Jay Slater is a 19-year-old British teenager who went missing while on holiday in Spain. He was last seen on the morning of Monday 17 June. He had attended the NRG Music Festival the night before and left the festival with two men. He stayed with them in an Airbnb in a rural part of the island and never returned to his friends.
Some background on Jay, he is an apprentice bricklayer. His mother is Debbie, his father is Warren, and his brother is Zac. He lives in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire.
Jay went on vacation with his two friends, Lucy and Brad. The three attended the NRG Festival together for three days from June 14th to 16th.
Information from the NRG website –
We arrive in Tenerife with an amazing lineup of our favorite artists for three days of extravaganza including pool parties, boat parties, outdoor raves, nightclub takeovers and more. Accommodation is also included!
Here's some information about Tenerife:
Tenerife is the largest of the Spanish Canary Islands in West Africa. It is dominated by Mt. Teide, Spain's highest peak and dormant volcano. Tenerife is best known for the Carnaval de Santa Cruz, a large Lenten festival with parades, music, dancing and colorful costumes. The population is approximately 9.5 million.
And this is information about the conditions and weather in the area at the time Jay disappeared.
Local residents and experts have warned of dangerous conditions in the region, where the air is “thin”, temperatures can fluctuate rapidly and mountains are rapidly falling below water.
Today, the seventh day of the search, temperatures are expected to rise to 29 (85f) degrees.
UV ratings are also “extreme,” peaking at levels of 11 and 12 around 1 p.m. Anything above 11 is classified as extreme and dangerous.
A video was released showing Jay at the festival in the early hours of June 17th.
Lucy and Brad decided to head back to the lodge, while Jay left with two men he had befriended at the rave.
Around 7:30 a.m. on June 17, Jay posted his last Snapchat.
This information about what happened comes from GFM, which has now raised over £35,000.
Hello everyone, my name is Lucy. I came on holiday to Tenerife to attend the NRG Festival with my friend Jay and another friend. On the last day of the festival, I was tired from the weekend so I left alone before everyone else. I woke up at 8:30 a.m. to a call from Jay saying, “He's lost in the mountains, not aware of his surroundings, desperately needs a drink, and his phone is on 1%.” He met two people on Sunday night and left to go to their apartment with them. Their apartment was in a very secluded location, miles from civilization. He left at 8 a.m., walked for 30 minutes, and desperately called me when his cell phone reached 1%.
It is believed that the Airbnb where Jay stayed was about a 10-hour walk from where Lucy and Brad were. Jay had missed the bus back to the southern part of the island, so he obviously decided to walk.
Lucy talked about the situation. She said Jay “ended up going somewhere remote” after befriending two Brits and returning to their Airbnb. She said Jay “went to the house of a friend he met for the holidays.” One of the people he met here borrowed his car and took him back to his apartment, and Jay went there without realizing how far it was.
She added: “He ended up going off to the middle of nowhere. Jay was definitely thinking he could get home from there.”
Lucy also said that when she learned Jay was missing, someone took her to the area to look for him. An American woman said Lucy took her into the mountains and 'wandered around all day'.
Airbnb owner Ophelia said: “Wandering around here is dangerous and easy to lose yourself. The last time I saw him he was walking down the street. He was alone. “He was walking quickly but normally.”
Many people questioned why Jay didn't wait for another bus, and Ophelia spoke out about this.
She explained it this way: “He didn't understand me, so I held up his finger and said it was 10 a.m. and went home for a while before climbing the mountain to Buena Vista del Norte. Town. Within 10-15 minutes of me talking to him, he was about a kilometer away from my house. I passed him and that was the last I saw of him.”
The two men returned to the UK after a brief interrogation by Tenerife police.
Lucy used photo clues on Jay's Snapchat to track the men down at the Airbnb before they left, revealing his location. She said: “They seemed shocked and amazed that I found them. So I asked them where Jay was.
“They said he went out to look for cigarettes and then came back and left to take the bus back to town. They seemed shocked that I had found them and I know the police had spoken to them, but I have since found out that they have left the country. “We need to have a proper conversation,” he said.
The last place his phone was found was in Rural de Teno Park, a mountain nature reserve.
When Jay failed to show up again on Monday, his family was alerted and flew to Tenerife. He was declared missing on Tuesday, June 18.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) also confirmed the findings. “We are supporting the family of a British man reported missing in Spain and are in contact with local authorities,” it said.
