WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Jay Slater (Archive Episode) 0:00:46.480 --> 0:00:51.961 School of Humans. Helen Got Murder Line actively investigates cold 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.361 case murders in an effort to raise public awareness invite 0:00:55.401 --> 0:00:58.761 witnesses to come forward and present evidence that could potentially 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.961 be further investigated by law enforcement. While we value insights 0:01:03.001 --> 0:01:06.160 from family and community members, their statements should not be 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.961 considered evidence and point to the challenges of verifying facts 0:01:10.041 --> 0:01:14.041 inherent in cold cases. We remind listeners that everyone has 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.160 presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 0:01:17.961 --> 0:01:20.840 Nothing in the podcast is intended to state or imply 0:01:21.041 --> 0:01:23.601 that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime 0:01:24.121 --> 0:01:27.121 is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening. 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:33.521 On Sunday, June seventeenth, twenty twenty four, Jay Slater, a 0:01:33.681 --> 0:01:37.200 nineteen year old bricklayers apprentice who lived in Lancashire, England, 0:01:37.601 --> 0:01:40.920 was on his first ever foreign holiday and he seemed 0:01:40.961 --> 0:01:43.200 to be having a blast. He had gone to the 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:45.681 island of ties Henry from Spain with a female friend 0:01:45.761 --> 0:01:49.320 named Lucy and another guy named Brad. That night, he 0:01:49.401 --> 0:01:52.081 and Lucy went out to a music festival called NRG 0:01:52.481 --> 0:01:56.321 New Rave Generation. It was held at Papagayo Beach Club 0:01:56.721 --> 0:02:00.241 in an area called Veronica's Strip. It's an area that 0:02:00.321 --> 0:02:03.841 has a ton of nightclubs and neon signs. It's very 0:02:03.841 --> 0:02:07.641 popular with British tourists. According to the information that Lucy 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:10.361 posted later on a go fund meet, they had a 0:02:10.361 --> 0:02:13.520 great time that night. Jay had just finished his course 0:02:13.561 --> 0:02:16.201 at technical school back in the UK. He was getting 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:18.081 ready to take his exams when he got home, so 0:02:18.121 --> 0:02:21.321 they were blowing off some steam. But Lucy said she 0:02:21.441 --> 0:02:24.001 was tired from the weekend, so she went home early 0:02:24.041 --> 0:02:27.921 that night. Jay stayed on at the club. He posted 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:31.081 photos and snapchats from there. He appeared to be having 0:02:31.121 --> 0:02:35.001 a great time. At eight thirty five pm, he posted 0:02:35.041 --> 0:02:38.441 a snap of himself hanging out with friends, looking happy 0:02:38.481 --> 0:02:42.361 and chilled and dancing. More camera footage has come out 0:02:42.401 --> 0:02:45.241 from inside the club. You can see him laughing and 0:02:45.321 --> 0:02:49.120 having a great time. Eventually he made his way outside 0:02:49.121 --> 0:02:52.841 the club, which closed at three am. After that, he 0:02:52.961 --> 0:02:56.641 was sitting on a wall. At around four am he 0:02:56.761 --> 0:03:00.641 started chatting to two other British men. Somehow they made 0:03:00.721 --> 0:03:03.761 a plan to go on to those two guys Airbnb. 