Missing lad in Tenerife

[ApOrbital]

Lucy will be on a canue soon head south.

[Alickadoo]

Do you think he is still there?

Surely they would have found him by now?

[skwdenyer]

Alickadoo said:

Do you think he is still there?

Surely they would have found him by now?

Why "surely"? What are you basing that on? Would be glad for you to come and look for my sister if you've got any good answers.

[2HFL]

Another reason why this story doesn’t ring true for me is the timeline from when Jay allegedly left the AirBnb.

If he set off at 8am, or even slightly before as sunrise would have been circa 7:15am, how did everything escalate so very quickly, that by 8:45am he was completely lost and unable to return to/find the Airbnb (what Lucy herself said), exhausted and totally dehydrated. It’s not as if he’d been out for hours on end.

To provide some context, I did a walk from Santiago del Teide on the Friday prior to Jay’s reported disappearance from nearby Masca, 72 hours later.

Santiago is at 925m altitude and Masca 650m, and it was around 12 degrees when I set off at 8:30’ish, so temperatures would have been very similar, or just a degree or so different, but not hot at all where he is claimed to have been, at that time of the day.

I was out walking for 6:30 (21km) at an average pace of 14:25 per km, but at no point did it ever become unbearably hot, and the terrain I was covering was similar to that Jay would have been walking in, albeit slightly less challenging without such steep/dangerous ravines but still over volcanic deposits ascending to over 1500m. In an hour he’d have only gone perhaps 2.5km or so, I’m estimating.

It certainly wasn’t 40 degree heat, like it was in Greece when Michael Mosley went missing, it was actually a very pleasant and refreshing temperature and initially quite cool as I started off the trek in a hoodie.

The timeline of events is just another reason why I’m suspicious of the circumstances of the disappearance, as it has been reported.

Add to that the odd interview from Brad, who looked chilled as fk and not at all phased by this whole situation? In fact, none of the behaviour from the nearest and dearest strikes me as being natural, and I’m old enough and experienced enough to read people quite well.

There’s a huge organised search in this area tomorrow, and I will be genuinely amazed if anything of note is found, unless it’s planted of course…

I think the whole Masca story is a massive red herring, for reasons as yet unknown.

Edited by 2HFL on Saturday 29th June 01:18

[Oliver Hardy]

How long have they been looking for him now, I would have thought they would have been scaling down the search by now?

[skwdenyer]

2HFL said:

Another reason why this story doesn’t ring true for me is the timeline from when Jay allegedly left the AirBnb.

If he set off at 8am, or even slightly before as sunrise would have been circa 7:15am, how did everything escalate so very quickly, that by 8:45am he was completely lost and unable to return to/find the Airbnb (what Lucy herself said), exhausted and totally dehydrated. It’s not as if he’d been out for hours on end.

To provide some context, I did a walk from Santiago del Teide on the Friday prior to Jay’s reported disappearance from nearby Masca, 72 hours later.

Santiago is at 925m altitude and Masca 650m, and it was around 12 degrees when I set off at 8:30’ish, so temperatures would have been very similar, or just a degree or so different, but not hot at all where he is claimed to have been, at that time of the day.

I was out walking for 6:30 (21km) at an average pace of 14:25 per km, but at no point did it ever become unbearably hot, and the terrain I was covering was similar to that Jay would have been walking in, albeit slightly less challenging without such steep/dangerous ravines but still over volcanic deposits ascending to over 1500m. In an hour he’d have only gone perhaps 2.5km or so, I’m estimating.

It certainly wasn’t 40 degree heat, like it was in Greece when Michael Mosley went missing, it was actually a very pleasant and refreshing temperature and initially quite cool as I started off the trek in a hoodie.

The timeline of events is just another reason why I’m suspicious of the circumstances of the disappearance, as it has been reported.

Add to that the odd interview from Brad, who looked chilled as fk and not at all phased by this whole situation? In fact, none of the behaviour from the nearest and dearest strikes me as being natural, and I’m old enough and experienced enough to read people quite well.

There’s a huge organised search in this area tomorrow, and I will be genuinely amazed if anything of note is found, unless it’s planted of course…

I think the whole Masca story is a massive red herring, for reasons as yet unknown.

Edited by 2HFL on Saturday 29th June 01:18

What you write makes good sense. Re dehydration, however, bear in mind - if we accept the timeline - he'd effectively been partying all night. Whatever he'd taken (drink, drugs, whatever), he will have had little or no sleep and all the makings of a pretty poor morning. It would be quite possible for him to be very dehydrated without much mountainous exertion.

[2HFL]

skwdenyer said:

Whatever he'd taken (drink, drugs, whatever), he will have had little or no sleep and all the makings of a pretty poor morning. It would be quite possible for him to be very dehydrated without much mountainous exertion.

I naturally agree that he wouldn’t have been in any fit state to tackle a walk of this nature after a weekend partying and not sleeping, it just felt a bit too ‘convenient’ that the situation escalated so quickly, to me anyway, but I accept I may have got this all wrong too.

Also, if we believe Brad’s story, and that Jay was happily sliding down the mountainside while they FaceTimed, he’d have got seriously cut up on any rocks/vegetation very fast, it’s such harsh and unforgiving terrain there so not exactly fun.

[Carl_VivaEspana]

Oliver Hardy said:

How long have they been looking for him now, I would have thought they would have been scaling down the search by now?

There is a mass Spanish-police-led search with ex-service and selected volunteers starting in 45 minutes.

