Police Search for Pennsylvania Prosecutor Missing Since Friday

AP ^ | AP-ES-04-16-05 2345EDT

[TheOtherOne]

Police Search for Pennsylvania Prosecutor Missing Since Friday

By Mark Scolforo Associated Press Writer
Published: Apr 16, 2005 BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) - With helicopters and road patrols, police searched across central Pennsylvania on Saturday for a prosecutor who was reported missing after he failed to return home from a drive the day before.

Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar, 59, had taken Friday off from work and said during a cell phone call at about 11:30 a.m. that he was heading toward Lewisburg on Route 192 in Union County, police said.

He did not return home that night and has not called his home or office since then, authorities said Saturday. There has been no activity on his cell phone or credit cards.

State police found Gricar's red-and-white Mini Cooper on Saturday evening in a dirt parking lot on the outskirts of Lewisburg, but found no sign of the missing man, Bellefonte Police Chief Duane Dixon said. The owner of an antiques store across the street said Gricar may have been in his shop earlier in the day, Dixon said.

Dixon said there were no signs of foul play but state police were processing the car for evidence.

"Right now we can't find any certain case that stands out that we believe would cause any problem," Dixon said earlier Saturday.

Authorities said they did not know if Gricar had any medical issues, although he had been working hard lately and had told others that he felt tired.

Police said Gricar was last seen wearing a blue fleece-type jacket, jeans and sneakers.

Pennsylvania authorities issued a bulletin to six neighboring states and used a state police helicopter Saturday to search the area northeast of State College.

Gricar, the county's district attorney for 20 years, recently decided not to seek a sixth term and said he planned to retire in December at age 60. He inherited a part-time office when first elected in 1985 but campaigned successfully to make the job full-time.

Among the more high-profile cases Gricar handled was the prosecution of a 21-year-old woman who opened fire with a hunting rifle on Penn State's campus in 1996, killing one person and wounding a second.

AP-ES-04-16-05 2345EDT

[cricket]

"Well, this lawyer faked his suicide by leaving some articles of clothing on the beach at the Jersey shore. Presumed drowned. Was found a few weeks later living in Mexico with his paramour, with whom he'd eloped."

a pp.s. of sorts here. . . Hard to understand, the pain of a suicide; that someone can so easily inflict that one, on those left behid.

Don't know whether he was divorced or widowed; but he has a girlfriend, who also made a statement/plea for him to return.

Also, it was mentioned that. . .maybe twenty years ago - his brother disappeared; and and was found having committed suicide; though no details were offered.

[hershey]

I caught a news segment on this last night. The missing D.A.'s brother had committed suicide, and the pleas from the D.A.'s wife put out by the media were along the lines of 'come home, we love you,' as if they feared he disappeared voluntarily and planned to harm himself. They weren't treating this as if he'd been kidnapped by someone with a grudge.

[hershey]

The plea was made by the missing D.A.'s girlfriend.

[yardbird.com]

This is Bill Keisling, author of The Midnight Ride of Jonathan Luna, and a subject of some of your posts. Keep up the good work, guys!

I've posted the following story on missing DA Ray Gricar at yardbird.com:

Another drug prosecutor vanishes on a Pennsylvania car ride

Missing DA Gricar had days earlier announced arrests in
'largest heroin operation... ever seen in Centre County'

     Only days before his disappearance, Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar had announced the prosecution of what the State Attorney General's Office called the "largest heroin operation that we have ever seen in Centre County."
      Gricar, 59, of Bellefonte, PA, was reported missing on Saturday, April 16, 2005, after he failed to return from a drive. His car was later found abandoned on a dirt parking lot outside of Lewisburg, PA, in Union County. Police and fellow prosecutors initially said they knew of no motive for foul play.
      Gricar's strange disappearance is the latest in a long series of peculiar endings for prosecutors and prosecutor office employees in Pennsylvania. Over the years, Pennsylvania law enforcement has had an equally bizarre history of attempting to classify these events as suicides, even as controversies involving organized crime swirled around the offices of the deceased.

Read the full story, get real information about Luna, and view an aerial photo, at :

http://www.yardbird.com/midnight_ride_another_missing_PA_prosecutor.htm

or visit:

http://www.yardbird.com/luna.htm

bk