Even though Spanish police have said they believe University of Alabama student Jimmy Gracey accidentally drowned after going missing in Barcelona, several important questions about the case linger.

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An autopsy revealed the 20-year-old died by drowning and ruled out any signs of foul play, sources close to the case told local outlet El País. CCTV footage reportedly shows Gracey walking alone to a dock area near the club and falling in without anyone intervening. What happened at the club before Gracey left remains unclear.

At the University of Alabama, Gracey was a chaplain and philanthropy chair for the Alpha Phi Chapter of the Theta Chi International Fraternity. Both issued statements Thursday praising Gracey as a dedicated member.
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The case has drawn similarities to the death of Riley Strain, a University of Missouri student who was found dead in the river in Nashville in March of 2024 while on a trip with his fraternity.

What we know about the night Jimmy Gracey disappeared

On Thursday, divers pulled the 20-year-old’s body out of the water just feet from the beachside club Shôko, where he was last seen early Tuesday.

Gracey, who grew up in Elmhurst, Illinois, had been in Barcelona visiting friends who were studying abroad when he disappeared. Gracey visited the nightclub with a friend but stayed when that friend left, authorities said. He failed to return to his Airbnb rental.
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A local reporter in Barcelona told NewsNation that police reviewed CCTV footage and saw Gracey outside the club, leaving with someone. A witness said they last saw Gracey walking toward the beach.

It remains unclear what, if anything, was in his system when he died.

What happened to Riley Strain?

Strain, who was reported missing March 8, 2024, during a fraternity trip, was found deceased in Nashville’s Cumberland River nearly two weeks later.

On the night of his disappearance, he was escorted out of a bar around 9:30 p.m. Surveillance video showed him walking around Nashville by himself shortly afterward. At some point after he left the bar, Strain texted his friends and said he was heading back to the hotel, but he never arrived.
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An autopsy later classified Strain’s death as accidental, listing the cause as “drowning and ethanol intoxication.” The autopsy revealed that Strain’s blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, and authorities did not suspect foul play in his death.

The autopsy also determined that Strain’s body contained traces of Delta 9, which is a chemical found in cannabis and hemp plants.

A wrongful death lawsuit, filed by Strain’s family in 2025, argues that the Delta Chi fraternity and its members were negligent in taking proper precautions to ensure all fraternity members would be safe and failed to intervene when Strain was visibly impaired.
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Strain’s parents told NewsNation in 2024 that they weren’t convinced Strain was alone when he entered the water.

“If he truly fell in the water, and you can prove that to me, show me,” his stepfather, Chris Whiteid, said. “I’ll accept it. But I can tell you from all the stuff that we’ve done as far as searching, looking, taking pictures — I don’t feel like it’s really possible to happen. He may have fallen. Somebody helped him in the water.”

Earlier that night, Strain messaged his mother, Michelle Whiteid, saying he ordered a rum and Coke that “didn’t taste good.”

“Maybe there was something in it that shouldn’t have been,” Whiteid said.

NewsNation’s Katie Smith and Jeff Arnold and local affiliate KTVI contributed to this report.