When Debbie arrived she spoke to the media. “I’ve only been in Tenerife for about 10 minutes, I had a short chat with the British Embassy staff and I’m waiting for them to call me back because I want to know more,” she said. She said, “The consulate has been really good so far.”
Debbie also told ITV:
“He’s just an ace. Everyone loves being in his company. He is life and soul, he is just a beautiful boy.”
Lucy and Debbie originally created missing person leaflets with personal phone numbers on them.
Debbie told the press that people with a “northern accent” had been calling her from a hidden number and had taken her son prisoner, locking him up because they owed him money. She said: “Some of the calls I got were absolutely horrible. I don't know why people want to do this.
“I received a lot of prank calls. It's disgusting. People called me and said they brought Jay in because he owed them money. But that doesn't disappoint me and I want to keep this in the news because it will increase the chances that Jay will be found safe and well. “This is what we are praying for.”
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, June 19, Lucy spoke about the false leads given to authorities. This led them to shift their searches to a new region for a while.
“Someone gave a false lead to the police, saying they had called a taxi to Los Cristianos.
“Then he would have called his mom or one of us. I know him well and he wouldn't want us to worry. Someone is trying to stop the police from being on top of it. “I started to think that he had been kidnapped.”
After this lead was proven false, the search continued at the nature reserve where Jay's phone was last known to be located.
Debbie talked about how this time she encouraged Jay to take a vacation, but wished he hadn't.
“I told him I liked it when he went and that you would like it too and would come back and want to go again,” she said. “Now I wish I hadn’t encouraged him to go.” She believes someone may have had Jay point out that “there's a main road, there's a bus stop there, there's a cafe, there's a hiking trail, there's people around, people must have seen him.” . And if people had never seen him, someone would have taken him.”
As mentioned earlier, there is a GFM for Jay, which has received a lot of scrutiny.
This incident is absolutely wild online. There are rumors about drugs, drug mules and even the mafia. Some people seem to believe that GFM was set up to collect some kind of ransom to save Jay.
'They think Lucy is behind this, or he's manipulating him, or they've been tipped off that he's been held for ransom by some monster mafia. Honestly, there are 50 million rumors surrounding where the money is, where he is, what happened to him, etc.
I think people are spreading the rumor that the mafia needs $30,000 to release him.'
Debbie wrote this update around June 23rd.
Hello everyone, this is Jay's mother, Debbie. Thank you for your generosity and kindness during this difficult time. I wanted to make sure this was the only GoFundMe fundraiser approved by our family. We have not yet withdrawn any funds and are currently covering our own expenses, including travel to Tenerife and accommodation. Funds are being held on GoFundMe until further updates are posted on this page.
We are very worried and are doing everything we can to find Jay. Please continue to share our fundraiser widely. Your support means the world to us and we appreciate any help you can provide.
Thanks again.
Recently, CCTV footage of a man believed to be Jay was released.
The image is understood to have been taken in Santiago del Teide at around 6pm on Monday night. This comes 10 hours after he was last confirmed to have been seen in the village of Masca, nearly four miles uphill.
His mum Debbie said of the possible sighting: “Someone said they saw someone they thought was Jay sitting on a bench walking down the street,” she said. He was with two older looking men, and they were next to the church. This man came forward and told police and they are investigating.
“I’m not sure if it’s Jay, but it’s a start. It is said that the time was around 6pm, 10 hours after it was seen by a village woman. But if it was him, what was he doing there and who were these two men?” They are showing photos to villagers along with posters of the missing teen to see if they can jog people's memories.
There are several large Facebook groups about this incident, and one of them discusses Jay's Instagram being logged in.
A family friend wrote: “Jay's mom asked me to post this. To everyone asking who is logged into his Instagram account, it's not him, someone else is logged in.” The same friend turned off comments on the post that had been liked more than 100 times.
This is a developing story and this blog will be updated as information becomes available.
Source list
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/jay-slaters-instagram-account-being-29403208?int_source=nba
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/jay-slaters-instagram-account-being-33082804?_ga=2.245506636.938097552.1719281958-1229105024.1719281614
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/missing-jay-slater-friend-fears-33063854?_ga=2.208143066.938097552.1719281958-1229105024.1719281614
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/mum-british-teen-missing-tenerife-33057076?_ga=2.211755357.938097552.1719281958-1229105024.1719281614
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/jay-slater-timeline-day-day-33092952
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/gofundmes-strict-rules-explained-how-33094700?int_source=nba
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-get-jay-home
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/jay-slater-search-six-things-29406113