When 19-year-old British apprentice bricklayer, Jay Slater, vanished while vacationing on the Spanish island of Tenerife in mid-June, a series of events unfolded. The search and rescue efforts by workers, emotional updates from his family, and unconfirmed sightings all became part of the routine. Additionally, the emergence of online sleuths, who believed they could crack the case, added a new dimension to the situation.
Despite the Spanish authorities calling off the official search for Jay Slater after 14 days, online conspiracies and theories continued to circulate. These online speculations can be distressing for the family and the ongoing investigation, according to Aleksandra Cichocka, a professor of political psychology at the University of Kent.
According to a statement from his mother, Debbie Duncan, via the organization LBT Global, Jay Slater was attending a music festival on the island with a friend. On the final night of the festival, he left with two individuals he had met at the event to go to their apartment in a secluded area of the island, as disclosed by his friend Lucy Law on an online fund-raising page for his family.
The following morning, June 17, Lucy Law mentioned that Jay Slater informed her during a phone call that he was lost in the mountains, feeling thirsty, and his phone battery was running low. Another friend revealed to the British media that Jay Slater had mentioned descending a “little drop” beside a road. That morning marked the last contact with him.
