The family of one of two missing Tequesta, Florida, boaters is insisting that the state's top law-enforcement agency take a lead role in investigating the disappearances and treat the case as a possible criminal matter.
Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos haven't been seen since they were spotted leaving the Jupiter Inlet in a 19-foot boat July 24.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Wednesday it will play a back-up role to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the lead investigative agency in the case. The FDLE’s decision came after its commissioner, Rick Swearingen, received a letter from State Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, requesting that the agency begin a criminal investigation “to determine what happened” to the boys.
FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said Wednesday that the agency “will be providing forensic and investigative assistance” but emphasized that FWC remains the lead investigatory body.
Guy Rubin, the Cohen family’s attorney, said in a prepared statement that as of Tuesday, the FWC had not requested the FDLE’s assistance and added a letter he received Wednesday morning from the FWC indicated it wasn’t asking for help.
The letter, Rubin said, stated the FWC's "boating accident investigation team" will conduct "a thorough forensic examination" of the boys' boat, which was found capsized in March about 100 miles off the coast of Bermuda by a Norwegian cargo ship. The boat arrived at Port Everglades this week.
“While we appreciate the FWC’s efforts, and believe it has the resources for accident reconstruction and evaluating the boat from a mechanical standpoint, FWC’s letter makes clear that the FWC is still making assumptions before the evidence is gathered — that this was a boating accident,” Rubin said.
The FWC did not respond to a request for comment.
Pamela Cohen, Perry's mother, previously battled the FWC after it released an iPhone belonging to Austin Stephanos and found on the boys' boat to his father, Blu Stephanos. Cohen filed a motion against Austin Stephanos' parents and the FWC asking a judge to preserve the phone and assure that a third party investigate its contents.
The phone was analyzed forensically at Apple, but revealed no new information.
In his letter, Slosberg asked the FDLE to begin a criminal investigation into the cause of the boys’ disappearance.
“Until all other possibilities, including but not limited to, murder, abduction, sex trafficking, have been ruled out, we need to commit our best resources by the most appropriate state agency [to] handle this investigation … FDLE,” said Slosberg, a member of the state Legislature’s Highway and Waterway Safety Subcommittee.
“We owe it to the parents of Austin and Perry to make every attempt to find out what happen(ed) to their children,” Slosberg wrote.
About the Author
