WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Jay Slater 0:00:08.245 --> 0:00:15.285 School of Humans. On Sunday, June seventeenth, twenty twenty four, 0:00:15.845 --> 0:00:19.605 Jay Slater, a nineteen year old bricklayers apprentice who lived 0:00:19.605 --> 0:00:23.085 in Lancashire, England, was on his first ever foreign holiday 0:00:23.565 --> 0:00:26.285 and he seemed to be having a blast. He had 0:00:26.325 --> 0:00:28.565 gone to the island of Tenerife in Spain with a 0:00:28.565 --> 0:00:32.445 female friend named Lucy and another guy named Brad. That night, 0:00:32.805 --> 0:00:35.005 he and Lucy went out to a music festival called 0:00:35.165 --> 0:00:39.565 NRG New Rave Generation. It was held at Papagayo Beach 0:00:39.605 --> 0:00:43.725 Club in an area called Veronica's Strip. It's an area 0:00:43.725 --> 0:00:46.965 that has a ton of nightclubs and neon signs. It's 0:00:47.165 --> 0:00:50.805 very popular with British tourists. According to the information that 0:00:50.885 --> 0:00:53.845 Lucy posted later on a go fund meet, they had 0:00:53.845 --> 0:00:56.685 a great time that night. Jay had just finished his 0:00:56.805 --> 0:00:59.445 course at technical school back in the UK. He was 0:00:59.485 --> 0:01:01.565 getting ready to take his exams when he got home, 0:01:01.605 --> 0:01:04.765 so they were blowing off some steam. But Lucy said 0:01:04.805 --> 0:01:07.565 she was tired from the weekend, so she went home early. 0:01:07.605 --> 0:01:11.485 That night. Jay stayed on at the club. He posted 0:01:11.525 --> 0:01:14.645 photos and snapchats from there. He appeared to be having 0:01:14.685 --> 0:01:18.565 a great time. At eight thirty five, PM, he posted 0:01:18.605 --> 0:01:22.005 a snap of himself hanging out with friends, looking happy 0:01:22.045 --> 0:01:25.925 and chilled and dancing. More camera footage has come out 0:01:25.965 --> 0:01:28.845 from inside the club. You can see him laughing and 0:01:28.885 --> 0:01:32.645 having a great time. Eventually he made his way outside 0:01:32.685 --> 0:01:36.405 the club, which closed at three am. After that, he 0:01:36.525 --> 0:01:40.205 was sitting on a wall. At around four am he 0:01:40.325 --> 0:01:44.205 started chatting to two other British men. Somehow they made 0:01:44.285 --> 0:01:47.325 a plan to go on to those two guys Airbnb. 0:01:48.565 --> 0:01:53.205 They left that club sometime after four am. He got 0:01:53.205 --> 0:01:55.405 into a car with these two strangers and went back 0:01:55.405 --> 0:01:58.205 to their airbnb, which was in a remote area about 0:01:58.205 --> 0:02:00.325 an hour away from where Jay was staying in the 0:02:00.405 --> 0:02:05.325 touristy resort area. The airbnb was near a small town 0:02:05.565 --> 0:02:10.405 called Mascot. The next morning, Lucy got one last frantic 0:02:10.445 --> 0:02:13.605 call from Jay a little after eight am, saying he 0:02:13.685 --> 0:02:15.965 was lost, didn't know where he was, and that he 0:02:16.045 --> 0:02:22.965 was panicked. That was the last time that anyone ever 0:02:23.045 --> 0:02:27.765 heard from Jay Slater, because after that he disappeared. J Slater, 0:02:27.925 --> 0:02:31.085 this healthy young man who had his entire life ahead 0:02:31.085 --> 0:02:34.925 of him, was just gone, and what happened to him 0:02:35.285 --> 0:02:38.525 has become a huge story in the UK and now 0:02:38.605 --> 0:02:42.805 throughout the world. What did happen to him? Was he 0:02:42.925 --> 0:02:46.365 kidnapped and murdered like a lot of people believe. Did 0:02:46.405 --> 0:02:50.085 he wander off into the wilderness or did someone else 0:02:50.165 --> 0:02:52.525 pull up alongside him on that narrow strip of road, 0:02:52.645 --> 0:02:56.725 coax him into their car and drive off somewhere. This 0:02:56.925 --> 0:03:00.845 case is wild. It is exposed the seedy underside of 0:03:00.885 --> 0:03:04.165 this beautiful island and the criminal underworld that are operating there. 