0:03:05.001 --> 0:03:09.601 They left that club sometime after four am. He got 0:03:09.641 --> 0:03:11.841 into a car with these two strangers and went back 0:03:11.841 --> 0:03:14.641 to their airbnb, which was in a remote area about 0:03:14.641 --> 0:03:16.761 an hour away from where Jay was staying in the 0:03:16.801 --> 0:03:21.801 touristy resort area. The airbnb was near a small town 0:03:21.961 --> 0:03:26.841 called Masca. The next morning, Lucy got one last frantic 0:03:26.881 --> 0:03:30.041 call from Jay a little after eight am, saying he 0:03:30.121 --> 0:03:32.401 was lost, didn't know where he was, and that he 0:03:32.481 --> 0:03:39.401 was panicked. That was the last time that anyone ever 0:03:39.481 --> 0:03:44.441 heard from Jay Slater, because after that he disappeared. This 0:03:44.601 --> 0:03:47.961 healthy young man who had his entire life ahead of him. 0:03:48.361 --> 0:03:49.081 Was just gone. 0:03:49.961 --> 0:03:53.601 And what happened to him has become a huge story 0:03:53.721 --> 0:03:57.721 in the UK and now throughout the world. What did 0:03:57.761 --> 0:04:00.881 happen to him? Was he kidnapped and murdered, like a 0:04:00.881 --> 0:04:03.961 lot of people believe. Did he wander off into the 0:04:04.001 --> 0:04:07.801 wilderness or did someone else pull up alongside him on 0:04:07.841 --> 0:04:10.441 that narrow strip of road, coax him into their car 0:04:10.601 --> 0:04:15.201 and drive off somewhere. This case is wild. It is 0:04:15.241 --> 0:04:18.840 exposed the seedy underside of this beautiful island and the 0:04:18.841 --> 0:04:22.601 criminal underworld that are operating there. This case has taken 0:04:22.681 --> 0:04:26.640 over British news. Everyone from police detectives to psychics and 0:04:26.721 --> 0:04:30.401 TikTok stars have descended on this Spanish island in the Canaries. 0:04:31.041 --> 0:04:33.161 They're all trying to find a young man who is 0:04:33.241 --> 0:04:36.520 partying and vanished about a trace right in the middle 0:04:36.561 --> 0:04:41.121 of an island full of tourists. I'm Catherine Townsend. This 0:04:41.361 --> 0:05:32.921 is Helen Gone Murder Line. If you listen to this podcast, 0:05:33.081 --> 0:05:35.961 you know I don't normally cover cases that are ongoing 0:05:36.361 --> 0:05:39.440 unless there's a good reason, like a missing person's case 0:05:39.481 --> 0:05:42.881 that isn't getting attention, not like this case, which actually 0:05:42.921 --> 0:05:46.121 is all over the new I prefer cold cases for 0:05:46.201 --> 0:05:49.041 several reasons. First of all, I don't want to be 0:05:49.121 --> 0:05:51.841 one of those reporters that stands on people's lawns right 0:05:51.881 --> 0:05:55.241 after tragedy and ask for sound bites from grieving families. 0:05:57.001 --> 0:06:00.001 And even though we are sometimes critical of the police 0:06:00.521 --> 0:06:03.161 when they are investigating a case, I really don't want 0:06:03.201 --> 0:06:03.481 to get in. 0:06:03.481 --> 0:06:04.281 The police's way. 0:06:05.201 --> 0:06:09.121 But this case, the Jay Slater case, is fascinating. It's 0:06:09.161 --> 0:06:12.641 fascinating for a couple of reasons. In my opinion, it's 0:06:12.641 --> 0:06:15.121 a good lesson in what to do when a loved 0:06:15.161 --> 0:06:18.841 one goes missing and what not to do. Because this 0:06:18.961 --> 0:06:23.041 case has brought out some of the darkest, worst sides 0:06:23.081 --> 0:06:26.761 of true crime. Journalism and of what they call black 0:06:26.841 --> 0:06:33.721 tourism or murder tourism. A little background here. I used 0:06:33.721 --> 0:06:36.321 to live in London. I work for a British newspaper 0:06:36.401 --> 0:06:39.041 for several years for people who don't know that, and 0:06:39.121 --> 0:06:41.401 I am an American citizen, but I also have a 0:06:41.401 --> 0:06:45.481 British passport, so really London is like my second home. 0:06:45.961 --> 0:06:48.080 I come here every summer. And when I came to 0:06:48.161 --> 0:06:51.880 London this week, literally the entire country was talking about 0:06:51.881 --> 0:06:54.681 this Jay Slater case. It reminded me a little bit 0:06:54.681 --> 0:06:56.921 of the Natalie Halloway case in the US back in 0:06:56.961 --> 0:07:00.921 two thousand and five. The difference is that since the 0:07:01.001 --> 0:07:05.001 Natalie Hallway case, we have social media, so in addition 0:07:05.161 --> 0:07:08.881 to this nationwide press coverage, we have all these amateur 0:07:08.921 --> 0:07:11.481 detectives that have gone into a frenzy over this case. 0:07:12.481 --> 0:07:15.561 As we said