Missing Alabama student in Barcelona

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He may have been drugged. If I were his parents no way in hell I’d trust a Spain toxicology report.

It’s a strong possibility that he willingly took drugs. And anyone who says that he wasn’t the type is being naive. You never know. If you are out at a club at 3 am, it’s a safe bet that most of the people there are on drugs and you will certainly be offered drugs. The people who are drinking and not on drugs will usually wind it up by 12/1 am and go home.

It has been many years since I was in Spain but the weekend bar and club scene was quite different. Some of the clubs and bars didn't even open until after midnight and many people drank at home until 1ish then would head to the bar or clubs. They were open until 6:00 am but most people headed home around 4:30 or 5:00 or so. The bars and clubs were packed from about 1:00 to 4:00 am on weekends. That is when everyone was out dancing and partying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are reports that another male American student had left the same club weeks earlier and woke up on the beach with his hands tied, badly beaten, and robbed. He’s facing multiple surgeries due to injury.

While my family and I have traveled extensively, I don’t think I have any desire to return to Barcelona. The locals hate tourists due to the impact of Airbnbs on housing costs, they have a high poverty rate and assume tourists are rich, and with the influx of migrants who hate America it just seems risky.

There are better places to visit and and study abroad.

I suspect we will hear about more incidents now that people are curious.

I read about this online. They are all juniors from American universities.

Junior year is the year American kids traditionally travel abroad. Although now universities are sending kids right out of high school to abroad programs first Fall Semester and then Spring entry on campus so that they can cram more kids on campus due to limited dorm space. So lots of these kids are brand new high school grads too. Barcelona is dangerous. So is Rome Paris and anywhere in Germany. Madrid, Florence, Scotland, anywhere in Japan, Prague, London, Dublin, Switzerland are the safest.

Off topic since Gracey was a 20-year-old junior but I can’t imagine why any student or parent is OK with this. It seems like a terrible way to start college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He may have been drugged. If I were his parents no way in hell I’d trust a Spain toxicology report.

It’s a strong possibility that he willingly took drugs. And anyone who says that he wasn’t the type is being naive. You never know. If you are out at a club at 3 am, it’s a safe bet that most of the people there are on drugs and you will certainly be offered drugs. The people who are drinking and not on drugs will usually wind it up by 12/1 am and go home.

It has been many years since I was in Spain but the weekend bar and club scene was quite different. Some of the clubs and bars didn't even open until after midnight and many people drank at home until 1ish then would head to the bar or clubs. They were open until 6:00 am but most people headed home around 4:30 or 5:00 or so. The bars and clubs were packed from about 1:00 to 4:00 am on weekends. That is when everyone was out dancing and partying.

Such a dangerous and unhealthy way to supposedly have a good time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in my 20s, I travelled the world solo for a year. Took a year off and spent it backpacking - and on a tight budget. (I am a woman). No tech, no phone, no laptop, no tablet, no gps, no internet, nothing. The only thing I had was my first digital camera that I had bought for the trip.

Every ten days or so I would find an internet cafe and send my family a message saying where I was and what countries or cities I was planning to head to next. This was the 1990s and no one thought much of this.

One of the best years of my life.

Yes, and no one else did this in the 1990s.

I don't think that was the poster's point. I think the point was the poster survived and thrived without constant surveillance by anxious parents. It can be done.

Sure. And my point was that that's how things were in the 1990s ... for a lot of people.

The world is no more dangerous now than it was then. So no need to track all the time. Just go have fun. Random accidents can happen anywhere, anytime.

I too went to Spain in the 1990s for a study abroad program and still keep in touch with friends from Spain. Yes, it is much different. The crime rate is higher. There are major issues similar to what is going on in parts of England. There is a lot the press covers or smoothes over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He may have been drugged. If I were his parents no way in hell I’d trust a Spain toxicology report.

It’s a strong possibility that he willingly took drugs. And anyone who says that he wasn’t the type is being naive. You never know. If you are out at a club at 3 am, it’s a safe bet that most of the people there are on drugs and you will certainly be offered drugs. The people who are drinking and not on drugs will usually wind it up by 12/1 am and go home.

That’s not the culture there. Was in Barcelona for a week a year ago. There are gated store fronts everywhere across the city that look abandoned during the day. At night, the gates go up and they are actually night clubs. They only open around midnight, really get hopping around 1am and go until 5am. I stayed above one in an Airbnb and never slept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He may have been drugged. If I were his parents no way in hell I’d trust a Spain toxicology report.

It’s a strong possibility that he willingly took drugs. And anyone who says that he wasn’t the type is being naive. You never know. If you are out at a club at 3 am, it’s a safe bet that most of the people there are on drugs and you will certainly be offered drugs. The people who are drinking and not on drugs will usually wind it up by 12/1 am and go home.

He’s 20! I had plenty of nights going past 3/4am in my 20s without the help of drugs lol. And somehow I’d get up and go to the gym the next morning…college kid energy is unmatched. I agree that if he had drugs in his system there’s a good chance he took them willingly, but not everyone who stays out late is on drugs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lot of pearl clutching on this thread.

Lots of dismissive comments on this thread with posters trying to pretend some places aren't dangerous.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in my 20s, I travelled the world solo for a year. Took a year off and spent it backpacking - and on a tight budget. (I am a woman). No tech, no phone, no laptop, no tablet, no gps, no internet, nothing. The only thing I had was my first digital camera that I had bought for the trip.

