Mystery of Brit who vanished off face of Tenerife more than 36 years before Jay Slater
Londoner Ricky D'Cotta, 23, set off for a playboy lifestyle on Tenerife in March 1987 to soak up the eighties club scene, but never returned.
A British man disappeared more than 36 years before Jay Slater went missing and was never seen again, but unlike the Lancashire teenager, his story faded into obscurity.
Londoner Ricky D’Cotta, 23, set off for a playboy lifestyle on Tenerife in March 1987 to soak up the eighties club scene, but never returned.
He got work in the Sgt Peppers Disco Pub in the Playa De Las Americas resort.
Ricky last had contact with his family in October 1987, when he made a call to say he would be coming home soon.
They never heard from him again.
Shortly after he disappeared, Mr D’Cotta’s passport and a bag were found and handed to the police.
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But, the trail soon went cold and with no social media the story soon died down, leaving friends and relatives to place the occasional missing persons adverts in newspapers.
There were theories about what may have happened to him, with reports of people seeing him in a confused state, including bare foot. There are also suggestions he may have crossed someone involved with drugs by planning to rob his stash.
Similar theories are being made about missing Jay Slater.
In 2001, a Channel 4 documentary called Looking for Ricky investigated the case and revealed that five unidentified bodies had been found on the island at around the time of his disappearance.
The documentary suggested one could have been Mr D’Cotta.
Yet, DNA tests using samples from his family proved inconclusive.
Jay Slater, 19, is thought to have left the NRG music event on Tenerife by car with two men he did not previously know to a remote part of the island in the early hours of Monday, June 17, and has not been seen since.
His last contact was with a friend by phone at around 8.50am that day, saying he had missed a bus and had no water with just one percent phone battery.
He said he was on a walk back to his resort, which would have taken around ten hours, and has not been seen since.
A major search was carried out on the island, but it was called off last Sunday with no trace of Jay or a body.
Now it has been left to his parent and family to carry on the search.
However, in the age of social media it is unlikely to go quiet as theories about what may have happened to Jay continue to swirl across various platforms.