before, Jay's friend Lucy started to worry 0:07:15.561 --> 0:07:17.241 the next morning when he didn't come back to the 0:07:17.241 --> 0:07:20.161 resort where they were staying. This was a big resort 0:07:20.241 --> 0:07:23.481 called Plia de las Americas. It was about a forty 0:07:23.561 --> 0:07:27.201 minute drive from their resort to the area where Jay 0:07:27.241 --> 0:07:29.881 went with the two strangers that was in a more 0:07:29.961 --> 0:07:32.801 rural area in the north of the island, near a 0:07:32.881 --> 0:07:37.161 park called Rural Deteno Park. This is a long way 0:07:37.241 --> 0:07:39.881 from the Lively Beach resort area where they'd been hanging 0:07:39.921 --> 0:07:42.961 around the night before. This park is in an area 0:07:43.201 --> 0:07:47.961 that is remote popular with hikers. At around seven thirty 0:07:48.001 --> 0:07:51.601 am the next morning, Jay had posted a snap of 0:07:51.681 --> 0:07:54.961 a hand. We haven't seen this snap, but presumably it 0:07:55.041 --> 0:07:58.201 was his hand holding a cigarette on the front steps 0:07:58.241 --> 0:08:02.001 of that airbnb. We know it's that airbnb because Lucy 0:08:02.041 --> 0:08:04.841 said you could see the tile pattern on the steps. 0:08:05.561 --> 0:08:09.121 He called Lucy shortly after eight am. Now some reports 0:08:09.201 --> 0:08:13.241 at eight fifteen, but later it seemed like the correct 0:08:13.321 --> 0:08:17.321 time was eight fifty am. He called her and sounded panics. 0:08:17.361 --> 0:08:17.761 She said. 0:08:18.041 --> 0:08:20.041 He told her his phone was dying, he only had 0:08:20.081 --> 0:08:23.041 one percent battery, he was thirsty, and he did not 0:08:23.201 --> 0:08:26.961 know where he was. She wrote on the GoFundMe page quote, 0:08:27.241 --> 0:08:29.201 I woke up to a phone call off Jay at 0:08:29.241 --> 0:08:31.561 eight thirty am, saying he was lost in the mountains. 0:08:31.641 --> 0:08:32.401 He wasn't aware of. 0:08:32.401 --> 0:08:35.801 His surroundings, he desperately needed a drink, and his phone 0:08:35.841 --> 0:08:38.841 was on one percent. He had met two people on 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.401 Sunday night and left with them to go to their apartment. 0:08:42.081 --> 0:08:45.200 Their apartment was miles away from civilization and in a 0:08:45.321 --> 0:08:50.481 very secluded location. Now, after this went down, a lot 0:08:50.481 --> 0:08:54.481 of people asked did Lucy or Jay know these guys 0:08:54.601 --> 0:08:58.281 before the night he vanished? The post on GoFundMe that 0:08:58.401 --> 0:09:01.280 was made by Lucy, in my opinion, made it sound 0:09:01.401 --> 0:09:04.641 like the two guys from the airbnb were complete strangers. 0:09:05.241 --> 0:09:08.321 Later someone else would come forward to question that. But 0:09:08.361 --> 0:09:12.401 we'll get back to that later. So after Jay said 0:09:12.441 --> 0:09:16.401 he was in trouble and lost, Lucy immediately. 0:09:15.761 --> 0:09:17.281 Went out looking for him. 0:09:17.721 --> 0:09:22.441 Apparently that snap that Jay sent had his location. That's 0:09:22.481 --> 0:09:24.721 how Lucy was able to find that house so quickly. 0:09:25.361 --> 0:09:28.841 It's also the only house in that area in the mountains. 0:09:29.641 --> 0:09:32.521 It's along a winding strip of roads, surrounded by rural 0:09:32.521 --> 0:09:37.280 cliffs and very difficult terrain. She said that she knocked 0:09:37.321 --> 0:09:39.481 on the door and that there were two people there, 0:09:39.561 --> 0:09:43.721 presumably the two men whose Airbnb it was. According to Lucie, 0:09:44.001 --> 0:09:47.401 that morning, Jay had gone out for a smoke, come 0:09:47.441 --> 0:09:49.681 back for a short time, and then said he wanted 0:09:49.681 --> 0:09:50.161 to go home. 0:09:50.801 --> 0:09:53.201 After that, they said he left. 0:09:53.761 --> 0:09:57.961 Now, according to media reports, Lucy said that she believed 0:09:58.081 --> 0:10:01.201 that Jay may have been kidnapped, but after he left 0:10:01.201 --> 0:10:03.641 the residence, he did talk to Lucy at eight fifty 0:10:04.401 --> 