Joey Krizka was likely the last person on Friday to see missing Tequesta teens Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen before they took off on their trip. The 14-year-old boys pulled up to the Jib Yacht Club and Marina on Beach Road and were there sometime between 10 a.m. and 11:09 a.m., Krizka, the marina's manager, told The Palm Beach Post on Monday.
The teens pumped $122 worth of gas into the 19-foot single-engine vessel but were short on cash and had only $109. Krizka remembers the two boys pulled out their cell phones to call their moms for more money, but Krizka told them they could pay the difference next time. The $122 of gas equaled 28 gallons, he said.
“Now I kind of wish I would have let them call their mom,” Krizka said. “If I’m the last one to see them, maybe they would have not been where they were at.”
Austin and Perry visited the Tequesta marina a couple times a week during the summer, Krizka said. On Friday, the boys bought a Gatorade and a soda. They didn’t buy bait, but they could have had that already on the boat, he said. He saw four fishing poles and a cooler. He didn’t see any life jackets, but Krizka said they were probably in the hatches.
The teens didn’t tell Krizka where they planned to go, but he said he doesn’t think they were headed to the Bahamas, as it has been reported.
“They didn’t have any supplies,” he said.
Krizka thinks they were planning on going out to the Intracoastal or offshore, like they usually did.
Since Friday, the boys’ families have called Krizka asking for details, he said. And he went through the trash to find the boys’ receipt to determine what time they were at the marina.
“I hope they find them,” he said.
About the Author
