Police ‘incredibly concerned’ as 26-year-old’s family boost efforts to find him after he disappeared near a retail park

Desperate relatives of a former Birmingham barman who vanished at 3am after saying he was in danger have joined the search for him.

Luis Piovesana, 26, used to work at Verdo Lounge in Sutton Coldfield but went missing in Bristol, near his home, in the early hours of last Friday, February 28.

Mr Piovesana’s family, who spent the weekend searching for him, asked people to check their gardens and sheds in case he had become trapped.

READ MORE: Fears grow for ex-Birmingham barman who told family he was in danger

Speaking to the PA news agency, Ms Piovesana’s partner, Laurin Bohler, said teams had searched tirelessly for Mr Piovesana since he went missing, with family and friends coming from Birmingham to help.

“We are looking for places where we could find him alive,” he said.

“What’s frustrating is we haven’t seen him on any CCTV since that night.

“He kind of disappeared, and we have covered the route from Ikea towards his home millions of times.

“Anybody who is in this area please check your backyards, your sheds, places where it’s hard for us to get access to.

“After three days (of being missing) he’s not lying on a public street, people would have seen him, it was nice weather this weekend, people out and about all the time, he’s not in an obvious location.”

A private search team, hired with money raised on crowdfunding site JustGiving, joined the effort on Monday. Mr Piovesana’s sister, Lubjana Piovesana, said previously that he made a call to the police that he was in danger at 3am and was last seen running at 3.30am.

Mr Piovesana 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.

Friends saw him getting into a taxi at 2.55am at The Jam Jar in Little Ann Street, St Jude’s.

While in the taxi, at 2.59am he made a call to his partner and left a voicemail.

Four minutes later, he called 999 but hung up after 34 seconds, with attempts to call him back having gone unanswered.

At 3.04am, the police received a call from a member of the public concerned for a man walking in the area close to junction 2 of the M32.

Officers attended that call and carried out inquiries, but did not see the man in question.

The last confirmed sighting of Mr Piovesana was on foot near the Click and Collect facility at the back of a Tesco Extra car park at Eastgate retail park.

His bag, phone and wallet were later found discarded at the retail park by a friend using a tracking app linked to his phone.

CCTV inquiries showed Mr Piovesana discarded those items. He was reported missing at 7.37am and an investigation was launched.

Officers from Avon and Somerset Police, and Mr Piovesana’s sister – who competed for Team GB in judo before switching to the Austrian team – have appealed for people to check their CCTVs, doorbells and dashcams.

Those living in the St Werburgh’s, St Agnes, Eastville and Fishponds areas were asked to check the period between 3am until 7am, with a police spokesperson saying it “could be vital in helping us trace Luis’ next steps”.

Mounted officers and police drone teams were also involved in the investigation, with police divers searching the River Frome near the M32.

Det Insp Pete Walker said: “We remain incredibly concerned for the welfare of Luis and despite extensive and extremely thorough searches have unfortunately yet been able to find him.

“We are extremely grateful for the support of Luis’ family and friends and also the search and rescue and helicopter teams who have helped us so far and continue to do so.

“More than 100 officers, detectives and police staff are involved in this investigation and everyone is working tirelessly to find Luis.

“We are releasing CCTV clips showing Luis’ movements in case it jogs anyone’s memory who could have encountered him.”