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A forensic scientist with decades of experience in his craft remains skeptical about pronouncements from the Spanish government regarding the death of American college student James “Jimmy” Gracey.
“So you’ve got a young man that leaves a bar in the middle of the night, or certainly after midnight,” Joseph Scott Morgan, associate professor of applied forensics at Jacksonville State University, told Fox News Digital.
“He’s allegedly seen leaving with someone initially, and now we’re not really clear about that. He’s adjacent to a very, let’s just say, slippery area with rocks jetting out into the water. Did he fall off of the rocks? Well, I guess that’s certainly plausible.”
Gracey, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Alabama, vanished in the early morning hours of March 17 after clubbing with friends at a popular tourist bar in Barcelona. His body was found two days later close to a nearby pier.
Catalan police divers from the Mossos d’Esquadra search the shoreline and Port Olimpic marina in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, March 19, 2026. Police were searching for clues as to the whereabouts of 20-year-old University of Alabama student James Gracey. (James Breeden for Fox News Digital)
Almost immediately, Spanish authorities told the press that Gracey’s death was accidental and that he wandered toward the water while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They said his wallet was recovered intact, with cash, credit cards and identification all inside.
A chain necklace worn by Gracey remains unaccounted for.
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Authorities later said they retrieved Gracey’s phone from a suspect in a crime unrelated to Gracey.
“The Spanish government, or at least their newspaper, is actually saying that he sustained multiple injuries over the course — and they’re framing these injuries as bruises — over a number of hours, and scientifically, that’s implausible,” said Morgan. “You can be insulted [by] bouncing off of rocks in a post-mortem state or deceased, and you get little dings on the body, little injuries, if you will, artifacts, as we refer to them as, off of these sharp rocks, but you’re not gonna bruise. That’s a problem for me.”
Jimmy Gracey pictured in an undated photo wearing a Crimson Tide football jersey. The University of Alabama junior was reported missing from a trip to Barcelona on March 17. (Gracey family)
Morgan argues that all the statements made by authorities were done so too early — especially in the way of toxicology.
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“The government, I guess through the newspaper, are making statements relative to their conclusions about his death, and they’re missing a big piece of the puzzle here because everybody wants to know, did he have anything placed in his drink?” asked Morgan. “Was he plied with something? Let’s say like a date rape drug, something that would knock down inhibitions and make him certainly more controllable.“
The professor, who began his career with the Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office in New Orleans in 1985 before becoming the senior investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner in Atlanta, thinks the Gracey family should have a private autopsy completed, though he’s not sure whether that’s still possible.
Mourners attend a vigil for Jimmy Gracey held at the Theta Chi fraternity at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Tuesday, March 24, 2026. Gracey died last week while on spring break in Barcelona, Spain. (Dana Mixer for Fox News Digital)
“It’s my opinion that the family would… they would be well-served by having their own examination of Jimmy’s remains at the hands of a board-certified forensic pathologist that they should contract with to do this,” he said.
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But, as confirmed by Fox News Digital, Chief Communication Officer Harles Valles of Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalan’s provincial-level police, said Gracey’s body was returned to the United States on Tuesday.
“Now, here’s the big problem, is that his body would have been prepared prior to leaving Spain to travel over here, OK? We don’t know what organ samples they could still avail themselves of,” Morgan said. “The big piece to this is that there’s no toxicology you could do here. Those toxicology samples that were drawn in Spain are gonna be key.”
Ultimately, Morgan worries that Spanish authorities could have jumped to the conclusion of accidental death, given that Barcelona is a major tourist hub. He said he has seen many such cases.
A vigil for Jimmy Gracey is held at the Theta Chi fraternity at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Tuesday, March 24, 2026. Gracey died last week while on spring break in Barcelona, Spain. (Dana Mixer for Fox News Digital)
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“Barcelona is a vacation destination,” he said. “There are millions of people there right now, and a goodly portion of that population right now are there on holiday. I’ve got friends in Great Britain that love to go to Spain, they love to go to Barcelona. And so yeah, that’s their life’s blood.”
“So yeah, I can see, you know, you don’t want to drive off the customer, and the fact that they were trying to defuse it so early, it makes me raise an eyebrow, I’ve gotta tell you.”