Update: The Waukegan Police on Friday said they were ending their search efforts. Our latest story is here. Our original story continues below.
The mother of a missing 21-year-old United States Navy servicemember is pleading for the community to help find her son after he disappeared from a Waukegan bar early Sunday.
"There are three things my son lives for," said Kerry Rodier Gray, who stood alongside the Waukegan Police Department during a press conference Thursday morning. "He lives for his family, God and his country. He came here to fight for his country, and now he's missing. I'd like everyone's help to find my son."
According to authorities, Séamus Gray, 21, who is stationed at the Naval Station Great Lakes, was last seen around 1:35 a.m. Saturday leaving Ibiza bar, located in the first block of North Genesee Street in Waukegan.
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"Waukegan Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division began to investigate in an attempt to locate Séamus Gray, who had not been seen since the early morning hours of March 18," a release from the department read Thursday. "The investigation led detectives to locate video surveillance of Gray leaving a bar on Genesee Street in Waukegan where he was subsequently identified on video at the intersection of Sheridan Road and Washington Street in Waukegan at approximately 1:40 a.m. on March 18."
"Gray has not been seen or spoken to since leaving the bar," the release adds.
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.
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What Surveillance Video Shows
Newly released security footage from outside the bar shows Gray just before 2 a.m. Saturday 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 says 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."
'Please Come Forward'
During Thursday's press conference, an emotional Rodier Gray called on "anyone with information about Séamus to please come forward."
"That's my guy. That's my boy. He's my life," she added.
During the press conference, Rodier Gray, who lives in Florida, indicated that she speaks to her son "no less than 10 times a day," through texting, talking, pictures, Facetime or memes.
At 9 a.m. Thursday, authorities and Rodier Gray had resumed their foot search for Séamus which began at Washington Street in Waukegan near the train tracks and the Harbor.
"I'm here, I'm going through dumpsters looking for my son," Rodier Gray said.
Gray was last seen walking down an alley near the nightclub, 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.