0:03:04.845 --> 0:03:08.805 This case has taken over British news. Everyone from police 0:03:08.805 --> 0:03:12.405 detectives to psychics and TikTok stars have descended on this 0:03:12.485 --> 0:03:15.805 Spanish island in the Canaries. They're all trying to find 0:03:15.845 --> 0:03:18.325 a young man who is partying and vanished about a 0:03:18.365 --> 0:03:21.805 trace right in the middle of an island full of tourists. 0:03:22.685 --> 0:04:15.245 I'm Catherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. If 0:04:15.285 --> 0:04:18.165 you listen to this podcast, you know I don't normally 0:04:18.205 --> 0:04:21.125 cover cases that are ongoing unless there's a good reason, 0:04:21.765 --> 0:04:25.045 like a missing person's case that isn't getting attention, not 0:04:25.125 --> 0:04:27.525 like this case, which actually is all over the news. 0:04:28.245 --> 0:04:31.685 I prefer cold cases for several reasons. First of all, 0:04:31.805 --> 0:04:33.805 I don't want to be one of those reporters that 0:04:33.885 --> 0:04:37.165 stands on people's lawns right after tragedy and ask for 0:04:37.245 --> 0:04:41.845 sound bites from grieving families. And even though we are 0:04:41.965 --> 0:04:45.885 sometimes critical of the police when they are investigating a case, 0:04:46.045 --> 0:04:47.845 I really don't want to get in the police's way. 0:04:48.765 --> 0:04:52.685 But this case, the Jay Slater case, is fascinating. It's 0:04:52.725 --> 0:04:56.205 fascinating for a couple of reasons. In my opinion, it's 0:04:56.205 --> 0:04:58.685 a good lesson in what to do when a loved 0:04:58.725 --> 0:05:02.405 one goes missing and what not to do because this 0:05:02.525 --> 0:05:06.605 case has brought out some of the darkest, worse sides 0:05:06.645 --> 0:05:10.325 of true crime journalism and of what they call black 0:05:10.405 --> 0:05:17.325 tourism or murder tourism. A little background here. I used 0:05:17.325 --> 0:05:19.885 to live in London. I work for a British newspaper 0:05:19.965 --> 0:05:22.605 for several years for people who don't know that, and 0:05:22.685 --> 0:05:24.965 I am an American citizen, but I also have a 0:05:24.965 --> 0:05:29.045 British passport, so really London is like my second home. 0:05:29.525 --> 0:05:31.645 I come here every summer. And when I came to 0:05:31.725 --> 0:05:35.445 London this week, literally the entire country was talking about 0:05:35.445 --> 0:05:38.245 this Jay Slater case. It reminded me a little bit 0:05:38.245 --> 0:05:40.485 of the Natalie Halloway case in the US back in 0:05:40.525 --> 0:05:44.485 two thousand and five. The difference is that since the 0:05:44.605 --> 0:05:48.565 Natalie Hallway case, we have social media, so in addition 0:05:48.725 --> 0:05:52.445 to this nationwide press coverage, we have all these amateur 0:05:52.485 --> 0:05:55.045 detectives that have gone into a frenzy over this case. 0:05:56.045 --> 0:05:59.125 As we said before, Jay's friend Lucy started to worry 0:05:59.125 --> 0:06:00.805 the next morning when he didn't come back to the 0:06:00.805 --> 0:06:03.725 resort where they were staying. This was a big resort 0:06:03.805 --> 0:06:07.045 called Plia dea LA's America. It was about a forty 0:06:07.125 --> 0:06:10.765 minute drive from their resort to the area where Jay 0:06:10.805 --> 0:06:13.445 went with the two strangers. That was in a more 0:06:13.565 --> 0:06:16.365 rural area in the north of the island, near a 0:06:16.445 --> 0:06:20.405 park called Rural de Teno Park. This is a long 0:06:20.485 --> 0:06:23.165 way from the Lively Beach resort area where they'd been 0:06:23.205 --> 0:06:26.125 hanging around the night before. This park is in an 0:06:26.165 --> 0:06:31.125 area that is remote popular with hikers. At around seven 0:06:31.245 --> 0:06:35.005 thirty am the next morning, Jay had posted a snap 0:06:35.085 --> 0:06:38.445 of a hand. We haven't seen this snap, but presumably 0:06:38.445 --> 0:06:41.405 it was his hand holding a cigarette on the front 0:06:41.405 --> 0:06:45.205 steps of that airbnb. We know it's that airbnb because 0:06:45.285 --> 0:06:48.285 Lucy said you could see the tile pattern on the steps. 0:06:49.125 --> 0:06:52.685 He called Lucy shortly after eight am. Now, some reports 0:06:52.725 --> 0:06:56.805 at eight fifteen, but later it seemed like the correct 0:06:56.885 --> 0:07:00.885 time was eight fifty am. He called her and sounded panics. 