JAY SLATER: 6 UNANSWERED QUESTIONS AS MISSING TEEN'S MUM MAKES URGENT PLEA

Brit teenager Jay Slater vanished without a trace two weeks ago, leaving many unanswered questions about the circumstances around his disappearance.

The 19-year-old, from Lancashire, was last seen on the Spanish island of Tenerife on Monday, June 17. He called a friend to tell her he was walking from the village of Masca in the rocky terrain in the island's northwest back to his accommodation in Los Cristianos some 11 hours away in the south.

Why Slater decided to walk through the rugged mountains in the blistering heat might remain a mystery as there is no clear explanation behind his reasoning. There are few traces as to his whereabouts and no body or any significant clues that indicate where he is.

Spanish authorities have called off the search for the missing teen, leaving numerous questions surrounding his disappearance and the circumstances around it unanswered. Here are the key unanswered questions surrounding the missing Slater case as his family await updates.

Who were the two men Slater went to north Tenerife with?

Slater had attended the NRG music festival in the south of the island before leaving with two men he had befriended earlier during his holiday. He then travelled back to a house in the village of Masca in the rocky northern part of Tenerife.

The two men, who are understood to not have attended the festival, rented a hire car to allow them to drive around the island. They were reportedly staying at a rental home in the Rural de Teno National Park.

Slater's friend Lucy Mae was able to track down the home and approached the two men, who were still inside the property. She previously said: "We managed to find the house. I knocked on the door and there were two people there. They said Jay had gone out for a cigarette before going back in and saying he wanted to go home."

An investigator said the pair were "key witnesses" but Spanish authorities have since described them as "irrelevant" to their investigation.

What was Slater's state of mind?

Slater's mum Debbie shared concerning details about her son's supposed inability to take care of himself on the night he vanished. She feared Slater "didn't have his wits about him," adding he was "not really a drinker."

She also warned Slater to be careful before he headed off on holiday with his friends abroad and was concerned he would not be able to look after himself properly.

Why did Slater decide to walk instead of taking the bus?

Witness Ophelia Medina Hernandez said she saw Slater at about 8am standing by a bus stop just outside the village of Masca. She said Slater asked her about the buses back to Los Cristianos.

She later explained: "I held up my fingers on my hands to say 10am as he didn’t understand me then I went home briefly before driving up the mountain to Buenavista del Norte, but this time I saw him walking on the road out of the village. It was no more than ten or fifteen minutes after I had spoken to him and he was about a kilometre from the house. I drove past him and that’s the last I saw him.”

For whatever reason, Slater opted to set off on an 11-hour journey back to Los Cristianos instead of waiting for the bus. His friend Mae said: “What I don’t understand is if he did walk down then why wasn’t he seen by anyone? It’s a busy time of day, the place is full of hikers and holidaymakers, he could have asked them for help or stopped somewhere but no one has seen him at all.”

Did Slater fall as he walked?

While walking back to Los Cristianos, Slater spoke with his friend Brad Hargreaves who said he heard the teen sliding on some rocks. This signalled to Hargreaves that Slater had gone "off-road."

He later explained: "He was on the phone walking down a road and he’d gone over a little bit - not a big drop - but a tiny little drop and he was going down, and he said ‘I’ll ring ya back, I’ll ring ya back’ because I think someone else was ringing him. If he was thinking like me, he would have gone back up and started walking on the path again… He wouldn't have gone all that way down there.”

Was Slater the person seen in grainy CCTV still?

On Monday, June 23, Slater's family shared a screenshot of CCTV showing a person walking through the town of Santiago del Teide some four miles away

The still shows a person that Slater's family believe could be him. The person was walking through the town at about 6pm on Monday, June 27. But it remains unconfirmed whether the person in the still is indeed Slater.

Will Spanish police resume search again?

Spanish police suddenly called off their search for Slater on Sunday, June 30. The decision shocked many Brits and Spanish authorities have not revealed a specific reason as to why they ended their search.

A spokesperson for Spain's Guardia Civil said: "The search operation is no longer active, but the case is still open and there are several lines of investigation." The spokesperson continued: "The search has gone on for many days because it is a rocky area that is hard to access."

Earlier today, heartbroken parents Debbie and Warren spoke to officers in a bid to get answers about their investigation, which remains open and active.

A source close to the family said: “The family want to be sure the police aren’t giving up on Jay. They are in constant contact with them about the case.”

2024-07-01T18:53:39Z dg43tfdfdgfd