An American college student visiting friends for spring break in Spain has gone missing, his family said.
James “Jimmy” Gracey, a 20-year-old student at the University of Alabama, was last seen by a friend around 3 a.m. local time Tuesday outside Barcelona’s Shoko restaurant and nightclub, his mother said. in a Facebook postasking for the public’s help in finding him.
“My college age son is visiting friends who are studying abroad. (sic) went to Shoko’s last night. The police have his phone but he never came back to the air bnb,” wrote Therese Marren Gracey in the Barcelona Expat Families Facebook group.
She did not explain how the police took possession of her son’s cell phone.

Gracey, of Elmhurst, Ill., was wearing a white T-shirt, dark pants and a gold chain with a rhinestone cross on it when he disappeared, according to his mother. He is approximately six feet one and weighs 175 pounds, she added.
He was reported missing after not returning to his Airbnb on Wednesday morning.
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School officials from Chicago’s Saint Ignatius College Prep, where Gracey graduated, shared a statement on Facebookwriting, “The St. Ignatius community is praying for the safe return of Jimmy Gracey ’23.”
Catalan police said they are carrying out “initial checks and have received a report in an open investigation”.
“A call was received early yesterday morning, around 1:00 a.m., reporting a possible disappearance. The disappearance was reported to have occurred on March 17, 2026, at 3:00 a.m., in the Port Olímpic area,” the Catalan Police said. for NBC News.
Global News has contacted the Catalan Police for further information.
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