A former Team GB Olympic Judo bronze medallist has begged for help from the public to help find her brother who is missing from Bristol as she revealed his disturbing last known movements.
Luis Piovesana, 26, was last seen at around 3am on Friday, February 28, at Eastgate Retail Park in Bristol, where he travelled by taxi after a night out with friends in nearby St Jude’s.
A major search effort has been launched from the Tesco Extra store, with underwater search crews wading through the River Frome under the M32 with poles in an effort to search the river bed.
Among the search party set up at the retail park is , a judoka who has competed for both Team GB and for Austria in the Olympics, and was named the European champion at the 2018 U23 European Judo Championships in Hungary.
Speaking out from the search party’s base at the Tesco cafe, Lubjana said “time is getting very critical” as she called on members of the public to join in the search and keep an eye out for Luis.
She said: “We are just hoping we can get him home. He’s been gone four days, he’s got no money, no phone, so he’s probably not eaten or drank, so obviously time is getting very critical now.”
Recounting what she knows so far of her brother’s last movements, Lubjana said: “We know so far that he was spotted on CCTV, the last place was at the roundabout outside Tesco.
“He was in a taxi from a night out at The Jam Jar with his friends, and he made a phone call to police about 10 minutes later saying that he was on the motorway and that he had been drugged. We don’t know his mental state at that time, so we don’t know how much that is true.
“He came through the IKEA car park – there’s CCTV of him running, and then hiding behind Burger King, and then running again through Tesco petrol station. Then the last sighting on CCTV was at the big roundabout in front of Tesco.
“We are quite sure he’s travelled in the direction of Frenchay. He hasn’t made his way all the way home, we know that, and we’ve seen on CCTV he hasn’t made it to a certain point. But right now we haven’t had any sightings.”
Hi sister also revealed that he sent a distressing voice note to his girlfriend just before 3am, making a comment about kidnapping and apparently “screaming for help”. His phone, bag, and wallet have since been found at Eastgate Retail Park.
Lubjana continued: “We’re making a search team to try and find him. The police response has been good, but obviously we would love a policeman on every door if we could, but their resources are limited and we know that’s not feasible.
“The main thing we would ask people would be just to check your own property. Obviously we can’t come into people’s houses, gardens, sheds. You may think, ‘Oh my garage is locked’, but maybe he climbed on and fell in the roof, we don’t know.
“Please do just thoroughly search everything. Similarly if you have any property that is abandoned or no-one is living there, just go and search in case he tried to seek shelter and warmth.
“If you’ve got a Ring doorbell, please review it from the hours of around 3am to 7am on the day he went missing. I know it’s annoying, I know you don’t want to sit there and do it, but we just need a sighting. Any sighting at the moment would be great, because we have nothing.
“And obviously any help searching, we’d be so grateful. We’ve based ourselves upstairs in the Tesco café near the IKEA. If anyone can help we’ve got a search team here, we’ve got guys here that can direct you for things to do.
“Even if you can’t come down, if you are out walking your dog tonight, please do look. Look in a bin if you see one, look in anything you think someone could have hidden in, someone could have fallen. We are really running out of time, and any help would be really appreciated.”
Luis was last seen wearing black baggy jeans with a diamond-patterned stitching on them, cream-coloured trainers, a black and grey Rapha gilet, and a black Rapha cap, according to Avon and Somerset Police.
He has a cartoon-style tattoo of a man, a car and a cherub on his arm, and a Vespa motorbike on his stomach, they added. He has links to Frenchay.
Detective Inspector Pete Walker said: “We are extremely worried for Luis, and would encourage anyone with information to contact us as soon as possible. He does not have access to his mobile phone nor any money, and we are carrying out extensive searches as we urgently try to locate him.
“If you were out driving in Bristol in the early hours and have a dashcam, or you have doorbell or CCTV cameras, particularly if you live in the Eastville, St Werburgh’s, St Agnes, or Frenchay areas, please review your footage and contact us if there is anything that might help our investigation.”
To follow the latest updates regarding Luis’ disappearance, visit our live blog here.