I'm sure many of you are familiar with this sad case that's been in the news. 2 14 year old boys, Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen, went missing after leaving the Jupiter/West Palm Beach area of Florida to go boating. There ended up being storms and their capsized boat was found a whopping 2 hours north of where they were last seen. An extensive search involving the Coast Guard, Navy and many volunteers has turned up no sign of the boys, who have now been missing for two weeks. It was believed they might have been able to survive for some time after the storm.

In a twist to the case, the boat itself is now missing.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/missing-florida-teens-fishing-austin-perry-boat-disappears/

I am an admitted "helicopter parent," so keep that in mind.

That being said, who in their right mind lets their FOURTEEN year old go fishing IN THE OCEAN without an adult present??

I don't get it. This is horrible.

I am an admitted "helicopter parent," so keep that in mind.

That being said, who in their right mind lets their FOURTEEN year old go fishing IN THE OCEAN without an adult present??

I don't get it. This is horrible.

Yes. It took me some time to come around, but Austin's mother has said several things that just don't wash with me in the end:

1) Her statement that they "knew how to swim before they learned how to walk" Huh? So they were swimming at like 8 months or before?

2) Her statement that she trusted their skills so much she would even have let her toddler go with them. I can't even muster a response to that.

I don't want to speak ill about her too much considering the grief she's going through, but jeez, she's an airhead.

Yes. It took me some time to come around, but Austin's mother has said several things that just don't wash with me in the end:

1) Her statement that they "knew how to swim before they learned how to walk" Huh? So they were swimming at like 8 months or before?

2) Her statement that she trusted their skills so much she would even have let her toddler go with them. I can't even muster a response to that.

I don't want to speak ill about her too much considering the grief she's going through, but jeez, she's an airhead.

Swimming at under a year, I believe, is possible. Especially if you've constantly got the kiddos in water. Obviously, the child is enclosed in water for the first 9 months of life, so I think its easier to teach them to swim the younger you start.

The second comment is where I give the side-eye. And I still can't believe they were allowed to go out alone, even if they knew how to swim like fish.

I think if I can take away one comfort from this tragedy it's the likelihood that they at least didn't go through the ordeal alone. They had each other. I can only imagine what happened out there, but it would have been that much more excruciating to go through it alone.

Goodness, the boat has been found after all this time...near Bermuda.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/boat-belonging-missing-florida-teens-austin-stephanos-perry-cohen-found-n561001

They're now checking Austin's I-phone and attempting and hoping to retrieve some information on it that might give us some clues. It's been submerged in water for 8 months though.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/iphone-missing-teen-lost-sea-hold-answers-disappearance/story?id=38648964

This leads to a nagging question though: If the boys really did encounter severe storms on the ocean, why wouldn't they have used the phone for help?

I've never been able to shake the unsettling feeling they may have been kidnapped, and the location of their disappearance doesn't exactly ease my fears any.

this story continues to get weirder:

sightings and other weird activity:

https://weather.com/news/news/missing-florida-teens-perry-cohen-austin-stephanos

foul play angle:

http://www.inquisitr.com/3059609/missing-florida-teens-legal-expert-takes-a-hard-look-at-perry-cohen-austin-stephanos-missing-case/

I definitely think this case is the strangest disappearance of the last several years. Few months away from it being eligible to put up on Charley.

I know there was some speculation that they were either put into white slavery or killed by pirates.

I know there was some speculation that they were either put into white slavery or killed by pirates.

I literally got shivers reading that.

Some show needs to cover this.

Although the boat's ignition switch was turned off, I'm not sure why authorites aren't considering the possibility that one of the boys fell overboard in the storm and the other one turned off the boat to try to save his friend, only to fall in himself and succumb to the storm?

Although the boat's ignition switch was turned off, I'm not sure why authorites aren't considering the possibility that one of the boys fell overboard in the storm and the other one turned off the boat to try to save his friend, only to fall in himself and succumb to the storm?

It's like the Jeremy Bright case. There are a lot of theories and NONE of them are pleasant.

There's been some debate over the ignition and battery switches. Some say they were in a hard to get to area and wouldn't have been flicked off by the storm, others disagree. It's impossible to say.

I know the simplest explanation here is that they encountered storms, got knocked off the boat and eventually drowned. And maybe that's what happened. But something just gnaws at me.

Is it just me, or is not weird that neither of them got back to the boat? I believe it still would have ran, but if not, they could have just used it for shelter. And how far could they have got away from it?

I think I've heard more possibilities floating around here than on any other case.

-that they died from shark attacks (apparently there are a lot of shark attacks in that area).
-that they voluntarily went to the Bahamas (one of them apparently sent a text to a friend that said "Bahamas bound", though this seems unlikely).
-that they were targeted for robbery (thousands of dollars worth of expensive rods and reels on board).
-died from the elements.
-kidnapped.
-murdered.

Ugh. This one is killing me. And why didn't they use that cell phone?

cross posting this:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=350080

Hrmph! Just popped $6 for a People magazine to read the article that was on this case, figuring they'd have some extra info not available elsewhere. Nope, just a bunch of repetitive, generic info about how they'e going to examine the boat, and the two families (sadly) griping at each other or avoiding each other completely. I feel stupid for wasting money.