of Gricar has been found. When he had been missing for over six years with no trace of his whereabouts, Centre County authorities declared Gricar legally dead
Death in absentia
Death in absentia is a legal declaration that a person is deceased in the absence of remains attributable to that person...
on July 25, 2011.
Early life and career
Gricar was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up in the city's Collinwood neighborhood. He attended high school at the Gilmour AcademyGilmour Academy
Gilmour Academy is an independent, Roman Catholic, coeducational, college-preparatory school in the Cleveland suburb of Gates Mills, Ohio. Founded in 1946 by the Brothers of Holy Cross, it offers a Montessori preschool program and traditional kindergarten through grade 12. A boarding program is...
, a prestigious Catholic school in Gates Mills
Gates Mills, Ohio
Gates Mills is a village in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,270 at the 2010 census. Gates Mills is an affluent suburb of Cleveland...
. Gricar went on to attend the University of Dayton
University of Dayton
The University of Dayton is a private Roman Catholic university operated by the Society of Mary located in Dayton, Ohio...
, where he became interested in studying law after working as an intern for the prosecutor's office. After graduating, he moved back to Cleveland to study law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Case Western Reserve University Franklin Thomas Backus School of Law is the law school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. It opened in 1892, making it one of the oldest law schools in the country. It was one of the first schools accredited by the American Bar Association and was...
. He obtained his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
and subsequently took a job as a prosecutor for Cuyahoga County
Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Cuyahoga County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. It is the most populous county in Ohio; as of the 2010 census, the population was 1,280,122. Its county seat is Cleveland. Cuyahoga County is part of Greater Cleveland, a metropolitan area, and Northeast Ohio, a...
, specializing in prosecuting cases of rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
.
Gricar moved to State College, Pennsylvania
State College, Pennsylvania
State College is the largest borough in Centre County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is the principal city of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Centre County. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 42,034, and roughly double...
, around 1980, when his wife took a job at Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
("Penn State"). He opted to become a stay-at-home dad to his young daughter following the move; however, when news spread that a prosecutor was living in the area, Centre County
Centre County, Pennsylvania
Centre County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is part of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 153,990....
District Attorney David E. Grine offered Gricar an assistant position, which he accepted. In 1985, the incumbent district attorney, Robert Mix (Grine's successor), chose not to run for re-election, and Gricar ran for the open position. He won the election by a margin of 600 votes.
A part-time job when he was first elected, Gricar successfully campaigned to make the Centre County DA job a full-time one in 1996. He was re-elected as DA in 1989, 1993, 1997 and 2001. During his tenure as DA, Gricar prosecuted the perpetrator of the 1996 Hetzel Union Building shooting
Hetzel Union Building shooting
The Hetzel Union Building shooting refers to an incident at the Pennsylvania State University where two students were shot, one fatally. At the time of the incident, it was the first murder on the Penn State campus in over 25 years.- The incident :...
at Penn State. In 1998, Gricar declined to press charges against longtime Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky
Jerry Sandusky
Gerald Arthur "Jerry" Sandusky is a retired American football coach. Sandusky served as an assistant coach for his entire career, mostly at Pennsylvania State University under Joe Paterno, and was one of the most notable major college football coaches never to have held a head coaching position. ...
following allegations of sexual abuse; 13 years later, in 2011, Sandusky would be arrested and charged by the Pennsylvania Attorney General
Pennsylvania Attorney General
The Pennsylvania Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It became an elected office in 1980. Currently, the office is held by Linda Kelly.- Authority and Responsibilities :...
's office on multiple counts of child sexual abuse
Penn State sex abuse scandal
The Penn State sex abuse scandal refers to allegations that former Pennsylvania State University football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky sexually assaulted or had inappropriate contact with at least eight underage boys on or near university property...
. In 2004, Gricar announced he would not run for re-election and would retire from both the DA job and as a practicing attorney in December 2005, shortly after his 60th birthday.
Personal life
Gricar met Barbara Gray during his undergraduate study at the University of Dayton. She moved to Cleveland with him after graduation and they married in 1969. They adopted a baby girl, Lara, in 1978. Ray and Barbara Gricar divorced in 1991; Ray married again in 1996, but divorced his second wife in 2001. In 2002 or 2003 Gricar moved in with his girlfriend, Patty Fornicola, an employee of the Centre County District Attorney's office. He was living with Fornicola in her childhood home in BellefonteBellefonte, Pennsylvania
Bellefonte is a borough in Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It lies about twelve miles northeast of State College and is part of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area...
at the time of his disappearance.
Ray Gricar's older brother, Roy, disappeared from his West Chester, Ohio
West Chester Township, Butler County, Ohio
West Chester Township, formerly known as Union Township, is a township located in the southeast corner of Butler County in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio, one of thirteen townships in the county. It is situated between Sharonville and Monroe, about 18 miles north of Cincinnati, and...
, home in May 1996. His body was found a week later in the Great Miami River
Great Miami River
The Great Miami River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long, in southwestern Ohio in the United States...