0:10:08.001 and there was someone else in that remote wilderness who 0:10:08.121 --> 0:10:12.961 saw Jay after he left the airbnb, so someone did 0:10:13.001 --> 0:10:16.561 see him after he left the airbnb. The last person 0:10:16.641 --> 0:10:20.121 to see Jay alive that we know about was a woman, 0:10:20.641 --> 0:10:26.481 Ophelia Medina Hernandez. This was a neighbor the person who 0:10:26.481 --> 0:10:30.641 owned the airbnb. She was interviewed by British media and 0:10:30.681 --> 0:10:34.081 by the police. She said that when she saw Jay 0:10:34.121 --> 0:10:37.081 that morning, right after he left the airbnb, he was 0:10:37.121 --> 0:10:39.800 asking her about the bus, what time the bus came, 0:10:39.881 --> 0:10:41.721 because there was a bus stop right in front of 0:10:41.761 --> 0:10:45.241 the house. Apparently he was trying to get a bus 0:10:45.321 --> 0:10:48.121 back down the hill, back in the direction of Los Cristianos, 0:10:48.441 --> 0:10:50.320 which would have been the direction of the resort. 0:10:50.081 --> 0:10:50.761 Where he was staying. 0:10:51.761 --> 0:10:54.321 You can see that bus stop from the house. The 0:10:54.361 --> 0:10:57.601 woman said she told him the bus was at ten am. 0:10:57.881 --> 0:11:00.481 She didn't really speak English, so she held up ten 0:11:00.561 --> 0:11:04.921 fingers to signal that she meant ten. So if that 0:11:04.961 --> 0:11:07.521 bus came at ten o'clock, he would have had over 0:11:07.561 --> 0:11:10.881 an hour to wait at that bus stop. The woman 0:11:11.001 --> 0:11:14.001 said later that she saw Jay one more time. She 0:11:14.041 --> 0:11:16.681 said she passed by him in her car about fifteen 0:11:16.681 --> 0:11:20.241 minutes later after they had that conversation, but she said 0:11:20.241 --> 0:11:20.921 something strange. 0:11:20.961 --> 0:11:21.761 She said he was. 0:11:21.761 --> 0:11:26.481 Walking uphill, so in the opposite direction from town. She said, quote, 0:11:26.681 --> 0:11:29.561 he was alone, he was walking normally though he was 0:11:29.641 --> 0:11:33.521 walking fast end quote. So what made him lead the 0:11:33.561 --> 0:11:36.921 bus stop? And why was he walking uphill toward the 0:11:36.961 --> 0:11:45.161 middle of nowhere instead of downhill toward town. Jay's phone 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:49.281 died just after eight p fifty am. The last ping 0:11:49.441 --> 0:11:52.241 was from an area near a hiking trail uphill from 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:52.881 the airbnb. 0:11:54.201 --> 0:11:56.001 Lucy reported Jay missing. 0:11:55.721 --> 0:11:58.841 To police and started looking for him. She met someone 0:11:58.881 --> 0:12:01.121 who gave her a ride. They drove around the mountains 0:12:01.121 --> 0:12:03.361 all day. She said she thought she would see Jay 0:12:03.401 --> 0:12:07.521 walking along the road, but he was just gone. Authorities 0:12:07.561 --> 0:12:10.921 in Spain contacted Jay's mother, fifty five year old Debbie Duncan, 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:14.361 and his father Warren back in the UK. Debbie and 0:12:14.441 --> 0:12:18.601 Warren and Jay's brother immediately flew over to Spain. Pretty 0:12:18.601 --> 0:12:24.681 soon there was a massive search being done. There were police, firefighters, volunteers, 0:12:25.121 --> 0:12:30.521 people with canine dogs, drones and helicopters. Tenerief is the 0:12:30.681 --> 0:12:33.761 largest of the Canary Islands. There are seven of them, 0:12:33.801 --> 0:12:37.441 and they are geographically located near North Africa. Because they 0:12:37.441 --> 0:12:39.881 are just a short flight from the UK a little 0:12:39.881 --> 0:12:43.921 over four hours. The Canary Islands are very popular or 0:12:43.961 --> 0:12:48.041 tourist destinations for British people. A lot of people come 0:12:48.121 --> 0:12:50.441 to these islands to party and soak up the sun. 0:12:51.601 --> 0:12:55.081 There is a huge bar culture, drinking, dancing, and of 0:12:55.121 --> 0:12:58.401 course some drug use that comes along with going out 0:12:58.441 --> 0:13:00.401 and partying, and a lot of young people being at 0:13:00.401 --> 0:13:04.721 a rave. Early in the investigation, Lucy was kind of 0:13:04.761 --> 0:13:08.081 criticizing the Spanish police. She seemed to be a mysterious 0:13:08.081 --> 0:13:12.401 figure herself. When she did interviews, she had her identity hidden. 