nittany90
05-11-2009, 11:24 AM
Reports/timelines gathered from various sources
1. On May 16, 2006, just days after a damning CDT article that BPD dropped the ball (and after several requests of area DAs and family members) Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira called for an elite state police investigative review team to evaluate Bellefonte Police Department's handling of the disappearance (the cia Team). Madeira said he’d been thinking of it since day one (not that pressure from CDT reports led him to request an evaluation) "Even since April 15, where we were at a point where we are essentially at a loss, I had thought of taking that step," Madeira said of the investigative team. (Source: CDT, May 17, 2006)
2. On June 16th, 2006, BPD turned over all their files on missing prosecutor Ray Gricar to a state police team that will investigate their investigation. The state police Criminal Investigative Analysis team for western Pennsylvania, based in Bedford, took possession of a banker's box full of Bellefonte police paperwork at 9 a.m. Thursday to begin a six-week study of the entire case, according police chief Shawn Weaver. (Source: Pittsburgh Post Gazette, June 18, 2006) Only a banker’s box full? After over a year of investigation? I know, I know. BPD could have handed over the rest of the files at a later date, or many of the files could have been put on computer disks.
3. The unit -- 17 investigators with more than 200 years' combined experience -- reviewed the demographics, the timeline and reports from interviews with witnesses and "persons of interest" related to the case, Madeira said. Investigators examined Gricar's phone, computer and financial records and information concerning his behavior prior to April 15, 2005.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_480929.html
4. The meeting was pushed-off until October, 2006. The state police team has gathered material from Bellefonte police and have conducted interviews, Madeira said. But it has not yet been able to coordinate a meeting of the troopers to meet and discuss the investigation. The meeting set for mid-October could last three days.
5. Delayed again. State police troopers studying the investigation into Gricar's disappearance now are not scheduled to meet until Oct. 31 and Nov. 1-2 at an undisclosed location, Bellefonte Police Chief Shawn Weaver said.
6. Finally, in November 2006, it was reported that “no report would be reported”. What?? A state police review of a local police agency's search for a missing prosecutor yielded no new revelations but gave investigators fresh perspective into the 20-month-old case, authorities overseeing the investigation said Tuesday. A state police unit that focuses mainly on high-profile cases met with Bellefonte police for two days last week to discuss the disappearance of former Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar, who vanished in April 2005. State police investigators "recommended several investigative strategies" but will not prepare or release a report on their review, said Michael Madeira, who is now the county's top prosecutor.
7. The one significant detail released, according to Tony Gricar, was the cia performed a “risk assessment” of the likelihood Gricar met with foul play. “No inherent risks” were found. (Source, CDT: December 13, 2006). No inherent risks involving a DA, after years of prosecuting the "worst of the worst" -- rapists, murderers, child abusers? Just what was the cia's risk assessment based upon?
8. Only active BPD investigators took part in the investigation (Chief Dixon did not) Steve Sloane and Carolyn Fenton were not interviewed. (Source, CDT: December 13, 2006 and linked below)
9. Curiously, just weeks later, lead investigator 28-year-old Zaccagni, announced his retirement on January 24, 2007 to take a part-time position as a resource officer for the Bellefonte School District, a job that the school board created at a meeting just days before the announcement. Zaccagni said he had a long-standing interest in working with students, and tried unsuccessfully in the past to secure funding for a school resource officer.(Source: CDT, January 24, 2007)
http://fromwhisperstor.6.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=2016&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30
Forget the cia review being largely useless in itself. Does anyone else find DZ's retirement very, very odd? The man, only 28 years old, was working on arguably, the biggest case of his career. Only a few weeks after the cia reviewed the investigation and reported its results to MM, DZ decides to "retire" from the BPD. At 28 years old. To take a part-time job as a "resource officer". A position that was just created by the school board days before.
Was DZ simply the "fall guy"? Was the case so cold, that he really wanted to give up the biggest case of his career, to retire at age 28??? Or, was it something more?
