Seamus Gray was a Navy sailor assigned to Naval Station Great Lakes. (Waukegan Police Department/Facebook)
(Tribune News Service) — A body found in Illinois along the coast of Lake Michigan has been identified as Seamus Gray, a Navy sailor who was last seen leaving a bar after a night out for St. Patrick’s Day.
ComEd employees initially spotted the body on Wednesday while doing routine work near Waukegan Harbor, WSL reported. They flagged down passing officers from the Waukegan Police Department, who pulled the remains to shore just after 7 p.m. The Waukegan Fire Department also responded and assisted in the recovery effort.
The body and clothing matched the description of Seamus Gray, police said in wake of the tragic discovery. Gray was assigned to Naval Station Great Lakes.
On Thursday, the Lake County Coroner’s Office confirmed the body belonged to 21-year-old Gray, who died from drowning, per findings from his preliminary autopsy. The coroner noted there were no signs of a significant injury that would have contributed to his death.
Gray was last seen leaving the Ibiza Bar on Genesee Street on March 18 around 2 a.m. Detectives have since obtained surveillance footage of Gray leaving the watering hole, not far from the Waukegan Harbor. The bar manager said Gray only briefly entered the building before he was turned away for being too intoxicated.
Video also shows Gray walking alone in a back alley behind the bar while footage provided by a nearby business captured him standing right along the water’s edge.
“The last 8 days have been grueling, nauseating, heartbreaking and quite honestly soul-crushing,” his mother wrote in a Facebook post. “This boy is my heart, my world, my love of my life along with his little brother Deck.”
“As I type this I’m trying not to throw up. I cannot sleep, and will not sleep until I have answers as to where my son is, and what happened to him,” she added.
Waukegan police, the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Lake County Coroner’s Office said they will continue to investigate the incident.
©2023 New York Daily News.
Visit nydailynews.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
