Who Is Seamus Gray? What We Know of Navy Sailor Missing in Illinois
The search for a missing 21-year-old Navy sailor moved into its seventh day, as the man's distraught mother made a desperate appeal for the public to help find her son.
Seamus Gray was last seen leaving the Ibiza Bar in Waukegan, Illinois, in the early hours of Saturday morning. He had been enjoying a night out with friends to celebrate St. Patrick's Day on Friday.
Chicago Police Department released surveillance camera footage on Thursday in a bid to raise awareness of Gray's disappearance. The sailor, who was wearing a red shirt and red pants, can be seen leaving the bar at 10:30 p.m., then returning at about 1:30 a.m., not long before the venue was due to close for the night.
A staff member then asked Gray and some other customers to leave as they were too intoxicated, according to ABC 13. At one point, the footage shows Gray lying on the ground for a while, the news channel reported.
A different camera caught Gray on film again at around 1:40 a.m, and the clip—which was shared by Waukegan police—shows him walking alone. He was picked up on camera again heading in the direction of Lake Michigan.
The alarm was raised when Gray failed to report back to his base, the Great Lakes Naval Station. Gray is a U.S. Navy Fireman Recruit assigned to Surface Warfare Engineering School Command at the station.
Gray's mother, Kerry Gray, told a press conference on Thursday: "I would like for anyone who has any information about my son Seamus to please come forward and please help me. That's my boy. That's my guy. His little brother is 14 and is my son's role model. He is my life. So please help find Seamus." She said he had promised to play video games with his younger brother online when he got home after his night out.
We are attempting to locate Seamus Gray, not seen since early March 18. Gray is in the United States Navy assigned to Great Lakes. Anyone with info, send a tip thru the WPD tip app, call the Tip-Line at 847-360-9001, or text keyword WPDTIP and message/tip to 847411. pic.twitter.com/P05hzxENpM
— Waukegan Police Dept (@Waukegan_Police) March 23, 2023
The mom also told local news website the Lake and McHenry County Scanner that she had rushed to Illinois from her home in Chicago after being told her son had vanished. And she added: "He came here to fight for his country and now he is missing. I'd like everyone's help to find my son."
Sniffer dogs and drones have been used in the search for Gray, while sonar equipment and divers were due to search the Waukegan Harbor and Lake Michigan on Thursday. The Waukegan Fire Department, the Waukegan Police Department (WPD) and the U.S. Coast Guard have all been engaged in the search. Anyone with information is asked to call the WPD "Tip-Line" at 847-360-9001.
Newsweek has reached out to the Navy by email seeking further information about Gray's disappearance.
