Support truly
independent journalism
For Jay Slater’s family, they could never have suspected that a trip to a music festival in Tenerife would result in his disappearance, a media frenzy and finally the discovery of his body.
The 19-year-old was visiting the island with friends on his first holiday without his parents, and would go missing in the early hours of 17 June, in the mountainous Rural de Teno national park.
After enjoying time at the NRG music festival, things took a wrong turn for the teenager when he left the tourist area of Playa de Las Americas in a car with two older men, who drove him 22 miles north to an AirBnb in Masca.
He was last heard from at around 8.30am when he phoned his friend Lucy Law to say that he was walking the 11-hour trek home, was lost and dehydrated, and only had one per cent phone battery.
What next ensued was a social media frenzy, wild conspiracy theories, a large search operation and finally the news that his body had been discovered last week, 29 days after he was last spotted.
Yet questions continue to remain as to how it took so long for the authorities to find the teenager?
How did Jay end up getting lost in the mountains?
The apprentice bricklayer is known to have travelled with two older men, who are reportedly British, during the early hours of the morning to the remote village of Masca.
An image posted on his Snapchat social media app showed him standing with a cigarette outside the door of the apartment at 7.30am, shortly before he is known to have left the building to try and walk home.
An eyewitness, Ofelia Medina Hernandez, was the last to see Jay at 8am, and claimed that he had enquired about the next bus, which was due to come in two hours. He then walked away, taking leave of the main road and wandering into the mountain terrain.
In a video call to his friend Brad Hargreaves, he showed that he was walking on stony ground, with the sound of gravel heard in the background. The teenager then contacted Ms Law, and told her he was lost and that his phone was going to die imminently.
For the Spanish Guardia Civil, they were able to pinpoint his last location after his phone pinged a mast at 8.50am, close to a large tree a short distance from the main road.
Why he decided to take the walk home, despite it being 11 hours, is one of the key mysteries of the case, and has brought endless conspiracy theories online.
Why was it so hard to find his body?
Despite extensive searches being carried out by experienced teams in the area, the Rural de Teno park is a merciless terrain with thick vegetation, ravines, sharp drops and cliffs.
Popular among hikers, it is best to keep to signposted trails as it is easy to get lost there, with mist often coming in from the sea and reducing visibility.
Sniffer dogs and drones failed to make much progress over the course of four weeks, with external search teams and amateur TikTok sleuths also participating, while police also put out an appeal for volunteers.
Yet despite them searching a widespread area, Jay’s body was eventually found just a short distance from where his phone was last seen, in the steep Juan Lopez ravine.
It has raised the possibility that searchers may have unknowingly walked past him over the course of their efforts.
Through fingerprint testing, it was confirmed by the Canary Islands Higher Court of Justice that the body found was that of Jay, with his injuries consistent with a fall from height.
While the Guardia Civil had announced they were calling off the search after 13 days, they were the ones to discover his remains after continuing to carry out discreet searches.
His mother, Debbie Duncan, said her family’s “hearts were broken” after her son’s identity was confirmed.
She added: “I just can’t believe this could happen to my beautiful boy.”
It is now possible that further information about his death and the hours that led up to it will be revealed if a British coroner decides to hold an inquest.
