A BRITISH teenager who went missing during a holiday in Tenerife was spotted “walking alone” by locals before his disappearance, it has been claimed.
Jay Slater, 19, flew out to the holiday island with two friends for the NRG festival.
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He went to the closing night Sunday with his pals, but left with two men he met that evening.
The next morning he called friend Lucy Law to tell her his phone was about to die and he was stranded in the middle of nowhere.
The walk from Rural de Teno park, his last known location, to the south of the Spanish island, would take around 11 hours on foot.
Now a local woman has revealed details about the two men Jay was last seen with – and claimed he was seen “walking on his own”.
Araceli works in the business next to the rental property Jay was believed to have stayed at before going missing.
She told The Mirror: “I never saw the missing boy, but I know people saw him walking on his own. I saw the two British men who stayed here.
“They came in for cafe con leche a couple of times. One was aged about 40. The other one was slightly younger.
“They arrived on Saturday and were due to stay until Monday, but they left on Tuesday.”
Lucy said Jay had gone to stay with people he met on Sunday night who were staying in an apartment that was “miles away from civilisation and in a very secluded location”.
She added that he had left the apartment at 8am on Monday and walked for half an hour before “frantically ringing” her.
Jay’s mother, Debbie Duncan, who flew to Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands on Tuesday morning, said searching for her son was “an absolute living nightmare”.
Debbie told ITV News: “I wouldn’t wish this on anybody. I just want my baby back.
“Please just anybody who can help – look for him. It’s a massive area up there.
“He’s out there somewhere or somebody knows where he is.”
Jay’s ‘terrified’ grandma
THE grandmother of missing British teenager Jay Slater has spoken for the first time about her fears for her beloved grandson.
Speaking from her chalet on the outskirts of Clitheroe, Mr Slater’s grandmother, June Duncan, described how her family had been trying to shield her from the speculation surrounding his disappearance.
June, 77, said: “I don’t read newspapers but it’s been on the news on telly so much I can’t escape it.
“I’ve not spoken to Debbie much but other family members are keeping me updated.
“My son came to see me on Tuesday and he flew out there yesterday. He’s gone with [Jay’s] cousin to try and help but I don’t know what they can do.
“I wouldn’t be able to go out there, and I’m not sure what help I’d be, I just keep hoping for good news.
“I can’t even begin to imagine how Debbie is. She rang me and said he’d gone missing.
“She didn’t tell me at first, I think she was trying not to worry me, but then as time went on… “
She added: “I wish I hadn’t encouraged him to go to this. I should have said: ‘Don’t go to Tenerife’.
“I just think he was probably still in high spirits, buzzing – he’s not known where he is.
“He’s not known the extent of the long journey that he went on to get up there.
“And he’s just thought: ‘I’m gonna walk’. And that’s what apparently he said to the last person he contacted.”
Describing her son, Debbie said: “He’s the life and soul, he’s a beautiful boy.”
Jay was last seen wearing a white T-shirt with shorts and trainers and a black bag.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.”
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Timeline of Jay Slater’s disappearance
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
SUNDAY JUNE 16 – MONDAY 17
Jay goes to a rave at the 2024 NRG music festival in Tenerife, around Arona on the south of the island.
8.35pm – Jay posts a smiling Snapchat video of him laughing with friends.
He leaves the rave with two men he met that day and is driven back to their accommodation across the island.
MONDAY 17
7.30am – Jay posts a Snapchat of a hand holding a cigarette in the area where the accommodation was – near the rural de Teno Park on the north of the island.
8.30am – Jay calls his friend Lucy Law and tells her he missed a bus, had one per cent of battery left on his phone and was stuck in the “middle of nowhere”.
9am – A missing persons report is filed and the search for Jay begins.
TUESDAY 18
2am – Police knock on the door of Jay’s mum Debbie Duncan’s home and tell her to catch the first flight out to Tenerife.
7am – She flies out from Manchester Airport alongside her son Zak to help with the search.
Debbie is sent a Snapchat message saying “Kiss goodbye to your boy, you’re never going to see him again, he owes me a lot of money.”
WEDNESDAY 19
12.30pm – Police move the search to the south of the island briefly after a false sighting.
Cops search his hotel room for clues as his mum says there was “=”nothing untoward there”.
Debbie gives a heart-wrenching interview where she shares fears he has been “taken” and says “I just want my baby back”.
THURSDAY 20
Cops begin day four of the massive search for Jay.
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