The search for missing Brit Jay Slater has entered its 11th day so here is everything that is known about the bizarre case so far. The 19-year-old from Lancaster who had been in Tenerife for a three-day music festival, went missing on the morning of June 17. He was last located walking from an Airbnb where he had travelled with two men also from the UK he had met at the festival – who have reportedly now flown home, reports the Mirror. Jay left the property in the northwest mountainous region of Teno Rural Park on Monday morning after reportedly saying he wanted to get back to his hotel but missed the bus. According to pal Lucy who set up the fundraising page, with just one per cent battery left on his phone, he called her to warn her that he had “no idea” where he was and was thirsty, but he was making the gruelling 11-hour trek back to the accommodation. Since that day, local cops have been tirelessly hunting the area of his last registered location for any sign of the Brit teen, however, he is nowhere to be seen. Heartbroken mum, Debbie Duncan, and other family members have now flown out to the Canary Island to join the desperate search, who have in recent days been accompanied by a leading British detective, along with amateur sleuths.
Confirmed movements
- Monday June 17, 1am: Jay is seen looking worse for wear while partying inside Papagayo nightclub, which closes at 4am, on Veronicas strip in Tenerife’s Las Americas party area.
- 7.30am: Jay posts a snapchat photograph of himself holding a cigarette while standing on the steps of the men’s holiday rental Casa Abuela Tina.
- 8am: Jay is seen “walking fast” uphill after leaving the property and asking a local for the time of the next bus to Los Cristianos, an 11 hour walk away.
- 8.30am: He phones pal Lucy Mae Law, 18, and tells her he is in the middle of nowhere, trying to get home with no water and 1% phone battery.
- 8.50am: Jay’s phone runs out of battery, giving its last location close to Cruz de Hilda viewpoint in Rural de Teno nature reserve.
The search Jay was reported missing at 9.04am on Monday, July 17, prompting police to launch a mountain rescue operation using a helicopter. The search has focused on three separate ravines across an 18-mile area, including Masca gorge and has involved a multi-agency response, with police, fire and mountain rescue officers all working together. They have also been assisted by drones and sniffer dogs, including some brought in specially from Madrid. Jay’s friends and his family have also joined the search alongside local volunteers and British tourists. The search has even been joined by TikTok sleuths, who do not know or have any connection to Jay.
The family, the fund and the TV investigator Jay’s mum Debbie Duncan, 55, flew to Tenerife on Tuesday morning after police knocked on her door in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, at 2.30am and told her Jay was missing. She is now on the island with Jay’s dad Warren, 58, and Jay’s older brother Zak, 24, as well as a number of other family members and friends, including Rachel Hargreaves, who has been running a Facebook page pleading for information. Warren Slater and brother Zak have been helping with the search by going door-to-door asking locals on the island for information and putting up missing posters.
A GoFundMe, titled ‘Get Jay Slater home’ was set up by Jay’s pal Lucy has so far raised more than £36,000 and is set to be used to help with their accomodation costs and other expenses. The family are also being helped by former British police detective Mark Williams-Thomas, 54, who is conducting his own investigation into Jay’s disappearance. Speaking about the family while giving a press conference on Wednesday, he said: “They are an incredibly united family. They are all very focused in terms of obviously finding Jay.”
The sightings
Police moved their attention to Los Cristianos and Las Americas on day three of the search after a man believed to be Jay was seen getting out of a taxi in the area. However, it turned out to be a false sighting. Earlier this week Jay’s family shared a photo of a possible new sighting of him walking next to a church in Santiago del Teide, four miles downhill from the mountain village of Masca where he had last been seen. The grainy image was captured by a webcam at 6pm on Monday last week – 10 hours after the 19-year-old
