A body has been discovered in the search for British teenager Jay Slater, who went missing while on holiday in Tenerife, Spain. A Civil Guard spokesman confirmed today: "After 29 constant days of searching the lifeless body of the young man has been found in the Masca area. The discovery has been possible thanks to the tireless and discreet search carried out by the Civil Guard over these 29 days.
"Everything is pointing to the body being that of the young British man who disappeared on June 17, pending full identification. Initial inquiries are pointing to him having suffered an accident/fall in the area where he was found."
The grim update ends t he extensive search for the 19-year-old who disappeared on Monday, June 17. Jay, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had traveled to the island with two friends to attend a three-day music festival.
On a Sunday night, Jay split from his friends after leaving a rave by car with two British men he'd met on a bar crawl. He ended up spending the night at their Airbnb located in a secluded village, reports the Mirror .
Tragically, Jay went missing the following morning, Monday, June 17, as he tried to return to Los Christianos, where he was staying with his friends Lucy and Brad. His last contact was a phone call to his friend Lucy Mae Law on that Monday morning, during which he mentioned he was embarking on the 11-hour trek back to their lodging.
He also told Lucy, 18, that he was disoriented, needed water, and that his phone was only one percent charged. The missing persons report triggered a massive search effort, with notable figures like investigator Mark Williams-Thomas and TikTok mountaineering expert Paul Arnott traveling to Tenerife to assist.
After an unsuccessful search, Spanish police declared they would be calling off their search for Jay after almost a fortnight, but emphasized that the investigation into his disappearance was still active. A spokesperson for the Civil Guard stated: "The search operation has now finished although the case remains open."
Although the official search concluded, Jay's family and groups of volunteers persisted in combing the challenging, rural area, clinging to the hope of finding him.
The young man's mother, Debbie Duncan, and brother, Zak, also flew to Tenerife after receiving the news early on Tuesday morning. Jay's father, Warren Slater, later joined them, expressing his confusion and stating that his son's sudden vanishing "doesn't make sense."
In the meantime, a GoFundMe page established to aid in the search for Jay successfully raised over £50,000. Debbie explained that these funds would be allocated to support the mountain rescue teams and to cover the family's extended stay on the island.
Debbie, 55, described her experience while searching for her son as a "living nightmare". She shared how other loved ones felt compelled to defend the family against insensitive online trolls who were putting forward unhelpful and often malicious theories and speculation.
Emergency services have expanded their hunt for the missing lad after his mobile data pinpointed his last location near Masca. The search now spans a gorge roughly 100 meters beneath the holiday home where Jay was last spotted and stretches across the terrain between Masca and San Jose, as well as Masca and Las Portelas.
Debbie, speaking to Sky News during the initial week of the manhunt, expressed her family's distress: "As a family we are in a living nightmare. We have no further updates other than Jay is still missing and we are just ignoring the social media side of things."
The probe has also been marked by alleged sightings of Jay, including one claim that he was seen at a pub in Tenerife during the Euros.
On Friday, June 28, officials made a public call for skilled volunteers to assist in what would be their largest search operation yet. However, only six individuals turned up to help on Saturday, while law enforcement informed the press that they had eliminated the two individuals last seen with Jay from their inquiries.
At a briefing held at Mirador La Cruz de Hilda, a key point in the search, the Civil Guard discussed the challenges they've encountered in the quest to locate Jay. "We know to a certain science that he was here because the coverage of his phone its undeniable that he was around this point. And that's where we have difficulties because once you turn off your phone, it can no longer be traced," they explained.
"As a family we are in a living nightmare. We have no further updates other than Jay is still missing and we are just ignoring the social media side of things. We know to a certain science that he was here because of the coverage of his phone it's undeniable that he was around this point. And that's where we have difficulties because once you turn off your phone, it can no longer be traced."
Later on, it emerged that the apprentice bricklayer boasted on Snapchat about apparently stealing a £12,000 Rolex prior to his disappearance. Detective Williams-Thomas said that Jay posted the video online just before he disappeared.
Mr Williams-Thomas claimed: "On route, Jay posted a Snapchat saying that they had taken a £12,000 Rolex from a person. We have been unable to validate this in terms of a reported theft. However, friends of Jay he would not make this up and the watch was the subject of a later conversation between them."
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Jay's family were seen searching the area three weeks after his disappearance, in the Masca area. They searched a dangerous gorge in hopes of finding him.
His father, Warren, 58, brother Zak, 24, and uncle Glen Duncan, 41, were in a group of nine people who were searching for the teen. They refused to give up the search for the 19-year-old, even after Spanish police officially ended their search on June 30.
Mr Duncan described his nephew as a "typical, normal 19-year-old lad" who loved his family and had a large group of friends. He said: "He's just a typical great young lad with a massive circle of friends and was looking forward to coming here."
Asked how the family were coping, he said: "It's just torture."
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