The Mysterious Disappearance of District Attorney Ray Gricar

On April 15, 2005, driving his distinctive red Mini Cooper, Ray Gricar left his home in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania and never returned. Gricar was a well-respected district attorney approaching the end of a long and successful career. He had plans to retire in eight months and travel the country with his girlfriend, Patty Fornicola, until he vanished. No one knows for sure what happened to Gricar, and 19 years later, the case remains open.

Gricar Goes Missing

Around 11:30 the morning of his disappearance, Gricar called Fornicola to tell her he was skipping work to enjoy a long drive east towards Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. When Fornicola returned to their shared home after work, Gricar still wasn’t back. She thought nothing of it and left the house to go to the gym. When she returned home to find that Gricar was still not home, Fornicola grew worried. She called his cell phone, but it went to voice mail. Fornicola called the police and reported him missing.

Police Investigate

The next morning, the police began their search for Gricar’s car. Eventually the Mini Cooper was found parked in the lot of an antique mall in Lewisburg that Gricar was known to visit. Inside the car police found Gricar’s powered down cellphone, a bottle of water, and strangely, cigarette ash – Gricar didn’t smoke and reportedly disliked cigarettes. Gricar’s body has never been found.

Some months later, the police recovered Gricar’s laptop computer. Two fishermen found the device in a river near the spot authorities found Gricar’s car. Mysteriously the hard drive was missing. Though authorities did recover it separately a short time later, the drive was damaged, and authorities could not recover any of its data.

Competing Theories

Theories abound as to what might have happened to Ray Gricar. One popular interpretation is that Gricar could have committed suicide. Gricar’s own brother, Roy, died by suicide in eerily similar circumstances. Both men’s cars were found parked near bridges overlooking rivers although in his case, Roy’s body was eventually found in the river. Gricar struggled with depression, but was happy in his relationship with Fornicola, had a daughter who lived in Washington, and was looking forward to retirement by all accounts.

Another theory holds that Gricar left behind his old life to escape from something or someone. Given the trashed hard drive and strange circumstances surrounding his disappearance it’s possible. Gricar had recently searched “how to wreck a hard drive” on his home computer. Perhaps there was something he was trying to hide.

Connection to Jerry Sandusky

The strangest theory involves Gricar’s connection to Jerry Sandusky, the Penn State football coach who would be convicted of heinous crimes in 2014. Gricar investigated Sandusky as far back as 1998, but never pressed any charges. Could Gricar’s disappearance have been related to Sandusky? While the Centre County prosecutor’s office believes there is no link between the two events, forensic pathologist Ceril Wecht sees it differently. On the possibility of the two cases being connected, Wecht told Dateline: Secrets Uncovered, “For anybody, anybody to suggest otherwise is I think incredibly naive.” Wecht, for her part, has no direct ties to either case.

Until new evidence emerges or Gricar’s hard drive is able to be accessed, the case will remain a mystery. No one knows what happened to Ray Gricar, and we may never find out.

References: District Attorney Once Linked To Jerry Sandusky Investigation Disappears: “It's Truly Like He Did Vanish Into Thin Air” | The case for missing Centre County DA is still open 18 years after his disappearance