Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira spent Wednesday responding to criticism of how he has handled the disappearance of the man who once held his job.

More than three years after former Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar left work and was never heard from again, two of his former colleagues are voicing their displeasure with how Madeira has handled the investigation.

Gricar was reported missing on April 15, 2005, after leaving work and calling his longtime girlfriend, Patty Fornicola. His car, laptop and hard drive were later recovered, but the investigation into his disappearance is ongoing.

In a Tuesday press conference, Montour County District Attorney Bob Buehner and former Lock Haven District Attorney Ted McKnight brought up several leads they said Madeira and investigators ignored. Buehner had previously written their concerns in a letter he said Madeira never addressed.

"My choice not to respond to [Buehner] doesn't mean nothing's getting done," Madeira said, adding the two prosecutors' involvement in the case was inappropriate.

"Anybody with any professional credence whatsoever realizes that we don't report to one another," he said. "I don't have any obligations to report to someone else what my investigation is doing."

Madeira said he had received Buehner's letter on June 3 and took its contents into consideration, although some of the leads he mentioned were already under investigation.

In the letter, Buehner questioned the current status of Gricar's hard drive, which was found in the Susquehanna River in October 2005 -- 100 yards from his laptop that was discovered in April.

Buehner suggested that Madeira send the hard drive to Kroll Ontrack Inc., a Minnesota company that recovered information from a badly burned hard drive from the space shuttle Columbia after it crashed.

But Madeira said he had heard about the company before Buehner's letter was even sent and investigators had already looked into the possibility.

When asked about the company's involvement, Kroll Ontrack spokeswoman Kaitlin Creager said: "We don't comment on cases that we are tied to to protect the confidentiality of the case."

Buehner also recommended investigators interview McKnight about a witness that claimed to have seen Gricar on U.S. Route 15 the Friday after his disappearance.

McKnight said the man, who was traveling with his wife toward Lewisburg at 5 p.m. on the day of Gricar's disappearance, pulled up beside a red Mini Cooper driven by a man they recognized as Gricar. The former district attorney's red Mini Cooper was recovered near an antique show in Lewisburg the next day, according to Collegian archives.

However, Madeira said Bellefonte Police followed up on the lead when it was reported back in 2005.

"Why are my colleagues bringing this up nearly three years later?" he said.

Buehner and McKnight do not believe Gricar walked away from his life or committed suicide, Buehner said.

However, Ray Gricar's nephew Tony Gricar said the family isn't as certain about the nature of his uncle's disappearance.

"We're waiting for any kind of evidence that puts it closer to an idea," he said. "We don't necessarily believe he's alive, but it changes on any given day of the week."

It is up to the citizens of Centre County to draw their own conclusions about the investigation, Buehner said.

"All I want to know is what happened to my colleague and my friend," he said. "I want this mystery solved."

Madeira knows Gricar's family and friends want answers.

"The frustration that is apparent is a result of people's frustration that we can't get to the bottom of it," he said. "But as a prosecutor with almost 20 years of experience, I know that you cannot substitute your frustration as evidence."