Spanish authorities have confirmed that the body discovered in a ravine near the mountainous village of Masca on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, is that of 19-year-old British teen Jay Slater. He was found on Monday, July 15, and had been missing for nearly a month. His disappearance sparked viral social media and media attention due to the mysterious circumstances and the lack of press conferences and updates from the Spanish Civil Guard (Guardia Civil). Now that the worst possible scenario has happened, several unanswered questions remain.
Slater, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was reported missing on June 17, while on vacation in Tenerife, after an all-night music festival (rave) at the Papagayo Beach Club in Playa de las Américas in the southern part of the island.
His death was said to be the result of an accidental fall from a significant height in a ravine in a mountainous, treacherous location further north on the island. The vast area where his phone went dead had been searched extensively by the police and volunteer rescue teams.
Slater’s body was found with broken bones consistent with a fall, according to the preliminary autopsy. The discovery brings an end to a 29-day search.
Despite the conclusion of the search, authorities have not disclosed whether they recovered a luxury watch Slater reportedly told his friend Brad Hargreaves he stole before he went missing.
The Civil Guard in Tenerife announced that the body had been positively identified. In a statement, they confirmed, “The body of the man located yesterday has been identified as that of Jay Slater through fingerprint comparison and identification. The result of the preliminary autopsy points to the cause of death being a fall or plunge from height due to the broken bones he suffered.”
The exact location where the body was found remains undisclosed but it was reportedly close to where his phone last pinged. The Civil Guard spokesperson noted, “All the information we’re prepared to release at this stage has been put in the public domain. Any updates should we decide to publish any more information will be made available through the normal channels.”
Questions linger about an alleged £10,000, possibly Rolex or similar, watch Slater was said to have bragged about stealing when talking to his friend, and on social media right before his disappearance. TV detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who has been investigating details of the case, claimed Slater posted a video on Snapchat boasting about the theft and planning to sell the watch for £10,000. Despite these allegations, Spanish authorities have not confirmed if the watch was found with Slater’s body or if they are investigating the theft.
Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, who traveled from the UK to the island with Jay’s father, Warren Slater, and Jay’s brother Zach, the day after he was reported missing, expressed her heartbreak upon learning the news. “The worst news. I just can’t believe this could happen to my beautiful boy. Our hearts are broken,” she said.
Jay’s friend and travel companion, Lucy Law, who spoke to him on the phone while he was navigating a mountain road on the morning he went missing, also shared an emotional tribute on social media, calling him “the happiest and most smiley person in the room.”
The search for Slater involved extensive efforts from various groups. A large-scale police search, with drones, dogs and helicopters, in the mountainous area near Masca was initially suspended two weeks after his disappearance, but mountain rescue specialists continued their efforts on a smaller scale daily. The rugged terrain of Rural de Teno National Park complicated search and recovery operations, necessitating the use of a helicopter to retrieve Slater’s body.
How Did Jay Slater End Up Several Miles Away From the Music Festival on the Morning of June 17?
Slater was last seen alive in the early hours of June 17, when he left the all-night rave at Papagayo Beach Club with convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, also known as “Johnny Vegas,” and another unnamed man. Slater had indicated he needed a place to stay, having perhaps lost the keys to his own accommodations in Los Cristianos in the south. The three men traveled by rental car to the Casa Abuela Tina, an Airbnb rented by the two (older) British men, in Masca on the northern part of the island, several miles from Slater’s accommodations in the south.
Slater posted a picture of himself on Snapchat at around 7:30 a.m. on the steps of the Airbnb, wrapped in a blanket and holding a cigarette. His face is not shown. That morning, presumably right after the photo was taken, Slater left the Airbnb and asked the owner when he could get a bus to the south. He was told the bus would arrive at 10 a.m. Slater, rather than waiting for the bus at the bus stop that was next to the Airbnb, mysteriously left on foot, and went up a road in the wrong direction, presumably attempting to return to his lodging in Los Cristianos, a journey that could take approximately 11 hours on foot. The Airbnb owner told police she saw him about 15 minutes after he left on foot, as she drove up the road in her car. He was walking north, in the direction of the mountains.
