The mother of a teenager who went missing during a holiday in Tenerife has said words cannot describe the “pain and agony” her family are experiencing.
Debbie Duncan described 19-year-old Jay Slateras a beautiful boy who had his whole life ahead of him.
“We just want to find him,” she said in a statement, condemning as “vile” some of the wilder online speculation and conspiracy theories.
Slater, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, went missing on Monday 17 June after attending a weekend rave in the island’s Playas de las Americas resort with friends.
He was last heard from at about 8.15am when he told a friend, Lucy Law, that he planned to walk back to his holiday accommodation after missing a bus, a journey that would take him 10-11 hours on foot.
Slater also said he was thirsty, had 1% of charge left on his phone and did not know where he was.
For nearly two weeks, emergency services, mountain rescue teams, sniffer dogs, drones and helicopters have taken part in coordinated searches for Slater.
It culminated in what was described as a “búsqueda masiva” – massive search – on Saturday. That was unsuccessful and the following day the Guardia Civil in Tenerife said the search operation for Slater had finished, but the case remained open.
There have been few new developments for the family to grasp on to.
In her statement, through the British overseas missing persons charity LBT Global, Duncan said:“Jay is a normal guy who is in his third year of an apprenticeship, and he is a very popular young man with a large circle of friends.
“We are a very close family and are absolutely devastated about his disappearance. Words cannot describe the pain and agony we are experiencing. He is our beautiful boy with his whole life ahead of him and we just want to find him.”
Duncan thanked Spanish authorities who are continuing to follow lines of inquiries.
The search has been accompanied by large media attention. Duncan said: “We would like to say to the press/news/reporters, that although we do not want to lose the momentum of Jay’s disappearance, we really would like to maintain our privacy and crucially let the Spanish police get on with their investigations without hindrance from press.”
As well as dealing with the distress of a missing loved one, the family and friends of the teenager say they have had to deal with lots of “online noise” around the case, including hurtful accusations, rumours and conspiracy theories.
“We are aware of the conspiracy theories and speculation on social media and some websites, and can only describe this as vile,” Duncan said. “The negative comments are extremely distressing to our family.
“We also embrace the love and support we have received from across the globe. It has not gone unnoticed, especially his home town in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire.”
Slater and his friends had been at three-day NRG Tenerife Weekender festival in Tenerife. In the early hours of Monday morning, Slater left the resort in a car with two British men and headed to an Airbnb property in Masca, a remote hilltop hamlet in the north-west of the island.
The authorities in Tenerife said they had spoken to the two men and they were “not in any way relevant to the case”.
