Jay Slater search: Harrowing roll name of lacking vacationers in Tenerife

Millions of British tourists flock to the Spanish island of Tenerife each year in search of an affordable holiday with guaranteed sunshine.

From the infamous party strips in Playa de las Americas to the challenging hikes in the rugged mountains, Tenerife attracts holidaymakers from far and wide.

Three weeks ago, 19-year-old Jay Slater found himself experiencing both sides of Tenerife – having ended up at an Airbnb with two men near the remote Rural de Teno national park following a night out on the Veronicas strip, which is an hour away.

The apprentice bricklayer, from Oswaldtwistle, near Lancashire, has not been seen since the morning of June 17 – and his mysterious disappearance has been the subject of huge interest.

Jay left the Airbnb at around 8am and decided to try and walk back to his accommodation because there was no bus. He called his friend Lucy Mae Law at around 8.50am, telling her ‘his phone was down to one per cent, he was lost and thirsty’ before the line went.

Police and mountain rescue teams using dogs, drones and a helicopter spent 13 days looking for him in the unforgiving Masca valley – where his phone last pinged – before calling the search off on June 30.

MailOnline revealed yesterday that ruthless British drug dealers are fighting with the Italian mafia for control of the drugs trade in Tenerife, prompting fears that Jay has somehow been sucked into the island’s murky underground world.  

Jay joins a long list of Brits and other tourists who have vanished on Tenerife over the years – many last seen in the vibrant Playa de las Americas resort. 

The teenager was the 11th person to go missing on Tenerife in just six months – with other cases still unsolved almost 40 years later.

Mariel González Gutiérrez and Sebastian Cobos Gonzalez

The 27-year-old Mexican mother and her two-year-old son were reported missing on March 21 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

The SOS Desaparecidos Association has said it is probing a possible case of child abduction and it is feared that Sebastian could have ‘left the national territory’.

Spanish paper El Espanol reports that a judge had ordered Sebastian’s passport to be withdrawn while his parents fought custody, with ‘shared guardianship’ having been agreed previously.

Natalia Belavus and Vladimir Marcella

The mother and son, from Belarus, were reported missing on March 27.

The SOS Desaparecidos Association has since said they suspect the case to be ‘parental abduction’. 

Natalia, 28, and her son have been pictured on social media since, according to local reports. 

 Marc Francis Olbrechts

The 71-year-old, thought to be a Belgian national, disappeared on April 24. He was last seen in Adeje, southwest Tenerife, according to the SOS Desaparecidos Association, which issues appeals on the island.,

Local newspaper Canarian Weekly has reported that Marc’s wife, 66-year-old Laura Gaston, was found floating off the coast of Tenerife near Arico by a fisherman. 

There was a bag over her head and she was missing one hand and both legs, according to reports. 

Three people were arrested following Laura’s death, two in Belgium and one in Tenerife. 

‘Neighbours saw them leaving on foot for a yoga class in the village on Monday evening,’ a friend of Laura’s told Belgian newspaper 7sur7 in the days after they went missing. ‘They looked happy, they were just enjoying their life on the island.’ 

Marek Siedlecki 

The Polish national was reported missing on June 14 – three days before Jay Slater vanished.

He was said to be heading towards Lanzarote, where he intended to fly back home.

Polish media reports that Marek was sailing his boat Nautis and was last spotted in the water.

‘After several phone calls with experienced sailors, we suspect that the electrics and steering have failed, as a result of which the yacht is drifting without the possibility of reaching any port,’ Marek’s son Przemysław told Polsat news.

 Noelia Hernandez Martin

The 17-year-old girl was reported missing on January 23 from San Cristobal de La Laguna in northern Tenerife.

Marek J

Marek vanished from  Vallerhermosa, a village in La Gomera, on June 8.

The 51-year-old is around 180cm and 80kg – but officials have not disclosed where exactly he was last located.

Juan Cabrera Gonzalez

The 60-year-old was reported missing on January 13.

He was last seen in La Oratava. He is described as having grey hair and brown eyes. 

Juan was last seen wearing a blue tracksuit with a white stripe and boots that had metal zips on. 

Rayco Garcia Diaz

Rayco was reported missing on March 15 in Barranco Hondo-Candelaria, in Tenerife.

He was said to be driving a silver Ford KA at the time.

Police say the 44-year-old, who was wearing a black jacket and black trainers, is considered ‘vulnerable’. 

Ryan Cooney

The 28-year-old, from Ireland, vanished after he was allegedly attacked and robbed while holidaying in Tenerife last November.

He was last seen at an apartment complex in Playa de las Americas on November 9, but the only trace of him was his passport.

After several days of desperate appeals and his family flying to Tenerife, Ryan suddenly reappeared on November 13.

His friend James Burke said: ‘Words can’t describe how I’m feeling right now. This is unreal, this doesn’t happen. I’m so happy.

‘Thank you so much to everyone, my best mate is found safe, he’s coming home.’

Jay Slater

The discovery of Ryan Cooney offers a glimmer of hope for the family of Jay Slater who have been searching for answers since the teenager went missing in Tenerife on June 17.

The 19-year-old was partying with friends at the Papagayo beach club in Playa de las Americas for the final night of the three-day NRG festival. 

He then went back to a £40-a-night Airbnb with convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim and another mystery man in the early hours of June 17.

Qassim, 31, was one of the last people to see Jay before he called a friend to say he was walking home and vanished without a trace. He has not been seen or heard from after last being seen on Monday, June 17.