When interviewed by the police, convicted drug dealer Qassim told them that he had offered the teen a ride back that morning, which Slater refused, saying he was hungry and wanted to get back to his lodging. Police had interviewed Qassim and his still unidentified friend as soon as their search for Slater began, but police announced early on that the two men at the Airbnb that Slater stayed with were “not relevant” to the case, and allowed the two men to fly back to the UK a day later.
According to travel companion Lucy Law, during a phone call with Slater that morning while he was walking up the road away from the Airbnb, he mentioned being lost, injured by a cactus, having a low phone battery, and in desperate need of water. He also spoke to his friend and travel companion Brad on the phone and reported the same concerns, and indicated that he had gone off the safe trail. His friends lost contact with him after the phone calls.
Brad also gave an exclusive interview about his friend’s disappearance on ITV’s “This Morning.” Brad confirmed that he was on a Snapchat video call with Slater while he was walking along a road, but during their conversation, the 19-year-old accidentally slipped off the road.
Brad explained: “He was on the phone walking along a road and had stumbled a bit – not a significant drop, just a small dip. He was going down and said ‘I’ll call you back, I’ll call you back’ because I think someone else was trying to reach him.”
“Had he been thinking like me, he would have climbed back up and continued walking on the path… He wouldn’t have ventured all that way down there.”
“I knew he’d strayed from the path because I heard the sound of walking on gravel and stones,” he added.
Nevertheless, Brad said they didn’t worry until they understood how distant Slater was from the resort in the south.
“I said [to Jay], ‘Put your location on and he said ‘a 15-minute drive or a 14-hour walk, I don’t know if it’s accurate or not’ and I said, ‘If it’s only a 15-minute drive, get a taxi’.”
“Next thing you know his phone dies and it’s 10 days on now and nothing since,” Brad concluded.
Authorities have not confirmed any details about the exact circumstances leading to Slater’s fall. The lack of clarity has fueled speculation and conspiracy theories on social media and in the British media over the past few weeks, which have added to the distress experienced by Slater’s family. Matthew Searle from LBT Global, a charity assisting the family, urged the public to cease spreading hurtful rumors. “We will not be releasing details of travel timings or funeral arrangements at this time and ask again for privacy for the family,” he stated.
The funds raised through a GoFundMe campaign initiated by Lucy Law, which accumulated over £54,000, will be used to cover funeral and repatriation costs. A GoFundMe spokesperson confirmed that they are in regular contact with Slater’s family to determine the appropriate use of the funds.
The Civil Guard released video footage of the search efforts, highlighting the challenges faced by the search teams in the treacherous terrain.
The official investigation into the circumstances of Slater’s death and the alleged theft of the Rolex watch continues, with Spanish authorities maintaining a tight-lipped stance on any further developments. It is unclear if British law enforcement has been involved in the case. They offered their assistance early on in the search for the teen, but the Civil Guard turned them down.
Family, friends, and concerned onlookers have several unanswered questions:
Why did Jay Slater leave the neighborhood of his hotel and travel to a small town in the north of the island with a convicted drug dealer and his unidentified friend?
What happened in the Airbnb that caused Slater to leave suddenly and refuse a ride back to the south?
Why was he unwilling to wait til 10 a.m. for the bus and why did he walk in the wrong direction and into dangerous terrain?
Why did the young man’s friends let him leave with the two men? Why didn’t they attempt to help him in the morning after speaking to him on the phone? It has been reported that Lucy Law knew Qassim and went to the Airbnb and spoke with Qassim after she spoke with Slater that fateful morning. Why didn’t she, or Qassim, try to find him?
There’s been evidence that the teen posted a Snapchat in which he admitted to stealing a Rolex watch, and his friend Brad said the two of them had spoken about it. Where is the allegedly stolen Rolex watch?
Several social media groups and online “detectives,” as well as possibly more reputable ones, have shown clues to the possibility of foul play, or at the very least, connections to criminal individuals. Why did the police let Qassim and his friend go back to the UK?
Are the UK detectives following up on Slater’s cause of death?
Will the truth ever be known, allowing the family to get some closure?