Missing airman Corrie McKeague would put himself at risk by making reckless decisions, his mother has said.
Nicola Urquhart described her son as a “social hand grenade” who would get into a stranger’s car because he believed he could handle himself.
Mrs Urquhart, a serving police officer, was speaking during a question and answer session on Facebook Live, viewed by more than 33,000 people on Thursday.
Corrie, from Dunfermline, has been missing since September 24 after disappearing during a night out in Bury St Edmonds.
It is thought the 23-year-old had been attempting to walk back to his base at RAF Honington about 10 miles away.
During the 90-minute broadcast, Mrs Urquhart said she wanted an unidentified man seen on CCTV walking along Cornhill Walk in Bury St Edmunds to be traced.
She also said it was imperative six more people captured on CCTV were identified.
Corrie was last seen at around 3.25am entering a horseshoe-shaped loading area behind Gregg’s but he did not re-emerge.
Four vehicles entered the area and Mrs Urquhart believes one of them did not have a legitimate reason for being there.
The mother-of-three has previously criticised the police investigation into her son’s disappearance and during Thursday’s broadcast she claimed basic door-to-door inquiries were not made and some areas had still not been searched.
Describing her son, she said: “He’s not so much a social butterfly, more a social hand grenade who absolutely lives for the moment.
“He will make choices and decisions that are sometimes reckless that other people might not.
“Would he get into a stranger’s car? Yes.
“Would he go to a stranger’s house that he’s never met before that he’s met on a social dating site? Yes.
“He would put himself at risk because Corrie believed he could handle himself.”
Suffolk Police are treating the case as a missing person inquiry but said the level of resources invested had been on a par with a murder investigation.