PA PA - Ray Gricar, 59, Bellefonte, 15 April 2005 - #5

[txsleuth]

http://www.centredaily.com/2010/03/31/1887034/review-board-formed-to-examine.html

 

[ThePhantom]

Did WS do a poll on what members think happened to Ray? I think he may have committed suicide, unfortunately...

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Tex, here is the post I responding to

Hi, I've only posted once or twice here, but read a lot.

I've thought a lot about this and came down with this...

1) RFG in the course of his job discovered something and realized that it could "blow up", whether it be political corruption/organized crime/drugs, something that he honestly wanted to investigate on his own...BUT he knew that if the wrong people got wind it could be dangerous for himself and for PF/coworkers. Hence, the need for the "eraser" software. Think of it as the "hidden cyanade pill" if he's "caught."

Now, as I cited, complete with link, he talked about getting rid of the data, erasing it, more than a year before he disappeared. It wasn't a spur of the moment thought. The searches included references actual destruction of the drive.

There was something on that drive that RFG never wanted to see the light of day. It might have been something like his credit card number or his Social Security Number.

 

[PaulR]

There was something on that drive that RFG never wanted to see the light of day. It might have been something like his credit card number or his Social Security Number.

Or confidential legal stuff that he didn't want a temp in IT to have access to.

Wiping a drive when you quit a job is pretty standard practice.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

DA Parks-Miller is forming a review board to look at the Gricar case.

http://www.centredaily.com/2010/03/31/1887034/review-board-formed-to-examine.html

Two quotes from WJAC.

“I personally don’t think it was homicide,” said Parks Miller. “I can tell you, what the public was told was the tip of the iceberg.”

and

According to investigators, the last confirmed sighting of Gricar was in a parking lot outside a Lewisburg Antique Shop April 15, 2005.

http://www.wjactv.com/news/23017216/detail.html

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Or confidential legal stuff that he didn't want a temp in IT to have access to.

Wiping a drive when you quit a job is pretty standard practice.

The IT guy would normally handle it, and he asked about it about two years before he was planning to retire.

 

[PaulR]

The IT guy would normally handle it, and he asked about it about two years before he was planning to retire.

Sometimes employees do it themselves. It's not hard to wipe the drive.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Sometimes employees do it themselves. It's not hard to wipe the drive.

The employee could, but the county IT guy would handle any sensitive legal stuff as a matter of course. The IT would normally clean the turned in computer.

What interests me is that RFG:

A. Asked about destroying the data two years prior to retiring. That is a darned big lead time. There was something on the laptop that he didn't want to see the light of day.

B. Didn't ask the IT guy, a staff member of the DA's Office, or his "tech savvy" nephew. I know who one of the people was, and I don't understand it.

 

[PaulR]

A. Asked about destroying the data two years prior to retiring. That is a darned big lead time. There was something on the laptop that he didn't want to see the light of day.

B. Didn't ask the IT guy, a staff member of the DA's Office, or his "tech savvy" nephew. I know who one of the people was, and I don't understand it.

A. He could have been thinking about getting the hard drive upgraded. If that was the case, he'd definitely want to have the old drive erased.

And the guy was a district attorney, I'm sure there is sensitive data on that laptop, just in the course of work.

B. Hard to know why he asked this person (if there wasn't an obvious reason why, like they just wiped their hard drive.)

 

[J. J. in Phila]

A. He could have been thinking about getting the hard drive upgraded. If that was the case, he'd definitely want to have the old drive erased.

And the guy was a district attorney, I'm sure there is sensitive data on that laptop, just in the course of work.

He inquired about it a year prior to his disappearance, and, so far as known, did not upgrade in that time. Also, according to his girlfriend, he only used it for conferences. He didn't use it regularly for work, at least once they got the desk top (12/04-1/05).

B. Hard to know why he asked this person (if there wasn't an obvious reason why, like they just wiped their hard drive.)

The person was NOT an employee of the DA's Office, so it's unlikely he would have known. He also wasn't known to be particularly close to this person; the person is not on the "inner circle" list.

 

[PaulR]

He inquired about it a year prior to his disappearance, and, so far as known, did not upgrade in that time. Also, according to his girlfriend, he only used it for conferences. He didn't use it regularly for work, at least once they got the desk top (12/04-1/05).

He may have been thinking about upgrading. And a year before his disappearance... wouldn't most of us have forgotten by the time we actually planned to "disappear"?

The person was NOT an employee of the DA's Office, so it's unlikely he would have known. He also wasn't known to be particularly close to this person; the person is not on the "inner circle" list.

Eh? You don't need to work at the DA's office, or know the guy particularly well, to know how to wipe a hard drive. There are standard tools available to do it, and they'll work on basically all laptops.

