James Paul Gracey, a University of Alabama student who disappeared Tuesday from a Barcelona nightclub, was found dead, police in Spain said Thursday.
His body was found at Somorrostro Beach around 6 p.m. local time on Thursday, Catalan Police told NBC News.
University of Alabama student missing in Barcelona
Gracey, a junior accounting major, was last seen at Shoko, a beachfront nightclub in Villa Olimpica in Spain, his parents, Taras and Therese Gracey, said in a statement.
Gracey was wearing a white shirt, dark pants, and a chain with a gold rhinestone cross when he went missing.
Cavin McLay, the president of the university’s Theta Chi fraternity, said Gracey was with a group at the club and they got separated, “and that was the last time they saw him.”
McLay said he is in Barcelona, but is not staying with the same group of friends as Gracey. He said about 10 people are in Barcelona visiting a few fraternity members who are studying abroad.
Police in Barcelona said they had received a call about a possible disappearance of a person who went missing around 3 a.m. Tuesday in the Port Olímpic area. His aunt, Beth Marren O’Reilly, told NBC News that Gracey’s parents became concerned after they received a “phone call that his phone was picked up.”
“It’s one of those things you think isn’t going to happen to your family but right now we just really want to get the word out, get his picture out there and just beg anybody that might have seen him the other night or ran into him and are afraid because they were doing something they shouldn’t have, just please come forward,” she said.
Gracey was from the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst. The university said he was on a “personal trip” when he disappeared.
“We are keeping Jimmy and his family at the forefront of our thoughts, and our staff are in direct communication with the family to offer every support and assistance possible,” a university spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. “Anyone with information that may help is encouraged to contact local authorities. The safety and well-being of all our students, here and abroad, are always the University’s top priority.”