0:13:12.441 --> 0:13:15.841 She was just kind of this dark silhouette. Basically, she 0:13:16.041 --> 0:13:19.001 said the local authorities in Spain had fobbed her off. 0:13:19.241 --> 0:13:22.681 She said she believed they were not taking Jay's disappearance seriously. 0:13:23.681 --> 0:13:26.201 She also asked, by the way, why the Spanish police 0:13:26.201 --> 0:13:29.361 did not have a translator after three days, which is 0:13:29.441 --> 0:13:32.241 reasonable because it's not like English to Spanish translators are 0:13:32.241 --> 0:13:35.921 hard to find, but also, unfortunately, the Spanish media seemed 0:13:35.921 --> 0:13:38.481 to kind of have an issue with this and seemed to, 0:13:38.561 --> 0:13:41.401 at least at first kind of in my opinion, paint 0:13:41.441 --> 0:13:45.281 her as this demanding foreigner. Fortunately, that happens in a 0:13:45.321 --> 0:13:48.601 lot of these cases. Pretty soon a lot of online 0:13:48.721 --> 0:13:52.921 commenters were speculating about Lucy. A lot of people were asking, 0:13:53.001 --> 0:13:55.281 how was this young woman able to take so many 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:56.121 foreign holidays? 0:13:56.481 --> 0:13:58.961 How did she pay for them? Was she some kind 0:13:58.961 --> 0:13:59.681 of drug mule? 0:13:59.961 --> 0:14:02.561 By the way, there's absolutely zero evidence for any of this, 0:14:03.001 --> 0:14:05.961 and I can totally understand why Lucy would have wanted 0:14:05.961 --> 0:14:09.601 to hide her identity exactly for this reason. Because people 0:14:09.721 --> 0:14:12.841 started to get very involved in this investigation, they were 0:14:12.881 --> 0:14:16.481 following it on social media, Lucy did something else. She 0:14:16.561 --> 0:14:20.401 set up a GoFundMe campaign, and, as we know from 0:14:20.481 --> 0:14:25.081 listening to true crime podcasts, since every decision that family 0:14:25.121 --> 0:14:29.121 members or friends make early an investigation, unfortunately can be criticized, 0:14:29.281 --> 0:14:32.321 this is one of the biggest areas for criticism. What 0:14:32.401 --> 0:14:35.961 happens with these gofundmes? Where did the money go? Why 0:14:36.001 --> 0:14:39.041 did the friends started and not the mom? This prompted 0:14:39.081 --> 0:14:42.561 Jay's mother, Debbie, to post an update. She said they 0:14:42.601 --> 0:14:45.481 would be using the funds for travel and lodging and 0:14:45.481 --> 0:14:46.921 to support the Spanish authorities. 0:14:48.001 --> 0:14:49.241 As of June twenty. 0:14:48.961 --> 0:14:51.721 Seventh, by the way, the go fundme had received around 0:14:51.761 --> 0:14:55.921 forty thousand pounds a little over fifty thousand dollars. So 0:14:56.041 --> 0:14:58.881 the police were wondering how in the world did this 0:14:59.001 --> 0:15:05.721 young man just disappear. They talked to the two men 0:15:05.841 --> 0:15:08.601 who Jay had gone home with, and it seemed like 0:15:08.681 --> 0:15:12.241 they were mystified too. Police said the two men answered 0:15:12.281 --> 0:15:15.921 their questions, they cooperated, and they voluntarily stayed on the 0:15:15.921 --> 0:15:19.681 island for extra day. They said that the Spanish police 0:15:19.681 --> 0:15:22.801 had their names, addresses and all their personal details before 0:15:22.961 --> 0:15:26.201 those two men flew back to the UK. Now, a 0:15:26.201 --> 0:15:29.681 lot of online commenters made statements like how could Jay's 0:15:29.681 --> 0:15:34.321 friends leave him alone? But honestly, I find that probably 0:15:34.361 --> 0:15:36.521 the easiest part of the story to believe, because we 0:15:36.681 --> 0:15:40.241 see this over and over. We see that there's a 0:15:40.281 --> 0:15:43.561 lot of press about young women being preyed on whether 0:15:43.721 --> 0:15:46.521 they are at home or when they're on vacation, but 0:15:46.721 --> 0:15:50.041 young men are generally less careful about these things. There's 0:15:50.201 --> 0:15:53.521 much less awareness about the danger that a young man 0:15:53.841 --> 0:15:57.201 can feel when he's on his own, and people do 0:15:57.321 --> 0:16:00.241 disappear in Tenerief, even though the crime rate on the 0:16:00.241 --> 0:16:03.761 island is pretty low. Sometimes they wander off into the 0:16:03.841 --> 0:16:07.081 rough terrain and fall through ravines or get trapped there. 