If Ray wanted to keep it a "secret", he could have just posted to an Internet message board and gotten an answer.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

He may have been thinking about upgrading. And a year before his disappearance... wouldn't most of us have forgotten by the time we actually planned to "disappear"?

Thinking about one, and getting software for it, but not doing it for a year. That's stretching it more than a bit.

Eh? You don't need to work at the DA's office, or know the guy particularly well, to know how to wipe a hard drive. There are standard tools available to do it, and they'll work on basically all laptops.

But how would he know that someone else had done it/was doing it/knew how? The other person wasn't an employee and wasn't the IT person. It wasn't someone particularly "close" to him.

If Ray wanted to keep it a "secret", he could have just posted to an Internet message board and gotten an answer.

First, I'm not sure he didn't at some point. Second, he might have been unsure of a "message board" answer.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Did WS do a poll on what members think happened to Ray? I think he may have committed suicide, unfortunately...

An on-line poll was done about a year ago:

http://wearecentralpa.com/content/poll/?poll_id=2661

I did not vote in it.

 

[hoppyfrog]

Knock off the bickering, peeps.

Thanks,

Hoppy

 

[sneezy]

This was just in our local paper (we're about an hour/hour and a half from Centre County)

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/03/centre_county_district_attorne.html
Centre County district attorney renews investigation into prosecutor's 2005 disappearance

By The Associated Press

March 31, 2010, 8:09PM

BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- he Centre County district attorney has formed a panel of investigators to look into the disappearance of a former county prosecutor nearly five years ago.

Ray Gricar was reported missing by his girlfriend on April 15, 2005, after going for a drive on his day off. His car was found at an antiques market in Lewisburg.

Current District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said Wednesday in a statement that the new review board will be made up of seasoned investigators from the county. She calls the board an extension of her review of the investigation.

Police said this week were no new leads in the case, and that tips have dried up. Parks Miller said police and the board will continue to investigate and will treat Gricar’s disappearance as a significant case.

 

[PaulR]

Thinking about one, and getting software for it, but not doing it for a year. That's stretching it more than a bit.

Plans change, why is this unusual?

How many people own books that they've never read?

But how would he know that someone else had done it/was doing it/knew how? The other person wasn't an employee and wasn't the IT person. It wasn't someone particularly "close" to him. [/quiote]

As you stated below in response to my question about why he didn't just post a Q on the internet - maybe he has asked others. (And indeed, he did search the Internet, we know that much.)

But why he asked someone not-close to him... I fail to see anything relevant coming out of that. You don't need to be the IT guy or an employee to know about hard drive cleaning software, especially in an age of identity theft.

 

[cluciano63]

With suicides, the body almost always surfaces eventually. It is very hard to hide your own body after death, I would think. And it is also very difficult to disappear so completely for years without being detected, especially post 9/11. My suspicions tell me foul play in this case. Unlike Royal Daniel (lawyer in Colorado) nothing defintive has come up, has it, that showed he was doing anything criminal? Royal Daniel really did a good job in vanishing but his crimes surfaced almost immediately once he was gone. He is still on the run, if alive.

 

[ThePhantom]

I think Royal Daniel is in Brazil, living the life. And Ray Gricar -- his body could be caught on something in that river -- how thoroughly was it searched? He was getting near retirement -- maybe he didn't see anything meaningful in his future -- maybe he had been struggling with depression, and decided that he's "done." I hope not.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Plans change, why is this unusual?

How many people own books that they've never read?

Bloody coincidental for them to change and to get the software before getting the new drive.

But how would he know that someone else had done it/was doing it/knew how? The other person wasn't an employee and wasn't the IT person. It wasn't someone particularly "close" to him.

As you stated below in response to my question about why he didn't just post a Q on the internet - maybe he has asked others. (And indeed, he did search the Internet, we know that much.)

But why he asked someone not-close to him... I fail to see anything relevant coming out of that. You don't need to be the IT guy or an employee to know about hard drive cleaning software, especially in an age of identity theft.

How would RFG know that someone not so close, not the IT person, would know how to destroy data on a hard drive? Why wouldn't he ask the IT guy, or his nephew, who I think runs an IT company?

 

[J. J. in Phila]

I think Royal Daniel is in Brazil, living the life. And Ray Gricar -- his body could be caught on something in that river -- how thoroughly was it searched?

I think at least a half dozen times, including by helicopter, boat, walking the banks, divers and using a cadaver dog in the first two weeks. They are researched it after the laptop was found.

The Susquehanna also runs through numerous populated areas. Harrisburg is downstream. It's heavily used for recreation and there may have been some fishermen there on the day after he vanished.