SPRING – Houstonians have enjoyed Bernard Pierre Senior’s music at restaurants, bars and clubs throughout the region for nearly 20 years.
Now family and friends, with the help of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, are searching for him after he vanished from his Spring-area apartment over the weekend.
The father of six from the Bahamas often performed at Truluck’s in The Woodlands and in the Galleria area, and at the San Luis Resort in Galveston, among other venues.
In late April and early May, Pierre suffered two “massive strokes,” his family said. He spent more than a month in the hospital.
“The doctors told me he wasn’t going to make it,” Bernard’s son, Bernard Pierre Junior, told KPRC 2. “He was going to be a vegetable.”
Music became Pierre Sr.’s medicine. His son played recordings of his music and gave him a keyboard.
“In 10 minutes, all of a sudden he started playing chords,” Pierre Jr. said. “Oh my God, music is like... another level of therapy!”
Early Saturday morning, Pierre Sr. and his 2009 Silver Lexus RX 350 SUV disappeared from his apartment where he was staying with his youngest son.
“He was gone, gone. Like, keys, everything. He took the car,” Pierre Jr. said. “He should not be driving right now.
Pierre Sr.’s girlfriend, Tarshanna Martin, tracked him using his phone and bank statements. His last transaction, she said, was Saturday at a gas station in Sugar Land.
“I’m just a little bit disturbed,” she said. “This is something that’s not his character. This is somebody who you really care about and you love. That’s just so unlike him.”
The family set up a GoFundMe last month to help pay for Pierre Senior’s medical expenses. He is not a U.S. citizen and does not have good insurance, they said.
Please contact the police if you know anything about Pierre Senior’s whereabouts, or have seen his Lexus SUV.