PA PA - District Attorney Ray Gricar Mysteriously Disappeared - Bellefonte 15 April 2005 #18

[Betty P]

I was just reading this older article about Ray's disappearance, and it sparked my interest in the cases Ray handled when he was a Cuyahoga County prosecutor. I haven't found mention of any specific ones, but I wonder if he worked on the (still unsolved) 1976 murder of another up and coming young attorney named Thomas Wayne Grant?

Older article on Ray from Centre Daily Times. It says he left Cleveland in 1979, so he likely would have been working as a county prosecutor in 1976.

https://www.centredaily.com/latest-news/article209528394.html

If so, he would have known about the murder of Thomas Wayne Grant, a bright, young attorney who worked for the biggest law firm in Cleveland - Squire Sanders. Grant was brutally murdered in his own apartment, in a building that had a 24 hr security desk. Just curious. The case went nowhere, fast.

OH - OH - Thomas Wayne Grant, 29, Cleveland, Nov 16, 1976

Thomas Wayne Grant - Murdered Nov 16, 1976 Park Centre Apartments - Cleveland, OH Photo credit: Defrosting Cold Cases I recently came across Thomas' case at Defrosting Cold Cases. Thomas Grant was a hard-working, promising young attorney who was looking forward to a bright future. He was...

www.websleuths.com

 

[MadMcGoo]

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[MadMcGoo]

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[J. J. in Phila]

I was just reading this older article about Ray's disappearance, and it sparked my interest in the cases Ray handled when he was a Cuyahoga County prosecutor. I haven't found mention of any specific ones, but I wonder if he worked on the (still unsolved) 1976 murder of another up and coming young attorney named Thomas Wayne Grant?

Older article on Ray from Centre Daily Times. It says he left Cleveland in 1979, so he likely would have been working as a county prosecutor in 1976.

https://www.centredaily.com/latest-news/article209528394.html

If so, he would have known about the murder of Thomas Wayne Grant, a bright, young attorney who worked for the biggest law firm in Cleveland - Squire Sanders. Grant was brutally murdered in his own apartment, in a building that had a 24 hr security desk. Just curious. The case went nowhere, fast.

OH - OH - Thomas Wayne Grant, 29, Cleveland, Nov 16, 1976

Thomas Wayne Grant - Murdered Nov 16, 1976 Park Centre Apartments - Cleveland, OH Photo credit: Defrosting Cold Cases I recently came across Thomas' case at Defrosting Cold Cases. Thomas Grant was a hard-working, promising young attorney who was looking forward to a bright future. He was...

www.websleuths.com

Two points on two different posts.

1. Zaccagni, the first detective, started as a BPD officer in the early 1980's, if not earlier; he knew of PEF when she was in high school (she was Class of '82, I think). He had just been promoted to detective, however, in 2005.

2. The Wayne Grant case is interesting, but RFG would not have been an investigator. At best, the local police would come to him with a suspect; if that was the case, he decided not to charge. It does not look like it ever got to the point where it went to the DA's Office level.

 

[Betty P]

Two points on two different posts.

1. Zaccagni, the first detective, started as a BPD officer in the early 1980's, if not earlier; he knew of PEF when she was in high school (she was Class of '82, I think). He had just been promoted to detective, however, in 2005.

2. The Wayne Grant case is interesting, but RFG would not have been an investigator. At best, the local police would come to him with a suspect; if that was the case, he decided not to charge. It does not look like it ever got to the point where it went to the DA's Office level.

The local police did have a suspect - Wayne Grant’s former room mate. It’s difficult to determine what happened without looking at the actual files. None of the local Cleveland newspapers have publicly accessible digital archives. Only one article appeared in the Akron Beacon Journal. The story quickly disappeared, possibly because the last people to see Thomas were patrons of a popular gay nightclub. That shouldn’t have mattered, but it possibly did back in 1976.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

The local police did have a suspect - Wayne Grant’s former room mate. It’s difficult to determine what happened without looking at the actual files. None of the local Cleveland newspapers have publicly accessible digital archives. Only one article appeared in the Akron Beacon Journal. The story quickly disappeared, possibly because the last people to see Thomas were patrons of a popular gay nightclub. That shouldn’t have mattered, but it possibly did back in 1976.

They might have cleared him, or didn't have enough evidence to take it to the DA's Office.

 

[arielilane]

Only $5,000? That's not very much to lure someone to talk. The article quickly brings up the "he probably committed suicide because his brother did a long time ago" excuse. Somewhat contradictory.

