Unsolved mysteries are some of our more intriguing cases, with missing persons being the most fascinating. The lack of a concrete solution lets us speculate endlessly about what happened and why. This week’s post presents the case of Ray Gricar, who disappeared in 2005 and was never seen again.
Ray Gricar
Ray Frank Gricar was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in one of that city’s neighborhoods. After receiving his law degree from Case Western Reserve University, he worked for the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office, specializing in rape and murder cases.
When his wife took a job at Pennsylvania State University in 1980, Gricar and his family moved to State College, Pennsylvania. At first, he opted to be a stay-at-home dad and take care of his young daughter. However, the Centre County District Attorney offered him a job as his assistant, and Gricar accepted.
When Robert Mix, the incumbent district attorney, chose not to seek reelection in 1985, Ray Gricar ran for the open position and won. He subsequently won reelection in 1989, 1993, 1997, and 2001. During his tenure, Gricar lobbied to have the position of district attorney be full-time, succeeding in 1996.
In 1995, the district attorney’s office received allegations of child sexual abuse against assistant Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky. Gricar declined to prosecute, and Sandusky continued his abuse for another dozen years.
Ray Gricar Vanishes
On April 15, 2005, Gricar was returning from a trip. He phoned his girlfriend, Patty Fornicola, at 11:30 a.m. to tell her he was driving through an area northeast of Centre Hall, a small community about ten miles east of State College. He never made it home. Fornicola reported him missing that evening.
The following day, authorities found Gricar’s red Mini Cooper parked at Street of Shops, an antique mall in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, more than 50 miles away from State College by the shortest route. Inside, they found Gricar’s county-issued cellphone but not his laptop, car keys, or wallet. There was no sign of foul play, and a check of Gricar’s bank and phone records revealed no clues to where he might have gone. Relatives noted that the location of the car, near a bridge over the Susquehanna River, bore some similarities to how Ray’s older brother, Roy, left his car when he died by suicide in 1996.
More than two months later, on July 30, fishermen found Gricar’s county-issued laptop underneath the bridge linking Lewisburg and Milton, Pennsylvania. The computer’s hard drive was missing. Over the next few days, divers searched the river in vain for the missing disk. Two months later, someone did come across a hard drive on the riverbank about 100 yards from where the laptop was found. The disk had suffered considerable damage, and neither the FBI nor data recovery firm Kroll Ontrack could extract any meaningful information.
In June 2011, Gricar’s daughter, Lara, petitioned Centre County to declare him legally dead. Judge David E. Grine declared him dead on July 25, 2011. Coincidentally, Grine was the district attorney who initially hired Gricar after his move to State College.
What Happened to Ray Gricar?
There are three primary theories of what happened to Ray Gricar. The first, and the one police feel is most likely, is that he died by suicide like his older brother had five years earlier. Some similarities between the two cases lend support to this theory. Gricar’s family, however, does not believe he killed himself. He had no history of depression or suicidal thoughts, and he was said to be looking forward to his retirement when his term as district attorney expired.
Foul play is also a possibility. During his time as district attorney, Gricar was involved with police in breaking up a heroin ring. Police investigated the persons involved in the ring for any possible connection to Gricar’s disappearance but found none. There were also hints—but no evidence—that his refusal to prosecute Jerry Sandusky might be behind his disappearance.
A third theory is that Gricar engineered his disappearance to start a new life elsewhere. There were several reported Gricar sightings in the area, although none could be confirmed as genuine. The day after Judge Grine declared Gricar legally dead, police in Utah arrested a “John Doe” who bore more than a passing resemblance to Gricar. Fingerprints proved the “John Doe” was not the missing attorney.
Epilogue
There have been no verifiable sightings of Ray Gricar in almost twenty years. If he is still alive, he would be 79 years old.
You can read more about the Ray Gricar case in The Disappearance of Ray Gricar by Pete Dove.
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