Full timeline of Jay Slater’s disappearance after body confirmed as missing teen
This was Jay's first holiday abroad without his family
It took 29 days to find a body in the search for Jay Slater after he vanished in Tenerife on June 17 – which has now been confirmed to belong to the missing teen.
Spanish police called off a search of the mountainous terrain of his last known location after 12 days scouring ravines, buildings and hillsides.
The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, in Lancashire, appeared to have disappeared without a trace after leaving an Airbnb near the remote village of Masca which he had visited after a rave.
He was last seen walking north into the mountains instead of catching the bus south to Los Cristianos where he’d been staying with friends.
One of those friends, Lucy Mae Law, spoke to him over the phone shortly before 9am. He said he was lost and thirsty, with a phone about to run out of battery.
The missing teenager has not been seen since.
Metro.co.uk has compiled a timeline of Jay’s disappearance, from where he was last seen to the confirmation of his body on July 16.
Timeline of Jay Slater’s disappearance: from NRG Festival to last known sighting
Sunday, June 16
Jay Slater attends the NRG music festival at the Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas with his friends, including Lucy Law, 18, and Brad Hargreaves, 19.
Monday, June 17
Jay leaves the party and gets into a car with two men – including Ayub Qassim, 31, and another unnamed man – he had met in the days prior.
They drive to an Airbnb some 40 minutes away just north of Masca, a village in the mountainous northwest, stopping to buy a fizzy drink on the way.
Qassim said he offered Jay a blanket, phone charger, cigarette and a towel in case he wanted a shower.
The 31-year-old said he and his friend went to sleep.
7.30am – Jay posts a picture on Snapchat showing him wrapped in a blanket, holding a cigarette, at the doorway of a property, tagged with the location Parque Rural de Teno.
He is seen wearing a grey T-shirt with a green stripe.
8am – Jay asks Ofelia Medina Hernandez, owner of the holiday let, when the next bus south to Los Cristianos is. She signals 10am.
Qassim sees Jay putting trainers on and offers to drive him back to Los Cristianos when he’s properly awake, but Jay said he wanted to get food.
Ofelia then drives past him minutes later walking uphill along the road, in the opposite direction to Los Cristianos.
8.15am – Jay calls his friend Brad Hargreaves, who encouraged the teenager to turn his location on and order a taxi instead of facing ‘a 14 hour walk’.
Brad heard a sound ‘like when you walk on gravel’, suggesting Jay had left the road, before another call came through and Jay said ‘I’ll ring you back, I’ll ring you back’.
8.50am – The teenager makes a final phone call to his friend Lucy Mae Law.
He says he is ‘in the middle of mountains’ with ‘nothing around’, and that he needs water. Then the phone cuts out, with his battery dying.
According to the last location on his mobile phone, he is at Rural de Teno Park, a mountainous area of a national park, around 10 hours’ walk from his apartment complex.
9.04am – Police in Tenerife are alerted, and Jay’s friend Lucy contacts the British Embassy.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: ‘We are supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.’
2pm – His friends begin circulating a description of Jay, including the clothes he was wearing.
Tuesday, June 18
Jay’s friends begin searching the mountainous area where his phone last pinged his location. There is still no trace of him.
Spanish police and mountain rescue teams begin searching as well. Sniffer dogs and a helicopter are also deployed to the scene.
Ayub Qassim and his friend return to the UK after speaking with police who say ‘they don’t have any relevance whatsoever for the case’.
11.35am – Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan and brother Zak board a flight to Tenerife.
2.30pm – Debbie posts an appeal on Facebook, pleading that anyone with information about her son’s whereabouts to contact her.
Wednesday, June 19
The search is briefly moved to the Los Cristianos area due to a potential sighting, but the lead is ‘discounted’. The operation in the national park is resumed again.
Local residents living in Tenerife begin to distribute missing posters in the hopes of finding Jay and bringing him safely home.
Thursday, June 20
There is still no sign of the teenager, and a scarcity of any leads about what has happened to him.
His friend Lucy launches a GoFundMe page to pay for the living costs of his family while they are in Spain.
Friday, June 21
Lancashire Police confirms it has offered to help the search but says that Spanish Police are ‘satisfied that they have the resources they need.
Conspiracy theories about his disappearance begin to circulate in a Facebook group focused on tracing him.
