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

[J. J. in Phila]

Today is 79th birthday of Ray Gricar.

 

[DeeperSecrets]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/12/us/wisconsin-missing-kayaker-faked-death/index.html
Some similarities here, although obviously this guy slipped up a bit if his goal was to keep people guessing.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/12/us/wisconsin-missing-kayaker-faked-death/index.html
Some similarities here, although obviously this guy slipped up a bit if his goal was to keep people guessing.

It is possible, considering that RFG:

1. Was eligible for Slovenian citizenship and therefor a Slovenian passport,

2. Appears to have unaccounted funds.

3. Has a sighting from good witnesses relatively close to the Canadian border.

"Possible," and even "probable," does not equal proof.

 

[Betty P]

It is possible, considering that RFG:

1. Was eligible for Slovenian citizenship and therefor a Slovenian passport,

2. Appears to have unaccounted funds.

3. Has a sighting from good witnesses relatively close to the Canadian border.

"Possible," and even "probable," does not equal proof.

But why?

 

[Sweetluv]

So April 15 was a Friday..I would be interested to know if Ray acted "normal" that Monday through Thursday according to Patty and co workers (?) Did he do anything out of the ordinary or say something odd..or did Ray act like his normal self..normal routine..in the days leading up to his disappearance?

 

[dianebowen]

According to previous posts, he was reported to have been sleeping more, and also distracted/inattentive in meetings.

 

[Sleuth2010]

It is possible, considering that RFG:

1. Was eligible for Slovenian citizenship and therefor a Slovenian passport,

2. Appears to have unaccounted funds.

3. Has a sighting from good witnesses relatively close to the Canadian border.

"Possible," and even "probable," does not equal proof.

Could you please explain #2 unaccounted funds.

Thxs.

 

[minazoe]

Ray should have had a great deal more money than was uncovered after his death. He has very low expenses and should have had lot more than he left behind. mOO

 

[Same Old Stella]

Ray should have had a great deal more money than was uncovered after his death. He has very low expenses and should have had lot more than he left behind. mOO

He was making 6 figures in his job and apparently paid for very little, so where did the money go? The house, even his Mini Cooper was in Patti's name. Was he socking money away or did he just have bad credit from his 2 divorces?

 

[Skyblueday32]

I'm puzzled by this case, I do think he disappeared on purpose, mostly from the laptop situation. Searches on how to destroy a laptop, and cleaning the laptop, etc., also used mapquest to get directions to a location he knew well and how to get there, I'm thinking to get the distance and time, almost like he needed to get timing to meet someone at a specific time, since mapquest shows distance and time from driving, walking, etc. The laptop and hard drive was then found in the river. Him being concerned about cleaning the laptop, sleeping a lot more recently, almost stressed. Cigarette smoke smell and ashes in the passenger side when he doesnt smoke or let people smoke in his car. Turning the phone off and leaving it in the car.
There have been people able to successfully just up and leave and start a new life. My understanding is he had access to being a Slovenia citizen and I believe his passport is missing.

I always think of a CT father who disappeared and successfully started a new life, living alone under a new name, he didn't have the connections a DA does. https://www.timesunion.com/projects/2022/hudsonvalley/disappearance-robert-hoagland/

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Cost of the investigation and legacy protection.

Thanks for your explanation J. J. , but it still doesn't explain why some locals seem so disinterested in trying to actively solve this cold case. That's why I was wondering if the lack of interest was due to Ray not being from the area, but from another state.

Betty P: No, it doesn't explain why not just some locals but many in the law enforcement community "seem(ed) so disinterested" in solving the case from the beginning. I'm not sure why cost matters when the District Attorney disappears. But it was made easy by giving the public a multiple choice option that included "hey, he disappeared by choice" in spite of the fact that if so, he was slated to retire and left behind what his income would have been, from Social Security to his government pension. He didn't even take a change of underwear so far as we know. A lot of effort was made to make that the dominant narrative.