0:07:00.925 --> 0:07:03.165 She said. He told her his phone was dying, he 0:07:03.205 --> 0:07:06.285 only had one percent battery, he was thirsty, and he 0:07:06.325 --> 0:07:09.005 did not know where he was. She wrote on the 0:07:09.045 --> 0:07:11.845 go fundme page, quote, I woke up to a phone 0:07:11.885 --> 0:07:14.165 call off Jay at eight thirty am, saying he was 0:07:14.205 --> 0:07:16.725 lost in the mountains. He wasn't aware of his surroundings, 0:07:17.045 --> 0:07:19.685 he desperately needed a drink, and his phone was on 0:07:19.685 --> 0:07:23.125 one percent. He had met two people on Sunday night 0:07:23.245 --> 0:07:25.845 and left with them to go to their apartment. Their 0:07:25.845 --> 0:07:29.085 apartment was miles away from civilization and in a very 0:07:29.085 --> 0:07:33.805 secluded location. End quote. Now, after this went down, a 0:07:33.845 --> 0:07:37.685 lot of people asked did Lucy or Jay know these 0:07:37.725 --> 0:07:41.685 guys before the night he vanished? The post on GoFundMe 0:07:41.765 --> 0:07:44.525 that was made by Lucy, in my opinion, made it 0:07:44.565 --> 0:07:48.205 sound like the two guys from the airbnb were complete strangers. 0:07:48.805 --> 0:07:51.845 Later someone else would come forward to question that, but 0:07:51.925 --> 0:07:55.965 we'll get back to that later. So, after Jay said 0:07:56.005 --> 0:07:59.645 he was in trouble and lost, Lucy immediately went out 0:07:59.685 --> 0:08:03.725 looking for him. Apparently that snap that Jay sent had 0:08:03.765 --> 0:08:07.485 his location. That's how Lucy was able to find that 0:08:07.565 --> 0:08:10.805 house so quickly. It's also the only house in that 0:08:10.925 --> 0:08:15.045 area in the mountains. It's along a winding strip of roads, 0:08:15.085 --> 0:08:20.285 surrounded by rural cliffs and very difficult terrain. She said 0:08:20.285 --> 0:08:22.325 that she knocked on the door and that there were 0:08:22.325 --> 0:08:25.685 two people there, presumably the two men whose airbnb it was. 0:08:26.485 --> 0:08:29.725 According to Lucy, that morning, Jay had gone out for 0:08:29.765 --> 0:08:32.565 a smoke, come back for a short time, and then 0:08:32.645 --> 0:08:35.605 said he wanted to go home. After that, they said 0:08:35.605 --> 0:08:40.725 he left now. According to media reports, Lucy said that 0:08:40.765 --> 0:08:44.325 she believed that Jay may have been kidnapped, but after 0:08:44.365 --> 0:08:46.605 he left the residence, he did talk to Lucy at 0:08:46.645 --> 0:08:50.565 eight fifty and there was someone else in that remote 0:08:50.605 --> 0:08:55.405 wilderness who saw Jay after he left the airbnb, so 0:08:55.765 --> 0:08:59.245 someone did see him after he left the airbnb. The 0:08:59.405 --> 0:09:02.045 last person to see Jay alive that we know about 0:09:02.925 --> 0:09:08.925 was a woman, Ophelia Medina Hernandez. This was a neighbor 0:09:09.365 --> 0:09:13.245 the person who owned the airbnb. She was interviewed by 0:09:13.285 --> 0:09:16.885 British media and by the police. She said that when 0:09:16.925 --> 0:09:19.725 she saw Jay that morning, right after he left the airbnb, 0:09:20.325 --> 0:09:22.885 he was asking her about the bus. What time the 0:09:22.925 --> 0:09:25.045 bus came, because there was a bus stop right in 0:09:25.045 --> 0:09:28.405 front of the house. Apparently he was trying to get 0:09:28.405 --> 0:09:30.605 a bus back down the hill, back in the direction 0:09:30.645 --> 0:09:33.245 of Los Cristianos, which would have been the direction of 0:09:33.245 --> 0:09:36.125 the resort where he was staying. You can see that 0:09:36.165 --> 0:09:39.045 bus stop from the house. The woman said she told 0:09:39.125 --> 0:09:42.125 him the bus was at ten am. She didn't really 0:09:42.165 --> 0:09:45.245 speak English, so she held up ten fingers to signal 0:09:45.285 --> 0:09:49.085 that she meant ten. So if that bus came at 0:09:49.125 --> 0:09:51.725 ten o'clock, he would have had over an hour to 0:09:51.765 --> 0:09:55.365 wait at that