A DA is missing and that is all they got? It's a laughable amount, imo.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

A DA is missing and that is all they got? It's a laughable amount, imo.

It was $15,000 initially, but it had an expiration date.

 

[Betty P]

It was $15,000 initially, but it had an expiration date.

That’s a shame.

 

[Black Diamond]

I tried accessing raygricar.com a few times recently to look for an update on the podcast and get error messages. Appears like the website may be shut down?

 

[J. J. in Phila]

I tried accessing raygricar.com a few times recently to look for an update on the podcast and get error messages. Appears like the website may be shut down?

It has not bee updated in more than a decade.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

That’s a shame.

It was due to tax purposes. The attorney who set it up, Amos Goodall, actually wrote an article on the process.

 

[arielilane]

Recent news about a decomposed body found in the Great Miami River. See linked article. Will be watching this for updates as well. Also, linked Wiki, due to RG's brother's being found in similar/same (?) river. Moo

Coroner now has remains kayakers find in Great Miami River in Miami Twp. area

Remains that had undergone “significant decomposition” were found in the Great Miami River on Friday morning.

news.yahoo.com

Ray Gricar - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Gricar's older brother Roy disappeared from his West Chester, Ohio, home in May 1996. His body was found a week later in the Great Miami River; authorities ruled his death a suicide.[7]

 

[minazoe]

Recent news about a decomposed body found in the Great Miami River. See linked article. Will be watching this for updates as well. Also, linked Wiki, due to RG's brother's being found in similar/same (?) river. Moo

Coroner now has remains kayakers find in Great Miami River in Miami Twp. area

Remains that had undergone “significant decomposition” were found in the Great Miami River on Friday morning.

news.yahoo.com

Ray Gricar - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Gricar's older brother Roy disappeared from his West Chester, Ohio, home in May 1996. His body was found a week later in the Great Miami River; authorities ruled his death a suicide.[7]

wow where is this in relation to Lewisberg? I can't imagine it being Ray after all this time..but who knows???

 

[arielilane]

wow where is this in relation to Lewisberg? I can't imagine it being Ray after all this time..but who knows???

Location of Great Miami River is Ohio, and Lewisburg is PA, so there maybe no connection. Only thought connection was because Ray's brother's body was found in the GMR. MOO

 

[minazoe]

could Ray have picked up another car waiting in that lot and taken off ? maybe he drove to Ohio..there is always a chance.

mOO

 

[Black Diamond]

could Ray have picked up another car waiting in that lot and taken off ? maybe he drove to Ohio..there is always a chance.

mOO

I think it’s very possible he could have picked up another car in that lot. But, doubtful he did that just to drive to Ohio and duplicate his brother’s suicide. No reason for him to switch cars if he was planning suicide. Plus the other abandoned car in Ohio would have been found and likely linked to him.

 

[Black Diamond]

It has not bee updated in more than a decade.

You are incorrect. It was updated with information about the Final Argument podcast, which was all released in the past 3 years.

I do not know when the website was initially created, nor how often it was updated. It has not been accessible by my device for several months.

 

[arielilane]

Recent news about a decomposed body found in the Great Miami River. See linked article. Will be watching this for updates as well. Also, linked Wiki, due to RG's brother's being found in similar/same (?) river. Moo

Coroner now has remains kayakers find in Great Miami River in Miami Twp. area

Remains that had undergone “significant decomposition” were found in the Great Miami River on Friday morning.

news.yahoo.com

Ray Gricar - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Gricar's older brother Roy disappeared from his West Chester, Ohio, home in May 1996. His body was found a week later in the Great Miami River; authorities ruled his death a suicide.[7]

This would not be Ray after all. moo

Identified! - OH - Montgomery Co. Miami Twp, Male, Skeletal Remains in Great Miami River, Large Tattoo on Back, June '23 - Vernon Seidler

I haven't found a lot of info on this yet (no age, race, etc., and so far all the different MSM links at the bottom of this post are reporting only the mention as the one I posted = Male), but the Montgomery Co. Coroner has asked for help identifying a male found in the river by kayakers on June...

www.websleuths.com

 

[Betty P]

This would not be Ray after all. moo

Identified! - OH - Montgomery Co. Miami Twp, Male, Skeletal Remains in Great Miami River, Large Tattoo on Back, June '23 - Vernon Seidler

I haven't found a lot of info on this yet (no age, race, etc., and so far all the different MSM links at the bottom of this post are reporting only the mention as the one I posted = Male), but the Montgomery Co. Coroner has asked for help identifying a male found in the river by kayakers on June...

www.websleuths.com

No, its in Ohio. Ray went missing in PA.