re: Growing Up at Penn State -- all you need to know about why it was kept quiet

By LEE FERRAN and RHONDA SCHWARTZ
Nov. 8, 2011
The prosecutor who decided to not pursue sex abuse charges against former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky more than a decade ago, despite an alleged confession, is at the center of a missing persons mystery that has enraptured middle Pennsylvania for years.

Ray Gricar served as the district attorney for Pennsylvania's Centre County in 1998 when Sandusky was accused of sexually abusing several boys. After an extensive investigation, which included testimony by two law enforcement officers that they had overheard Sandusky admitting to showering with multiple young boys, Gricar decided no criminal charges would be filed, according to recent court documents. Sandusky retired the next year.

READ: Ex-Penn State Coach Won't Speak on Child Sex Abuse Charges

Then, in April 2005, Gricar disappeared.

His car was found abandoned in a Lewisburg, Pa., parking lot and his laptop's harddrive was recovered from the nearby Susquehannna River, but there was no other trace of Gricar. No clues could be gleaned from the severely damaged harddrive and despite a six year investigation that involved the FBI and international help, police have as little an idea today about what happened to the former DA as they did then.

"We literally used every single resource, national and international," Bellefonte, Pa., police chief Shawn Weaver told ABC News today. "This is baffling. He literally just disappeared off the face of the earth."

Andy Colwell/The Patriot-News/AP PhotoFormer Penn State football defensive... View Full Size Andy Colwell/The Patriot-News/AP PhotoFormer Penn State football defensive coordinator Gerald "Jerry" Sandusky, center, arrives in handcuffs at the office of Centre County Magisterial District Judge Leslie A. Dutchcot while being escorted by Pennsylvania State Police and Attorney General's Office officials on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011, in State College, Pa.
READ: Penn State's Joe Paterno Cancels News Conference

In July this year, Gricar was officially declared dead, though Weaver said the investigation into his disappearance is ongoing and new leads continue to emerge.

Weaver said that though everyone has a personal theory about what may have happened to Gricar -- from suicide to foul play -- there has been no evidence to support any one of them. The idea that the disappearance could be linked to the Sandusky investigation, Weaver said, is "highly doubtful."

"Obviously if something raises an eye, it's something we'll look at," he said. "Nothing is out of the realm of possibility."

Robert Buehner, the district attorney for nearby Montour County and longtime friend of Gricar's, told ABC News he's convinced Gricar was murdered but said there was "absolutely" no connection to the Sandusky case. Buehner said Gricar was more likely the target of a violent criminal he had prosecuted or was in the midst of prosecuting. He doubted Gricar would have committed suicide or simply ran off because he was happy, financially stable and often talked fondly of his impending retirement.

As to why Gricar did not pursue charges against Sandusky in 1998, Buehner said that Gricar must simply not have had the evidence he needed.

"If you're going to target someone, you really work very hard to be sure you have a case because if you don't, you could end up ruining someone's reputation and livelihood," Buehner said. "If he had the evidence, Ray would not have concerned himself with who the person was."

Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator for the Penn State Nittany Lions, was arrested Saturday and arraigned on 40 criminal counts connected to the alleged sexual abuse of eight boys over a fifteen year period.

Sandusky declined to comment on the accusations to ABC News Monday.

TIMELINE: Key Dates in the Penn State Sex Abuse Case

ABC News' T.J. Winick and Alyssa Newcomb contributed to this report.

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Think if this happened at any other school in the country, the Coach would have been gone when the grand jury sent down the indictments

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Just think of the SEC...
Miles, would have the WANT to fire his arse.
Saban, would be funny to see his reaction, but no doubt the coach would be gone and fast.
Muschamp, might have a stroke with his reaction.
Patrino, would make him quite in the middle of the season.
Mullen, would literally grind him through a meat grinder.
Nut, would tell him he is fired too.
and so on, you finish it.

Crimes of this nature are about power and intimidation in the minds of the perpetrators. Many are overtly successful though very ruthless, cunning, narcissistic, and politically connected. They're surrounded by enablers and intimidated family members.

This article sheds a lot of light on this situation.

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I think they adopted a bunch

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while Sandusky was allegedly abusing young football players, he and wife Dottie Sandusky were adopting and fostering kids left and right.

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In a country riddled with CPS cases that make the people at these protective agencies look overworked at best, like complete buffoons at worst, the allegations that Sandusky was abusing young boys may rank up there as one of their classic failures.

How did a guy like Jerry Sandusky adopt six kids? How did he become a foster father to many more?

I can't help wondering if the system saw his work with The Second Mile and made assumptions about his character. Yes, Sandusky made it a point to work with children. But what do we know about the classic molester? That's what he (or she) does. They buy the house next to the playground. They become the Scout master. They ingratiate themselves into the world of children

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LINK

I hope to God he didn't molest them. Maybe he didn't. Maybe he was afraid they'd spill the beans to his wife. Or maybe she knew his proclivities and protected them. Who knows?

Sandusky sure has created a bunch of totally mentally fricked up males that are now adults.

He should be executed NOW.

wonder if he had an alarm set up for when adults entered the house.

nm

Gricar got a victim to confront Sandusky

"Gricar also said his uncle had developed "a bitter taste in his mouth for the program, and it's coach, and that was not much of a secret.""

I wonder what ended up happening to him. Whole thing is just weird.

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Kitty Genovese

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great point, we also studied this case from a legal standpoint during law school