Although a year has passed since former Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar disappeared, his loved ones continue to look to the future, hoping new testing on evidence may result in new leads and closure.
On April 15, 2005, Gricar called girlfriend Patty Fornicola to tell her he was going for a drive and would be home late. The next day, his car was found an hour away in Lewisburg.
At a press conference held Friday in Bellefonte, Fornicola said she has been able to get through the past year because of a strong support system of friends and family.
"I have never given up hope," she said. "It helps me go on."
Officer Darrel Zaccagni of the Bellefonte Police Department, the lead investigator in the case, said there is no new evidence or leads, but Pennsylvania State Police will be retesting cigarette butts found near Gricar's abandoned car for mitochondrial DNA.
Robert Shaler, head of the Penn State forensic science program, said mitochondrial DNA testing, though not conclusive, would allow investigators to compare a body or person to DNA found on the cigarette butts.
Nuclear DNA testing, which was conducted last year, is used to make identifications of people from the national DNA database, Shaler said.
Zaccagni said during the press conference that there was no match to the nuclear DNA found on the cigarette butts in the national database.
Fornicola said she has no idea what may have happened to Gricar, but she did notice that he was acting very tired and taking naps in the two weeks prior to his disappearance.
"This [case] is important," she said. "Take away the fact that he was the man I loved and wanted to spend the rest of my life with; he served Centre County for 20 years."
Tony Gricar, Gricar's nephew and the family's spokesman, said he and Gricar's daughter Lara do not believe his uncle is still alive.
"Speaking for myself, Lara and my brother, we don't believe he is still alive and don't think he will walk through the door," he said.
Zaccagni said his biggest disappointment over the past year has been his inability to alleviate the pain that Gricar's family and loved ones have felt. He said he hopes law enforcement will be able to provide an answer for them.
"It is not my opinion that we are dealing with a homicide. I think homicide is one of three distinct possibilities. It could be a homicide, it could be a missing persons still, it could be a suicide,"
Zaccagni said. "We have no evidence in any direction to substantiate any of those three theories successfully. At this point, he is still a missing person."
Zaccagni said that, with the help of state police, the FBI and other agencies, he believes nothing was missed while investigating the case.
"I would love Ray to call home, but other than that, we have everything we need," he said. "I still have hope that he is out there and he is coming home."
Law enforcement has followed up on leads from places as far as Texas, but they have not yielded any conclusive evidence, Zaccagni added.
In October 2005, a patron at a Texas Chili's Bar & Grill took cell phone pictures of a person resembling Gricar. Tests conducted by the FBI determined it was not him.
Zaccagni said he believed the laptop was the key to solving the case and understanding what Gricar was thinking in the weeks before his disappearance.
The laptop was found in the Susquehanna River in July, and the hard drive was found about 100 yards away in October. Water damage was extensive, and no information could be recovered.
"It was discouraging to find out we got nothing from the computer or the hard drive," Zaccagni said.
Although the option of turning the case over to a grand jury at the attorney general's office has been discussed, Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira said it is not "conceivable or advantageous" at this time because there is no crime or suspect to present.
Madeira stressed the importance of the case to the district attorney's office.
"While this case over time grows cold, the interest of law enforcement, my interest and the interest of the public will not grow cold," he said.
