Ray Gricar who was elected Centre County District Attorney in 1984 and held that position until the day he disappeared was last heard from on the morning of April 15, 2005, according to the petition.
Ray Gricar had taken a vacation day on April 15, according to court documents. On that day, his longtime girlfriend, Fornicola, received a call from Ray Gricar to inform her he would not be home in time to take care of their dog.
But Ray Gricar never returned home.
The next day, Pennsylvania State Police found Ray Gricars vehicle in the Street of Shops antique mall parking lot in Lewisburg. It was parked just blocks away from the Susquehanna River and about 50 miles east of his home in Bellefonte, according to court documents.
Ray Gricars county-issued laptop was found without a hard drive by two fisherman on the Susquehanna River, only a short distance away from his abandoned car.
Months later, the hard drive was found about 100 yards away from where the laptop was located, but information on the hard drive was lost due to extensive water damage.
The FBI-assisted search for Gricar became national news.
After the diligent searches by the Sunbury Fire Department dive team, airborne searches and investigations by Penn State and Williamsport Civil Air Patrol and many other search efforts, Ray Gricar was never found.