Fresh mystery as Jay Slater cops investigate ‘theft of Rolex’ hours before teen vanished amid ‘final push’ search today
COPS investigating the disappearance of Jay Slater are reportedly probing a new lead on the theft of a Rolex hours before the teen vanished.
A “massive” new search for the 19-year-old Brit will kick off today with the help of specialist volunteers amid a final push to find the teen.
A fight is said to have broke out outside the Papagayo Beach Club, where Jay seen partying on June 17, shortly after it closed.
An Eastern European man involved in the scuffle allegedly had his pricey Rolex watch stolen, according to the Daily Mail.
It is unclear exactly how Jay’s disappearance might be linked to the incident – but officers are reportedly examining CCTV footage from the security cameras.
One of Jay’s pals who has flown to Tenerife to help in the search told detectives the alleged theft may have led to the Lancashire lad wandering off on his own to try and find the watch.
Cops are still investigating a number of other leads including the teens last location after his phone pinged at 8:50am near a hiking trail in Masca.
Search teams narrowed their efforts to a small group of buildings close to where Jay’s phone last pinged, but found nothing.
Several witness have also claimed to have seen a man who looks like Jay around Tenerife.
Ofelia Medina Hernadez told cops she spotted him standing at a bus stop shortly after 8am as he asked her the time of the next service to Los Cristianos.
Ofelia said she saw Jay walking along the road “normally but a bit quickly” some 15 minutes later.
Locals then told police they saw Jay in the town watching the Euros football after he vanished.
Mayor Emilio Jose Navarro said investigators had spoken to several people who alleged Jay watched the Euros “on the coast”.
He said: “Locals have told me they have heard from others that they saw someone looking like the boy in a bar at Los Gigantes.”
Two mystery men who partied with Jay the night before he vanished have also been allowed to return to the UK after a light police probe.
Private investigator Mark Williams-Thomas has claimed the men are “key witnesses” after the trio stayed at an Airbnb cottage together.
Despite his new involvement in the case Mark is not part of the official police investigation but has released a description of the men.
It comes as Tenerife cops are set to start a “massive search” for the missing teen this weekend.
Many now believe this could be the final push in trying to track down Jay.
Alongside volunteers, the Civil Guard confirmed plans to retrace his last known steps, beginning at the village of Masca.
In a statement, police said: “The massive search will be carried out on Saturday, 29 June from 9am.
“Bearing in mind that this is an abrupt, rocky area, full of unevenness and with a multitude of ravines, paths and roads, the collaboration of all those associations of volunteers who can help in this raid that is intended to be carried out in a directed and coordinated manner is requested.”
The 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, just outside Blackburn, vanished after a night out at the NRG festival at Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas on June 17.
He was last seen travelling with two men he had just met to an Airbnb in the north of the island in the Rural de Teno park.
The morning after he made a final frantic phone call to pal Lucy Law to tell her he was stranded in the “middle of nowhere”.
Panicked Jay, facing an 11-hour walk back to their hotel, told her he needed water and only had one per cent of battery left on his phone.
His other friend Brad Hargreaves revealed a second call in which Jay told him he had veered off the main path – leading to speculation he may have slid down rocks.
Brad said he could hear the missing teen slipping on rocks during a final video call.
The disappearance sparked a desperate round-the-clock search with his heartbroken mum and family jetting out to the island to join the hunt.
Rescue crews focused their efforts around the 2,000ft Masca ravine close to Jay’s last known location – the desolate Teno Nature Reserve.
On Thursday, they shifted their focus to caves near Los Carrizales – around an hour and a half on foot from the Airbnb Jay went to with the two men.
Police sources say it would be “very unlikely Jay has survived” if he got lost in the mountains.
It comes as…
- Deluge of tip-offs flooding in for Jay appeal
- Search for Jay hones in on series of caves
- GoFundMe page for his family hits £40,000
- Crews fear he won’t be found alive if he vanished in mountains
- Tenerife worst place to go missing, expert warned before Jay went missing
- Ex-top cop who tracked down Raoul Moat reveals search theory
- Jay was attacked by gang when he was just 12
- New pics of Jay emerge at a pool party two days before he vanished
- Cops quiz locals who ‘saw Jay watching Euros’
- Investigator reveals descriptions of two men who partied with teen
- Crews scour exact spot where mystery ‘grainy figure’ was seen
Apprentice bricklayer Jay had flown out to Tenerife with friends Lucy and Brad for the New Rave Generation (NRG) festival, which ended on Sunday.
His final Snapchat picture was an out-of-focus image of a hand holding cigarettes in Buenavista del Norte, which sits within Rural de Teno park, at around 7.30am on Monday.
It was taken at the location he went to with the two men he met at the club – with haunting pictures showing the inside of the Airbnb.
His last known location was the Teno Rural Park on the northwest of the island – a popular hiking spot for tourists.
It is claimed he was spotted “walking alone” by locals before his disappearance.
Jay was sharing the room at a three-star apartment complex with pal Brad, and police, who promised to keep an “open mind” about his disappearance, scanned his accommodation for clues.
Last week, Lancashire cops offered to fly out and help with the search, but Spanish authorities refused.
Debbie slammed the Tenerife investigation for not accepting their offer, and said she spent eight hours in a local police station looking at their plans to find him.
She expressed fears something “untoward” had happened to her son.
Speaking from Tenerife, the worried mum said her son may have been spotted with two men some ten hours after he was last seen on Monday morning.
She revealed a witness went to cops and claimed to have seen Jay sitting on a bench with the pair of men 3.5 miles away in Santiago del Teide.
