Somebody. By somebody. He was the first da to investigate Jerry Sandusky, could there be a link between that case and his disappearance . Where is this man . Somebody knows something or a lot of somebodys do. Hello and welcome to dateline. Ray gricar was a District Attorney and bellefont, pennsylvania. Not far from Penn State University. He was the first to investigate allegations against Jerry Sandusky who abused the child. That was long before the scandal made headlines. But several years later, ray gricar mysteriously disappeared. The strange turn of events left people asking, was there a connection . Here is lester holt with the case of The Missing Da. The clues are tantalizing, as sporty red car, a speck of cigarette ash. A battered hard drive. It is a mystery, it absolutely is a mystery. But what do these clues say about the sudden disappearance of a District Attorney who left them behind . It is baffling, it is confusing and perplexing it is all of those things. His name is ray gricar, when he vanished in 2005 it was a big story. A prosecutor in pennsylvania who vanished on friday is still missing. Now rays story is linked to an even bigger one. Stunning allegations of sexual child abuse. One of the most storied names in College Sports is enveloped in scandal. Because 7 years before he went missing, ray gricar decided not to prosecute Jerry Sandusky for the first known allegation of Child Sex Abuse against him. Now, some are asking whether that Jerry Sandusky case had anything to do with the das disappearance. For anyone to think that there is no relationship is the epitome of naivete. Others say no way. Eliminating ray does not eliminate the problem for anybody. Ever since the scandal broke, dateline has been on the ground. Analyzing clues, digging into the case, and talking to those who knew the da from center county. There are several scenarios for ray gricar disappearance. We will look for answers. What really happened to ray gricar . Ray, i love you very much. And i miss you. He was the District Attorney in Pennsylvania Centre county. Working at the coast guard out of bellefonte. Penn state is just down the world. It is a powerful presence in this neighborhood. Back in april 2005, ray gricar had served the better part of five terms, and racked up a stellar reputation. It is the nature of the job that you do difficult things, you make difficult choices. He was the most serious prosecutor i have ever met. Bob was rays friend. He was the da in neighboring county. He met ray gricar in the 90s and over the years the two traded shop talk whenever they could. Did he go with his gut and shoot from the hip . Or was he punched the right buttons, get to the answer. He was the guy who always had the next question. What about this . Did you consider that . He was the most serious guy, most ethical guy. Methodical. Meticulous. Fearless, too. He did not care who the person was he prosecuted. He prosecuted some very high profile cases that made National News in Little Center county, in pennsylvania. It didnt bother him who the person was. It was what they did that counted. In the spring of 2005, everything seemed to be going ray gricars way. He was in love. After two divorces, he had moved in with his longtime girlfriend, patty. And he seemed happy. I think for both of us, we finally found our soulmate, we found the person who was perfect. Investigators say that he had no health problems, no Money Worries and he was close to his only child, 27 year old laura. She lived in Washington State at the time. But the two stayed in touch by phone. I spoke to my dad often, i would say 3 to 4 times a week we were in pretty regular contact. In that spring of 2005 he was 59, just eight months away from retirement. And he was ready for it, he was already starting to cut back on his workload. We were going to drive across the country, and take our time. Visit the National Parks and end up on the west coast to visit his daughter. The trip never happened, on april 14th, laura had a conversation with her father that she will never forget. The conversation was, hey dad just called to say hi and i love you. I said i have this exam and he said, you know i love you too, and im sure youre gonna do great on that exam you are always do. Youre just like your mom. The next day, april 15th, ray woke up and told pattie that he was going to play hooky. She wasnt surprised, he had done it before. I said its time to get up, and he said i dont think im gonna go to work today, i think a minute take the day off. I said fine good for you. Patty went to work, she was a clerk in rays office and he called around 11 30 that morning. He said that he had taken his fun little mini first spin on the Country Roads near their home. He often did, that he like to go for a long drive so she thought nothing of it. He said you know im going down one 92 and i am going home. I said fine no problem. He said i love you. And i said i love you too and we terminated the phone call. It was their last conversation. When patty got home from work that night, there was no sign of ray. She went to the gym, and when she got back he still was not home. She called