Jay Slater's mom has slammed trolls who have criticized her and her family as they remain in Tenerife to search for their loved one.
On June 16, the 19-year-old boy from Oswaldtwistle attended a rave with friends Lucy Mae Law and Brad Hargreaves at Papagayo nightclub during the NRG music festival.
He disappeared the following day (June 17) after choosing to visit an Airbnb rented by two British men he had met several days prior, rather than go back to his shared accommodation with friends.
After leaving the Airbnb at around 8:00AM, the teen called his friends to let them know he was going to attempt the 10+ hour walk back to their apartment. However, he disappeared without a trace while walking through the mountainous region of Rural de Teno Park, where his cell phone was last tracked.
The missing teen's family has flown to the island to help with the police search but has faced a barrage of conspiracy theories.
Slater's mom, Debbie Duncan, addressed the abuse her family has gotten in a scathing statement shared on the "JAY SLATER MISSING - ONLY OFFICIAL GROUP" Facebook page on Thursday (July 4).
"I feel the need to post this to your group and then I shall remove myself. I joined this group to share the positivity and love from the British public. It seems through no fault of my own you have all decided to make up your own minds," she wrote.
"It is really sad I have felt the need to do this. My beautiful son Jay is still missing and believe me this is no holiday," she continued.
Read the full statement below:
Addressing what may have happened to her missing child, Debbie said: "He came on his first holiday to Tenerife to attend the NRG music event. What mystery surrounding his disappearance may never surface. We as a family are truly devastated."
"I did not ask for publicity from the start and was not aware that the first missing poster had my telephone number on it. It should have had the SOS Guardia Civil but like I say this was out of my control," she added.
Debbie explained that they are "a normal working family from Lancashire going through hell" and expressed gratitude to all those sending support at this time.
She also said that she can account for every pound that has been donated to help find her son, adding: "For those of you who are more concerned around the Gofundme page I can assure you that up to now it has not been used and our stay up to now has been financed by ourselves."
"I do have proof of transactions and transfers to other persons but I should not have to justify this. So you can make up your own minds. If any of you in this group have donated. I am thankful for the other mothers out there. Please continue to pray. Thank you," she concluded.
The worried mom's statement comes after she vowed to use the GoFundMe money "to support the volunteers working hard in the mountains to find Jay," and climber and TikToker Paul Arnett, by "putting together a package of any equipment and essentials he needs and going up to do a drop for him".
"We are also supporting Callum Fahim and his group with accommodation and other essentials," she continued. "The remaining funds will continue to be used to support the rescue teams who are tirelessly searching for Jay as well as our own expenses as we remain in Tenerife looking for our boy.
"We will continue to keep you all updated on the progress on our GoFundMe page, and we thank you for your continued support. Please keep sharing and supporting our fundraiser to help us bring Jay home," the mom added.
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On Sunday (June 30), the Spanish Civil Guard disclosed that the search for Slater around the Rural de Teno Park area had come to an end, but that the case remains open.
Despite the unfortunate update, the teen's loved ones have pledged to "continue to search" for the teenager.
Rachel Hargreaves, a close family friend currently in Tenerife, told the Telegraph: “Nothing has changed. We will continue to search for him.”
Slater's father, Warren Slater, expressed disappointment at the low turnout for the "massive search", saying: “It’s a bit disappointing that there are no British apart from Paul [a TikToker] but I suppose to them he’s just a British lad who’s come out here and got drunk," per The Mirror.
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