bus stop. The woman said later that 0:09:55.445 --> 0:09:58.405 she saw Jay one more time. She said she passed 0:09:58.405 --> 0:10:01.165 by him in her car about fifteen minutes later after 0:10:01.165 --> 0:10:04.845 they had that conversation, But she said something strange. She said, 0:10:04.885 --> 0:10:08.045 he was walked looking uphill, so in the opposite direction 0:10:08.085 --> 0:10:11.565 from town. She said, quote, he was alone, he was 0:10:11.605 --> 0:10:15.525 walking normally, though he was walking fast end quote. So 0:10:15.805 --> 0:10:18.725 what made him lead the bus stop and why was 0:10:18.765 --> 0:10:22.165 he walking uphill toward the middle of nowhere instead of 0:10:22.245 --> 0:10:30.365 downhill toward town. Jay's phone died just after eight p 0:10:30.445 --> 0:10:33.965 fifty am. The last ping was from an area near 0:10:33.965 --> 0:10:38.885 a hiking trail uphill from the airbnb. Lucy reported Jay 0:10:38.925 --> 0:10:42.045 missing to police and started looking for him. She met 0:10:42.085 --> 0:10:44.285 someone who gave her a ride. They drove around the 0:10:44.285 --> 0:10:46.645 mountains all day. She said she thought she would see 0:10:46.725 --> 0:10:49.525 Jay walking along the road, but he was just gone. 0:10:50.525 --> 0:10:53.765 Authorities in Spain contacted Jay's mother, fifty five year old 0:10:53.805 --> 0:10:56.685 Debbie Duncan, and his father Warren back in the UK. 0:10:57.405 --> 0:11:01.005 Debbie and Warren and Jay's brother immediately flew over to Spain. 0:11:01.805 --> 0:11:08.165 Pretty soon there was a massive search being done the police, firefighters, volunteers, 0:11:08.685 --> 0:11:14.085 people with canine dogs, drones and helicopters. Tenerief is the 0:11:14.245 --> 0:11:17.325 largest of the Canary Islands. There are seven of them 0:11:17.365 --> 0:11:21.005 and they are geographically located near North Africa. Because they 0:11:21.005 --> 0:11:23.445 are just a short flight from the UK a little 0:11:23.445 --> 0:11:27.845 over four hours. The Canary Islands are very popular tourist 0:11:27.885 --> 0:11:31.765 destinations for British people. A lot of people come to 0:11:31.925 --> 0:11:35.365 these islands to party and soak up the sun. There 0:11:35.445 --> 0:11:39.005 is a huge bar culture, drinking, dancing and of course 0:11:39.045 --> 0:11:42.645 some drug use that comes along with going out and partying, 0:11:42.685 --> 0:11:44.285 and a lot of young people being in a rave. 0:11:45.525 --> 0:11:49.045 Early in the investigation, Lucy was kind of criticizing the 0:11:49.045 --> 0:11:52.445 Spanish police she seemed to be a mysterious figure herself 0:11:52.925 --> 0:11:56.085 when she did interviews, she had her identity hidden. She 0:11:56.205 --> 0:11:59.845 was just kind of this dark silhouette. Basically, she said 0:11:59.885 --> 0:12:02.885 the local authorities in Spain had fobbed her off. She 0:12:03.005 --> 0:12:06.245 said she believed they were not taking Jay's disapp hearent seriously. 0:12:07.245 --> 0:12:09.765 She also asked, by the way, why the Spanish police 0:12:09.765 --> 0:12:12.925 did not have a translator after three days, which is 0:12:13.005 --> 0:12:15.805 reasonable because it's not like English to Spanish translators are 0:12:15.805 --> 0:12:19.485 hard to find. But also, unfortunately, the Spanish media seemed 0:12:19.525 --> 0:12:22.045 to kind of have an issue with this and seemed to, 0:12:22.125 --> 0:12:24.965 at least at first, kind of in my opinion, paint 0:12:25.005 --> 0:12:28.845 her as this demanding foreigner. Unfortunately, that happens in a 0:12:28.885 --> 0:12:32.205 lot of these cases. Pretty soon a lot of online 0:12:32.285 --> 0:12:36.485 commenters were speculating about Lucy. A lot of people were asking, 0:12:36.565 --> 0:12:38.845 how was this young woman able to take so many 0:12:38.845 --> 0:12:41.925 foreign holidays? How did she pay for them? Was she 0:12:42.085 --> 0:12:44.725 some kind of drug mule? By the way, there's absolutely 0:12:44.845 --> 0:12:47.445 zero evidence for any of this, and I can totally 0:12:47.525 --> 0:12:50.445 understand why Lucy would have wanted to hide her identity 0:12:50.525 --> 0:12:54.485 exactly for this reason. Because people started to get very 0:12:54.485 --> 0:12:57.925 involved in this investigation, they were following it on social media. 