An American college student missing while on spring break in Spain is the nephew of CNN senior producer David Gracey, CNN has confirmed. The news network has been updating the international story with frequent reports this morning.
James “Jimmy” Gracey, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Alabama, was last seen by a friend around 3 a.m. local time Tuesday outside Barcelona’s Shoko club near Port Olímpic, the Gracey family said in a statement.
The college student had been out with friends earlier that evening but had become separated from the group. “That was the last time we’ve heard from him,” his fraternity brother, Cavin McLay, told CNN affiliate WBMA. Gracey, of Chicago suburb Elmhurst, Illinois, was visiting friends who are studying abroad.
According to a Facebook message posted by Gracey’s mother Therese Gracey, the student was last seen wearing a white t shirt and dark jogger-style pants. He wears a gold chain with a rhinestone cross on it, and the Airbnb at which he was staying is located at Ronda de Sant Pere.
CNN’s David Gracey has said it is out of character for his nephew to be out of touch with family, adding that Jimmy Gracey is a responsible young man who helps his parents take care of his younger siblings.
ABC7 in Chicago is reporting that authorities in Spain have found Gracey’s wallet floating in the sea near Barcelona’s Somorrostro Beach. Police had already recovered Gracey’s phone, which had been stolen. The Catalan police force Mossos d’Esquadra is investigating.
Gracey’s aunt, Beth Marren O’Reilly, appearing today on CNN’s The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer, cautioned against believing “false information” on various media outlets, though she wasn’t specific. “At this point, we’re only talking about the facts that we know,” she said, speaking for the Gracey family. “So I would just first caution anybody to believe anything they’re reading online.”
O’Reilly described her nephew as about six foot tall, 175 pounds, wearing a white t shirt, with “a mop of curly hair.”
“The police are being very helpful,” O’Reilly said. “My brother-in-law [Jimmy Gracey’s father] is there in Barcelona, working closely with them. Obviously, they’re trying to track down how the phone was identified and found, and really just trying to help us look everywhere for Jimmy.”
Said Blitzer, “And it’s so personal for so many of us here at CNN, who’ve worked with his uncle David Gracey for years. He was my producer, and our hearts go out to the whole family.”
Anyone with information on Jimmy Gracey’s whereabouts or possible sightings is asked to call 1-224-505-3886.
