Posted on 10/27/2005 7:23:55 AM PDT by smartin
BELLEFONTE -- Police and family are hoping a computer hard drive found on the banks of the Susquehanna River will contain clues about District Attorney Ray Gricar's disappearance more than six months ago.
The piece of equipment was found a few weeks ago by people walking along the river and was turned over to the state police. Troopers notified Bellefonte police of the find, according to Bellefonte police Cpl. Dan Holliday, and then sent it to the FBI, where it will be analyzed by computer experts.
Police say the hard drive is in pretty bad condition, found pressed into the mud where the water had receded. It has been determined that the hard drive is the same model as Gricar's county-issued laptop, found by fishermen in the Susquehanna River in late July. The laptop appeared to have been underwater for a long time, police said, but its missing hard drive made the find virtually worthless.
"We are all pretty stunned," Gricar's nephew and family spokesman Tony Gricar said about the find. "(It was) a needle in a haystack, as far as we were concerned."
What is still a mystery is how the hard drive came to be separated from the laptop. The type of laptop Gricar was issued has a pop-out hard drive. Police say it is equally possible that the hard drive could have fallen out or been removed by Gricar or by someone else.
Gricar was last heard from April 15, when he spoke to his girlfriend and housemate Patty Fornicola from his cell phone about 11:30 a.m., saying he was taking a drive along state Route 192 and wouldn't be home in time to let the dog out at noon. Fornicola called police when Gricar hadn't returned home 12 hours later.
Since then, police have uncovered little that might shed light on the disappearance, which captured headlines across the country. They are hoping the newly discovered hard drive can provide police with a much-needed break in the case.
"My hope is they can get some information off the hard drive," Holliday said.
Tony Gricar put it a different way.
"One answer would be nice at this point," he said. "If it leads to another answer, fantastic. So far, everything that's come up in this case leads nowhere."
Holliday said he's received no estimate on when the FBI might begin analysis or when Bellefonte police might receive a report on the findings.
"It's going to take as long as it takes," he said.
Erin L. Nissley can be reached at 231-4616.
Just a guess.
musta droped out of the "bit stream"
Good theory.
Or had a fatal error.
"Dudes, if I die, I want one of you to take my harddrive and destroy it. Just get another one and install windows on it and put pictures of my parents."
I don't think it was for his mp3 collection...
Yeah, I don't think so either.
"What is still a mystery is how the hard drive came to be separated from the laptop. The type of laptop Gricar was issued has a pop-out hard drive."
Am I missing something real obvious, here, or is this a statement from someone without a clue?
LOL...I think you are dead on.
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