Thanks JJ! I was hopefully optimistic it was not going to be any way near the Athletic Dept.
I think he tossed the laptop/hard-drive for two reasons:
1) to bolster the suicide theory (e.g., work drove him crazy, etc) so that he could be declared legally dead, no one would keep hunting for him alive, and his daughter could get her inheritance or whatever.
2) to send a message to someone (if there was anyone to convince) that he destroyed any evidence that might have been incriminating, so that whoever that was would lose interest in him and like LE would stop looking for him.
That's the best I can come up with...
I do think murder is possible, but it just doesn't seem likely with his advanced decision not to seek re-election and the comment about not being there in April for some trial. Perhaps he planned an escape and didn't exit soon enough? I'm still betting on him leaving on his own, though.
I am new to the RG thread, and had only briefly reviewed it before...but what are the theories on WHY he wouldn't have gone after Sandusky when he had the chance in 1998? Was it simply that he didn't have enough evidence?
I am trying to come up with reasons he would feel the need to destroy his work hard drive and disappear, or why someone else would want that..
I hate to think of over the top theories but could he have not prosecuted Sandusky because of a risk of exposing himself for being involved in it? Its not unusual for abusers/molesters to work in rings together...what better duo than a guy who runs a charitable football camp for troubled youths and the local DA? Once again, I hate to even think like that, but, after seeing the amount of men involved in this story who didn't go to police, it really makes you wonder...
What keeps sticking in my mind is: RG did not keep it a secret that he was trying to destroy his laptop hard drive (thanks to J J for info), mentioning it to other people and buying software to erase it. But then it was thrown in the river either (1) as a sloppy or hurried way to erase it, or (2) just for good measure, after RG already erased it using another method. I like the second one better.. I just think it is too much of a stretch to think that someone else independently decided to put it in the river, after he had been doing his homework on how to erase the drive.
Another thing I was wondering is his mental state in the weeks and months before he disappeared. I read in one article that he had seemed tired or possibly stressed from work prior to the disappearance. That could mean a lot of things of course, but it could also mean that his exit was not on his original or preferred timeline, if he felt pushed to hurry a walkaway. But then again if he was hanging around in a bar smoking a few days later, maybe he wasn't in that big a hurry..
That is my laptop "problem." One possibility, however, is that RFG would realize everyone would be looking for drive if the found the laptop minus drive. If the drive was in the water for 1-2 weeks, it would be almost impossible to recover the data.
MTM is not talking.
If it was he knew Sandusky or one of the victims, he could have just said that; a lot of people knew him.
But if he wanted to conceal the fact that he believed there to be a connection between Sandusky (or any other investigation he was connected to and Ray's disappearance, he would just state there was a conflict of interest and not give a reason.
I am new to the RG thread, and had only briefly reviewed it before...but what are the theories on WHY he wouldn't have gone after Sandusky when he had the chance in 1998? Was it simply that he didn't have enough evidence?
I am trying to come up with reasons he would feel the need to destroy his work hard drive and disappear, or why someone else would want that...and I keep going back to perhaps someone thought he was going to blow the whistle on things and someone felt threatened...but if that was the case, I think he would have had the incriminating files in more than one place, not to mention the attacker wouldn't have any way of knowing if there were additional copies, and RG wouldn't have performed searches on how to destroy a hard drive, so what would be on there he would want to destroy??? I hate to think of over the top theories but could he have not prosecuted Sandusky because of a risk of exposing himself for being involved in it? Its not unusual for abusers/molesters to work in rings together...what better duo than a guy who runs a charitable football camp for troubled youths and the local DA? Once again, I hate to even think like that, but, after seeing the amount of men involved in this story who didn't go to police, it really makes you wonder...
bbm
Thanks for sharing that. My mind was going in that dark direction last night also.
So why didn't RG prosecute when he had a confession from Sandusky? Was RG another person in the Penn State saga to drop the ball? I think the current DA needs to answer that question. The victims and the public deserve that much.
my feeling is that Ray was forced into the trunk of another car or the back of a van.
I think his keys were retrieved later and someone went back to the car and destroyed his laptop, I think that's when the smoking occurred.