He was last seen just after 8am by a witness who said he was walking back to his hotel in the party resort of Playa de las Americas after missing a bus. Spanish police have described the two men as ‘irrelevant’ to the investigation.

Earlier this week, Qassim told MailOnline he had invited the teenager back to the cottage in the village of Masca because his friends had left him at an end-of-festival after party.

TV sleuth Mark Williams-Thomas has since interviewed Qassim who claimed to have offered Jay a lift back to his hotel after he slept, but was turned down as he was hungry and ‘wanted some scran’.

He revealed that Qassim said that Jay had been eager to leave the Airbnb on waking up the next morning and a neighbour had told him about a bus that could take him back.

He said: ‘Qassim said to him ‘Chill, mate, I’ll drop you off later, when I wake up’ but he said Jay said ‘nah, I need some scran, I’m hungry’.

‘Jay said he had been told by the woman the bus to Los Cristianos was every ten minutes and Qassim said there was no bus and added ‘Do what you like’ before going to sleep.’

Mr Williams-Thomas added: ‘Qassim says the next thing he remembers is getting a call from one of Jay’s friends to say he is lying in a ditch somewhere and that he’s been ‘bitten by a cactus’.’

Jay’s phone last pinged in an area of the Masca valley, where police concentrated their search for 13 days before calling it off on June 30. 

His tragic disappearance has been subjected to cruel conspiracy theories from internet sleuths online, which his family – who are in Tenerife – have condemned.

Jay was among 11 people who have disappeared on Tenerife in just six months – but other missing cases on the island remain unsolved, while some had tragic outcomes.

Billy Bennett

The 18-year-old, from Holborn, London, vanished from his holiday in Tenerife on December 1, 1985. 

The teenager had planned to go to the Spanish island with a friend but when they dropped out at the last minute, he decided to power ahead on his own.

It is known that Billy stayed at the Las Americas resort and was often spotted at the Sergeant Peppers nightclub.

His friend flew out later with his girlfriend, but insisted he only met up with Billy a handful of times.

He claimed that Billy seemed ‘worse for wear’ on one occasion, saying he had lost his money and had nowhere to stay.

His whereabouts are unknown to this day.

Ricky D’Cotta 

The 23-year-old, from London, travelled to Tenerife in March 1987 because he wanted to explore the 80s club scene – but never returned.

He started working at the Sergeant Peppers Disco Pub in the Playa de las Americas resort.

Ricky last spoke to his family in October 1987, telling them he would be coming home soon. However, his family never heard from him again. 

Shortly after he vanished, Ricky’s passport and a bag were handed to the police.

In 2001, a Channel 4 documentary called Looking for Ricky revealed that five unidentified bodies were found, one of which could have been his.

However, DNA tests were inconclusive, while Ricky’s best friend alleged he had been murdered after a botched robbery of a local drugs baron.

The documentary looks back on possible sightings, including one where he was apparently walking around the island claiming to be Jesus, another wearing an expensive white suit and a third in a south London clothes shop.

Despite desperate attempts to find Ricky, he has never been found. His mother and sister were said to ‘remain in a limbo between grief and hope’.

Kevin Ainley

It was 20 years last month when Kevin Ainley vanished in Tenerife aged 24.

Kevin, from Lancashire, went missing in June 2004, having moved to Playa de las Americas in March that year.

He was working as a promoter at the Sportsman bar in a popular area known as ‘the patch’.

The 24-year-old had spent the night in bars and clubs with a friend before they went for dinner at Merlins Chinese buffet restaurant.

He was last spotted walking towards the Sportsman bar after finishing the meal.

But when he did not turn up for his shift, his friends raised the alarm with police and his family back home. 

His passport and personal belongings were later found in his apartment, but he has never been found.

In 2016, his sister Brooke said the family was ‘desperate for answers’. She told the BBC:  ‘It is no exaggeration to say we have been put through 12 years of hell. Somebody must know something’.

In 2005, two British police officers from Lancashire travelled to Tenerife to help Spanish police – but no substantial leads were discovered.

They appealed to anyone regarding a possible altercation between Kevin and staff at the Cafe Del Moar in the early hours of the morning he vanished.

He was wearing a dark t-shirt and blue Ellesse tracksuit when he went missing. He is described as 5ft 10in, medium build, with blue eyes and brown short hair. He also has distinctive tattoos including the name ‘Kevin’, a little devil and a Native American woman on his arm. 

Peter Wilson  

The father-of-two lay undiscovered in Tenerife for almost two years after taking one wrong turn on his way home.

The 34-year-old had travelled to the island on March 22 2019 from Dublin and checked into the Malibu Park Hotel, Costa Adeja, in Santa Crus.

The following day, he went to watch the Ireland vs Gibraltar game in nearby Playa de las Americas.

He returned to his hotel in the afternoon before heading back to the party resort that evening.

Peter was last spotted close to where the taxi dropped him off before vanishing without a trace.

His devastated family travelled to Tenerife to try and find him and launched a Facebook group.

Amid fears he had been kidnapped or murdered, Peter’s body was eventually discovered after it emerged he fell down a steep drop next to a shopping centre.

His devastated mother Jacky Wilson told the Irish Sunday Mirror in 2021: ‘On January 11, my nephews called to tell us that human remains had been discovered in Tenerife.

‘No words can describe the utter devastation and heartbreak we felt that day, as we always held that little glimmer of hope that he would walk through the door.

‘That hope was dashed but, after the shock, there was a great sense of relief that finally, after nearly two years of searching, we would get to bring him home.

‘Peter’s death was the result of a tragic accident. No foul play is suspected so that’s a big relief to us. He obviously got disoriented and lost his way.’