[croyde]

2HFL said:

I naturally agree that he wouldn’t have been in any fit state to tackle a walk of this nature after a weekend partying and not sleeping, it just felt a bit too ‘convenient’ that the situation escalated so quickly, to me anyway, but I accept I may have got this all wrong too.

Also, if we believe Brad’s story, and that Jay was happily sliding down the mountainside while they FaceTimed, he’d have got seriously cut up on any rocks/vegetation very fast, it’s such harsh and unforgiving terrain there so not exactly fun.

Off topic but interested in that hike you did, is it a circular route?

Currently on the island for a few weeks with plans to do some hikes with my brother.

Probably headed up to El Portillo for an old favourite walk of mine as it'll be a pleasant temperature all day whilst the coast is going to bake.

[Southerner]

Purely out of interest, I wonder what the response would look like if this were a native Spaniard who’d gone missing. I suspect nobody would much care. The power of foreign media attention to perpetuate a search for a missing kid is quite a thing. The native police forces must be as hacked off as they are totally bewildered about the whole thing, I imagine.

[2HFL]

croyde said:

2HFL said:

I naturally agree that he wouldn’t have been in any fit state to tackle a walk of this nature after a weekend partying and not sleeping, it just felt a bit too ‘convenient’ that the situation escalated so quickly, to me anyway, but I accept I may have got this all wrong too.

Also, if we believe Brad’s story, and that Jay was happily sliding down the mountainside while they FaceTimed, he’d have got seriously cut up on any rocks/vegetation very fast, it’s such harsh and unforgiving terrain there so not exactly fun.

Off topic but interested in that hike you did, is it a circular route?

Currently on the island for a few weeks with plans to do some hikes with my brother.

Probably headed up to El Portillo for an old favourite walk of mine as it'll be a pleasant temperature all day whilst the coast is going to bake.

Here you go: https://www.komoot.com/tour/1644783734?ref=itd

The walk itself is around 4h30 depending on your pace. I stopped for food/rest/photos, plus I had Achilles tendinitis which really didn’t help.

I thoroughly recommend this café in Santiago for a decent post-walk cortado, anis and cake



I just re-checked the disappearance timeline.

Jay was seen at 8:15am by Ophelia, the Airbnb owner’s wife, walking on the road and by 8:44am (when Lucy’s phone screenshot shows she was actually calling him, not vice versa) he was lost so under 30 minutes.

I’d wager that he could have only covered 1-1.5km max and would have still been relatively close to his departure point. Would be interesting to know what the weather conditions were like in the area that morning.

Edited by 2HFL on Saturday 29th June 09:36

[rallycross]

Southerner said:

Purely out of interest, I wonder what the response would look like if this were a native Spaniard who’d gone missing. I suspect nobody would much care. The power of foreign media attention to perpetuate a search for a missing kid is quite a thing. The native police forces must be as hacked off as they are totally bewildered about the whole thing, I imagine.

I was thinking if this was the U.K. and it was a Spanish person lost would we see such a big search they are doing a good job over there.

[ScotHill]

rallycross said:

I was thinking if this was the U.K. and it was a Spanish person lost would we see such a big search they are doing a good job over there.

If it was in the mountains, then likely yes.

[Louis Balfour]

Just watching the BBC news live from there. There has been a call for volunteers to help look for him. Total so far turned up: 3.

[2HFL]

rallycross said:

Southerner said:

Purely out of interest, I wonder what the response would look like if this were a native Spaniard who’d gone missing. I suspect nobody would much care. The power of foreign media attention to perpetuate a search for a missing kid is quite a thing. The native police forces must be as hacked off as they are totally bewildered about the whole thing, I imagine.

I was thinking if this was the U.K. and it was a Spanish person lost would we see such a big search they are doing a good job over there.

Sadly you’re right, I don’t recall seeing any UK coverage of this missing person: https://www.canarianweekly.com/posts/British-polic...

[rallycross]

Louis Balfour said:

Just watching the BBC news live from there. There has been a call for volunteers to help look for him. Total so far turned up: 3.

Really that's not good, was imagining dozens of people turning up.

[croyde]

2HFL said:

Here you go: https://www.komoot.com/tour/1644783734?ref=itd

The walk itself is around 4h30 depending on your pace. I stopped for food/rest/photos, plus I had Achilles tendinitis which really didn’t help.

I thoroughly recommend this café in Santiago for a decent post-walk cortado, anis and cake

Edited by 2HFL on Saturday 29th June 09:36

I know that café well. I have stopped there when driving back North from the airport. Cheers.

ETA just had a good look at my map and I've done that loop bit around Chinyero before, parking on the hoop of the TF38.

Good to know I can get there by just driving to Santiago del Teide, albeit a longer walk Thanks for the info and sorry to others for diverting off the thread.

Edited by croyde on Saturday 29th June 12:37

[21TonyK]

rallycross said:

Louis Balfour said:

Just watching the BBC news live from there. There has been a call for volunteers to help look for him. Total so far turned up: 3.

Really that's not good, was imagining dozens of people turning up.

I suspect, for many locals, this is now old news and probably little sympathy. Has it had significant media coverage locally other than in the ex-pat community?

[thatsprettyshady]

rallycross said:

Louis Balfour said:

Just watching the BBC news live from there. There has been a call for volunteers to help look for him. Total so far turned up: 3.

Really that's not good, was imagining dozens of people turning up.

i thought his mum had flown out a whole load of people to help with "the search", even getting their families out?

[Petrus1983]

rallycross said:

Louis Balfour said:

Just watching the BBC news live from there. There has been a call for volunteers to help look for him. Total so far turned up: 3.

Really that's not good, was imagining dozens of people turning up.

I imagine local sympathy isn't very high.