District Attorney Ray Gricar Vanishes — Hard Drive Found in River

On April 15, 2005, Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar failed to report to work. His car was found near the Susquehanna River in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Inside was his laptop computer — but its hard drive had been physically removed. Months later, the hard drive itself was found in the river nearby, too damaged for data recovery. The laptop case eventually surfaced in the river as well. Gricar left behind no note, no explanation, and had spoken to colleagues that morning as though it were a normal day. He had spoken of retirement. He had never made any communication after that morning. What made investigators and journalists suspicious was a detail from seven years earlier: in 1998, Gricar had been the DA who declined to prosecute Jerry Sandusky of Penn State University for an alleged child sexual assault — a decision that allowed Sandusky to remain free for thirteen more years before his 2012 conviction. Whether Gricar's disappearance was connected to the Sandusky case has never been determined. His body has never been found. He was declared legally dead in 2011.