Police still searching for answers in cold case disappearance of former Pennsylvania district attorney

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Police are still searching for answers almost 20 years after a former Pennsylvania district attorney disappeared. Investigators said his car was found abandoned and his laptop and hard drive were later pulled out of the river. 

In a Facebook post Thursday, Pennsylvania State Police said a $5,000 reward is being offered for information about the 2005 disappearance of Ray Gricar.

Gricar was last seen on April 15, 2005, in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. Police said the Centre County district attorney, who had decided to retire a few months earlier and not seek re-election, was last seen leaving work after taking a half day. 

Police said Gricar called his longtime girlfriend on his phone around 11:30 a.m., saying he was driving on Route 192 toward Lewisburg. He never came home, and there's been no activity on his phone, email, bank accounts or credit cards since, police said. 

Gricar's car found 45 miles from home

The day after he was reported missing, Gricar's red Mini Cooper was found in a dirt parking lot on the outskirts of Lewisburg near the Susquehanna River, 45 miles east of his Bellefonte home, police said. The keys were missing and haven't been found. 

"There was no sign of him at the scene and no signs of foul play, but cigarette ashes were found inside the vehicle, and Ray dislikes cigarette smoke and would be unlikely to allow someone to smoke in his car," police said. 

Laptop, hard drive discovered in river

In late July 2005, police said fishermen found Gricar's laptop in the Susquehanna River, lodged against a bridge support several hundred yards from where his car had been discovered. 

A few months later, police said the computer's hard drive was found on the river's banks. But it was so badly damaged investigators said they couldn't get any clues from it.

Police said they later discovered that before Gricar's disappearance, someone had searched "how to wreck a hard drive" and "water damage to a notebook computer" on his home computer. 

Investigators believe disappearance wasn't connected to job

Gricar decided in 1998 not to charge then-Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky after a boy's mother complained to State College police about abuse, but authorities have said they don't believe there's any link between that and his disappearance.    

"He is described as a hardworking and dedicated lawyer. He was involved in some high-profile cases, but authorities stated that no threats had been made against him and they did not believe his disappearance had anything to do with his job," Pennsylvania State Police wrote on Facebook.

Gricar's brother disappeared under similar circumstances

Police noted that "curiously," Ray's brother disappeared under similar circumstances in Dayton, Ohio, in May 1996. 

"He told his wife he was going out to buy mulch and never returned. Later, his body was pulled from the Great Miami River. Roy's drowning was ruled a suicide," police explained on Facebook.

However, police said authorities investigated the possibility that Ray suffered from depression and also died by suicide, but there's no evidence to support that. 

Multiple sightings of Gricar have been unconfirmed 

Police said there were possible sightings of Gricar in Wilkes-Barre on April 18 as well as several other states after he went missing, but the sightings have not been confirmed and most aren't considered credible. 

An antiques store was near where Gricar's car was found, and its proprietor thought Gricar might have visited, but police said that hasn't been confirmed. The owner said he saw a man who appeared to be waiting for someone. 

Police said Gricar was declared legally dead in July 2011, though his case remains unsolved and the circumstances around his disappearance are unclear.

Anyone with information is asked to call PSP Tips at 1-800-4PA-TIPS or submit a tip online.