Jay Slater: Airbnb owner saw him walking 'normally' before he vanished (2024)

The owner of a remote Airbnbwhere missing teenager Jay Slater spent his final hours has revealed she saw the youngster 'walking normally' only hours before he vanished.

Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared after an attempt to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus.

The 19-year-old has been unaccounted for ever since Monday morning, with his last phone call being to his friend Lucy Law, 18, at around 8am and his lastphone signal being traced to a vast mountainous region around half a mile north of Masca.

Ophelia, the owner of holiday rental, Casa Abuela Tina - where Mr Slater is understood to have stayed with two acquaintances - voiced her worries about the teen after spotting him walking alone down the hills on Monday.

She said: 'It's dangerous walking around here, it's easy to lose yourself. He walked up the road when I saw him for the last time.

'He was alone. He was walking normally, though he was fast.'

Ophelia shared that Jay has also asked about catching the bus from the area before making the journey on foot - which was the only route.

She aired her concerns about the teenager, but in the height of the media frenzy she stated: 'We are not to blame.'

The property, which is listed online as a holiday home, is believed to have been rented by two men Jay was with the night before whilst attending the NRG festival.

It is believed the main area of focus in the search for Mr Slater has been around the Parque Rural de Teno, with his family and mother Debbie, have flying out to the Spanish island to assist officers.

The Civil Guard confirmed to the Manchester Evening News on Friday there had been 'no developments' in the search for the 19-year-old.

His friend Lucy Law, 18, recently blasted the local Spanish police for 'not doing a good enough job' in finding the missing Brit.

Search teams paid close attention to a river called Barranco Madre del Agua at the bottom of a ravine today, where personnel with sticks carefully searched through fallen dead palm trees.

'We are having to do this all by ourselves as Spanish police are not doing a good enough job. They don't even speak English. It's been a very slow process here so we need the British police to come out and help them,' she told The Times.

In a post on theFacebookpage 'Jay Slater Missing', the administrator of the group Rachel Louise Harg said family and friends of Mr Slater were in a 'living nightmare'.

She said: 'There isn't an update for anyone unfortunately.

'Struggling to find words at this time but all I can say is we are looking still and everyone is doing all they can.

'We are drained beyond words - I just can't say no more, I wish I could.

'I wish this would end now, this living nightmare.

'Searches are ongoing and we remain positive.

'Thanks to you all supporting and helping we can't thank you any more, much love.'

His friend Lucy Law has called for the British police to assist with the investigation and slammed the local efforts.

She said she wants to 'bring him home to his family'.

'That is all that we want, all that we need,' she told the BBC.

On Friday, search and rescue personnel joined officers from the island's Guardia Civil near the village of Masca where they appeared to focus on a specific area of overgrown terrain.

Some officers used binoculars to survey the landscape before heading towards the bottom of the hillside.

On Thursday, a helicopter flew over Rural de Teno park in the south of the Spanish island as search teams followed various footpaths in the area.

Footage released by the Guardia Civil on Thursday showed the views from the helicopter as it scoured the hillside.

The video, posted to the force's X account, showed officers searching in bushes and overgrown terrain with dogs.

The walk from Mr Slater's last known location to his accommodation would have taken about 11 hours on foot.

The search area was quiet on Friday, with only a handful of police cars stationed at Rural de Teno park.

Ms Law, who attended the NRG music festival with Mr Slater, said he called her at about 8.30am on Monday and told her he was 'lost in the mountains, he wasn't aware of his surroundings, he desperately needed a drink and his phone was on 1%'.

Mr Slater's mother, Debbie Duncan, who flew to Tenerife on Tuesday, said searching for her son was 'an absolute living nightmare'.

Ms Duncan told ITV News: 'He's the life and soul, he's a beautiful boy.'

Mr Slater was last seen wearing a white T-shirt with shorts and trainers and a black bag.

A fundraiser set up by Ms Law to 'get Jay Slater home' has since received more than £23,500 in donations.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman 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.'

Today, the search is continuing for the fifth day to find the teenager, 19, who disappeared in Tenerife.

Friends and family members have flown over to the Canary Islands to join in with the search for Jay who has not been seen or heard from since Monday.

His last known location was in the mountainous area of Teno Rural Park, some 10 hours' walk away from his accommodation in the southern part of the island.

A GoFundMe which was set up yesterday has raised £23,723 as of this morning.

Police using a helicopter, sniffer dogs and a drone, as well as mountain rescue units have been scouring countryside close to an Airbnb he went to with two British men.

The isolated farmhouse was an hour's drive from the popular hotspot of Playa des Los Americas in southern Tenerife, in the village of Masca, 19 miles away.

Speaking from the family home in Oswaldtwistle, Jay's stepfather Andy Watson said the teen was reluctant to go on holiday.

He said that Jay's friends had 'talked him into going' and his mother Debbie added he 'wasn't really that keen'.

She told ITV that looking back, she wished she hadn't 'encouraged him'.