A University of Alabama student from the Chicago suburbs vanished after a night out in Barcelona and was later found dead in the Mediterranean, ending a desperate international search.
James “Jimmy” Gracey, 20, had traveled to Spain during spring break to visit friends studying abroad.
His family says the trip took a devastating turn after he disappeared early Tuesday morning following a visit to Shoko Barcelona, a nightclub near the Villa Olimpica area on Barceloneta Beach.
Friends last saw Gracey around 3 a.m. Tuesday. He never made it back to the Airbnb.
That gap became the center of an urgent search that stretched for days across the city, the shoreline and the water off the Barcelona coast.
Authorities in Barcelona built the investigation around several possibilities from the start.
Police examined the chance that foul play played a role. Investigators also considered whether Gracey may have entered the water and drowned. The search soon shifted toward the sea.
A press officer with the communications office of the Mossos, the Catalan police, told CBS News that part of the operation had moved into the water.
Boats, divers and drones were sent out while another search continued on land near the nightclub where Gracey was last seen.
Police later confirmed that drowning was one of the working theories under review.
The marine unit of the Mossos d’Esquadra deployed along the Mediterranean coast Thursday as the hunt intensified.
Conditions in the water made the operation harder. Divers involved in the effort told Fox News Digital they were working with almost no visibility.
They said they could see only about 16 inches in front of them while searching.
Authorities also examined evidence recovered away from the shoreline.
Gracey’s family said police had his phone. His mother also said authorities reportedly had his wallet, though he still had not been located at that stage of the search.
Later reporting complicated that picture. Police sources told the Daily Mail that Gracey’s wallet had been found floating in the sea, a discovery that helped trigger the aquatic search.
His phone, relatives said earlier, had been recovered from a third party, though it was not clear whether that person had any connection to the disappearance itself.
Spanish investigators also reviewed security footage from the club. Shoko Nightclub told CBS News Chicago through messages that it had turned over video from the night Gracey disappeared to local law enforcement.
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As the search pressed on, Gracey’s family tried to keep public attention on the case.
“Jimmy is a kind, responsible, and devoted son and brother,” the family wrote in a statement released during the search. “It is completely out of character for him not to check in with family and friends.”
His aunt, Beth Marren O’Reilly, echoed that concern while describing why the family feared something had gone badly wrong.
“He’s a great big brother, he’s a great son, he’s a great nephew, he’s just very beloved,” O’Reilly said. “He’s a very responsible kid, which is why we’re very worried. This is pretty out of character for him not to be in touch with friends and family.”
She later described the confusion inside the crowded club as the night unfolded.
“They were all together at the start of the night, and as the night went on, the club got crowded, and everybody just sort of ended up in different corners,” O’Reilly said.
As hours turned into days, family members worked across continents to gather answers.
O’Reilly said Gracey’s father had gone to Barcelona and was trying to work with police there.
The family also received help from the U.S. State Department. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin confirmed he had been in touch with Gracey’s relatives as the search continued.
Speaking before authorities announced Gracey’s death, O’Reilly said the family was hanging on as best it could.
“We’re all just hanging together and doing the best we can to get his story out so people see his face, recognize his face, and if they know anything, that they’ll bring it to the authorities,” she said.
She also said the family was struggling with how little solid information they had.
“We don’t know whether it was lost, stolen, whatever,” she said of Gracey’s phone. “Beyond that, we don’t have a lot of additional information right now.”
The family painted a picture of a student whose disappearance made no sense to those who knew him.
O’Reilly described her nephew as “one of the greatest kids you’ll ever meet.” She said he was a strong student, an honors student, the chaplain in his fraternity and a caring son and brother.
“The reason we’re so concerned: He does not have his phone, and he is not known to not be in touch with family and friends,” she said.
Then came the break no family wanted. A source at Mossos d’Esquadra told the Daily Mail that police divers discovered a body on Thursday.
Later that day, the source said, the body was formally identified as Gracey and his family was notified.
The same outlet reported that police believed Gracey may have fallen from a rocky outcrop into the Mediterranean and drowned.
Authorities have not announced a final determination on exactly what happened in the hours between Gracey’s last sighting and the recovery of his body.
Police have continued to say they were reviewing all possibilities, including foul play, as part of the open investigation.
The second case drawing attention this week also centered on a missing young person, though it ended with a different outcome.
In Ohio, 16-year-old Madison Fields was found safe about a month after she was reported missing, and federal investigators say a Tennessee man identified as Negron is now in custody.
Fields had been missing since Feb. 16. On March 13, the FBI Cincinnati, the Colerain Police Department and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation announced that she had been located at a hotel in Florida.
Authorities said the breakthrough came after investigators identified a person of interest in her disappearance. Federal agents first moved on the suspect’s home in Tennessee.
The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team executed a search warrant there, but officials said the suspect had already fled before agents arrived. Authorities then issued an alert for the suspect and his vehicle.
That alert led FBI Jacksonville to the suspect’s car parked outside a police station in Palatka, Florida.
Investigators traced the lead to a hotel where Madison was believed to be staying. When law enforcement got there, they found her alive. The suspect was taken into custody. Officials have not yet announced formal charges.
Federal authorities also revealed more about the man now at the center of the case.
Investigators said Negron had been linked to a separate possible kidnapping in 2024 involving a 17-year-old girl from Texas who was allegedly transported for sexual activity.
At that time, officials said, he had also been involved in two prior barricade incidents with local law enforcement.
Investigators say he made threatening statements toward officers, and a shotgun was found inside his residence.
The FBI said the rest of Negron’s criminal history included local misdemeanor charges for theft, trespassing, criminal mischief and marijuana possession.
Officials credited coordinated work across several agencies for bringing Madison home.
“We are thankful Madison is safe and will soon be back in Ohio,” FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Jason Cromartie said, while thanking the agencies involved in locating the teen.
