Jay Slater's Mother Revisits Tenerife Site of Son's Disappearance for Documentary

Jay Slater's mother has returned to Tenerife to retrace the final steps of where her 19-year-old son went missing, in a new documentary detailing her experience and the enduring torment of unproven claims about his death.

Debbie Duncan's return to the island for Channel 5's "Cause Of Death" comes as she continues to grapple with the question of her son's final hours. Slater disappeared in June 2024, sparking a large-scale manhunt and a deluge of online conspiracy theories that targeted his family.

In the documentary, Duncan recounts her experience of being shown graphic photographs of her son's body by Spanish police. She visited the island to collect his phone and was shown the images, an experience she described as horrifying.

"I did think about it (viewing his body) and thought, I don't think I can. But then, when we had to go back to Tenerife to get paperwork from the courts and to collect his phone, to my horror there were images of Jay. I thought my heart was going to stop beating," Duncan said. She identified the body as her son's, stating, "My beautiful boy."

Duncan also visited the location where Slater is believed to have left the road, breaking down as she laid flowers for her son, whom she said would be "so sorry for the mistakes he made."

Filming for the documentary occurred shortly after Duncan received the delayed Spanish post-mortem report, which confirmed that Slater died from injuries sustained in an 82-foot fall into a ravine.

Pathologist Dr. Richard Shepherd, who conducted the Home Office post-mortem, spoke with Duncan in the documentary. He told The Sun that it was important for her to know the truth due to the trolling she had endured. "She wanted to know how his injuries would have affected him. I was able to tell her that yes, it was an awful injury, and yes, it killed him. But the head injury was so severe that it probably would have killed him immediately. It was the end — there was no pain and suffering," Dr. Shepherd stated.

Despite the official findings, online speculation persisted. Theories ranged from kidnapping and murder by drug dealers to staged deaths. Slater's body was discovered approximately four weeks after his disappearance in a remote area near Masca. An inquest in 2025 confirmed his death on June 17, 2024, with injuries consistent with a fall from height. However, Dr. Shepherd's examination found no evidence of restraint or assault.

Duncan has spoken out about the relentless online abuse, stating that comments about drug dealing and personal attacks on her family have continued for nearly two years. "They don't know us, they don't know our family, they don't know Jay but yet they just judge... and the conspiracies started almost immediately," she said.

Last year, Duncan publicly addressed the "disgusting" online trolls, noting the family had been subjected to an estimated 30 million videos speculating about the case. She has since been campaigning for "Jay's Law" to address the spread of misinformation and online abuse in missing persons cases.

Slater disappeared during his first holiday without his parents. He had attended the NRG music festival and Papagayo nightclub before accepting a car ride with two men he met to their Airbnb in Masca. After leaving the property, he contacted friends, reporting he was lost in the mountains and trekking home after missing a bus. He was reported missing when he failed to return to his accommodation.

"Cause Of Death" is scheduled to air on Channel 5 on Wednesday at 9 p.m. GMT.