I'm not sure what "legacy protection" means, but I suspect it has to do with not looking at some things powerful people want to keep hidden. The "walkaway" explanation efforts achieved that for the most part.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Could you please explain #2 unaccounted funds.

Thxs.

LE found a record of money being transferred to another account, but there is no record of that account.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Legacy protection comes into play when people in LE and government think that it would make RFG look bad if he walked away (or committed suicide).

 

[J. J. in Phila]

I'm puzzled by this case, I do think he disappeared on purpose, mostly from the laptop situation. Searches on how to destroy a laptop, and cleaning the laptop, etc., also used mapquest to get directions to a location he knew well and how to get there, I'm thinking to get the distance and time, almost like he needed to get timing to meet someone at a specific time, since mapquest shows distance and time from driving, walking, etc. The laptop and hard drive was then found in the river. Him being concerned about cleaning the laptop, sleeping a lot more recently, almost stressed. Cigarette smoke smell and ashes in the passenger side when he doesnt smoke or let people smoke in his car. Turning the phone off and leaving it in the car.
There have been people able to successfully just up and leave and start a new life. My understanding is he had access to being a Slovenia citizen and I believe his passport is missing.

I always think of a CT father who disappeared and successfully started a new life, living alone under a new name, he didn't have the connections a DA does. https://www.timesunion.com/projects/2022/hudsonvalley/disappearance-robert-hoagland/

His US passport was still where he put it. It is possible that he had Slovenian citizenship and a Slovenian passport, but that is not definite; he was eligible for them.
I think that the Mapquest may have been to give someone else either directions or an estimate of the time to get to Lewisburg. RFG was known to drive fast, so he might have wanted to estimate the time for someone driving more slowly. If so, that strongly points away from suicide.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

I just want to point out that this is the 20th Christmas since RFG disappeared, and that, if alive, he is 80.

 

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[pittsburghgirl]

Legacy protection comes into play when people in LE and government think that it would make RFG look bad if he walked away (or committed suicide).

More likely, the legacy they are protecting is their own. And once again, it's ridiculous to think he walked away from a pension and Social Security and everything he owned. And where's the body if he committed suicide?

 

[J. J. in Phila]

More likely, the legacy they are protecting is their own. And once again, it's ridiculous to think he walked away from a pension and Social Security and everything he owned. And where's the body if he committed suicide?

It is far from ridiculous, considering there is evidence of RFG moving money into an unknown account, possibly in the British Virgin Islands. Further, he owned very little.

 

[Skyblueday32]

I think I'm stuck on the destroying of the laptop. There must have been some information or disparaging details he didn't want people to know if he disappeared on purpose or if he committed suicide. Why? To not blemish his memory or implicate people, or to hide his tracks of moving funds, making travel plans? Lawyers can be sucked into the criminal side, they have access and knowledge of how to manipulate the system etc. so it does lead to some suspicion. No suicide note? Impulsive decision? I dont think impulsive, seems the trip was pretty planned. It also seems he was with another person, smell of smoke, ashes in the car. I just don't know, so puzzling.

 

[Charlot123]

Yes. Roy Gricar suffered from depression (possibly manic depression) to the point that he had retired on a disability pension. He had worked in maintenance at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He killed himself by drowning in a river.

Depression was known in 2005 to have a genetic element. Later it was discovered that suicidal tendencies could be genetic as well. It had long been suspected, e.g. the suicidal tendencies in the Hemingway family.

There is a psychological effect called pareidolia. It is seeing patterns that are not there, like the man in the moon. To an extent we have this in the RFG case.

In particular, TG has noted how "eerily" similar the Lewisburg site was to the the site of Roy's, his father's, suicide. Well, you get the same similaries in Lock Haven, to the north, to Milton, to the north, to Northumberland, to the south. TG has stated that they heard that the Mini was by "Water Street," he and his brother turned to each other and said, "Suicide." They were on their way to Lewisburg and did not know what it looked like.

Ray and Roy… were they twins, by any chance?