1. On May 16, 2006, just days after a damning CDT article that BPD dropped the ball (and after several requests of area DAs and family members) Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira called for an elite state police investigative review team to evaluate Bellefonte Police Department's handling of the disappearance (the cia Team). Madeira said he’d been thinking of it since day one (not that pressure from CDT reports led him to request an evaluation) "Even since April 15, where we were at a point where we are essentially at a loss, I had thought of taking that step," Madeira said of the investigative team. (Source: CDT, May 17, 2006)
2. On June 16th, 2006, BPD turned over all their files on missing prosecutor Ray Gricar to a state police team that will investigate their investigation. The state police Criminal Investigative Analysis team for western Pennsylvania, based in Bedford, took possession of a banker's box full of Bellefonte police paperwork at 9 a.m. Thursday to begin a six-week study of the entire case, according police chief Shawn Weaver. (Source: Pittsburgh Post Gazette, June 18, 2006) Only a banker’s box full? After over a year of investigation? I know, I know. BPD could have handed over the rest of the files at a later date, or many of the files could have been put on computer disks.
3. The unit -- 17 investigators with more than 200 years' combined experience -- reviewed the demographics, the timeline and reports from interviews with witnesses and "persons of interest" related to the case, Madeira said. Investigators examined Gricar's phone, computer and financial records and information concerning his behavior prior to April 15, 2005.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_480929.html
4. The meeting was pushed-off until October, 2006. The state police team has gathered material from Bellefonte police and have conducted interviews, Madeira said. But it has not yet been able to coordinate a meeting of the troopers to meet and discuss the investigation. The meeting set for mid-October could last three days.
5. Delayed again. State police troopers studying the investigation into Gricar's disappearance now are not scheduled to meet until Oct. 31 and Nov. 1-2 at an undisclosed location, Bellefonte Police Chief Shawn Weaver said.
6. Finally, in November 2006, it was reported that “no report would be reported”. What?? A state police review of a local police agency's search for a missing prosecutor yielded no new revelations but gave investigators fresh perspective into the 20-month-old case, authorities overseeing the investigation said Tuesday. A state police unit that focuses mainly on high-profile cases met with Bellefonte police for two days last week to discuss the disappearance of former Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar, who vanished in April 2005. State police investigators "recommended several investigative strategies" but will not prepare or release a report on their review, said Michael Madeira, who is now the county's top prosecutor.
7. The one significant detail released, according to Tony Gricar, was the cia performed a “risk assessment” of the likelihood Gricar met with foul play. “No inherent risks” were found. (Source, CDT: December 13, 2006). No inherent risks involving a DA, after years of prosecuting the "worst of the worst" -- rapists, murderers, child abusers? Just what was the cia's risk assessment based upon?
8. Only active BPD investigators took part in the investigation (Chief Dixon did not) Steve Sloane and Carolyn Fenton were not interviewed. (Source, CDT: December 13, 2006 and linked below)
9. Curiously, just weeks later, lead investigator 28-year-old Zaccagni, announced his retirement on January 24, 2007 to take a part-time position as a resource officer for the Bellefonte School District, a job that the school board created at a meeting just days before the announcement. Zaccagni said he had a long-standing interest in working with students, and tried unsuccessfully in the past to secure funding for a school resource officer.(Source: CDT, January 24, 2007)
http://fromwhisperstor.6.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=2016&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30
Forget the cia review being largely useless in itself. Does anyone else find DZ's retirement very, very odd? The man, only 28 years old, was working on arguably, the biggest case of his career. Only a few weeks after the cia reviewed the investigation and reported its results to MM, DZ decides to "retire" from the BPD. At 28 years old. To take a part-time job as a "resource officer". A position that was just created by the school board days before.
Was DZ simply the "fall guy"? Was the case so cold, that he really wanted to give up the biggest case of his career, to retire at age 28??? Or, was it something more?