The case of James Paul Gracey has taken a deeply unsettling turn after authorities in Barcelona reportedly recovered his phone — a discovery that was expected to bring answers… but instead raised even more questions.

Missing University of Alabama student James Gracey’s phone was found when Spanish police busted someone, his family said in an alarming update.

Gracey, 20, was last seen around 3 a.m. Tuesday on security footage leaving a popular Barcelona nightclub with an unidentified person after a night out with his fraternity brothers.


Police recovered his phone during the arrest of another individual, Noreen Heron, a family spokesperson, told Fox News, without making clear if the bust was directly related to the spring breaker’s disappearance.

James Paul Gracey wearing a white t-shirt and cross necklace, in a crowded, dimly lit club.
University of Alabama student James Gracey went missing while on spring break in Spain. Therese Gracey
“We don’t know whether [the phone] was lost, stolen, whatever,” the 20-year-old’s aunt Beth O’Reilly told NewsNation.

Law enforcement sources in Barcelona declined to reveal any details to Fox News on the suspect arrested in possession of Gracey’s phone or if the arrest was directly tied to the ongoing hunt.

A missing University of Alabama student, James Paul Gracey, smiling at the camera.
James Gracey grew up in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. Therese Gracey
However, investigators are looking through the phone’s location history to trace Gracey’s movements after he left the nightclub.

Gracey, from West Elmhurst, Ill., vanished hours after he flew into Barcelona from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on Monday, where he had spent the previous weekend.

Kenna Cohen and Jimmy Gracey posing together at night.
James Gracey’s phone is in police custody. @kennacohenn/Instagram
He was separated from his friends after going out to the hip club Shôko — but never made it back to his Airbnb in Ronda de Sant Pere some two miles away.

Foul play is suspected in Gracey’s disappearance after security footage revealed him leaving the club with a stranger.

Smiling James "Jimmy" Gracey wearing a light purple polo shirt with "Bama" embroidered on it.
James Gracey attends the University of Alabama. Gracey Family

Cavin McLay, president of the Theta Chi fraternity where Gracey served as a chaplain, told “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning that if he could speak to his brother right now, he’d tell him to “keep fighting.”

“We’re not going to give up. We’re going to keep looking for him, and we’re waiting for him to come to us safe.”