The DA, Ray Gricar. Pretty crazy story. He was the Centre county DA from 1985-2005.
He looked into the Sandusky case in 1998 and declined to press charges. On the surface that seems to be the only connection to that.
In 2004 he announces he’s not going to see reelection for DA and will retire at the end of 2005.
In April 2005 he calls his girlfriend who he lives with at the time and says he’s on his way home. He never shows up and she reports him missing that night. The next day his car is found near a bridge in the opposite direction from his house from where he told his gf he was.
Side note that his brother disappeared in ohio 9 years earlier, his car found near a river. His body his found in the river a week later and his death ruled a suicide.
It’s noted that his car smells like cigarettes despite him not being a smoker. His county cell phone is in the car but his keys, wallet, and laptop are missing. Cops say that the scent dog’s behavior indicates that he may have gotten into another car.
3 Months later fishermen find his laptop in the river with the hard drive missing. 2 months after that someone finds the hard drive on the bank of the river 100 yards away but it’s badly water damaged. FBI and secret service try unsuccessfully to pull anything from the hard drive. Police reveal that shortly before he disappears someone uses the home computer at his GF’s house where he lives to search “how to fry a hard drive” and “water damage to notebook computer”. His GF and her daughter take and pass polygraphs.
He’s never seen or heard from again.
Popular foul play theories about the mysterious death of an assistant US attorney (Jonathan Luna) he was investigating, his decision to not press charges against Sandusky, a heroin ring he had recently assisted in busting, his GF having him killed for some reason.
Another theory is that he wanted to disappear. He allegedly expressed interest in a Cleveland police chief who disappeared to start a new life. He was fluent in Slovenian and had made trips to visit relatives who lived in Slovenia.