Some speculate that Jay may have been kidnapped. Others suggest he could be in hiding.
Saturday, June 22
Police, rescue dog teams and firefighters continue combing the mountainous terrain at Rural de Teno National Park
Jay’s mother issues a direct plea to her son, saying: ‘We just need you home’.
Debbie is contacted about a potential new sigting of her son with two men not believed to be known to him.
He is described in this sighting as looking ‘a bit worse for wear’, but police are yet to confirm this.
Sunday, June 23
A new video reportedly showing Jay partying in Papagayo nightclub with his top off begins circulating on TikTok.
There are fears that Jay’s Instagram account was ‘hacked’ after a mystery sign in.
Rachel Louise Harg, who runs the Jay Slater Missing page on Facebook, said: ‘Jay’s mum’s asked I post this. For everyone asking who has logged into his Instagram account, it’s not him [Jay] or her [his mother], somebody else has logged into it.’
She added: ‘Some people are actually this sick in the head, there are people hacking my accounts and Jay’s family’s, making it pure lies and pretending we are all in it.’
On Sunday afternoon, police narrowed down the search area to a number of small buildings near where his phone last pinged.
Monday, June 24
Jay’s family appear to have ‘switched off all phone and cut contact’ as they’re swamped by media requests and other attention.
That’s according to Mark Williams-Thomas, a former police officer who helped expose Jimmy Savile’s crimes in an ITV documentary.
Williams-Thomas arrives on the island, promising he ‘will get to the bottom of this in three days’.
A video emerged of Jay, before he vanished, staggering to his feet at a rave with a t-shirt hanging around his neck as others turn their heads to look at him.
His family hope another image – a grainy CCTV still – might show Jay walking near a church said to be in Santiago del Teide, near the northwest coast of Tenerife, 10 hours after his mobile phone last pinged.
It’s also near where a man claims he saw Jay sat on a bench with two men near a church around the same time on the evening of Monday, June 17.
Four of Jay’s friends from Oswaldtwhistle have flown out to join the search, and his dad, Warren, has been back out looking for him, saying: ‘It is a living hell.’
Tuesday, June 25
More sniffer dogs were flown in from Madrid to help comb the trail Jay was last heard from.
While there were no developments in the search, police rescued another tourist found during the search for Jay.
A 51-year-old man from Scotland was reportedly pulled from a ravine on Friday in the remote Rural de Tene national park after locals alerted the police.
Jay’s friends slammed false claims that his body ‘has been found’ after a viral TikTok video alleging so.
A friend of Jay’s, Rachel, who has since changed her name on Facebook and removed her profile picture, shared a screenshot of the video with caption ‘This isn’t me!!!!! This is NOT true.’
Saturday, June 29
A handful of local and British volunteers respond to an appeal to join a search of the area of Jay’s last location, possibly the largest operation since he went missing.
Police, firefighters, mountain rescue, drones and sniffer dogs are used in the search of ravines, rivers, buildings and caves. No sign of Jay is found.
Sunday, June 30
The active search of the area where Jay disappeared is called off. Police say they are still investigating the case, reviewing CCTV and following up on tip-offs.
Jay’s ‘heartbroken’ family say they ‘will continue to search for him’.
Monday, July 1
Jay’s family speak with police to get an update on the investigation and encourage them to keep looking for the 19-year-old.
Police say there is ‘no evidence of criminality’ but say they aren’t ruling anything else.
Emilio Navarro, the mayor of Santiage del Teide, where some believe grainy CCTV footage showed Jay to be hours after his last sighting, said the investigation continues.
Tuesday, July 2
Two men are spotted removing blue protective covers from their shoes as they exit the Airbnb in Masca. They identify themselves as ‘judicial police’.
Further uphill in the national park, where teams had been extinguishing wildfires, park rangers said they are keeping an eye out for Jay but no resources are assigned to an official search.
Jay’s family release a statement thanking Spanish authorities and the public for their support, criticising conspiracy theories, and asking the press for privacy.
Mark Williams-Thomas releases an update after returning to the UK, having met Jay’s family and spoken to some key witnesses.
He claims Jay bragged about stealing a ‘£12,000 Rolex’ in a Snapchat sent during the car ride to the Airbnb, which he later left ‘feeling scared’. He claimed Jay refused to return to the Airbnb, against his friends’ advice.