0:16:07.561 --> 0:16:10.761 But then a lot of people speculated maybe Jay got 0:16:10.801 --> 0:16:14.121 involved in some kind of drug trade. There is a 0:16:14.201 --> 0:16:17.841 drug trade, an underground criminal element on Tenerief. It's been 0:16:17.881 --> 0:16:21.041 described as an island where the Italian mob is very active. 0:16:21.561 --> 0:16:24.321 It's also been described as one of the islands of 0:16:24.361 --> 0:16:27.481 what they call geostrategic importance when it comes to international 0:16:27.561 --> 0:16:33.761 drug trafficking. Because the case made national and then international news, 0:16:34.201 --> 0:16:37.721 there were sightings of Jay everywhere, all of them to 0:16:37.761 --> 0:16:41.401 this date have been unbeverified. The rumors continue to fly. 0:16:42.721 --> 0:16:45.761 Some people said Jay lost a bag full of drugs 0:16:45.961 --> 0:16:48.561 and he was being held hostage until the money was paid. 0:16:49.201 --> 0:16:52.121 There were a lot of crazy conspiracy theories flying around, 0:16:52.561 --> 0:16:55.121 each one a little more unbelievable than the next, and 0:16:55.161 --> 0:16:58.281 a lot of them entered around this go fundme money 0:16:58.801 --> 0:17:02.961 that somehow Jay's family or friends had set up this 0:17:03.001 --> 0:17:05.360 GoFundMe to repay a drug death. This was all some 0:17:05.721 --> 0:17:09.480 elaborate scheme, which really should have seemed totally ridiculous from 0:17:09.521 --> 0:17:12.360 the beginning, but people were continuing to repeat stuff like this. 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:16.600 Then on Saturday, Jane twenty second, there was a break 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:19.401 in the case. There was a reported sighting of Jay 0:17:19.481 --> 0:17:23.481 in Santiago del Tierde, a town that's about five miles 0:17:23.481 --> 0:17:26.600 away from Masca, the nearest small town to that airbnb. 0:17:27.481 --> 0:17:30.481 Someone said they saw Jay there with two men outside 0:17:30.481 --> 0:17:32.561 of church. That would have been on the day he 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.801 disappeared at around six pm in the evening. There was 0:17:35.921 --> 0:17:39.321 blurry footage outside that church, but no confirmed sighting of Jay. 0:17:39.961 --> 0:17:42.281 There was another rumor he had been spotted watching a 0:17:42.321 --> 0:17:43.080 football match. 0:17:43.120 --> 0:17:44.321 Now, this is all. 0:17:44.201 --> 0:17:46.681 Going on in the middle of the Euro twenty four matches. 0:17:47.161 --> 0:17:49.241 It was reported in the press that the mayor of 0:17:49.241 --> 0:17:52.881 that town, Santiago d'ltierede, said that the Spanish police had 0:17:52.921 --> 0:17:55.281 spoken to several people who may have seen Ja. 0:17:56.041 --> 0:17:56.321 Now. 0:17:56.921 --> 0:17:59.080 I mention this because it's a really good example of 0:17:59.161 --> 0:18:02.801 how in these situations, when there's fastbreaking news, rumors start 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:04.721 flying and things do not get corrected. 0:18:05.281 --> 0:18:07.481 So the rumors started because the. 0:18:07.481 --> 0:18:12.920 Mayor mentioned he heard someone saw Jay. Now somehow in 0:18:13.041 --> 0:18:15.641 some of the news reporting that became it was definitely 0:18:15.721 --> 0:18:16.441 Jay and he. 0:18:16.361 --> 0:18:17.321 Was watching football. 0:18:17.961 --> 0:18:20.561 But by the time police went there to question people 0:18:20.681 --> 0:18:23.721 and other news organizations showed up, they got the real story. 