Von Marlis Zoschke
A young man has gone missing on Tenerife. It’s not unusual for someone to go missing for two or three days for whatever reason. But having to search for 29 days on this tiny patch of land is not a great achievement.
The area around Masca isn’t actually that big. Weren’t there any search dogs? Even untrained dogs would have been of some help. The authorities often hold back because they always assume that, if drugs might be involved, the person will suddenly turn up again.
When the body was eventually found, it showed signs of head injuries. In such cases, it is usually possible to determine how the injuries occurred and how long the person had been dead. After all, if it wasn’t an accident, it is entirely possible that he was still alive when the police began their search. It all reminds me a little of a case I worked on:
Disappearances on Tenerife – sadly not uncommon
To understand this, you need to know the sort of circles Slater was moving in. He may well have got to know other dubious tourists. After all, at that age, young men are easily influenced and keen on adventure. What’s more, things on Tenerife aren’t as stable as they used to be, as millions of visitors bring with them all sorts of unusual characteristics.
The good friends who were with us on Tenerife will be careful not to say anything that might incriminate them. The whole affair remains a mystery to me, and I doubt that the death will ever be fully explained.
We, too, experienced a bizarre death on Tenerife
We experienced something similar with our nephew. However, that was already around 30 years ago. The once hard-working boy had become an adventurer. He was 22 years old at the time. The girls were chasing after him and he stopped working.
He had a girlfriend who was a few years older than him and who earned the money. Back then, there were lots of hippies in La Caleta – apparently there still are – and a rumour that there were bushes growing there whose leaves, when dried, were good to smoke.
Above all, it was all free. And then, of course, it’s lovely to spend the winter in Tenerife. He didn’t need his girlfriend; the main thing was that she sent him money now and then. She seemed happy to do so.
But the joy was short-lived: just a few days after his arrival, he was fished out of the sea one morning. He had not gone under even after several hours, so he can hardly have drowned, as there was no water in his lungs.
Back then, there was no time for second thoughts. My brother-in-law received a phone call late in the evening telling him that his son’s funeral would take place the following morning at around 11 o’clock. No post-mortem was carried out, not even on the head wound. The circumstances of his death were never clarified. Yet at least the funeral went ahead – as it should – more or less on time.
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