AS Jay Slater set off on his first bachelor holiday abroad, his mum Debbie was worried.
Like any parent, Debbie would naturally be worried about everything from flights to accommodation and the wild nightlife – but she swallowed her worries and encouraged Jay to “go and have fun”.
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Jay Slater was in Tenerife before he disappeared Credit: MEN Media
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Search teams spent four days looking for JayCredit: MEN Media
Never in a million years could she have imagined the horror she was facing now.
Jay disappeared without a trace on the harmless island of Tenerife on Monday.
A massive search is now underway to find a 19-year-old who flew to the island with two friends only to disappear after a rave on Sunday night.
Jay, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, met some new friends at the NRG music festival and told his friend Lucy Law he was going to spend the night at their place.
They are believed to have used a hire car to travel to the property in the rural, mountainous area of Parque Rural de Teno in western Tenerife – a 10-hour walk from Jay’s accommodation in Los Cristianos in the south.
Jay called his friend Lucy the next day to say he missed the bus home, cut his leg on a cactus and got lost in a rural area with no water.
His battery dropped to 1 percent while trying to get back using the maps app on his phone.
No one has seen him since.
Mum Debbie, who has since flown to the island, said: “It’s a nightmare, it’s just an absolute nightmare.
“I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I just want my child back. Please, anyone who can help, just look for him.”
Jay Slater’s tearful mother on why she thinks he went missing in Tenerife as she pleads for help
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Jay Slater (right) pictured with his brother Zak and mum Debbie – who both flew to the island after he went missing Credit: Solarpix
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Mum Debbie says she wanted Jay to enjoy his holiday Credit: MEN Media
Jay’s disappearance has been shrouded in mystery amid rumours, speculation and a bizarre series of social media messages sent to the family, including one claiming he had been abducted.
Former Coronation Street star Vicky Entwhistle, who played Janice Battersby in the ITV soap, is Jay’s grandmother’s godson.
She shared one of the missing posters circulating online, adding: “My Godmother’s grandson is missing. His mother flew out at 7pm. To join the police search.
“Hope to God they find him. Please pray for him.”
Here, we look at the questions that remain unanswered as the search for Jay enters its fourth day.
Why was he not spotted?
The park where Jay disappeared is frequented by walkers, and friends say the restaurant is 10 minutes from where he slept.
Friend Lucy, who was on holiday with Jay and last saw him leaving the music festival, described his disappearance as “suspicious and strange”.
She said: “Jay is not stupid, it was just before 9am when he called me in broad daylight and the area he was in is full of hikers.
“I’ve been up every day since I got that phone call from Jay that sent me into a panic and so many walkers and other people are up.
“It’s secluded, but the place where he last phoned me is near the main road and he would have had enough resources to flag someone down, wave someone over and ask for help.
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Friends say Jay would seek help Credit: Solarpix
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His friend Lucy called his disappearance suspiciousCredit: Facebook
“Something strange is happening. It’s suspicious. Are you telling me that someone didn’t see it? There is a restaurant 10 minutes away that he would have seen or passed by.
“Honestly, it didn’t open for another two hours, but if it were me, I’d sit and wait in the restaurant until it opened, and as soon as it opened, I’d say, ‘Can you put my phone on charge’ ” and then I’d call someone . I would call a taxi. It’s suspicious and strange.”
Could he really have been taken?
Mom Debbie believes someone may have kidnapped Jay because no one saw him.
She said: “There is a main road, there are bus stops, there are cafes, it is a hiking route.
“There are people here, people must have seen him. And if people didn’t see it, someone must have taken it.
“I have a bad feeling. They warn me that there are many bad people in Tenerife.
“I just think he’s being held against his will. He’s not a stupid boy. He wouldn’t go walking down the damn mountains.”
She said that despite her fears, she has not received any ransom demand.
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Debbie is worried that her son has been kidnappedCredit: ITN Productions
Despite Tenerife being relatively safe for the 2.3 million Britons who visit each year, the island has a darker side.
Last November, six Hell’s Angels were arrested for coercion and serious threats.
Who were the new friends who lived near the bus stop?
Jay left the NRG festival with two new friends who had rented a car.
