Jimmy Gracey’s gold chain and rhinestone cross remain missing after Spanish police rule death accidental

Spanish authorities confirmed that the gold chain and rhinestone cross Jimmy Gracey wore in the last known photo taken of him alive were never recovered during their investigation into his death. Carles Valles, a spokesperson for the Mossos d'Esquadra, the regional Catalan police force, confirmed the necklace's absence from the evidence catalog alongside the department's announcement that the 20-year-old University of Alabama junior died accidentally.

Gracey went missing in the early morning hours of March 17, 2026, after separating from friends at the Shoko nightclub in Barcelona's Port Olímpic district. He was last seen around 3 a.m. local time, wearing a white T-shirt, dark pants and the distinctive gold chain with its rhinestone cross. His body was found two days later, on March 19, in the shallow waters of Somorrostro beach, directly in front of the Shoko club, within a few hundred feet of where he and his group had been earlier that night.

The necklace had become the most recognizable detail of the case almost immediately. Gracey's family included it in their first public plea for information: a gold chain with a rhinestone cross. At Shoko, it reportedly caught the strobe lights on the dance floor. It appears clearly in the last photograph known to show him alive. The night before Gracey disappeared, a Hungarian tourist reported being robbed of her gold necklace in the same Port Olímpic area, though Spanish authorities have not suggested any connection between the two incidents.

During their two-day search, police located Gracey's phone in the possession of a person already wanted for a separate crime. Spanish investigators cleared that individual of any connection to Gracey's death and charged him with illegal possession of stolen property. His wallet, still containing money, credit cards and identification, was found floating in the water nearby. The gold chain was not.

Former FBI analyst Jason Pack said the evidence needs to be understood through the lens of a family in grief. "Spanish authorities have ruled his death accidental. Surveillance footage reportedly shows him walking alone toward the water. The autopsy points to drowning. And the man arrested with Jimmy's phone is believed to have simply found it on the street," Pack said. He described the missing necklace with careful honesty: "His gold chain, which he's wearing in the last known photo of him alive, has not been recovered. That may mean nothing. Breakwaters are unforgiving and currents are strong." But he was equally direct about the emotional stakes: "Families don't get to grieve cleanly when questions are still lingering."

Pack also noted that "some reports have raised questions about certain forensic language in the preliminary autopsy findings," though Spanish authorities have held to their accidental ruling. Final autopsy and toxicology results have not been released.

Gracey, a junior from Elmhurst, Illinois and a graduate of Saint Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, was visiting friends in Barcelona during spring break. A vigil was held at the Theta Chi fraternity house at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on March 24. His family described him as "a kind, responsible, and devoted son and brother" for whom failing to check in was completely out of character.

For the Gracey family, the absence of that gold chain is not a forensic loose end. It is the last piece of him that has not come home.