News, West Midlands
Getty ImagesFriends and family of a British Paralympian who went missing in Las Vegas are appealing for help in finding him.
Sam Ruddock from Rugby in Warwickshire, who has competed in shot putt, cycling and sprinting, had travelled to the United States to watch a WrestleMania event and was last heard from on 16 April.
His close friend Lucy Hatton said his disappearance was “really, really out of character” but that he had not “been in quite the right head space” recently.
She said Las Vegas police were aware and were treating him as a missing person.
Ms Hatton said her friend, who has cerebral palsy, was a “fantastic human being” who enjoyed going into schools to “inspire the next generation”.
She said she drove him to the airport on 13 April and knew he had been staying at a hostel in Las Vegas ahead of the big wrestling event.
Mr Ruddock was “very active on social media”, she said, so when all contact stopped on 16 April, she said “it started to raise flags”.
His mother, Fran Ruddock from Lincoln, said he normally spoke to her every day and was usually “very sociable”.
She asked anyone who might know him, in the UK or United States, to get in touch if they had information.
“Anything at all to piece together the gaps,” she said.
Getty ImagesAlong with his mother, Ms Hatton said she alerted the police in the UK and they raised the case with police in the United States and with Interpol.
She said she had also spoken to the hostel where he had been staying and was told he had not checked out, but his possessions had been left in his room.
British Cycling said it understood he had been reported missing to police in the United States and the UK.
A spokesperson added: “We urge anyone who has been in contact with Sam since 16 April or may have any information of his whereabouts to contact their local police department as soon as possible.”
Lincolnshire Police confirmed there was an active missing persons investigation.
