Replies

Missing DA's laptop, but not hard drive, found in river

Associated Press

BELLEFONTE, Pa. - Two fishermen found the laptop computer of a top county prosecutor missing for 3 1/2 months, police said Monday.

The anglers found the computer at the bottom of the Susquehanna River under a bridge in Lewisburg on Saturday and turned it over to state police. The bridge is a couple blocks down from the parking lot in which Centre County District Attorney Ray F. Gricar's car was found on April 16, the day after he was reported missing.

State police determined the computer belonged to Gricar, but also discovered that its hard drive was missing. Authorities say the hard drive either fell out or was removed before the computer was thrown into the river.

Bellefonte Police Chief Duane Dixon said that makes it highly unlikely that police will be able to recover clues from the computer about Gricar's whereabouts.

"It's another piece to the puzzle but it doesn't lead us anywhere," Dixon said in an interview with reporters at police headquarters. Police still classify the investigation as a missing persons case.

Divers were sent into the river Saturday and Sunday but found no other evidence, Dixon said. It's unclear how long the computer was in the river, though it started rusting soon after being pulled from the water, he said.

Gricar vanished April 15 after going for a drive on his day off. His red-and-white Mini Cooper was found the next day in a parking lot in Lewisburg, about 45 miles from his home in Bellefonte in central Pennsylvania.

Authorities had searched the river several times already. Dixon said the river where the laptop was found is about 4 1/2 to 5 feet deep, which is shallower than when divers first went into the Susquehanna in the weeks after Gricar disappeared.

The fishermen found the laptop in the middle of the river when one of their nets snagged it, police said.

Gricar, 59, was supposed to retire in December after more than two decades as Centre County's top prosecutor. So far, the disappearance doesn't appear to be connected to any of his cases, authorities have said.

Police have said they have few credible leads and have not ruled out any scenarios, including foul play.

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/12275628.htm

This is the other branch that goes through State College, Bellefonte, Williamsport and joins the east branch at Northumberland/Sunbury.
This is a good mystery. Gricar worked at the Centre County building in Bellefonte. Among his hobbies were collecting antiques, including toys. He was from Cleveland and always talked about the Indians. He told his girlfriend he was taking a drive on his day off. His car was found at an antiques mall 60 miles away in Lewisburg. But with cig ashes on the floor -- something's wrong there.
Some people in Wilkes-Barre said they say him three days after he disappeared. Bartender said he was wearing a suit and talked about the Indians. He left home in jeans. Credit cards, bank activity, nothing.
Now, his computer is found three months later back in Bellefonte.
Good mystery. Did he get jumped in Bellefonte by a smoker who coincidentally left the car where Gricar might go?
More likely, he removed and destroyed the hard drive, threw the computer in the river, decided that wasn't a good place to jump in and commit suicide in a river like his brother did nine years ago and drove to Lewisburg where the river is deeper.
Had a girlfriend, like to drink a bit, divorced. Did he pick up smoking rough trade and pay the price? Meet somebody shady in Lewisburg and get killed?

Laptop found in West Branch of Susquehanna about 200 yards downstream from where his car was found. PA Rt. 45 bridge in the east end of the Boro of Lewisburg. I put out the BOLO to the PA Bureau of Forestry 4/16/05 10:30AM. We had a plane on fire patrol and checked Rts. 45 and 192 in the Bald Eagle State Forest. If Ray jumped (or was pushed, dead or alive) into the river his body would have been found within three months somewhere north of Three Mile Island.