0:12:58.725 --> 0:13:02.485 Lucy did something else. She set up a GoFundMe campaign, and, 0:13:02.645 --> 0:13:06.205 as we know from listening to True Crime podcast, since 0:13:06.285 --> 0:13:11.005 every decision that family members or friends make early an investigation, 0:13:11.125 --> 0:13:13.845 unfortunately can be criticized, this is one of the biggest 0:13:13.845 --> 0:13:18.205 areas for criticism. What happens with these gofundmes? Where did 0:13:18.205 --> 0:13:20.805 the money go? Why did the friends started and not 0:13:20.885 --> 0:13:24.445 the mom. This prompted Jay's mother, Debbie, to post an update. 0:13:25.365 --> 0:13:28.285 She said they would be using the funds for travel 0:13:28.365 --> 0:13:31.885 and lodging and to support the Spanish authorities. As of 0:13:31.965 --> 0:13:34.485 June twenty seventh, by the way, the go fundme had 0:13:34.525 --> 0:13:38.485 received around forty thousand pounds a little over fifty thousand dollars. 0:13:39.405 --> 0:13:42.365 So the police were wondering how in the world did 0:13:42.365 --> 0:13:48.925 this young man just disappear. They talked to the two 0:13:49.005 --> 0:13:52.045 men whom Jay had gone home with, and it seemed 0:13:52.045 --> 0:13:55.365 like they were mystified too. Police said the two men 0:13:55.485 --> 0:13:59.365 answered their questions, they cooperated, and they voluntarily stayed on 0:13:59.405 --> 0:14:02.845 the island for extra day. They said that the Spanish 0:14:02.845 --> 0:14:05.365 police had their names, addresses and all their personal dey 0:14:05.565 --> 0:14:09.645 tales before those two men flew back to the UK. Now, 0:14:09.685 --> 0:14:12.885 a lot of online commenters made statements like how could 0:14:12.925 --> 0:14:17.085 Jay's friends leave him alone? But honestly, I find that 0:14:17.405 --> 0:14:19.885 probably the easiest part of the story to believe, because 0:14:20.005 --> 0:14:23.685 we see this over and over. We see that there's 0:14:23.725 --> 0:14:26.645 a lot of press about young women being preyed on 0:14:26.965 --> 0:14:30.085 whether they're at home or when they're on vacation, but 0:14:30.285 --> 0:14:33.605 young men are generally less careful about these things. There's 0:14:33.765 --> 0:14:37.005 much less awareness about the danger that a young man 0:14:37.405 --> 0:14:40.765 can feel when he's on his own. And people do 0:14:40.885 --> 0:14:43.805 disappear in Tenerief, even though the crime rate on the 0:14:43.805 --> 0:14:47.325 island is pretty low. Sometimes they wander off into the 0:14:47.405 --> 0:14:50.605 rough terrain and fall through ravines or get trapped there. 0:14:51.125 --> 0:14:54.325 But then a lot of people speculated maybe Jay got 0:14:54.365 --> 0:14:57.685 involved in some kind of drug trade. There is a 0:14:57.765 --> 0:15:01.405 drug trade, an underground criminal element on Tenerief. It's been 0:15:01.445 --> 0:15:04.605 described as an island where the Italian mob is very active. 0:15:05.085 --> 0:15:07.885 It's all been described as one of the islands of 0:15:07.925 --> 0:15:11.045 what they call geostrategic importance when it comes to international 0:15:11.125 --> 0:15:17.325 drug trafficking. Because the case made national and then international news, 0:15:17.765 --> 0:15:21.285 there were sightings of Jay everywhere, all of them to 0:15:21.325 --> 0:15:24.965 this date have been unbeverified. The rumors continued to fly. 0:15:26.285 --> 0:15:29.325 Some people said Jay lost a bag full of drugs 0:15:29.525 --> 0:15:32.125 and he was being held hostage until the money was paid. 0:15:32.765 --> 0:15:35.685 There were a lot of crazy conspiracy theories flying around, 0:15:36.125 --> 0:15:38.685 each one a little more unbelievable than the next, and 0:15:38.725 --> 0:15:41.885 a lot of them entered around this go fundme money 0:15:42.365 --> 0:15:46.565 that somehow Jay's family or friends had set up this 0:15:46.565 --> 0:15:48.925 GoFundMe to repay a drug debt. This was all some 0:15:49.285 --> 0:15:53.085 elaborate scheme, which really should have seemed totally ridiculous from 0:15:53.085 --> 0:15:55.925 the beginning, but people were continuing to repeat stuff like this. 0:15:57.645 --> 0:16:00.205 Then on Saturday, Jane twenty second, there was a break 0:16:00.205 --> 0:16:02.965 in the case. There was a reported sighting of Jay 0:16:03.045 --> 0:16:06.725 in Santiago del tier Day, a town that's about five 0:16:06.765 --> 0:16:10.165 miles away from Masca, the nearest small town to that airbnb. 