The mother of a British man who has gone missing on Sardinia says she is living a “never-ending nightmare” – and has called for Interpol to intervene.
Cristina Pittalis told Sky News she has been “broken” since her 26-year-old son Michael Frison disappeared in the northwest of the Italian island on 13 July 2024.
“I’m trying not to lose my mind,” said Ms Pittalis as she recounted the last time she heard her son’s voice.
“He was in a rush but absolutely clear in his speech, I didn’t detect any confusion in his state of mind.”
The mother-of-two from Somerset added: “Human beings do not disappear from the face of earth without leaving traces unless […] something extremely bad happened to them.”
Mr Frison went missing the day after he arrived on a farm where he was meant to do volunteer work.
He reportedly went for a walk and returned in a state of confusion and symptoms of heatstroke.
He then went on a second walk and never returned. His clothes, including his trainers, were found nearby.
His mother believes it would have been “completely out of character” for her son to wander off barefoot and leave all his personal belongings behind.
She also said it was “extremely unlikely” he suffered a heatstroke as he had previously lived on the island and was used to its climate.
Ms Pittalis, who has moved to Sardinia with her other 11-year-old son in a bid to find Mr Frison, said she was “extremely worried because there are no traces of Michael”.
Read more from Sky News:
Fear in town where more than 200 children poisoned
Fuel to engines of doomed Air India plane ‘cut off moments after take-off’
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
She said “during the past 12 months, the area was constantly searched, through woodland, caves, mountains” but there was “absolutely nothing”.
Ms Pittalis is originally from Sassari in the northwest of Sardinia but had lived in the UK since 1966 until she moved to Sardinia following her son’s disappearance.
A local criminal investigation launched into Mr Frison’s disappearance is ongoing, but Ms Pittalis has called for Interpol – the international crime-fighting organisation – to step in to try to find her son.
“It’s a never-ending nightmare,” she said. “There’s no real accountability… I am here and I am broken.”
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
She is also calling for a woman from Jersey, who was with Mr Frison in the days before his disappearance, to come forward with any information she may have.
Ms Pittalis spoke of the toll that Mr Frison’s disappearance has taken on his younger half-brother Emanuele, whose father died in 2017.
“He’s devastated,” she said. “The three of us were extremely close, the two of them, they used to do everything together.
“For Mani [Emanuele] it’s horrible, he lost his father and now he lost his brother.”
Interpol has been approached for comment.