0:18:24.401 --> 0:18:26.521 The mayor had heard people. 0:18:26.241 --> 0:18:28.241 Saying that they saw a young man who may have 0:18:28.281 --> 0:18:31.401 matched Jay's description. Now, of course Jay had a very 0:18:31.521 --> 0:18:34.600 general look. He's a young tan guy on vacation and 0:18:34.641 --> 0:18:38.401 with his darker skin and hair and kind of alive complexion. Honestly, 0:18:38.761 --> 0:18:41.281 he could have been a local or a tourist. Clearly 0:18:41.361 --> 0:18:43.600 they just saw someone who looked vaguely like Ja. 0:18:43.801 --> 0:18:45.361 It was not Jay. 0:18:46.361 --> 0:18:49.041 So it's natural to ask a question in a case 0:18:49.121 --> 0:18:52.481 like this, how common is it to go missing in 0:18:52.521 --> 0:18:55.920 a place like this. Well, the Independent newspaper did a 0:18:56.001 --> 0:18:59.041 super interesting synopsis of other men who were from the 0:18:59.121 --> 0:19:03.201 UK and went missing in Teneriffe and have never been found. 0:19:04.121 --> 0:19:06.801 There was Billy Bennett, who was eighteen when he disappeared. 0:19:07.281 --> 0:19:09.961 He was on vacation in Tenerief in December of nineteen 0:19:10.001 --> 0:19:12.360 eighty five. He was supposed to go to the island 0:19:12.361 --> 0:19:14.400 with a friend of his, but the friend couldn't go, 0:19:14.601 --> 0:19:18.801 so Billy went alone. He stayed at the Los America's Resort, 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:23.120 the same resort where Jay stayed. He went to a 0:19:23.241 --> 0:19:27.481 nightclub often called the Sergeant Pepper's Nightclub. The friend who 0:19:27.561 --> 0:19:29.080 was supposed to go on the trip, talked to the 0:19:29.121 --> 0:19:32.361 press later. He said that later he did go to Tenerief, 0:19:32.401 --> 0:19:34.840 he met up with Billy. He said Billy was, in 0:19:34.921 --> 0:19:38.201 his words, worse for wear. He said Billy told him 0:19:38.201 --> 0:19:40.080 that he lost all of his money and was worried 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:41.201 about having somewhere to go. 0:19:42.041 --> 0:19:43.600 Billy was never heard from again. 0:19:44.361 --> 0:19:47.281 In nineteen eighty seven, there was a similar story another 0:19:47.441 --> 0:19:50.081 young guy, a twenty three year old named Ricky Decata. 0:19:50.641 --> 0:19:52.921 He went to Tenerif in March of nineteen eighty seven 0:19:52.961 --> 0:19:56.681 to party and never came home. He was working a 0:19:56.761 --> 0:19:59.161 season out in Tenerief, which a lot of young people 0:19:59.201 --> 0:20:02.681 in the UK do to earn money. Interestingly, he worked 0:20:02.681 --> 0:20:05.641 in the same club that Billy frequented, the Sergeant Pepper's 0:20:05.681 --> 0:20:09.681 Disco pub in the Plia Delas America's resort. His sister 0:20:09.721 --> 0:20:12.120 was interviewed by the Independent newspaper back in two thousand 0:20:12.161 --> 0:20:16.241 and one. She said that Ricky was a loving, caring brother. 0:20:16.681 --> 0:20:19.001 She said he was super excited about going to work 0:20:19.041 --> 0:20:21.641 in Spain. She said she talked to him and he 0:20:21.681 --> 0:20:24.041 said he was planning to come home. He called in 0:20:24.041 --> 0:20:26.561 October to ask for forty pounds for a ticket home 0:20:26.601 --> 0:20:29.801 for Christmas. Then she said she called him and confirmed 0:20:29.801 --> 0:20:33.401 that he did get that ticket money. But Ricky never 0:20:33.441 --> 0:20:36.321 showed up for Christmas and his family never saw him again. 0:20:37.441 --> 0:20:41.241 His passport was handed in to Spanish authorities, his bag 0:20:41.361 --> 0:20:45.361 was given to the police, so eventually his parents got 0:20:45.361 --> 0:20:48.801 his passport and his stuff back, but had no idea 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:51.880 what happened to Ricky. There's actually a lot more to 0:20:51.921 --> 0:20:54.201 this story. There was a documentary made about the case 0:20:54.241 --> 0:20:57.641 called Looking for Ricky. They did testing on five bodies 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:00.361 that were found in Tenery that the tests were inconclusive. 