They are believed to have traveled to a property in Rural de Teno Park, and Jay’s last Snapchat picture was an out-of-focus image of a hand holding a cigarette in Buenavista del Norte, which is inside the park.
As rescue teams, sniffer dogs and police scour the remote area for signs of Jay, friend Lucy revealed she had found the house where Jay was staying – and was told he had left on Monday morning.
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Jay’s last Snapchat came from an estate believed to belong to his new friends Credit: Snapchat
The two men said Jay went to get cigarettes before returning to the property and saying he wanted to go home. It is not known where he would buy cigarettes.
Lucy said: “We managed to find a house. I knocked on the door and there were two people there.
“They told me that Jay spoke to the neighbors and that they told him that there is a bus to Los Cristianos every 10 minutes.
“The bus stop was right next to the house. So obviously if he had gone to get the bus he wouldn’t have gotten lost because (the stop) could be seen from the front door.”
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Were the trolls hindering the search?
Mum Debbie’s fears that her son had been abducted were heightened by a chilling Snapchat message she received as she landed in Tenerife to help search for her son.
Debbie says she got a text that read: “Kiss your boy goodbye, you’ll never see him again, he owes me a lot of money.”
She says twisted Brits with ‘Northern accents’ called her from hidden numbers claiming Jay was being held captive because he owed them cash.
She said: “Some of the phone calls I received were horrible. I just don’t know why people would want to do things like this.
“I used to get a lot of jokes. It’s sickening.”
The determined mum added: “It doesn’t put me off and I want this to stay in the news as it will increase the chances of Jay being found safe and sound, which we are obviously praying for.”
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Jay with friends back home in Britain Credit: Solarpix
Officers say they are keeping an “open mind” about Jay’s disappearance and are now searching his hotel room for clues.
Debbie fears trolls are also behind a false report that led police to shift the search for her son from a rural park back to Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Americas – wasting valuable time in the search.
Officers focused their efforts on the area where Jay was staying after allegedly seeing the teenager.
He wouldn’t go walking down the mountains
Jay’s timid mom, Debbie
Debbie said: “Someone gave the police a false lead saying he called a taxi to Los Cristianos.
‘If that was the case, he would have called his mum or one of us. I know him well and he wouldn’t want us to worry.
‘Someone is trying to talk the police out of him being up there. I’m starting to think he’s been kidnapped.”
Could he have taken a wrong turn?
When Jay called his best friend Lucy, he said that he had cut his leg on a cactus, that he was thirsty and lost.
His phone had only one percent of battery and had died, showing his last location as Rural de Teno Park.
Jay told Lucy he was trying to get back to their accommodation in the south of the island, but he wasn’t dressed for walking, wearing a white t-shirt with shorts and trainers. He had no cap or water.
Jay also told Lucy that he cut his leg on the cactus. Is it possible that he went off the road drastically?
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The park where Jay disappeared is full of deep ravines, locals say Credit: Solarpix
Chris Elkington, editor of the Canarian Weekly newspaper, told the BBC that the area of the park where Jay disappeared could be dangerous.
He said: “It’s a rural park where you have a lot of footpaths, it’s very mountainous, quite sparse, quite barren. Quite a desert in many ways, with some very deep ravines and valleys.
“It’s certainly a place you wouldn’t want to be in normal conditions without proper footwear, especially without water.”
Temperatures in the park were around 20C at around 8.30am on Monday when Jay disappeared, but later reached 25C in full sun by the afternoon.
His stepfather Andy Watson, 63, said the family were concerned that Jay had taken a wrong turn while walking from where he was staying with two English lads back to his accommodation.
Andy told The Sun: “It’s really worrying. It feels like a fog at the moment.
“Jay’s a very street smart guy and he’s not a jerk, but if it was dark and he didn’t have touch on his phone, he could have gone the wrong way and gotten more lost than he was.”
Local journalist Clio O’Flynn, who knows the area well, told GB News the teenager could have found himself in trouble after taking a wrong turn.
She said: “From what we understand, Jay would have gone off the road as there is only one road to the area where his phone was last pinged.
“If he wasn’t on the main road, the only guess you can make is that he veered off the road and onto one of the unmarked tracks to try and get down to the coast.
“There are bays, there are gorges, these are volcanic zones, so they have hidden traps if you walk down.”
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