Every ten days or so I would find an internet cafe and send my family a message saying where I was and what countries or cities I was planning to head to next. This was the 1990s and no one thought much of this.

One of the best years of my life.

Yes, and no one else did this in the 1990s. :roll:

I don't think that was the poster's point. I think the point was the poster survived and thrived without constant surveillance by anxious parents. It can be done.

I mean my grandpa was born in 1930 and didn’t get vaccinated for anything and he didn’t die, he still got vaccines when the became available tho.

Not a good analogy, sorry.

Having a cell phone and checking in regularly is one thing. Tracking your student at all times is another.

Nobody here is talking about going full Homeland with a kid widget in the corner of the screen. You’re very prone to hyperbole.

Helicopter Mom: "Back home in the states I could see on Life 360 that he hadn’t moved from the club in 7 hours. Waited for the club to close and when he didn’t move, knew there was a problem."

Sounds full Homeland to me.

I don’t how what the issue is with location tracking your kid. I location track mine and I’m really not a helicopter mom. My kid did all their college apps without my involvement — I never saw or read any of them. They pick their classes and activities and I don’t generally know where they are going or why but I will check their location on my phone and text them with a hey — your in Boston this weekend? What’s up? And they’ll text back and I’ll say have fun! We started location sharing when they were 14 and I never turned it off. I think they don’t mind because I am low key about most stuff. They don’t really have secrets from me because I don’t police their behavior. I probably would check it more if they were in a foreign country.

[Anonymous]

“Spain’s El País newspaper, citing police sources, reported on Friday that local surveillance cameras captured video of Gracey walking by himself toward a dock and falling into the water “without third-party involvement”.”

Excerpt From
“Alabama student reportedly fell to his death in Barcelona waters by accident”
Ramon Antonio Vargas
The Guardian
https://apple.news/AOGMmMJo0RTWGoOMhdK4dMA
This material may be protected by copyright.

[Anonymous]

How did they find his wallet and clothes? Did he take them off before falling in? I know that beach area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did they find his wallet and clothes? Did he take them off before falling in? I know that beach area.

I think his phone was either lost or stolen, maybe the wallet as well. But that seems unrelated to his death.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did they find his wallet and clothes? Did he take them off before falling in? I know that beach area.

I think his phone was either lost or stolen, maybe the wallet as well. But that seems unrelated to his death.

Likely an opportunist saw a very drunk guy and either picked up his lost wallet and phone or stole them. Outside the club is rife with pickpocketing rings. Could it have contributed to his death? Maybe. Maybe he was disoriented without Google Maps and went the wrong way.

There was a case at Cornell of an accidental drunk drowning several years ago

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/no-charges-death-cornell-freshman-hazed-frat-party-n1249598

Dog walker in the uk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Nicola_Bulley

And three drowning deaths outside a club in Brooklyn

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/02/us/brooklyn-deaths-avant-gardner-newtown-creek.html?unlocked_article_code=1.VFA.762M.90642H63dF0N&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare


It’s easy for people to drown. Especially if they are drunk.

[Anonymous]

An Indian girl from this area got drunk and downed on spring break last year. This is unfortunately not uncommon among young adults who drink too much and don’t have a strong sense of self-protection combined with friends who don’t look after them. Frankly it could’ve happened to almost any of us in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in my 20s, I travelled the world solo for a year. Took a year off and spent it backpacking - and on a tight budget. (I am a woman). No tech, no phone, no laptop, no tablet, no gps, no internet, nothing. The only thing I had was my first digital camera that I had bought for the trip.

Every ten days or so I would find an internet cafe and send my family a message saying where I was and what countries or cities I was planning to head to next. This was the 1990s and no one thought much of this.

One of the best years of my life.

Yes, and no one else did this in the 1990s. :roll:

I don't think that was the poster's point. I think the point was the poster survived and thrived without constant surveillance by anxious parents. It can be done.

I mean my grandpa was born in 1930 and didn’t get vaccinated for anything and he didn’t die, he still got vaccines when the became available tho.

Not a good analogy, sorry.

Having a cell phone and checking in regularly is one thing. Tracking your student at all times is another.

Nobody here is talking about going full Homeland with a kid widget in the corner of the screen. You’re very prone to hyperbole.

Helicopter Mom: "Back home in the states I could see on Life 360 that he hadn’t moved from the club in 7 hours. Waited for the club to close and when he didn’t move, knew there was a problem."

Sounds full Homeland to me.

I don’t how what the issue is with location tracking your kid. I location track mine and I’m really not a helicopter mom. My kid did all their college apps without my involvement — I never saw or read any of them. They pick their classes and activities and I don’t generally know where they are going or why but I will check their location on my phone and text them with a hey — your in Boston this weekend? What’s up? And they’ll text back and I’ll say have fun! We started location sharing when they were 14 and I never turned it off. I think they don’t mind because I am low key about most stuff. They don’t really have secrets from me because I don’t police their behavior. I probably would check it more if they were in a foreign country.

You DEFINITELY are a helicopter mom. And one that tries to sound cool, but is clearly very neurotic. Very sad to see.

[Anonymous]

At the very least the stolen phone is why he died. Without GPS kids especially drunk kids are totally disoriented.

That said, I don’t even believe the accidental drowning. This isn’t the Caribbean. The water is ice cold there.

P.S. “drugs in system” may be leaked by the country to absolve them. “Drugs” could be an Rx he legally takes; eg Adderall.