But, like police, Williams-Thomas ‘ruled out a hostage/kidnapping situation’ and said there is no evidence of ‘third party criminal involvement in Jay’s disappearance’.
He appealed to landowners in the Rural de Teno national park to check outbuildings on their property in case Jay is there.
Wednesday, July 3
Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan announces in a GoFundMe update that she will use some of the more than £48,000 donations to supply equipment, essentials and accommodation to volunteers searching for Jay.
Some of it would be used to support Spanish rescue teams, she said.
The identity of one of the men Jay went to the Airbnb with – Ayub Qassim – is revealed by MailOnline, which published his name, photo along with details of his Airbnb booking, which had not been publicly available.
Qassim responds by saying: ‘Jay came to the house alive, and he left the house alive… I haven’t even done anything.’
Jay’s dad Warren Slater, and brother Zak, return to the area he was last seen for another search. Warren said: ‘He’s a young boy, he’s fit. He’s fitter than us all put together.’
Thursday, July 4
A row breaks out over GoFundMe money as TikTok sleuth Callum Fahim pulls out of the search and leaves Tenerife after claiming he hadn’t received or been offered a penny like Debbie Duncan claimed on GoFundMe.
Debbie claimed she had sent Callum’s group £740 herself, but she removed his name from the update on GoFundMe anyway.
Friday, July 5
Jay’s mother Debbie hit back at online trolls ‘who are more concerned around the GoFundMe page’ than her missing son. Donations pass £50,000.
Spanish police give Jay’s family the go-ahead to use their own search and rescue teams.
Jay’s best friend Brad Hargreaves denies social media conspiracy theories that he and Jay were ‘drug mules’.
Saturday, July 6
Jay’s uncle Glen Duncan joins a search of Juan López ravine in scorching heat, saying: ‘Jay’s parents have got to cling on to hope.’
Sunday, July 7
Jay’s best friend Brad Hargreaves, 19, returns to the UK.
Tenerife locals continue to help Jay’s family in the search.
Hope lingers as partridge hunting nears, with one resident of the tiny Los Carrizales village saying the presence of people and dogs may help find Jay.
Monday, July 8
Jay’s family search Los Carrizales ravine on foot after scouring the Juan Lopez ravine.
His dad Warren said they’ve searched 80% of Juan Lopez ravine, where a road leads to a sheer drop down a cliff edge.
Tuesday, July 9
Police say ‘the investigation is ongoing and several lines of inquiry are being pursued’, while a source close to the case insists Jay isn’t assumed to be ‘missing feared dead’.
Mayor of Essex’s Waltham Abbey, Shane Yerrell, spends two days with Jay’s family as the search the area around Masca.
Wednesday, July 10
One of Jay’s closest friends, Lucy Law, 18, is confirmed to have returned to the UK.
She shares new photos on social media showing Jay smiling with his close friends before he disappeared.
Thursday, July 11
Jay’s dad Warren begs for ‘an army to help’, saying ‘people don’t understand the vastness’ of the search area.
Addressing people spreading conspiracy theories online, he said: ‘Stop, and put your boots on if you want to come out and help. Then write it up.’
TikTok sleuth ChristopherTenerife speculates Jay has ‘had a bit of misfortune’ while heading for the coast, visible from the roads and viewing points near Masca.
He said: ‘He’s had a fall, he’s had an accident or he’s dehydrated and passed out. I feel he’s in this ravine, in this area of Tenerife . . . missing I honestly believe that.’
Friday, July 12
Ex-police officer Mark Williams-Thomas dismisses conspiracy theories linking the case with organised crime.
He said: ‘We’ve still not found evidence of a third party criminal involvement in Jay’s disappearance.’
Sunday, July 14
A Dutch search and rescue team, the Signi Zoekhonden, fly out to Tenerife with dogs trained to find people dead or alive.
The expert group has recovered hundreds of people after natural disasters, including earthquakes in Turkey and Morocco in 2023.
Monday, July 15
A body is found along with Jay’s clothes and possessions in an ‘inaccessible area’ near Masca around 10am.
Police believe it to be Jay Slater, who they suspect suffered an ‘accidental fall’. The body was airlifted by helicopter.
The body is yet to be formally identified.
Tuesday, July 16
The body is confirmed as Jay Slater by the Canary Islands High Court of Justice after his fingerprints were matched. His documents were found with him.
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