; authorities ruled his death a suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
Disappearance
At 11:30 a.m. (EDTEastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
) on April 15, 2005, Gricar called Patty Fornicola, his live-in girlfriend, to inform her that he was driving through the Brush Valley area northeast of Centre Hall. Fornicola reported Gricar missing 12 hours later when he failed to return home.
Gricar's car, a red MINI Cooper, was discovered the following day in an antique store parking lot in Lewisburg. His county-issued cell phone was inside, but his laptop computer, keys and wallet were missing, and there were no signs of foul play. Police and family members noted that the location where the vehicle was found – adjacent to two bridges over the Susquehanna River – bore some similarities to the location where the vehicle of Roy Gricar, Ray Gricar's older brother, was located before his body was found in the Great Miami River in Ohio in 1996.
Authorities searched the river and its banks in the days following the vehicle's discovery, but found no sign of Gricar. Pennsylvania authorities asked the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
to analyze Gricar's bank accounts, credit card records and cell phone records, but found no clues as to where he may have been.
On July 30, 2005, fishermen discovered Gricar's county-issued laptop computer in the Susquehanna River beneath a bridge between Lewisburg and Milton
Milton, Pennsylvania
Milton is a borough in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River, north of Harrisburg. Settled in 1770, it was incorporated in 1817, and is governed by a charter that was revised in 1890...
. A Pennsylvania State Police
Pennsylvania State Police
The Pennsylvania State Police is the state police force of Pennsylvania, responsible for statewide law enforcement. It was founded in 1905 by order of Governor Samuel Pennypacker, in response to the private police forces used by mine and mill owners to stop worker strikes and the inability or...
computer expert analyzed the computer and found that its hard drive was missing. Divers searched the area of the river near where the laptop was found over the next several days, but found nothing else. Two months later, a hard drive was recovered on the banks of the Susquehanna River about 100 yards (91.4 m) from where the laptop was found and is believed to be Gricar's; however, it was badly damaged, and analysis by the FBI, U.S. Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
and the firm Kroll Ontrack – which had successfully recovered data from a hard drive recovered from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission, STS-107, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, resulting in the death of all seven crew members...
– were all unable to recover any data from the hard drive. In April 2009, Bellefonte police revealed that before his disappearance, someone had used the home computer at Gricar's home to perform internet searches on topics such as "how to wreck a hard drive", "how to fry a hard drive" and "water damage to a notebook computer".
Gricar's disappearance has been the subject of at least two television documentaries: an episode of Haunting Evidence
Haunting Evidence
Haunting Evidence is an American documentary television series following the travels of a psychic profiler, a medium, and a paranormal investigator. The trio travels the United States investigating "cold case" homicide and missing persons cases...
first aired on Court TV
Court TV
truTV is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Time Warner. The network launched as Court TV in 1991, changing to truTV in 2008...
in June 2006, and an episode of Disappeared first aired on Investigation Discovery in February 2011. Additionally, an episode of CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' Without a Trace
Without a Trace
Without a Trace is an American television drama which originally ran on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009. The series was set in New York City and concerned a fictitious FBI Missing Persons Unit.-Premise:...
featured Gricar's missing person information.
On June 30, 2011, Lara Gricar, Ray's daughter and trustee of his estate
Estate (law)
An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...
, petitioned Centre County for a court declaration of presumed death
Death in absentia
Death in absentia is a legal declaration that a person is deceased in the absence of remains attributable to that person...
. County president judge David E. Grine approved the petition and declared Gricar legally dead on July 25, 2011.
A day after Gricar was declared legally dead, a man resembling Gricar was arrested on a misdemeanor charge in Utah and refused to reveal his identity to police. The "John Doe" was the same height and weight as Gricar and shared similar lips and some wrinkles with Gricar. Further, the man's fingerprints triggered no match. The similarities caused an internet sensation with speculation that Gricar had been found. Centre County authorities quickly sent copies of Gricar's fingerprints to Utah, hoping for a match. The man was eventually determined not to be Gricar.
After the revelations about the Penn State sex abuse scandal
Penn State sex abuse scandal
The Penn State sex abuse scandal refers to allegations that former Pennsylvania State University football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky sexually assaulted or had inappropriate contact with at least eight underage boys on or near university property...
in which it was revealed that Gricar had declined to prosecute Jerry Sandusky
Jerry Sandusky
Gerald Arthur "Jerry" Sandusky is a retired American football coach. Sandusky served as an assistant coach for his entire career, mostly at Pennsylvania State University under Joe Paterno, and was one of the most notable major college football coaches never to have held a head coaching position. ...
, well-known forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht
Cyril Wecht
Dr. Cyril Harrison Wecht is an American forensic pathologist. He has been a consultant in numerous high-profile cases, but is perhaps best known for his criticism of the Warren Commission's findings concerning the assassination of John F...
said that "I believe that his disappearance is almost certainly related to this Penn State debacle." He continued, "You've got his car being found, locked with cellphones inside. The computers found and the hard drive is found there in the river. The body is never found. Looks to me like it was staged."
External links
- FBI Missing Persons Listing
- Missing Persons: Ray F. Gricar at America's Most Wanted
- Ray Gricar special section at Centre Daily Times