Waukegan police announced on Friday that they have suspended their search for Séamus Gray, a missing U.S. Navy sailor, NBC 5’s Regina Waldroup reports.
Following two days of "extensive" searching, the Waukegan Police Department on Friday afternoon announced that it was ending its search efforts for missing United States Navy servicemember Séamus Gray, 21, who was last seen around 2 a.m. Saturday leaving a nightclub in Waukegan.
"After extensive search, exhausting all our efforts, we were unable to locate him," Cmdr. Scott Chastain said, adding that several neighboring police and fire departments, as well as more than 100 Navy personnel had joined the search efforts. "Right now we're ending our search effort. ... We've hit everything we can on land, in the air, and along the coast."
According to Chastain, the search spanned the area from Waukegan, to North Chicago, to the Naval Station Great Lakes. It included heavily wooded areas, train tracks, beaches, areas near the lakefront and the lakefront itself. Drones, K-9s, the United States Coast Guard, and Naval Intelligence all assisted, Chastain said.
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"Everybody is a little downhearted that we weren't able to find him, and put some kind of closure to this," Chastain continued. "If we develop any other leads, we definitely will be coming back out, if that's what our leads takes us."
Although the search is ending, Chastain said the police department's investigation will continue.
"We're not going to stop our efforts in our investigation," he said.
'If Somebody Does Go In the Water, They're Not Coming Up Right Away'
In his update, Chastain noted that additional sonar equipment had been incorporated into the water search efforts due to the cold temperatures of the weather and the lake.
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"The problem is with the cold weather right now, and the cold temperatures in the water," Chastain said. "If somebody does go into water, they're not coming up right away," adding that in colder temperatures, a body could remain under water longer due to how body gases are released. "It may be days or weeks before the body would come back up," he said.
Strong winds and high waves in Lake Michigan could make things even more challenging, Chastain said.
"That's a factor for the water as well as the currents," he said. "If someone did go into water, it can take them as far as Chicago or Milwaukee. And that's happened in the past."
Timeline of the Disappearance
According to authorities, Séamus Gray, who is stationed at the Naval Station Great Lakes, was last seen around 1:35 a.m. Saturday leaving Ibiza Nightclub, located at 17 N. Genesee Street in Waukegan, about 40 miles north of Chicago.
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, officials said.
However, it wasn't until 2 p.m. Tuesday that the Waukegan police say they were notified of Gray's disappearance.
"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.
Once Waukegan police did learn of Gray's disappearance, Mullen said they "jumped into action almost immediately" and began a search of areas where he was last seen.
What Surveillance Video Shows
Recently released security footage from outside Ibiza nightclub 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.
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."
During Thursday's update, Mullen said detectives spoke to some individuals who were with Gray that night. However, they reported they did not see him or hear from him after he left the bar.
Also on Thursday, authorities said they had obtained additional surveillance video showing Gray at the lakefront the night he went missing.
"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.
"We know he's in excellent shape, and we're very hopeful that maybe he could be out there someplace," Mullen said.
'Please Come Forward'
Gray's mother, Kerry Rodier Gray, stood alongside the Waukegan Police Department during Thursday morning's press conference, pleading for the community to help find her son.
"There are three things my son lives for. He lives for his family, God and his country. He came here to fight for his country, and now he's missing," she said, asking that anyone with information about Séamus to "please come forward."
During the press conference, Rodier Gray, who lives in Florida, said that she speaks to her son "no less than 10 times a day," through texting, talking, pictures, Facetime or memes, and noted that she too was notified by the Navy on Tuesday that her son had been missing.
On Wednesday, she joined in the search efforts.
"I'm here, I'm going through dumpsters looking for my son," Rodier Gray said.
The Search
According to Waukegan officials, police and fire crews, along with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard, on Wednesday night began an "extensive search of the area" Gray was last seen, as well as the surrounding areas, including the lakefront. Search efforts resumed at 9 a.m. Thursday at Washington Street, between the train tracks and the Waukegan Harbor and Marina.
However, just before 3 p.m., search efforts, which had taken place on both land and water, were halted after Mullen said resources were "exhausted."
"As we recover more and more video, it changes the scope of the search," Mullen added.
The search resumed at 9 a.m. Friday, but again was stopped midday.
"Right now we're ending our search effort," Chastain said Friday. "We've hit everything you could."
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.