his cell phone, the calls went straight to voice mail for three hours she dialed and redialed the number, nothing but voice mail. Finally, frantic, she called 911. To me, it was an emergency, it was not like him, it was unusual behavior. Its not like him, its not , i called and said ray is not home, this is not like him. Its unusual behavior. They quickly responded. Ray gricar was gone, gone without warning. The Police Department put out a description of him and his red mini. The hunt for a missing da was underway. Coming up a District Attorney in danger . We know what ray had done all of his life. He had prosecuted for years. Was someone imprisoned out for revenge . When dateline continues good throwback . [sfx video game sound] new emergenc crystals. Throw it back. Want your clothes to smell freshly washed all day without heavy perfumes . Try downy light inwash freshness boosters. It has longlasting light scent, no heavy perfumes, and no dyes. Finally, a light scent that lasts all day. Downy light upbeat music [ Tires Screeching ] director cut jordana, easy on the gas. Force of habit. I gotta wrap this commercial, i think im late on my payment. Its okay, the general gives you a break when you need it. Yeah, we let you pick your own due date so you can pay your Car Insurance when its best for you. Well thats good to know, because this next scene might take a while. [ helicopter and wind noises ] for a great low rate, go with the general. Patty fornicola woke up on april 16th 2005, and felt like she was trapped in a bad dream. Ray gricar, her living boyfriend and the da of Centre County had not come home the night before. And he was still missing. I knew it wasnt good that he still had not been located. So then we had to make a decision about calling his daughter. As patty told dateline in 2006, she decided to make that call to laura, then a College Student in Washington State. Your gut tells you a lot of things, i just knew that something happened and my gut said that it was bad. Rays friend, bob, was bewildered when he heard the news. I absolutely did not know what to make of it at all. It was very confusing, das do not go missing. Former investigator, daryl, still remembers that point. We just handled it as a missing person, but a highly significant missing person. Daryl has now retired from the Bellefonte Police force, but back then he was the lead investigator on the case. I assume alarm bells are ringing loudly when the da goes missing . Yeah when the da goes missing you get a little concerned. Theres figure that theres foul play involved, then the guy does not come home because hes been out at the bars all night. And thats because you knew his character . We knew what ray had done all his life, he had prosecuted homicides and rape for years, then prosecuted here, and then became our da. Foul play was only one possibility, in those first hours after ray went missing, the bellefont police said that they considered several others. They ordered a nearby search of the nearby roads, with many thinking that he may have had an accident. There were other searches too, they knew that he may have gone solo somewhere. Turns out, he had done that before. He once took off to a Cleveland Indians game . He didnt go to this one. Because we had called cleveland and had the Stadium Police looking for him. Did you potentially lose time in the investigation because of a default position that he is going to turn up here soon . That there is a reasonable explanation . No, we worked on it from the minute we decided we were going after this as a missing person. It was constant go, go, go. Investigators trapped his movement before he vanished, and found the last known pictures of him alive. On his way to the office. The evening before he disappeared. It seemed routine enough, and it had taken them nowhere. One of americas most intriguing mysteries. On day two, investigators caught a huge break, his many was discovered in a parking lot by an Antiques Mall called The Street Of Shops. In the nearby town of lewisburg. Ray had visited the antique stores there in the past. Now his car was sealed up tight, and locked. His cell phone was inside. But there was no sign of ray. I was glad that it was found, not the car, but thinking that maybe there would be a clue. There were clues all right, real puzzlers. When they open up the vehicle, the first initial thing that struck them was, a strong odor of tobacco in the car. Ray was not a smoker, and he definitely would not let anyone smoke in his car. There was more, inside the car, a speck of ash on the passenger side. How do explain that . In a car of a passionate nonsmoker . It would indicate to us that someone who had been in that car was smoking, or at least was leaning into the car, possibly talking to ray, holding a cigarette. Investigators found Cigarette Butts on the ground, and sent them offered in a testing, nothing there. There was no sign of a struggle, or foul play. And not a bloodstain insight. Nothing to indicate that a crime had occurred in, or near the car. Would still baffles me in all of this is, basically a lack of a crime scene. She was a crime scene