Family of US college student missing in Barcelona, Spain, pleads for information
By Diego Mendoza, Chris Boyette, CNN
(CNN) — An American college student visiting friends for spring break has gone missing in Spain, his family said, adding police there have his phone.
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 on popular Barceloneta Beach, relatives said in a statement.
He was reported missing after he failed to return that morning to his short-term rental, his mother, Therese Gracey, said in a post on Facebook.
Police have James Gracey’s phone, according to his mother, who said it was recovered after being stolen. The Catalan police force, Mossos d’Esquadra, is investigating, it said without providing more details.
CNN has reached out to the State Department.
Gracey, of Chicago-suburban Elmhurst, Illinois, was visiting friends who are studying abroad, according to his family, which is pleading for the public’s help in finding him.
The college student on Monday night wore a white shirt, dark pants and a chain with a gold rhinestone cross. He is about 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, his family said.
While Gracey was on a personal trip, University of Alabama “staff are in touch with the family and those associated with them to offer support and assistance in any way possible,” the school told CNN.
The-CNN-Wire
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CNN en Español’s Pau Mosquera contributed to this report.
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