A 19-foot boat, which has been missing since last July, has been recovered in the Atlantic, restarting the saga of two families’ tragedy involving their two missing sons, lawyers, lawsuits, and suggestions of abduction and foul play.

On Friday, July 28th, 2015, two fourteen-year-old boys, Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen, headed out the Jupiter Inlet into the Atlantic Ocean in a 19-foot open boat powered by a single outboard motor. That afternoon there were reports of squalls and high winds. The boys did not return to the inlet that evening.

The Coast Guard led an eight-day search in the Atlantic for the boys, covering 50,000 nautical miles. The boy’s boat was found capsized the following Sunday with no one aboard, 180 miles to the north. Coast Guard swimmers were lowered by helicopter to search the boat but found no sign of the two 14-year-olds. Because the boat was found late in the day, the Coast Guard attached a locator beacon to the boat and returned to their base. When they returned the next day, they found that the beacon had malfunctioned and the boat had drifted away and the Coast Guard was unable to locate it. The boy’s bodies have not been found.

On March 18, a Norwegian supply boat, Edda Fjord, found the boat adrift about 100 miles off Bermuda. As the boat was floating in a shipping lane, it was brought aboard the supply boat, which was on a bound for Norway. Personal items including Austin Stephanos’ cell phone and plastic tackle boxes were found on board. The phone was heavily water damaged.  Subsequently, the boat was identified as the one on which Stephanos and Cohen disappeared by a marine supply store sticker and engine serial number.  The personal effects have been returned to the United States while the boat is expected to arrive in the United States by shipping container from Norway on May 16.

The discovery of the boat did not bring closure to the families. Instead after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which had custody of the phone, turned it over to Austin Stephanos’ family, the Cohen family sued, arguing that it should be turned over to third-party investigators for professional examination. The Stephanos is sending the phone to Apple for investigation. Technical experts have commented that after so long in salt water, data on the phone may or may not be retrievable.

Photos of boat itself have also caused controversy. A photo showing the boat’s battery switch turned to the “off” position has caused the parent of Perry Cohen to suggest that this is evidence of foul play or that the boys may have been abducted, although the basis for these claims is unclear. Now doubt, when the boat itself arrives in May, the drama will continue.

Missing Boys’ Boat Found Hundreds Of Miles Away From Florida

Thanks to Bob McKane for contributing to this post.