As the search for missing teenager Jay Slater, 19, reaches its fifth day on the island of Tenerife, the unanswered questions leaving family and friends in turmoil
It has been five days since Jay Slater disappeared in Tenerife and his case is full of unanswered questions.
The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer went missing on Monday morning after walking with two other British men while on holiday with friends on the island as part of a three-day music festival. He was last seen wearing a grey sweatshirt with a lime green stripe on the shoulders and carrying a black bag.
At 8.15am on June 17, Jay called his girlfriend Lucy May Lowe to tell her his phone battery was at 1 per cent, he was thirsty and was ready to make the 11-hour trek to her home in the south of the island after missing the bus. Concerned, Lucy raised the alarm and shortly afterwards Jay’s phone rang.
His last known whereabouts were found in the Rural de Teno region, a remote and rural mountainous area where police are concentrating their search using helicopters, drone tracking dogs and mountain rescue units. Jay’s parents, Debbie Duncan and Warren Slater, and his older brother Zach flew in to help.
Search teams looking for a missing teenager began scouring a new area in an attempt to find him. Rescuers wearing helmets and other mountain rescue equipment turned their attention to the “unforgiving” ravine in the Maska Valley. It lies about 100 metres below the rental property where 19-year-old Jay was last seen Monday morning.
As the search for the missing Brit continues, The unanswered questions leaving Jay’s desperate friends and family reeling.
What happened at the bus stop in Parque Rural de Teno?
Jay’s whereabouts remain unknown following his disappearance on Monday. It is believed he travelled with two other festival-goers to a house in Parque Rural de Teno – a 40-minute drive or 10-hour walk from his holiday home in Playa de las Americas. Pal Lucy told the Manchester Evening News: ‘He was at a party, he was visiting a friend, someone he’d met on holiday.
“One of the people he met hired a car to take them back to his apartment and Jay drove there, not knowing how far it was. In the morning he set off on foot, using maps on his phone, and ended up in the middle of the mountains with nothing nearby.” Lucy told Sky News that Jay “cut his foot on a cactus” while trying to walk along a remote path.
Jay posted a picture on Snapchat of a house he visited with mountains in the background. Lucy drove around the area until she found the property, using the mountains and flowerbeds as markers to identify it. “We managed to find a house,” she said. “I knocked on the door and there were two people.”
The occupants told Lucy how Jay had gone out for a cigarette before going back in and saying he wanted to go home. “They told me he’d spoken to the next door neighbours and they’d told him there was a bus every 10 minutes back down to Los Cristianos,” said Lucy. “The bus stop was right next to the house. So obviously if he’d gone to get the bus he wouldn’t have got lost because it [the stop] was visible from the front door.”
Who were the two British men Jay Slater was last seen with in Tenerife?
Jay disappeared after walking with two British men to their rental property, Casa Abuela Tina, on Sunday night. Shortly before his disappearance, he posted a photo of himself standing on the steps of his home smoking a cigarette.
Little is known about the two men Jay was apparently with, but reports say they both moved out of their accommodation on Wednesday and flew back to the UK.
A Tenerife local called Araceli, who works in a shop next to a rental property, shared information about. She said: ‘I never saw the missing boy but I know people saw him walking alone. I saw two British guys staying here. They went to a cafe with Leche a couple of times. One was around 40. The other was a bit younger.
She added: ‘The police have spoken to both of them. They arrived on Saturday and were supposed to stay until Monday, but they left on Tuesday.’ When asked if they had to stay for police questioning, she replied: ‘I don’t know.’
Why did he decide to walk from the Parque Rural de Teno?
Jay’s decision to walk rather than wait for the next bus or take the lift confused his family and friends. Lucy told Sky News: ‘I can’t understand why he left the house and then decided to walk. I think he may have set off on the battery and didn’t realise how far the walk actually was.’
Jay’s stepfather Andy Watson, who is now at home in the UK, said the missing teenager could not have been outside for eight hours as he would have needed to be taken for a haircut at home. He told MailOnline: ‘He made me take him to a hairdresser 200 yards away – why would he walk for eight hours?’
‘Who lives in the mountains? It would be wrong to guess but everyone has their own impression in their head. I wouldn’t go with two people I didn’t know. But he’s 19, he’s impressionable, isn’t he? If someone said we had more drinks at home he’d go.”
Was Jay Slater in a hurry to leave the house?
The witness tried to explain to Jay that the next bus was down the road to reach the mountain and he would have to wait two hours but he began his journey on foot rather than loitering. A woman named Ofelia Medina Hernandez told MailOnline that Jay asked her about buses back to Los Cristianos near the rental property.
She explained to him that the next bus was at 10am but wasn’t sure if he understood her. She said: ‘I put my finger up to say 10am because he didn’t understand me, then I walked home for a while before heading up the mountain in Buenavista del Norte but this time I saw him coming out of the village on the road.
‘It wasn’t 10 or 15 minutes after I spoke to him and he was about a kilometre from the house. I drove past him and that was the last time I saw him.’
Was Jay Slater kidnapped in Tenerife?
Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan fears her missing son was ‘hidden somewhere’ when he disappeared on a Spanish island. An extensive police search using helicopters and dogs failed to find any trace of the teenager and Ms Duncan has issued a message to the people she fears may have taken him.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, the mother broke down in tears and said she “didn’t know what to think” as she wondered about her son’s whereabouts. She said: “I’m completely confused and trying to stay positive. Has anyone else noticed this yet?” Did he panic and get lost in the mountains?
I just don’t know, so if anyone has any information please just tell us. “But if he was lost, why hasn’t anyone seen him? There are a lot of tourists and holidaymakers there, so if he was lost, someone would have seen him, so I think he was dragged somewhere.”
Distraught mum Debbie also told how she was sent a vile message on Snapchat on Tuesday. She said: “No ransom demand yet but about ten minutes after I got off the plane I got a message on Snapchat saying ‘kiss your boy goodbye you’ll never see him again he owes me a lot of money’ .
which I gave to the police along with the number it was from because I was aware of all the events at that moment and I asked my eldest son Zach to take a screenshot before he disappeared. Prank calls I don’t know if it was one of them but I’m giving the police information that I think may be relevant to the case and I think it may be,” she added.
Ms Duncan is not the first person close to Jay to express fears that he had been kidnapped, with friends also jumping to the same conclusion. Lucy, who called Jay on Monday morning, said: ‘The more time passes the more certain I am that he has been abducted.’
She told The Mail: ‘I wasn’t so sure at first but now I’m convinced. He’s not stupid – if he had left the house alone he would have walked to the road and then tried to stop the car or flag someone down to ask for help.” She added: “The more time passes without him being seen, the more convinced we are that someone has kidnapped him and is holding him against his will.”