0:16:11.045 --> 0:16:14.045 Someone said they saw Jay there with two men outside 0:16:14.045 --> 0:16:16.125 of church. That would have been on the day he 0:16:16.205 --> 0:16:19.405 disappeared at around six pm in the evening. There was 0:16:19.485 --> 0:16:22.805 blurry footage outside that church, but no confirmed sighting of Jay. 0:16:23.525 --> 0:16:25.845 There was another rumor he had been spotted watching a 0:16:25.885 --> 0:16:28.525 football match. Now this is all going on in the 0:16:28.525 --> 0:16:31.405 middle of the Euro twenty four matches. It was reported 0:16:31.445 --> 0:16:34.565 in the press that the mayor of that town, Santiago d'ltierede, 0:16:34.885 --> 0:16:37.885 said that the Spanish police had spoken to several people 0:16:37.925 --> 0:16:41.405 who may have seen j Now. I mention this because 0:16:41.445 --> 0:16:44.165 it's a really good example of how in these situations, 0:16:44.205 --> 0:16:47.285 when there's fast breaking news, rumors start flying and things 0:16:47.285 --> 0:16:50.965 do not get corrected. So the rumors started because the 0:16:51.045 --> 0:16:56.485 mayor mentioned he heard someone saw j Now somehow in 0:16:56.605 --> 0:16:59.205 some of the news reporting that became, it was definitely 0:16:59.285 --> 0:17:02.325 Jay and he was watching football. But by the time 0:17:02.565 --> 0:17:05.485 police went there to question people and other news organizations 0:17:05.605 --> 0:17:08.845 showed up, they got the real story. The mayor had 0:17:08.925 --> 0:17:11.365 heard people saying that they saw a young man who 0:17:11.445 --> 0:17:14.445 may have matched Jay's description. Now, of course Jay had 0:17:14.485 --> 0:17:17.165 a very general look. He's a young tan guy on 0:17:17.285 --> 0:17:20.445 vacation and with his darker skin and hair and kind 0:17:20.485 --> 0:17:23.365 of alive complexion. Honestly, he could have been a local 0:17:23.525 --> 0:17:26.445 or a tourist. Clearly, they just saw someone who looked 0:17:26.525 --> 0:17:31.365 vaguely like Jay. It was not Jay. So it's natural 0:17:31.365 --> 0:17:34.445 to ask a question in a case like this, how 0:17:34.485 --> 0:17:37.885 common is it to go missing in a place like this? Well. 0:17:37.965 --> 0:17:41.405 The Independent newspaper did a super interesting synopsis of other 0:17:41.485 --> 0:17:44.045 men who were from the UK and went missing in 0:17:44.125 --> 0:17:48.725 Tenerief and have never been found. There was Billy Bennett, 0:17:48.725 --> 0:17:51.725 who was eighteen when he disappeared. He was on vacation 0:17:51.925 --> 0:17:54.765 in Tenerief in December of nineteen eighty five. He was 0:17:54.805 --> 0:17:56.565 supposed to go to the island with a friend of his, 0:17:56.765 --> 0:18:00.405 but the friend couldn't go, so Billy went alone. He 0:18:00.605 --> 0:18:03.805 stayed at the Los America's Resort, the same resort where 0:18:03.845 --> 0:18:08.165 Jay stayed. He went to a nightclub often called the 0:18:08.205 --> 0:18:11.765 Sergeant Pepper's Nightclub. The friend who was supposed to go 0:18:11.805 --> 0:18:14.285 on the trip talked to the press later. He said 0:18:14.325 --> 0:18:16.445 that later he did go to Tenerief, he met up 0:18:16.445 --> 0:18:19.325 with Billy. He said Billy was, in his words, worse 0:18:19.365 --> 0:18:22.325 for wear. He said Billy told him that he lost 0:18:22.365 --> 0:18:24.485 all of his money and was worried about having somewhere 0:18:24.485 --> 0:18:28.405 to go. Billy was never heard from again. In nineteen 0:18:28.445 --> 0:18:31.525 eighty