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Griex
 
Courthouse Steps Maven
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Apr 2008
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    April 15th, 2008 06:14 PM
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Gricar case going cold after third anniversary
By Pete Bosak
April 15, 2008
Three years later, the same three theories remain.
None has yet explained what happened to former Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar, who disappeared three years ago today.
Was he killed, did he commit suicide, or did he plan his disappearance? Law enforcement is still unable to say. And his family concedes it will take a stroke of luck to find out what became of him.
It is time, they say, to begin moving on. But his 30-year-old daughter, Lara Gricar, is finding that difficult. Living in suburban Seattle, she is getting married in the fall, and tries not to think about her father not being there to give her away.
“I think about him every day,” she said Monday. “Some are harder than others, especially this week. It’s been very, very hard to try to move on. None of us have any closure at this point. We just don’t know what happened.”
Ray Gricar, just months from retirement, took April 15, 2005, off from work. He called his girlfriend, Patty Fornicola, and told her he was taking a drive on state Route 192 and would not be home to let the dog out. She reported him missing later that night.
Fornicola declined to be interviewed for this report.
Gricar’s Mini Cooper was later found abandoned in an antiques mall parking lot in Lewisburg. Months later, his county-issued laptop computer was found in the river there, minus the hard drive that was later found along the river.
“The only way we’re going to see it solved at this point is sheer luck,” said his nephew, Tony Gricar. “It’s going to take a stroke of luck. The investigation thus far hasn’t turned up anything.”
Lara Gricar said she still holds out hope, no matter how slim, that her father is alive and had good reason to leave her and the family behind, perhaps some sort of witness protection program. With her next breath she concedes how unlikely that is, then stops herself, unable to say the word “dead.”
“Obviously, it would have to take a miracle,” she said. “But he would never have intentionally left Patty and me. He just wouldn’t. But at the same time, with the situation we’ve been in it’s just very hard to think … It’s just hard,” she said.
Lara Gricar thought for a time she’d choose another male figure in her family to walk her down the aisle at her wedding but just couldn’t do it.
“I don’t think anyone could even fill his shoes,” she said. “I’m definitely struggling with that. I don’t know how I’m going to fill that void.”
Bellefonte police Detective Matt Rickard took over the Gricar case about a year ago, after the former lead investigator, Bellefonte Officer Darrel Zaccagni, retired. He’s spent considerable time poring through the case files.
“You can only look at that so many times until you come back to those same three theories,” Rickard said. “It’s an aggravating and a frustrating case. What I think it is going to take, short of a body, is for that one person out there who may know something to come forward and be that needle in the haystack we’ve been looking for.”
Tony Gricar praises Rickard for his effort, enthusiasm and apparent tenacity, but said he is still just one man. Tony Gricar again called for a larger agency, such as the state police or state Attorney General’s Office, to take over the case.
Those agencies previously have said they can do nothing more than Bellefonte police have done. Both agencies have assisted Bellefonte police.
Lara Gricar complimented investigators.
“I have to trust that they have done their best,” she said. “I think they’ve done a good job or, with this case, done the best they could do.”
Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira agreed that even after three years, none of the three theories — murder, suicide or intentional disappearance — can be ruled out.
“I could argue the strengths of all three cases, all three scenarios, and then turn around and argue against them based on the evidence we have,” Madeira said. “Or don’t have.”
Madeira said it has been a “long, long, long” time since police received the last credible new lead.
“I think we’re at the point we’re afraid that, at the rate it’s going, it’s going to fizzle out even more than it already has,” Tony Gricar said.
Lara Gricar said she’s drawn comfort in hearing about the number of people from the Centre County community and beyond who cared about her father.
“I just thank the community for their love and support throughout this whole tragedy and everything these past few years,” Lara Gricar said. “I really do appreciate the love we’ve been given and all of the kind thoughts. My father was definitely loved by the community there, and that has given me strength.”
She said she also has found strength in her father.
“I was the luckiest kid ever in my eyes,” she said. “He gave me so much love and advice and lessons. He truly was amazing. Everything he taught me over the course of my life is helping me get through this.”
http://www.centredaily.com/news/loc...ory/524306.html
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