Two years after Jay Slater disappeared in Tenerife, his mother Debbie Duncan has opened up about the decision she still struggles to forgive herself for—and the question that has haunted her since her 19-year-old son vanished.
Debbie, 57, said she continues to wonder why she did not call Jay after seeing a Snapchat he had posted from his Airbnb less than two hours before he disappeared.
In a new Channel 5 documentary, Cause Of Death, Debbie returns to the rugged landscape of northern Tenerife with her brother, Glen Duncan, in an attempt to understand what happened during Jay’s final hours.
“Why did I not ring him?”
Jay disappeared after leaving the Casa Abuela Tina Airbnb in Masca at around 8am, following a night out at the NRG music festival.
Earlier that morning, he had posted a Snapchat from the property. Debbie saw it but did not call her son.
Looking back, she said that moment has become a source of painful self-questioning.
“I think, ‘Why did you not ring me?’” she said.
“But then I also think, ‘Why did I not ring him when I saw his Snapchat that morning?’
“Nobody knew what was going to happen. I need to stop feeling guilty about that. It’s really hard.”
Jay’s disappearance would ultimately trigger a 29-day search across the mountainous terrain before his body was discovered at the bottom of an 82ft-deep ravine.
Jay’s final calls painted a desperate picture
At 8.13am, Jay shared his location with friends on WhatsApp. That information later helped forensic experts establish where he had been before his final journey through the Rural de Teno area.
At 8.32am, his friend Lucy Law called him. Jay told her he was thirsty and “frightened”.
His final communication came at 8.50am.
During the call, Jay told Lucy he was in the “middle of nowhere” and that “all I can see are mountains”.
His phone battery died at 8.52am.
For Debbie, one question remained particularly difficult to understand: why did her son not simply turn around and retrace his route back towards the road?
She carried that question with her for two years.
Debbie finally sees the terrain for herself
Returning to Tenerife for the documentary gave Debbie an opportunity to follow the route Jay is believed to have taken.
As she walked through the steep and unforgiving landscape with Glen, she began to understand how difficult it may have been for her son to find his way back.
“We thought, how was it possible to get to a place where he said to Lucy, ‘I’m lost, all I can see are mountains’?” Debbie said.
“He must have been so scared, thinking, I can’t turn back.”
Seeing the terrain in person changed the way she viewed those final moments.
“When you look at it, you just know why,” she said.
Debbie said the walk helped give her a form of closure because she could finally see where Jay had started, the route he had taken and the point he ultimately reached.
“Seeing all that now, I understand it better. That’s what closure has given me.”
Post-mortem finally answered Debbie’s biggest fear
The emotional return to Tenerife came shortly after Debbie received the delayed Spanish post-mortem report into Jay’s death.
The report confirmed that Jay died from the catastrophic injuries he suffered in his fall.
For years, Debbie had been haunted by the possibility that her son had survived the fall for a period of time and been left injured and suffering on the mountainside.
Pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd, who conducted the Home Office post-mortem, was able to address that fear.
“The main question Debbie had was, ‘Did he feel anything?’” Dr Shepherd told The Sun.
He explained that although Jay had suffered an extremely severe injury, the head injury was so serious that it probably would have killed him immediately.
“He wasn’t injured on the hillside dying slowly,” Dr Shepherd said, explaining that there was no prolonged period of pain and suffering.
For Debbie, that was an important answer after two years of uncertainty.
Conspiracy theories added to the family’s anguish
Jay’s disappearance generated intense speculation online, with TikTok users developing numerous theories about what had happened to him.
Some online claims suggested that Jay had been murdered, while other material circulated on social media showed alleged evidence of violence.
The Spanish investigation was also complicated by concerns that he might have been strangled. According to the documentary account, police sent his voice box for further examination.
However, the subsequent post-mortem found no evidence of strangulation or other deliberate harm.
Dr Shepherd said neither post-mortem examination indicated anything other than Jay becoming confused and disorientated before suffering the fatal fall.
He had consumed alcohol and taken drugs, although his alcohol level was not high. Dr Shepherd also explained that as the sun rose, temperatures would have increased rapidly, potentially contributing to Jay becoming increasingly confused while he was dehydrated and alone.
The conflicting theories circulating online had left Debbie struggling to separate fact from speculation.
Getting a clear medical explanation was therefore significant for her as she tried to understand what happened to her son.
“I know he’d be so sorry”
Near the place where Jay left the road, Debbie stopped to lay flowers.
The moment became overwhelming as she reflected on the decisions her son had made during those final hours and imagined what he might say to her now.
“I know he’d be so sorry for the mistakes he made,” she said.
“He’d be saying, ‘I’m so sorry, Mum.’”
For Debbie, retracing Jay’s final journey did not change the tragedy of what happened. But seeing the landscape herself and finally receiving answers from the post-mortem examinations helped her understand how her son could have become lost in terrain that had once been difficult for her to comprehend.
Cause Of Death airs on Channel 5 on Wednesday at 9pm.