James “Jimmy” Gracey, an Illinois college student who went missing while visiting friends in Barcelona for spring break, was found Thursday in the water off a Barcelona beach, police in Spain said.
Police said Gracey’s body was found by police divers and positively identified, according to a press office for Catalonia’s regional police in Barcelona. The report said the university student had been last seen near where he later was found, after he was seen outside a nightclub with friends early Tuesday.
Police said their investigation continued into the cause of death. Family members in Elmhurst, Illinois, told police they realized something was wrong when police contacted them and said they had recovered Gracey’s phone.
Gracey, 20, was last seen outside the Shoko nightclub in Barcelona but separated from friends around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, according to the family members. He had been renting a room with friends but never returned to it, the report said.
In a statement released late Thursday, the Gracey family asked for prayers and privacy as they confirmed the death. The statement said: “Our family is heartbroken as we confirm that Jimmy’s body has been recovered in Barcelona. Jimmy was a deeply loved son, grandson, brother, nephew, cousin, and friend, and our family is struggling to come to terms with this unimaginable loss,” and added that the family was “profoundly grateful for the outpouring of love, support, and prayers from people around the world,” before requesting privacy “so that we may grieve together and begin to process this loss as a family.”
Before police confirmed the death, Gracey’s aunt, Beth Marren O’Reilly, told The Associated Press that he was “just a great kid, a good Catholic boy from the Midwest.” O’Reilly described him as “Very good student, honors program at University of Alabama, chaplain in his fraternity,” and said he was an “amazing older brother and role model to his cousins.”
O’Reilly said Gracey left Alabama on Thursday, spent the weekend in Amsterdam, and arrived Monday in Barcelona. She said Gracey’s father, Taras, was in Barcelona and working with police, and that the family did not immediately know how police came into possession of Gracey’s phone.
Barcelona is a popular tourist destination, and the area where Gracey went out is described as a stretch of beach near restaurants and nightclubs frequented by locals and foreigners. The University of Alabama said in a statement that the school community was “heartbroken to learn of the death of Jimmy Gracey” and that his “loss is deeply felt across our campus,” with condolences extended to the Gracey family.
The report said Gracey was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity at the university. It said the international organization recognized him as chaplain for the school’s chapter and as a philanthropy chairperson.