by Maya Chung
The mother of a Florida teen who went missing at sea in 2015 along with his friend filed a wrongful death suit against the other teen's family on Friday.
The filing, which took place at the Palm Beach County Courthouse, came just days before the two year anniversary of the boys’ disappearance.
Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos, both 14, went missing off the coast of Florida during a fishing trip on Austin's boat the morning July 24. Two days later, the 19-foot fishing boat was spotted capsized during a widespread search for the teens.
The boys have since been presumed dead.
“This lawsuit is about truth, accountability and justice,” attorney Guy Rubin said in a statement on behalf of Pamela Cohen, Perry’s mother. “Perry’s family can not just move on, put this behind them or let it go.”
Cohen alleges in the lawsuit that Austin’s family was negligent and that it resulted in the boys’ deaths.
In June, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found that Carly Black, Austin’s mother, showed an “egregious lack of judgement and failure to execute due care” when she allowed the teens to go alone on a fishing trip in a “minimally equipped” 1978 boat.