Seamus Gray: Chilling footage shows missing Navy sailor, 21, outside bar moments before he disappeared
WAUKEGAN, ILLINOIS: A US Navy sailor was captured in shocking surveillance footage just moments before he disappeared. Seamus Gray of Florida was last seen on Saturday, March 18, around 2 in the morning, walking very close to the lake shoreline in Waukegan, Illinois. The 21-year-old dressed in red appeared to be intoxicated and was captured around 1.30 am while standing at Ibiza Bar with friends.
After he was asked to leave the bar, Gray was seen walking through an alley behind the bar by himself and heading toward the lake. He spoke with his mother, Kerry Gray, earlier that night before he went missing.
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“We were on a FaceTime call while we were both out for St. Patrick's Day. We talk no less than ten times a day. We're in contact all the time,” she said according to The Sun. She has not heard from him since last Friday, March 17, night.
Search for Seamus Gray ends
After a massive search effort that was launched to find the whereabouts of Gray turned fruitless, authorities turned their attention to a naval base where they believed the man might have been heading. “We did search the heavily wooded area, the beaches along the coast of the water, and also the Coast Guard was out on the water as well searching,” said Waukegan Police Commander Scott Chastain at a press conference. “After an extensive search, exhausting all of our efforts, we made it all the way back to the base and we were unable to locate him at this time.”
Drones and search dogs were used in the search, said Chastain, and was also assisted by US Navy personnel. “We’ve searched every area we can search at this time,” he added. Christian said that the investigation will still continue despite the search ends. “If we develop any other leads, we definitely will be coming back out if that is what our leads take us to,” he said.
One hundred Navy personnel helped in the search. They had to get access from property owners since most of the land is privately owned. “We've exhausted all means on land, and along the coast, so I don't know what else there is to search unless we develop new information,” said Chastain. “Right now we pray for Seamus.”
Seamus Gray's mother speaks out
Gray's mother spoke at a press conference Thursday morning, March 23, where she requested the community to continue looking for her son. "He came here to fight for his country and now he's missing. And I'd like everybody's help to find my son. I'm here. I'm going through dumpsters looking for my son," she said.
Who is Seamus Gray?
According to a family friend of Grey, Seamus graduated from All Saints Catholic School and played lacrosse at St Thomas Aquinas High School, CBS 12 reports. He is now a navy service member stationed at the Naval Station Great Lakes in Lake County, Florida. The 21-year-old is about 6'3, 170 lbs., and has brown hair and blue eyes along with tattoos on his left arm and a script tattoo on his ribcage.
Where is Seamus Gray?
NBC Chicago reported that Ibiza manager Adrian Hernandez claimed that Gray attended the club twice early on Saturday morning before he was asked to leave due to his excessive intoxication. According to the manager, Grey got into at least two disputes outside the bar. "It's just a sad situation for us," Hernandez said to the outlet. "We just want him to be found ... we just want to cooperate in any way we can. We're doing everything we can to cooperate with the police investigation with the family."
Grey was seen speaking to a group of individuals just before 2 am on recently released CCTV footage taken outside Ibiza Bar, per the outlet. He was seen on the ground at one point in the footage. A second time, one of the others in the group appears to grab Gray's wallet out of his pocket, but promptly throws it back. Grey was then seen running down a nearby alley later in the footage.
“Our investigators are working with NCIS to help identify people who might be on that video,” police Deputy Chief Brian Mullen told reporters Thursday, per NBC News.