Authorities revealed timing details on the disappearance of a 21-year-old United States Navy servicemember, Séamus Gray, who went missing from a Waukegan bar over the weekend. Regina Waldroup reports.
Update: The Waukegan Police on Friday said they were ending their search efforts. Our latest story is here. Our original story continues below.
Authorities revealed timing details on the disappearance of a 21-year-old United States Navy servicemember, Séamus Gray, who went missing from a Waukegan bar over the weekend.
Authorities said that Gray's disappearance was first noted when he didn't report back to the Naval Station Great Lakes base at his scheduled 2 a.m. time Saturday.
But it wasn't until Tuesday that Waukegan police say they were notified of his disappearance. Authorities said the base contacted Gray's mother, but officials weren't yet aware Gray had been in Waukegan the night he disappeared.
"It wasn't until some days later that they had some information that they uncovered that determined that he was in fact in Waukegan the early morning hours of [March 18]," Waukegan Deputy Chief Brian Mullen said during an update Thursday.
According to authorities, Gray, 21, who is stationed at the Naval Station Great Lakes, was last seen around 1:35 a.m. Saturday leaving Ibiza bar, located in the first block of North Genesee Street in Waukegan.
Once Waukegan police learned of Gray's disappearance, Mullen said they "jumped into action almost immediately" and began a search of areas where he was last seen.
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Newly released security footage from outside the bar shows Gray just before 2 a.m. standing and talking to a group of people. At one point in the video, Gray is seen on the ground. At another point, someone in the group appears to grab the wallet from Gray's pocket, but then throws it back at him.
Later in the video, Gray is seen taking off down a nearby alley.
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"Waukegan Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division began to investigate in an attempt to locate Séamus Gray, who had not been seen since the early morning hours of March 18," a release from the department read Thursday. "The investigation led detectives to locate video surveillance of Gray leaving a bar on Genesee Street in Waukegan where he was subsequently identified on video at the intersection of Sheridan Road and Washington Street in Waukegan at approximately 1:40 a.m. on March 18."
"Gray has not been seen or spoken to since leaving the bar," the release adds.
In a press conference Wednesday, Ibiza manager Adrian Hernandez said Gray entered the nightclub twice early Saturday morning, but was ultimately escorted out for being too intoxicated.
Hernandez added that Grey got into at least two altercations outside the bar.
"It's just a sad situation for us," Hernandez said. "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."
Mullen said detectives spoke to some individuals who were with Gray that night but they reported they did not see him after he left the bar.
Authorities said Thursday they have received additional video showing Gray at the lakefront that same night.
"We received some more video down here at the lakefront from some of the businesses at the marinas that were showing Séamus right on the water's edge," Mullen said. "And so we focused our efforts searching the water again today."
Mullen said Gray's phone has not shown any activity since his disappearance.
"At this point, we're just continuing to search for Séamus," he said. "We know he's in excellent shape, and we're very hopeful that maybe he could be out there someplace."
Search efforts were halted just before 3 p.m. Thursday after Mullen said resources were "exhausted."
The search is expected to resume Friday morning.
The mother of the missing 21-year-old pleaded for the community to help find her son.
"There are three things my son lives for," said Kerry Rodier Gray, who stood alongside the Waukegan Police Department during a press conference Thursday morning. "He lives for his family, God and his country. He came here to fight for his country, and now he's missing. I'd like everyone's help to find my son."
During Thursday's press conference, an emotional Rodier Gray called on "anyone with information about Séamus to please come forward."
"That's my guy. That's my boy. He's my life," she said.
During the press conference, Rodier Gray, who lives in Florida, indicated that she speaks to her son "no less than 10 times a day," through texting, talking, pictures, Facetime or memes.
At 9 a.m. Thursday, authorities and Rodier Gray had resumed their foot search for Séamus, which began at Washington Street in Waukegan near the train tracks and the Harbor.
"I'm here, I'm going through dumpsters looking for my son," Rodier Gray said.
Gray was last seen wearing a pink long-sleeved shirt and pants. According to authorities, Gray is described as a white male, standing 6-feet-3 inches tall and weighing 170 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. He has multiple tattoos on his left arm, and a script tattoo on his ribcage.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is encouraged to call Waukegan police at 847-360-9001, or by texting the word WPDTIP to 847411.
Tips can also be submitted anonymously on the Waukegan Police Department’s website.