seven, there was a similar story another young guy, 0:18:31.605 --> 0:18:34.565 a twenty three year old named Ricky Deacatta. He went 0:18:34.605 --> 0:18:36.965 to Tenerif in March of nineteen eighty seven to party 0:18:37.445 --> 0:18:40.925 and never came home. He was working a season out 0:18:40.965 --> 0:18:42.925 in Tenerief, which a lot of young people in the 0:18:43.005 --> 0:18:46.445 UK do to earn money. Interestingly, he worked in the 0:18:46.485 --> 0:18:49.885 same club that Billy frequented, the Sergeant Pepper's Disco pub 0:18:50.165 --> 0:18:53.805 in the Plia Delas America's resort. His sister was interviewed 0:18:53.805 --> 0:18:55.965 by the Independent newspaper back in two thousand and one. 0:18:56.685 --> 0:19:00.325 She said that Ricky was a loving, caring brother. She 0:19:00.365 --> 0:19:03.005 said he was super excited about going to work in Spain. 0:19:03.805 --> 0:19:05.565 She said she talked to him and he said he 0:19:05.605 --> 0:19:08.285 was planning to come home. He called in October to 0:19:08.325 --> 0:19:10.765 ask for forty pounds for a ticket home for Christmas. 0:19:11.365 --> 0:19:13.565 Then she said she called him and confirmed that he 0:19:13.605 --> 0:19:17.445 did get that ticket money. But Ricky never showed up 0:19:17.445 --> 0:19:21.085 for Christmas and his family never saw him again. His 0:19:21.285 --> 0:19:25.005 passport was handed in to Spanish authorities, his bag was 0:19:25.045 --> 0:19:29.005 given to the police, so eventually his parents got his 0:19:29.125 --> 0:19:32.485 passport and his stuff back, but had no idea what 0:19:32.565 --> 0:19:35.925 happened to Ricky. There's actually a lot more to this story. 0:19:35.965 --> 0:19:38.365 There was a documentary made about the case called Looking 0:19:38.365 --> 0:19:41.725 for Ricky. They did testing on five bodies that were 0:19:41.725 --> 0:19:46.205 founded Tenery that the tests were inconclusive. The documentary put 0:19:46.285 --> 0:19:49.205 forward the theory that Ricky may be indirectly involved in 0:19:49.205 --> 0:19:51.685 the drug trade and tenery basically that he may have 0:19:51.765 --> 0:19:56.005 annoyed the wrong person, but no one has ever been 0:19:56.085 --> 0:19:59.965 arrested or charged in this case. In two thousand and four, 0:20:00.365 --> 0:20:04.565 another brit named Kevin Ainley disappeared. He also had moved 0:20:04.565 --> 0:20:08.325 to the same area. Just three months after moving there 0:20:08.405 --> 0:20:11.965 in June of two thousand and four, he vanished. So 0:20:12.805 --> 0:20:15.765 young men who go to Tenerif to have a good 0:20:15.805 --> 0:20:20.725 time have disappeared over the years, some under mysterious circumstances. 0:20:22.365 --> 0:20:26.765 But going back to Jay's case, a lot of people 0:20:26.805 --> 0:20:29.325 were trying to figure out where the last place that 0:20:29.365 --> 0:20:32.285 he was actually seen was. Could something have happened to 0:20:32.325 --> 0:20:37.085 him in that airbnb? And then things started to get 0:20:37.125 --> 0:20:39.845 even more crazy in the case because a lot of 0:20:39.885 --> 0:20:43.285 people started flying out to Tenerif from the UK to 0:20:43.365 --> 0:20:46.845 insert themselves into the investigation. I don't want to sound 0:20:46.885 --> 0:20:49.485 like the pot calling the kettle black here because I 0:20:49.685 --> 0:20:51.885 in the past have been accused of doing the same 0:20:51.925 --> 0:20:55.125 thing when a case is not getting attention after a 0:20:55.165 --> 0:20:58.045 long time. Yes, I have inserted myself into it, but 0:20:58.965 --> 0:21:02.525 I do feel strongly that in the beginning of a case, 0:21:02.645 --> 0:21:05.325 when the police are actively investigating, we have to let 0:21:05.365 --> 0:21:08.765 them do their jobs, and I think it's important to 0:21:08.765 --> 0:21:12.805 follow journalistic standards. It's fine to ask the police questions, 0:21:13.125 --> 0:21:16.085 even aggressively, and to demand the truth, but we have 0:21:16.165 --> 0:21:19.405 to maintain ethics in true crime reporting. One of the 0:21:19.405 --> 0:21:22.845 most important rules to follow is not to waste police 0:21:22.885 --> 0:21:26.085 time or distract from the investigation, and people do not 0:21:26.205 --> 0:21:29.565 seem to be following that rule here. TikTokers have shown 0:21:29.605 --> 0:21:33.325 up in Tenery by the dozens and so of journalists. 