Missing Florida teens: Messages, maps point to trip to Bahamas – Palm Beach Post

JUPITER

The day before Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen rode out from the Jupiter Inlet to the Atlantic Ocean in July 2015 for what would be the last time, the boys messaged at least one friend to ask if the friend wanted to come along fishing the following day.

Me and Austin r (siq) crossing to the Bahamas tomorrow come with us, Cohen wrote in an Instagram message to a friend, according to court documents.

Another friend of Austin Stephanos told investigators that same day the 14-year-old boys had been talking about heading out to the Bahamas, but decided it was too rough that day.

The interviews, accounts and messages are part of a December court filing in the civil-court proceeding over Austin Stephanoss recovered cellphone, which was found when the 18-foot boat was recovered near Bermuda nearly eight months after the Tequesta teens disappeared. The documents were intended to compel a judge to let Cohens family have access to any information on Austin Stephanoss cellphone, though Apple was not able to recover anything from the iPhone. The case remains open.

The new details come after recent developments in the case and nearly two years after the pair steered into a storm on the Atlantic. Though the boat and their life vests were eventually found, the boys were never seen again.

On Monday, Cohens family said it was considering a civil lawsuit days after a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigative report was released stating the agency found Stephanoss mother, Carly Black, had been negligent and recommended charges. The State Attorney did not go forward with charges.

A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report released Thursday said a weather-related incident was to blame in the boys disappearance. Originally it was speculated that something may have happened to the boats engine, but investigators discovered the engine was still working when the boat took on water.

Throughout interviews and documents, Cohens family insists the Stephanos family knew their son was not allowed to go out to the ocean without another adult present. The Stephanos family said he couldnt have tried to go out there because he knew that there had to be two boats or two engines to head out that far.

But the boys actions and their conversations the day before their journey seem to show otherwise.

On July 23, 2015, Stephanos and Cohen were preparing for a trip. Though they wanted to go out to the Bahamas that day, Stephanos told at least one friend, who was later interviewed by investigators, that it was too rough that day, so theyd try the next, according to the document. When he talked about a fishing trip to his grandfather, who gifted him the 1977, single-engine boat, the man asked him how much gas he needed, then left him a $100 bill. Investigators would later find out the pair bought $122 worth of fuel.

Perry, meanwhile, asked another friend if he wanted to join over Instagram, saying they wouldnt check in, referring to skipping customs to get to the Bahamas. A map given to investigators by one of the boys friends detailed a path the teens might have tried to take that day.

That night, Perry asked his stepfather, Nicholas Korniloff, if he could use his GPS on the boat because Stephanos was looking to buy one. Though Korniloff protested at first, saying there wasnt a mount for it in the boat, he eventually said they could have it.

Its not going to work. But if (you) need to satisfy your curiosity, go ahead, Korniloff remembered telling him, according to the report.

The following day, July 24, after the boys stopped by the home of Stephanos grandmother to pick up supplies, filled up with gas and headed out of the inlet into a brewing storm, Stephanos shared a photo on Snapchat: three fishing roads stick out the back of a boat with the words Peace Out Jup written across it.

Another friend of the teens told investigators that when someone said, Peace out Jup, it usually meant they were headed to the Bahamas.

Staff researcher Melanie Mena contributed to this story.

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Missing Florida teens: Messages, maps point to trip to Bahamas - Palm Beach Post