Mom of missing naval recruit pleads for help from public. ‘I’m going through dumpsters looking for my son.’

The mother of a missing naval recruit in Waukegan has pleaded for help from the public as the search widened Thursday with help from U.S. Navy investigators.

“I would like everybody’s help to find my son,” said Kerry Gray, who traveled from Florida after the Navy notified her about the disappearance of her son Seamus Gray, 18. ”I’m here, I’m going through dumpsters looking for my son.

“That’s my boy. That’s my son’s role model,” she said through tears. “He’s never, ever going to leave me or his family. So anybody who can help, please come forward. I really appreciate it.”

Police say Seamus Gray left the Ibiza Bar on North Genesee Street around 1:35 a.m. on March 18 and was last seen on camera in the area of Sheridan Road and Washington Street. Surveillance video captured him apparently being confronted by several people outside the bar, then walking alone down an alley.

Gray did not report to the naval base before his 2 a.m. curfew, according to Waukegan Deputy Chief Brian Mullen.

“Overnight, we received some more video from some of the businesses at the marinas that showed Seamus right on the water’s edge,” Mullen said Thursday. “So we focused our efforts on searching the water today.”

Gray was a fireman recruit assigned to the Surface Warfare Engineering School Command at the Naval Station Great Lakes. The Navy released a statement Thursday saying its Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) office at Great Lakes was assisting with the investigation.

Police have described Gray as 6-foot-3, weighing around 170 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a light pink/red long-sleeve shirt. Gray has tattoos on his left arm and a script tattoo on his ribcage.

Gray’s mother said he was supposed to play Xbox online with his 14-year-old brother later that night. She said it was unlike Gray to have no contact with his family this long.

“We’re never not in contact,” said Kerry Gray. “The only time I’ve ever not heard from my son was when he was in bootcamp. We talked 10 times a day - whether it’s silly memes, whether it’s just texting.

“He lives for his family, he lives for his God and he lives for his country,” she said. “He came here to fight for his country and now he is missing.”

Anyone with information can call police at (847) 596-5454.