The mother of a 21-year-old U.S. Navy sailor who went missing in Waukegan says her son’s body has not been recovered yet after saying he appeared “to have been in a tragic accident.”
Kerry Rodier Gray, the mother of Seamus Gray, said on March 26 that her son appeared “to have been in a tragic accident.”
“Searchers are still out looking for his body,” Rodier Gray said.
“I have no other info right now other than we love him, are going to never be the same without him and he will NEVER be forgotten,” she added.
Members of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) along with search and rescue canines conducted searches last Monday at the Waukegan Harbor.
Waukegan Police Commander Scott Chastain said three canines indicated or showed interest in an area by the Government Pier.
U.S. Navy personnel ran sonar in Lake Michigan at the Waukegan Harbor Tuesday evening searching for Gray, Chastain said.
The Waukegan Police Department, Waukegan Fire Department, Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) and the United States Navy conducted additional search efforts Wednesday.
The U.S. Navy deployed an underwater rover into the water to search the area.
Fire department divers have searched a large area around the Government Pier in Lake Michigan.
A surface swimmer searched an area around the Waukegan Yacht Club but was also unable to locate Gray, Chastain said.
The Waukegan Police Department conducted a coastal search again along the shores of Waukegan. This past week’s search efforts did not find Gray.
Rodier Gray said yesterday that she had no updates on her son and that his body still has not been recovered.
“His body still hasn’t been recovered but we are praying it will be soon. (Words I never thought I’d have to write),” she said.
“Thank you for the continued prayers for Séamus, Deck and my family. We love and appreciate each and everyone of you,” Rodier Gray added.
Chastain said the Waukegan Police Department would continue monitoring and searching the coastline through land and drone operations.
Rodier Gray traveled to Illinois after her son was reported missing but she has since returned to her home in Florida.
“Gutted doesn’t even describe what I am. I had to leave a city without my son Séamus. Without the knowledge of where Séamus’s body is,” Rodier Gray said after leaving Illinois.
“The last 8 days have been grueling, nauseating, heartbreaking and quite honestly soul crushing. This boy is my heart , my world, my love of my life along with his little brother Deck,” she said.
Rodier Gray said her son was assaulted and pickpocketed outside of Ibiza Bar on Genesee Street in Waukegan.
Surveillance video showed Gray outside the bar for several minutes around 1:35 a.m. on March 18 and at one point he can be seen on the ground with someone on top of him.
The business said that Gray had been asked to leave the establishment due to his level of intoxication and he got into “altercations” outside the bar.
He was seen on video by himself minutes later at the intersection of Sheridan Road and Washington Street in Waukegan, according to Waukegan Deputy Police Chief Brian Mullen.
The footage showed Gray traveling eastward and he was later seen on video walking by himself along the edge of Lake Michigan at the Waukegan Harbor, Mullen said.
Gray is a U.S. Navy Fireman Recruit assigned to Surface Warfare Engineering School Command at Naval Station Great Lakes.
He did not report back to the base at his assigned time of 2 a.m. on March 18, Mullen said. Investigators have spoken to people who Gray was with at the bar.
Rodier Gray said she has searched through “dumpsters, back alleys, back doors of buildings” for her son. “My son was an exceptional young man willing to die serving and protecting his country.”
Should someone go into Lake Michigan, their body is not likely to come up for a while due to the cold temperatures and cold water, Chastain said.
“If he is in the water and that is what happened, it may be days or weeks before the body would come back up,” Chastain said.
Gray was last seen wearing a light pink or red long-sleeve shirt and pants. He has multiple tattoos on his left arm and a script tattoo on his ribcage.
Anyone with information on Gray’s disappearance is asked to contact the Waukegan Police Department tip line at 847-360-9001. Tips can also be texted to 847411 by writing WPDTIP followed by the message.