New Footage of the Two Teens Lost at Sea Emerges
Longtime friends Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos, both of whom would now be 15, have been missing since July 24 when they took a fishing boat off the coast of Florida's Jupiter Inlet. Though their boat was found stranded 100 miles off the coast of Bermuda last month, investigators are just now uncovering clues that lead them to believe there may have been foul play involved in the boys' disappearance, NBC News reports.
With the boat's discovery, Austin's iPhone was found. Perry's parents are now suing Austin's parents for refusing to give the phone (which was heavily damaged by saltwater) over to third-party investigators to see if they can uncover any more information from their sons' last interactions. Perry's phone was broken when the boys' left, so they agreed to share use of Austin's phone while on the boat, Perry's mother argues, and because of that, the phone is half hers. She believes she will "continue to suffer irreparable harm if the iPhone is not properly handled as material evidence in a possible maritime crime or homicide."
According to PEOPLE, several of Perry and Austin's friends report receiving Snapchats from them off the Jupiter coast that morning with the words "We're F'd" on them, though it's unclear what time the snaps were sent. The boys also reportedly sent "I love you" and "Just checking in" texts to their parents respectively while on the boat that morning. One missing persons report claimed there was a picture from that day on Austin's Instagram account captioned, "Peace out Jupiter," and specified that several other friends said the boys told them they were planning to fish "far off shore" for dolphins before they left. Cell phone records indicate Austin's phone was within inshore waters at 12:02 p.m. that day. At 1:30 p.m., a storm with winds up to 40 miles an hour hit the Jupiter area.
As the boat was being packed up to be sent back to Florida, WPBF reports investigators noticed the boat's battery had been switched off. "We do know for sure that boat was disabled intentionally because the battery switch, which is very difficult to get to, was in the off position. That can't be maneuvered by the passage of time, the current, and other events," the Cohen's lawyer Guy Rubin told WPBF. "If the storm came and capsized the boat, the battery switch and the key would not be in those positions." While it's possible the boys turned the battery off to conserve battery if they knew they were in trouble with the storm, it's also possible someone tampered with the boat before they left.
"Maybe the most logical explanation is the storm, but maybe they were abducted. Or maybe there was foul play because they had thousands of dollars' worth of reels," Rubin continued. "But if they were disabled right off the Jupiter Inlet, why wouldn't some other boater have stopped and helped? And we don't even know if a third person was on that boat."
An emergency hearing scheduled for May 5 will determine whether the Stephanoses must make public the content of Austin's iPhone, but Austin's father has posted continuously on social media, writing that they have "been working with the phone's manufacturer who seems willing to help us try to get the phone operational again" and that "Of course, any relevant information that might be retrieved from Austin's phone will be shared with the Cohen family and the proper authorities."
Though a pilot believes he may have seen one of the boys floating on his back to the east of St. Marys, Georgia, two days after they went missing, the Coast Guard has not confirmed the sighting or any other reports about the boys themselves.
UPDATED 5/1/16, 6pm EST: CBS News reports that an investigation has turned up never-before-seen video of their boy's departure. "I think that the video was released because the Florida Wildlife Commission has decided it no longer wants to investigate," Guy Rubin, an attorney for the Cohen family, said. "But the family thinks that the wrong decision. Why would you end an investigation when you find new evidence?"
Follow Tess on Twitter.