investigator, and at the time, and nbc news consultant. The crime scene at least helps to tell a story. Something where you can prove, or disprove, witness statements. Testimonies. Through your crime scene, threw evidence. There isnt a crime scene. But how many times have we seen crimes of someone who willingly went away with the person who ultimately kills them . And there is no crime scene. Correct, if you willingly go, there is no crime scene, its just the last place that you you were seen. But if the car itself gave investigators little to go on, its location in lewisburg, 60 miles from ray gricar home did. That shifted the investigation to lewisburg at that point . We knew that he was definitely there then. The car had been there. So we immediately went down, pounding on doors getting to people. And we got some confirmation from people, and some of the businesses in the area who had actually seen ray. And they saw him there for several hours throughout the day. They began building a timeline of rays movements and louisburg. But it was not easy, because there was another mini cooper owner in town that day. Shawn was the chief of bellefonte Police Department. He had joined the force shortly after ray disappeared. But he says that he knows the investigation, inside and out. There was a lot of sightings of another individual, we later found out who he was. He was in a Restaurant Eating with a woman that was not ray, it was another guy that has a mini cooper. It was a dead end, tony is rays nephew, he lives in dayton ohio. As soon as he learned his uncle was missing, got in his car, collected his brother, and began driving to pennsylvania. At the time we thought, we need to get there as quick as we can to see what kind of assistance that we can provide. But when tony and his brother got to lewisburg, and saw the scene where rays car was found, they were stunned. Here we go again . That was the exact first thought. The investigation into ray gricars disappearance was about to take a whole new turn. Coming up i think my first words probably to the investigators were, he is probably in the river. 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Stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, an allergic reaction, or ketoacidosis. Farxiga can help you keep living life. Ask your doctor for farxiga for chronic kidney disease. If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. Farxiga when tony drove into losbnnsyania back in april of 2005, he did a double take. Tonys uncle ray had disappeared and they had located raise abandoned car in a parking lot. Near a bridge, over a river. The scene took tony straight back to a bad place in his past. To say that it was an eerie parallel would be the understatement of the century. It was the exact same thing. Nine years earlier, tonys father, rays brother, had abandoned his car by a park near a bridge over a river. His body was discovered in the river in dayton, ohio, a few days later. The coroner ruled it a suicide. Now this. Geographically, everything lays out the exact same. It was a car, a park, a bridge. A river. Tony drew the logical conclusion about his uncle ray. Your thought was that he had committed suicide . I think my first words to the investigators where, hes probably in the river. When your uncle went missing, of course the connections with your father, started to be made. Was your father depressed . Yeah, he fought depression for, why would i could gather, for 20 plus years. And depression can run in families. He remembered that ray did seem preoccupied before he vanished, she put that down to work. He did recall that she had been napping a lot. She had even asked him about it. When he disappeared, he said, i want you to promised me something. I said sure, what . I said, if you continue to be tired, would you please call your doctor . And he said, work frequently makes me tired. And i came back at him with, the three years that we have live together, i have never seen you nap so much time before and after work. But when investigators went through his medical records, they found nothing to indicate that he had been treated for depression. Nothing at all. In fact, ray gricar seemed fit and healthy. But if the body was in the Susquehanna River, investigators were determined to find it. They brought in helicopters, rescue divers, there was even a Cadaver Sniffing Dog on a boat. Although the river could run shallow near the bridge, the spring of 2005, tony says the water level was high. The spring rains, as well as melt, so the water was several feet higher. Bellefonte police chief at the time shawn says that the conditions were favorable for finding a body. At the time, they said they could see to the bottom of the river, it was clear water. It is pretty much, the bottom of the river was a flat rock, you could see very easily from the sky. But no body turned up. And this was the most confounding question of all, if hed had jumped off the bridge like his brother. Then where was he . The biggest thing that you have in a suicide, is a body. The body helps to tell you what really happened here. Or, is it even feasible that this happened