Search for Jay Slater: Tenerife teen's disappearance shrouded in speculation and questions | World News

In one corner of Tenerife, a narrow, winding road leads you to a small village called Masca. At some points along the way, the views of the sea below and the mountains above are breathtaking.

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This place, with its handful of houses and cafes, nestled among ravines and rock faces, is about a 40-minute drive from the parts of the island most British tourists are familiar with, but it might as well be at the other end of the world.

There is none of the hustle and bustle of the southern resorts, with their clubs and bars. Instead, there are vast expanses of barren land that are difficult to navigate on foot.

During the 13 days following the disappearance of Jay SlaterA 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire, the hikers and tourists who come to Masca were joined by two other groups of people.

The first group is the emergency services, including the Civil Guard, volunteer firefighters and mountain rescue teams who are carrying out the so far unsuccessful search for Jay. The second group are journalists, like me, who are trying to understand a story surrounded by speculation and questions.

Jay's Journey

These questions begin with Jay's journey that began at Papayago, the nightclub where he was last photographed enjoying the end of the New Rave Generation (NRG) festival on June 16.

The club is located in Playa de Las Americas, not far from Los Cristianos where he was staying. Full of British partygoers and close to the beach, the Strip is a place Jay must have been familiar with, having spent two days at the festival.

But on the third and final night of the event, instead of returning to the accommodation he shared with friends, Jay hopped in a car with two men to drive to a small Airbnb in Masca.

This is where information on his movements and location begins to become scarce, aside from the testimony of an eyewitness we met on our first full day in Tenerife.

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Ofelia Medina Hernandez runs a cafe above the Airbnb and says she saw Jay around 8 a.m. on June 17.

“He asked me twice what time the bus was coming,” she told us. “He came back and asked me again, and I told him again, 10 o’clock.”

“Later I got in my car and saw him, he was walking fast, but I didn’t see him again after that,” she added.

Although the Airbnb's door was just yards from a bus stop that would have taken him south, Medina Hernandez described Jay walking in the wrong direction.

Another key piece of the timeline is a phone conversation Jay had with a friend around 8:30 a.m. that day. He told them he was walking home after missing a bus – a journey that would take 11 hours walk.

He also said he was lost, needed water and only had 1% charge on his phone.

His phone was reportedly last found near an observatory about 18 minutes' walk away, where emergency services' efforts were focused during the first week.

The research

The visible flurry of activity included emergency services using a helicopter, drones and sniffer dogs.

However, as the days passed, this vast search became more focused, with smaller groups of agents examining areas of terrain, such as ravines and caves.

Despite allowing us to film them remotely, the teams, led by the Civil Guard, refused to give much advice on the ground, choosing instead to publish updates and images via WhatsApp.

In the absence of a press conference or formal interviews, they largely kept journalists in the dark.

“I just want him back.”

One group that is hoping more than anyone for information and updates is Jay's loved ones.

A small group of his friends and family remained in Tenerife, visibly struggling to overcome the void left by his absence and the prospect of his eventual return.

The first Saturday after his disappearance, we met his father Warren and brother Zak for the first time and their anguish was evident.

Speaking to us near Masca, after attempting to retrace Jay's steps, Warren said he “just hoped someone helped him get off that mountain.”

“That's all I want, that someone helped him get off that mountain. I just want him back and that's it. He is, my son.”

His voice then broke and he walked away from the camera and repeated: “I just want him back and that's it.”

Despite his visible pain, Warren must also advance this research in his own way. Two days later, in the town of Santiago Del Teide, we find him again.

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That afternoon he was in tears again, but determined, handing out leaflets to a small group of friends.

The reason they chose the town, located 7km from Masca, was a grainy CCTV image suggesting Jay was last seen in the town square.

Online speculation

The fact that the family had so much hope in this information helped them understand that this case is not just about what happens on the ground, but also the narrative online.

A Facebook group called Jay Slater Missing – Only Official Group reached more than 500,000 members in less than a week and was flooded with speculation surrounding the case, before the group's comments were restricted.

The noise on social media, coupled with the situation, has added to the distress of his family, something his mother Debbie Duncan, who is also in Tenerife, alluded to in a statement.

“I have every confidence in them on the ground and the incredible research they're doing with other amazing guys out there,” she said.

“As a family we are in a living nightmare. We have no further news except that Jay is still missing and we are just ignoring the social media side of things.”

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It is clear though that social media has not only harmed the family, they also feel it has helped them, a point made by Debbie when particularly thanking Paul Arnott.

A hiker from Bedfordshire, he traveled from Fort William in Scotland to Spain and has promised to stay as long as it takes to find the teenager.

Never too far from police searches, Paul has been skiing down ridges and climbing hills all by himself while regularly updating his followers on TikTok.

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It is a pivotal period, with the Spanish Civil Guard calling on volunteer organisations such as the Civil Protection and the fire brigade, as well as “individual volunteers with expertise in rugged search terrain” for a “massive search”.

In a case that has seen every twist and turn followed in locations far beyond the rugged terrain of north-west Tenerife, today looks like the start of a last-ditch effort to try to find Jay Slater.