Channel 5's true crime series Cause of Death returns tonight, Wednesday, September 30, at 9pm, for its season four debut, with Dr Richard Shepherd examining the case of Jay Slater, the teenager who died in Tenerife in 2024.
The episode follows Jay Slater's mother, Debbie Duncan, as she is taken through her son's post-mortem for the first time by Dr Richard Shepherd. The description for the episode reads: "Jay Slater's mother, Debbie Duncan, is taken through her son's post-mortem for the first time by Dr Richard Shepherd, years after Jay's death in 2024. In search of answers about her son's last hours, Debbie returns to Tenerife with Dr Shepherd and her brother Glen to recreate Jay's last walk."
Mother retraces son's final steps
Jay Slater, 19, was found dead in northern Tenerife after he went missing on holiday and called his friends to say he was lost with no access to water. His mother, Debbie, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, said in the documentary: "I did think about it (viewing his body) and thought, I don't think I can. 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. Whenever people say, 'How did you know it was Jay?' Well, it was Jay. My beautiful boy."
The series shows Debbie returning to Tenerife's Rural de Tenero national park with Jay's uncle Glen Dunclan to retrace the teenager's final steps before he died.
Second true crime series airs tonight
Before Cause of Death, Channel 5 will air Murder Scene: The Incident Room at 8pm, with tonight's episode focusing on the murder of 26-year-old Elle Edwards, who was fatally shot outside a pub on Christmas Eve in 2022 in Wallasey, Merseyside. Cause of Death continues every Wednesday at 9pm on Channel 5.
