5 unanswered questions in search for X Factor Levi Davis star missing on holiday
X Factor star and rugby player Levi Davis has not been seen since October 2022 as his disappearance remains a mystery.
Yesterday, Spanish police said they are not ruling anything out amid fears he may have drowned off the coast of Barcelona.
The 24-year-old was last seen in October 2022 when the former Bath player left the UK for Ibiza after suffering an injury.
He then suddenly left the friend he was staying with and took a boat from the party island to Barcelona without clothes or cash and has not been seen since.
His mobile last registered in the early hours of October 30 last year with a phone tower at the far end of the port closest to the sea entrance.
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However his disappearance is still a mystery and he has not been found, here we take a look at the five unanswered questions.
When was Levi last seen?
Levi was last seen leaving the UK for Ibiza after suffering an injury (bbc.co.uk)
Levi’s family hired a private investigator (Dymond/Thames/Syco/REX)Levi was last seen leaving an Irish pub in the Spanish city at 10.05pm on October 29 in CCTV footage obtained by the Mirror.
In the video, Levi can be seen carrying a small black rucksack, while wearing a white short-sleeved t-shirt, black trousers, and black and white trainers.
Friends and family then launched a social media appeal for him to return, as they said he struggled with his mental health and came out as bisexual.
What was the reason for his last phone call?
University friend Mike has now revealed that Levi called him at 9.22pm and again at 11pm before leaving a message at 11.04pm on that fateful night.
“I believe I was the last person to hear from him,” he told The Sun Online.
“He was saying ‘Can’t wait to get you over here, can’t wait to see you'."
Mike explains that he was asleep and missed the calls but reached out to Levi the next day and feels "terrible" that he missed him.
Levi Davis of Bath Rugby during the Premiership Rugby Cup Third Round match in 2019 (Getty Images)
His mum said in a statement his mobile last registered in the early hours of October 30 last year (Ken McKay/ITV/REX)"It’s horrible thinking it could be the last thing he said but at the same time, if that’s the case, I was at least a thought of his and he was excited about something," he added.
His mum Julie also appeared on Good Morning Britain in January, as she spoke about her missing son and detailed their last phone call.
Mum appeared 'completely normal' moments before vanishing while walking dog
She said: "Also on that night, he made a phone call to me to say he was thinking of staying at a hostel here before I take my next journey. I said, oh Levi, how many more times do you wanna take money off me? You're going to have to sort yourself out this time.
"He said he had some friends he could get in touch with and that's the last phone call we had."
Speaking on the ITV breakfast show, Julie sobbed as she recalled how she feared something was up.
"Just before he left, there was a message that - maybe the powers up above - that just said to me, just give him a hug as you don't know if it'll be your last," she shared before sobbing as host Susanna Reid held her hand and consoled her.
What is the latest theory?
Levi with his mum Julie (Family Handout)Last night, the regional Catalan Mossos d’Esquadra force had told his mum they feared he had drowned hours after he was last seen in a nearby Irish pub nearly six months ago.
Levi's mum said in a statement that local police have told her they believe a man who drowned close to the city’s port was Levi.
His mobile phone last pinged close to where the man drowned.
In a statement, Julie said she had met with police and one of Levi’s friends.
She said: “Extensive work has been done to track Levi's movements on the night of October 29 nd they [the police] are able to confirm that following his last reported sighting at the Hard Rock Café, Levi walked back down La Rambla and entered the commercial port.
“Reports of a man in the water by staff on a cruise ship entering the port at 6.30am on October 30 have been investigated. Four members of staff confirmed seeing a man in the water with specific details, including him asking for help in English and the colour of his clothing.
“'A life jacket was thrown from the ship and emergency Sea and Air rescue services searched the area but they were unable to find him.”
She added the family was hoping Port Police would authorise a search of the nearby waters.
Four members of cruise liner MSC Bellissima, which docked in Barcelona around the same time, have also told investigators they saw an English-speaking man in difficulty and asking for help from the water.
A search for him was called off after it was discovered no one on the ship had been reported missing.
Was Levi blackmailed?
CCTV shows Levi Davis leaving the Old Irish Pub on La Rambla (Western Daily Press)Private detective Gavin Burrows said he believed the X-Factor star had been blackmailed by criminals and threatened over a Somali mafia debt.
Levi, 24, spoke about being blackmailed by criminals who threatened to kill him and his family in a chilling last video he initially deleted but re-emerged last week three months after he vanished in Barcelona.
He was last seen leaving an Irish pub on October 29 after taking a ferry from Ibiza.
Mr Burrows said he had retrieved the Instagram video, which Levi first posted four days before he vanished, and released it with the agreement of family and friends to help get information.
The ex-Bath rugby player says at the start of the 15-minute footage: “Hello my name is Levi Davis and my life is in danger” before going on to allege he believed he was filmed performing various sexual acts after being drugged which blackmailers used to control and manipulate him.
He said: “I was told by them in ways which are not direct but are absolutely true that they were going to attempt - if I said anything out - they were going to attempt to kill me, threaten my family.
“And they also were trying to frame me.”
The Somali mafia reports first surfaced in Spain shortly before the chilling video twist to the high-profile disappearance, with respected Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia saying Levi owed around £100,000 after his lifestyle spiralled out of control.
They coincided with claims Levi could have drowned in Barcelona’s port near to where his passport was found, although Mr Burrows described it last night as a theory and said it was also possible he was still alive and being forced to work as a courier by the gang he had got into debt with.
Mr Burrows said in February: “Our relationship with the Catalan police has not been as close as we’d have liked it to have been but we’re hopeful that’s going to change now because we can deal with them much more directly and not go through people Levi’s mum has confirmed to us have no mandate to speak on anyone’s behalf.
“It makes it far more likely we can assist in getting a quicker resolution to this very worrying case.”
What happens next?
Thom Evans, Levi Davis and Ben Foden of Try Star attend "The X Factor: Celebrity" in 2019 (Mike Marsland/WireImage)
CCTV footage of Levi Davis shows him leaving Barcelona pub (Mirror.co.uk)Police are continuing their search for Levi, and haven't ruled out other theories on what could have happened to him.
In their first comments since the drowning theory emerged, Catalan police insisted Levi’s possible drowning was “only one line of inquiry” and said other lines of inquiry were still being worked on and hadn’t been ruled out.
A spokesman for the force said late last night: “The hypothesis he has drowned is one of the lines of inquiry.
“But other lines of inquiry remain open and haven’t been ruled out.
“We remain in contact with the missing man’s family and are keeping them informed about the evolution of the ongoing inquiry.”
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