The last phone call made by Jay Slater , a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire who disappeared while on holiday in Tenerife, has been identified as a crucial 'clue' in the search for him. Jay was vacationing in the remote Rural de Teno area of Tenerife for a three-day music festival and had separated from his friends to head to an Airbnb with other festival attendees who had rented a car.
It is believed that he embarked on a dangerous 11-hour walk back to his accommodation in the south of the island the next morning after missing the first bus back. His final phone call was to his friend, Lucy Mae Law, before his phone battery died around 8:15am. Lucy, who accompanied Jay on his first overseas trip with friends, revealed that he told her he was hungry, thirsty and had cut his leg on a cactus.
The details Jay shared with Lucy were considered critical by Civil Guard officers in locating him in the rural mountainous region, before they officially ended their search yesterday after nearly two weeks, Cipriano Martin, the leader of the Civil Guard's Greim mountain rescue unit, informed reporters on Saturday that Jay cutting his leg on a cactus indicated he must have "left the main road" and ventured into the hilly terrain, reports Chronicle Live .
He clarified that Jay "obviously" had to enter the mountains - but despite nearly two weeks of searching, investigators found no substantial evidence in the steep rocky area.
The officer detailed the exhaustive search efforts, saying: "Masca's been looked at, the Juan Lopez ravine, the Retamar ravine, Las Aneas ravine, Los Carrizales ravine, in all the areas we know he's been in because his mobile phone coverage is undeniable and places him there.
But we have a difficulty which is that once the phone goes off the antennas stop picking it up, so that while he's walking, and we don't know how long he was walking for, no phone mast is going to detect it, and as the technicians tell us, they look for mobiles and not people, so we're at that point as well, that we have certain information and we have to go on that."
He continued, shedding light on the clues leading their investigation: "The clues are based on the information we have. Another of the things that leads us to consider that hypothesis is when he rings his friend Lucy and says he's cut himself on a cactus and he's worried because he doesn't know whether it's poisonous or not, and she tells him not to worry that it's not poisonous.
But for that to happen you have to leave the road because you're not going to cut yourself on a cactus being on the road and he's had to go into the mountains obviously."
Lucy, Jay's mother, spoke to Sky News about her last conversation with her son. She said: "he didn't know where he was," and mentioned that he "needed a drink" and had "cut his leg on a cactus".
Lucy insists that Jay is "not a stupid boy" and could not understand why he would go for a walk without realizing how far it actually was.
Mark Williams-Thomas, a former detective turned TV investigator known for helping unmask Jimmy Savile, is aiding in creating a granulated portrait of Jay's latest confirmed location. He shared updates Sunday evening after the physical search was suspended by Spanish police stating that: "Although the police search in the mountains and around Masca has concluded, the police investigation into Jay Slater's disappearance remains ongoing."
He added: "In regard to our investigation we have been able to speak to important witnesses and now have a very detailed picture of Jay's movements over the 16th and 17th, along with important background information. We still have a number of outstanding actions, but have given the family a preliminary breakdown of findings."
Mr Williams-Thomas advised in light of the ceased police search: "In light of the police search ending, I have suggested the family should use the GoFundMe money to continue the search using experts in searching. I would appeal again, if you have any 'direct information' having spoken to Jay or anyone that was with him overnight 16/17th and have not yet been in contact please do so."
Jay's mum has gone on to confirm that the £44,000 amassed via a GoFundMe page intended to aid the search for her son is being utilized towards flying relatives out, alongside providing accommodation and sustenance as they push forward into the third week of the search for the 19 year old.
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