Jay Slater’s mother pleads with Tenerife police to keep up investigation into missing teenager
Volunteer in search for missing Jay Slater speaks of difficulties
Jay Slater’s mother has urged police in Tenerife to continue their investigation into her son’s dissapearance after authorities called off the search for the 19-year-old.
Tenerife officials brought their gruelling 13-day search to a close on Sunday following calls for volunteers to assist in a busqueda masiva – a massive search – on Saturday.
Mr Slater’s family, however, have not given up hope of finding him and vowed to continue their own search, while urging authorities to continue their investigation.
A source reportedly said the family are in “constant contact” with authorities, but were left “blindsided” by the decision to cut off the search.
The source told The Mirror: “The family want to be sure the police aren’t giving up on Jay. They are in constant contact with them about the case.”
Mr Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, his father, Warren Slater, and brother, Zak, have all flown out to the island and continue searching for the Lancashire teenager.
The 19-year-old disappeared on June 17 near Buenavista del Norte, after travelling there with two men he had met at a festival around 27 miles further south on the island.
The apprentice bricklayer was last seen wearing a white T-shirt with shorts and trainers and his phone shows his last location as the Rural de Teno park at 8.50am that Monday morning.
Despite the efforts of mountain rescue teams, the Guardia Civil and volunteers, no trace of the Lancashire teenager has been found in the mountain region.
Among the volunteers who have joined efforts in finding Jay is TV detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who also worked on the Nicola Bulley case.
He offered his services free of charge and flew to Tenerife to conduct his own investigation last week and has since urged Mr Slater’s family to use the money raised to hire “experts” to continue the search.
He wrote on X: “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.”
Over £47,000 has been donated to the fundraiser so far, with Ms Duncan saying the funds would be used to cover the family’s costs to stay in Tenerife.
Rachel Hargreaves, a close family friend who has joined Mr Slater’s parents on the largest of the Canary Islands, told MailOnline: “No one is leaving until we find Jay.”
She added: “We stay and we do what we need to do. Nothing has changed. We will continue to search for him.”
While the search on the ground grinds to a halt, a local mayor in Tenerife insisted the investigation into Mr Slater’s disappearance remains open.
“The investigation that the Civil Guard is carrying out in this case has several lines of inquiry open,” local Mayor Emilio Navarro told Sky News.
“It’s not that the search has stopped. Maybe, yes, in the territory, the field search, but other lines are open.”