The Jay Slater case has ended in the worst possible way. The rescue team discovered his body in a hard-to-reach area of the Masca ravine, not far from where the signal of his mobile phone was last detected. The young British man did not manage to leave the Teno Rural Park when he was looking for a way back to his rented apartment in Los Cristianos.
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During the morning of Monday, July 15, the Guardia Civil reported the discovery after 29 days of uncertainty and theories surrounding Slater’s disappearance. Since June 17, the whereabouts of the young man from Lancashire were unknown when he had taken a car with two other people to drive in the early hours from Las Verónicas to Masca.
What leads a person to get into a car with two strangers to go to an unknown place? A question without answer, like many others, but the timeline of this case can help us understand everything that happened days before he disappeared.
13th June – 16th June
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On Thursday, June 13, Jay Slater arrived in Tenerife with several friends to attend a music festival: New Rave Generation. This party took place in different locations in the south of Tenerife throughout the weekend, starting on Friday, June 14. Several photos and videos of Slater with some friends during those festive days have been shared.
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There is no record of any places he visited besides the festival, for which he specifically came to Tenerife on what his mother has repeatedly referred to as “his first trip with friends“. On Sunday, he enjoyed the last day of the NRG festival, and then went like many others to the Las Verónicas area, known for being one of the favourite spots for British tourists on holiday in Tenerife.
Visual evidence shows that night Jay Slater was at the Papagayo nightclub, where he was seen wearing a grey shirt with green stripes at shoulder height, as well as a black shoulder bag. It is unknown if this is where he met the two men who would take him to Masca.
17th June
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In the early hours of Sunday to Monday, June 17, Jay Slater met two individuals: Ayub Qassim and a second person whose identity is unknown. Qassim had been sentenced in the UK to over nine years in prison for drug trafficking. Additionally, as he has told various sources, he did not personally know Jay, but was aware of him through different common acquaintances.
Following the information provided by Qassim, Jay Slater mentioned that he was alone and wanted to continue the party, so around 5:00 in the morning, the three individuals set off in a rental car driven by Qassim to Masca. A journey that would last 45 minutes and during which they stopped along the way to have a snack before reaching the holiday home Casa Abuela Tina.
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Around 6:00 in the morning on Monday, they arrived at their final destination. In Masca, the three entered the rented house. A photo that Jay Slater posted on his Snapchat proves that he was there. In the picture, the location can be seen: Teno Rural Park, Buenavista del Norte. He is smoking a cigarette and sitting on the entrance stairs of the house, with a red blanket over his legs.
According to Qassim, upon arrival he gave Slater a blanket, a towel, and offered him to take a bath whenever he wanted to. Slater asked for a cigarette and the mobile charger, which he took from the room of the second unknown companion. After this, the young British man decided to leave the flat without charging his phone and exited the house. Qassim claims he left the house alive, and offered to drive him back to the south of Tenerife when he woke up, but Slater allegedly said he wanted to leave immediately because he was hungry.
A woman was the last person to see him alive. She, a native of Masca, states that she spoke to the young British man and asked him when the next bus to the south would pass by. The language barrier prevented them from understanding each other correctly, so the witness gestured the number ten with her hands indicating that the next bus would leave at that time in the morning.
According to the version of the convicted drug trafficker, Slater returned and told him that the bus was leaving in ten minutes, so he may not have understood what the woman told him. She would see him again leaving the village on foot as she drove by in her vehicle.
Jay Slater made a final phone call that day. In this instance, he called his friend Lucy Mae, one of the people who accompanied him on this trip. According to her, Slater said he was returning to the apartment, was very thirsty, and only had about a one [add any number] of water left
Briton Jay Slater’s Mysterious Disappearance in Tenerife
By the end of June, only 5% battery was left on his phone. Additionally, he reportedly got a cut from a cactus in the area.
June 30
After thirteen days of searching and a massive sweep on Saturday, June 29, on the 30th of that month, the Guardia Civil called off the search for Jay Slater on the ground. While they continued to investigate other leads to determine why Slater had gone to Masca or left on his own to an unknown location, groups of volunteers along with Slater’s family searched different areas of Masca to no avail.
July
The well-known Netflix detective, Mark Williams-Thomas, travelled to the Teno Rural Park to join the search for clues about Slater’s whereabouts. The whole month of July revolved around theories surrounding his disappearance. The only discovery made was a pair of broken sunglasses, similar to the ones Jay Slater wore during his holiday in Tenerife, which made Chris Pennington viral on TikTok, causing him to temporarily close his account due to the overwhelming messages he was receiving.
British media have suggested that Slater may have been caught up in the ongoing battle in southern Tenerife to control the drug trafficking between the Italian mafia and British gangs. It was also reported that he had sent a Snapchat story to a friend where he mentioned stealing a Rolex worth over €10,000.
The latest conspiracy theory suggested that Slater may have left both Masca and Tenerife on a yacht the morning of his disappearance. Numerous far-fetched ideas have mostly turned out to be unfounded, or like the Rolex case, remain unverified at this point.
July 15
During the morning of July 15, the Guardia Civil search team found a body in a hard-to-reach area. The difficult terrain necessitated the body to be airlifted out by helicopter.
According to detective Mark Williams-Thomas, the family was immediately informed and tasked with formally identifying the body. Initial security reports suggest that he may have suffered a fatal accidental fall.
With the discovery of his body, the mystery of his disappearance is finally resolved. Many unanswered questions remain about a young man who travelled to Tenerife for fun and ended up losing his life in a remote area far from his holiday home.
