Body of missing US Navy sailor, 21, is pulled from harbor near Lake Michigan

The body of a missing US Navy sailor been pulled from a harbor near Lake Michigan after he was last seen leaving a bar the day after St Patrick's Day.

Seamus Gray, 21, who went missing last month, causing weeks of anguish for his mother Kerry, has been found along the lake in Waukegan, Illinois, officials said.

The desperate search saw emergency crews and Navy personnel turning over the city as Kerry posted social media updates detailing her heartbreak. 

At around 7pm on Wednesday, police officers were conducting a traffic stop near the Waukegan Harbor when utility workers flagged them down, according to police.

The ComEd workers were carrying out routine work near the harbor and reported what they believed to be a body in the water.

Seamus Gray (pictured), 21, who went missing last month, has been found in Waukegan, Illinois, along the lake, officials said. His mother Kerry Gray (pictured) initially flew from Florida to help with the search

In surveillance footage, the sailor is seen walking down a back alley after leaving Ibiza Bar on Genesee Street in Waukegan. He was later seen at the intersection of Sheridan Road and Washington Street around 1:40 am on March 18

The Waukegan Fire Department helped an officer to pull the body onto the shore and police chief Edgardo Navarro said it fitted Gray's physical description.

The clothes on the body also matched his description, WGN9 reported.

The Lake County coroner later confirmed that the body was Gray's, according to the outlet.

An autopsy will be conducted Thursday to determine a cause of death.

Gray was last seen leaving a bar in Waukegan on March 18, the day after St. Patrick's Day, with the police describing the group of friends as intoxicated.

Gray was then sighted walking near the Metra station and did not turn up for his 2pm curfew, according to WGN9.

Police from Waukegan and North Chicago, firefighters, the Office of Naval Intelligence, water rescue crews and about 100 Navy personnel spent hours in the following days looking for Gray along the lakefront.

Gray's mother also traveled to Waukegan from Florida to search for her son.

Detectives found video surveillance footage of Gray leaving Ibiza Bar on Genesee Street in Waukegan.

The video shows him leaving the bar alone through a back alley dressed in a pink outfit and he was later seen at the intersection of Sheridan Road and Washington Street at around 1:40 am on March 18 and had not been seen or spoken to since leaving the bar.

Seamus Gray (pictured) was last seen leaving a bar in Waukegan on March 18, the day after St Patrick's Day

'Tomorrow I have to to do what no mother should ever have to do. I have to go on a foot search with the Police Department, Fire Department and many others who will join in to find my son Séamus Grays body,' Kerry wrote on March 23

As I type this I'm trying not to throw up. I cannot sleep, and will not sleep until I have answers as to where my son is, and what happened to him,' Kerry Gray wrote on social media

An investigation into the death remains ongoing.

Waukegan police, the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Lake County Coroner's Office are involved.

Kerry posted on social media shortly after he went missing.

Kerry wrote: 'The last 8 days have been grueling, nauseating, heartbreaking and quite honestly soul-crushing. 

'This boy is my heart, my world, my love of my life along with his little brother Deck.'

She added: 'As I type this I'm trying not to throw up. I cannot sleep, and will not sleep until I have answers as to where my son is, and what happened to him.'

In one social media post in March, Kerry wrote that she and a friend were taking part in the investigations and were searching dumpsters for her son's body.

'Tomorrow I have to do what no mother should ever have to do. I have to go on a foot search with the Police Department, Fire Department and many others who will join in to find my son Séamus Grays body,' she wrote on March 23.

Kerry flew home to Florida a week after the disappearance and said she was 'gutted' over having to leave without having found her son or his body.

'This boy is my heart, my world, my love of my life along with his little brother Deck,' Kerry wrote in a post.

She said she had not been able to sleep and wouldn’t be able to without answers as to where her son is or what happened to him.

'Séamus was willing to die serving and defending our Country. Séamus was not supposed to go missing or possible die this way,' Kerry wrote.

Anyone with info, send a tip through the WPD tip app, call the Tip-Line at 847-360-9001 or text keyword WPDTIP and message/tip to 847411.