0:21:34.125 --> 0:21:37.125 There's one female journalist from an ITV morning show by 0:21:37.165 --> 0:21:39.605 the way, that's one of the main channels in the UK. 0:21:40.405 --> 0:21:43.165 She literally has teamed up with one of the British 0:21:43.205 --> 0:21:46.925 TikTok stars and they're taking selfies together now. To be fair, 0:21:46.965 --> 0:21:50.085 at least the TikToker, whose name is Paul arn't at 0:21:50.165 --> 0:21:53.765 least he's a seasoned hiker. He says he did contact 0:21:53.765 --> 0:21:56.645 the authorities and that he got the go ahead to 0:21:56.805 --> 0:21:59.565 go out and search on his own. He's been posting 0:21:59.645 --> 0:22:03.525 lots of videos of himself with a camera, walking through 0:22:03.645 --> 0:22:07.725 cactus and shooting the airbnb with what looks like a 0:22:07.805 --> 0:22:12.165 long telephoto lens. It is surreal these bloggers are showing 0:22:12.205 --> 0:22:14.365 up with drones and cameras, and there's been a lot 0:22:14.365 --> 0:22:17.885 of criticism that not only are they not helping, they 0:22:17.965 --> 0:22:22.765 may be making things worse. A lot of people wondered 0:22:22.805 --> 0:22:25.885 about the two men who Jay was partying with. Who 0:22:25.925 --> 0:22:28.685 were they, why were they staying in an airbnb on 0:22:28.765 --> 0:22:31.645 an isolated part of the island, what were they doing 0:22:31.645 --> 0:22:35.525 there and did they know Jay beforehand? But just like 0:22:35.565 --> 0:22:40.605 in America, in an open investigation, police do not reveal 0:22:40.645 --> 0:22:43.245 a lot of information, the Spanish police were no different. 0:22:44.125 --> 0:22:47.525 Police did question the two men. According to media reports, 0:22:48.005 --> 0:22:50.685 one of them is known by the nickname Johnny Vegas. 0:22:51.405 --> 0:22:55.125 They're both British. Spanish police questioned the two men. They 0:22:55.165 --> 0:22:58.605 said that they were cooperative. Police did get their passports 0:22:58.645 --> 0:23:01.805 and their information, and then the two men flew home 0:23:01.965 --> 0:23:05.845 back to Luton in the UK. In addition, a lot 0:23:05.885 --> 0:23:08.525 of tourists have started flying over to Tenerief, which I 0:23:08.525 --> 0:23:14.525 find absolutely fascinating. Groups of tourists in jeeps driving around 0:23:15.045 --> 0:23:19.245 and taking selfies from the crime scene. They call it 0:23:19.365 --> 0:23:24.285 dark tourism, and I noticed that in a vacuum of information, 0:23:24.645 --> 0:23:29.365 commenters do make certain criticisms. Side note, laws in European 0:23:29.405 --> 0:23:32.445 countries are very different to laws in the US, and 0:23:33.045 --> 0:23:37.165 police do things differently. For example, they aren't allowed to 0:23:37.285 --> 0:23:41.205 light to suspects in Europe, so they can't, for example, 0:23:41.365 --> 0:23:44.085 throw two guys in an interrogation room and tell each 0:23:44.165 --> 0:23:46.525 one that the other one said they did it. They're 0:23:46.565 --> 0:23:48.845 not allowed to do stuff like that. They have to 0:23:48.845 --> 0:23:51.485 go about their evidence gathering in a very different and 0:23:51.605 --> 0:23:56.005 much more low key way. Another reason why I like 0:23:56.045 --> 0:23:59.485 to cover cold cases is that I find if you 0:23:59.565 --> 0:24:03.045 have a case that's actually grabbing headlines, you always have 0:24:03.205 --> 0:24:05.965 people and I call them the obligatory expert. These people 0:24:05.965 --> 0:24:08.565 who kind of rushed to the scene, they start trying 0:24:08.605 --> 0:24:11.485 to solve things, and I'm putting solved in air quotes. Really, 0:24:11.525 --> 0:24:13.925 in my opinion, they're trying to grab headlines for themselves 0:24:14.365 --> 0:24:17.205 and inevitably they get in the way the police. Well, 0:24:17.285 --> 0:24:19.765