Tenerife has a “dark side,” warns a woman whose brother disappeared on the island long before Jay Slater’s recent disappearance.
Kevin Ainley mysteriously disappeared on June 17, 2004, exactly two decades before 19-year-old Jay vanished last month. The family of Kevin, who was just 24 at the time of his disappearance, are still searching for answers about his fate, as are the Slater family. Kevin’s sister Gemma Brooke has highlighted the chilling parallels between the two cases.
Interestingly, both Jay and Kevin were from Lancashire. Kevin moved from his hometown of Fleetwood, a town just 40 miles from the Slaters’ home of Oswaldtwistle, to Tenerife. On the island, the search for Jay continues with dozens of people actively involved, despite the official expeditions ending at the end of July, the Mirror reports.
Ms Brooke, who spoke to The Sun, said seeing another disappearance on the anniversary of her own brother’s disappearance was “very heartbreaking to see”. She added: “It’s very similar, the fact that it’s Kevin’s 20th birthday as well, when the Euros are being played. It’s heartbreaking to see. The island is a very dangerous place.”
While living on the island, Kevin worked in bars and pubs located in Playa de las Americas, which coincidentally is where Jay attended the NRG rave festival the night before he went missing. Speaking further about the ordeal, his sister revealed: “He told us Kevin had been missing for a week. That was the beginning of our nightmare. Mum went to Fleetwood Police Station to report him missing.”
“We didn’t know what to do, we expected him to show up like that, I guess. We didn’t expect to be here 20 years later.”
His family was informed of his disappearance four months after he arrived on the island. By then, it had already been a week since the friend who had reported him missing had last seen him.
He was last seen heading to a bar called the Sportsman in Playa de las Americas, an area known as “The Patch,” after having lunch with a friend around noon at Merlins, a Chinese buffet.
Jay’s disappearance was reported to his family the next day by his friend Lucy Mae, who had accompanied him to the island. Lucy and her other friends flew home last weekend, leaving the search in the hands of independent experts who were dispatched shortly after the case became public.
Meanwhile, his family remained on the island, determined to support those who came to help.
