Lake County and U.S. Navy authorities spent Thursday combing the Waukegan harbor area in search of a sailor last seen leaving a downtown bar early Saturday.
Fire and rescue crews used sonar-equipped boats to search along Lake Michigan for Seamus Gray, 21, of Jupiter, Florida, who is stationed at Naval Station Great Lakes. Meanwhile, authorities used drones to comb the lakeshore area from downtown Waukegan, where Gray was last seen, to areas north.
The search will resume Friday.
“After making numerous passes on land and in the air, it was determined that our resources have kind of been exhausted for the day,” Waukegan police Deputy Chief Brian Mullen said at a Thursday media briefing, about a block from the lakeshore where several firefighters and rescue personnel were finishing a day of searching.
Mullen said authorities will concentrate their efforts more to the south Friday, toward the naval base.
Gray was spotted on security cameras near the docks area not long after he left a bar on Genesee Street in downtown Waukegan at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. He had come to the bar with other people, Mullen said, and police are interviewing them to gather information about that night.
Other video showed Gray at the intersection of Washington Street and Sheridan Avenue, and video from the marina showed Gray “right on the water’s edge,” Mullen said.
Gray was supposed to have been back on base by 2 a.m. Saturday. Navy authorities alerted police Tuesday afternoon about the missing man.
A public affairs spokesperson at the naval base said Gray is a fireman recruit who joined the Navy in July of 2022.
Gray is 6-foot-3, and was last seen wearing a red/pinkish shirt and light-colored pants. He has numerous tattoos on his left arm.
Tips can be submitted via the Waukegan police’s new app. They can also be submitted by calling the WPD tip line at (847) 360-9001, or by texting the keyword WPDTIP and their message/tip to 847411. Anonymous web tips can also be submitted via the department’s website at www.waukeganil.gov/Police