0:21:01.521 --> 0:21:04.321 The documentary put forward the theory that Ricky may be 0:21:04.441 --> 0:21:07.481 indirectly involved in the drug trade and Tenery, basically that 0:21:07.561 --> 0:21:11.561 he may have annoyed the wrong person, but no one 0:21:11.601 --> 0:21:15.481 has ever been arrested or charged in this case. In 0:21:15.521 --> 0:21:19.201 two thousand and four, another brit named Kevin Ainley disappeared. 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:23.641 He also had moved to the same area. Just three 0:21:23.681 --> 0:21:26.241 months after moving there, in June of two thousand and four, 0:21:26.481 --> 0:21:31.641 he vanished. So young men who go to tenerieve to 0:21:31.721 --> 0:21:35.441 have a good time had disappeared over the years, some 0:21:35.641 --> 0:21:37.161 under mysterious circumstances. 0:21:38.801 --> 0:21:42.921 But going back to Jay's case, a lot. 0:21:42.761 --> 0:21:45.241 Of people were trying to figure out where the last 0:21:45.241 --> 0:21:47.041 place that he was actually seen was. 0:21:47.521 --> 0:21:49.761 Could something have happened to him in that airbnb? 0:21:51.881 --> 0:21:54.481 And then things started to get even more crazy in 0:21:54.521 --> 0:21:57.721 the case because a lot of people started flying out 0:21:57.721 --> 0:22:01.561 to Tenerif from the UK to insert themselves into the investigation. 0:22:02.481 --> 0:22:03.561 I don't want to sound. 0:22:03.321 --> 0:22:05.920 Like the pot calling the kettle black here because I 0:22:06.121 --> 0:22:08.321 in the past have been accused of doing the same 0:22:08.361 --> 0:22:11.561 thing when a case is not getting attention after a 0:22:11.601 --> 0:22:14.481 long time. Yes, I have inserted myself into it, but 0:22:15.401 --> 0:22:18.961 I do feel strongly that in the beginning of a case, 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:21.881 when the police are actively investigating, we have to let 0:22:21.881 --> 0:22:25.201 them do their jobs. And I think it's important to 0:22:25.201 --> 0:22:29.241 follow journalistic standards. It's fine to ask the police questions, 0:22:29.561 --> 0:22:32.521 even aggressively, and to demand the truth, but we have 0:22:32.601 --> 0:22:35.840 to maintain ethics in true crime reporting. One of the 0:22:35.840 --> 0:22:39.281 most important rules to follow is not to waste police 0:22:39.321 --> 0:22:42.521 time or distract from the investigation, and people do not 0:22:42.601 --> 0:22:46.001 seem to be following that rule here. TikTokers have shown 0:22:46.041 --> 0:22:49.761 up in tenery by the dozens and so of journalists. 0:22:50.561 --> 0:22:53.561 There's one female journalist from an ITV morning show by 0:22:53.601 --> 0:22:56.041 the way, that's one of the main channels in the UK. 0:22:56.840 --> 0:22:59.601 She literally has teamed up with one of the British 0:22:59.601 --> 0:23:03.361 TikTok stars and they're taking selfies together now. To be fair, 0:23:03.401 --> 0:23:06.521 at least the TikToker, whose name is Paul Arnott, at 0:23:06.601 --> 0:23:10.201 least he's a seasoned hiker. He says he did contact 0:23:10.201 --> 0:23:13.081 the authorities and that he got the go ahead to 0:23:13.201 --> 0:23:16.001 go out and search on his own. He's been posting 0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:19.961 lots of videos of himself with a camera, walking through 0:23:20.041 --> 0:23:24.160 cactus and shooting the airbnb with what looks like a 0:23:24.241 --> 0:23:28.600 long telephoto lens. It is surreal these bloggers are showing 0:23:28.641 --> 0:23:30.801 up with drones and cameras, and there's been a lot 0:23:30.801 --> 0:23:34.321 of criticism that not only are they not helping, they 0:23:34.401 --> 0:23:39.201 may be making things worse. A lot of people wondered 0:23:39.241 --> 0:23:42.321 about the two men who Jay was partying with. Who 0:23:42.361 --> 0:23:45.120 were they, why were they staying in an Airbnb on 0:23:45.201 --> 0:23:48.080