Three young men went for a drive in Philadelphia. Only one came home, according to police. Now, the families of Ausar Scott-Thomas, 21, and Quadir Diaz, 18, want answers. "This was not an accident," Ausar's mother tells Inside Edition Digital.
The frustrated families of two young men are begging for answers in a mysterious case that began with three friends taking a late-night drive. Only one of them came home, authorities said.
The bodies of Ausar Scott-Thomas, 21, and Quadir Diaz, 18, were pulled from Philadelphia waters weeks after they disappeared on March 7, police said.
The remains of Diaz were discovered Tuesday in the Wissahickon Creek, authorities said. Scott-Thomas' body was identified April 2 by his father after police found him floating in the Schuylkill River.
"We won't know anything until the autopsies come back," Okema Beauford, Ausar's mother, tells Inside Edition Digital on Friday. "This was not an accident. They didn't just jump into the water. They were either chased or they were pushed," she says.
The young men were accompanied by another man for a late-night drive, according to relatives and police. The third young man later showed up at the house of Quadir's mother, saying the three had ran in different directions after they were chased and hit by another vehicle, the mom said.
On Wednesday, at a memorial for her son, Taniesha Diaz told WTXF-TV she was heartened by the more than 100 mourners who gathered to pay their respects to Quadir "Quaddy" Diaz. "He just had a big heart," she said.
But she also has questions.
"I just need answers. I need the city to give me answers. It's not over," Diaz told the station.
Both families have conducted searches, passed out fliers and visited places where their sons frequented. Internet sleuths in the area have posted an avalanche of social media missives containing rumors and speculation about what happened to the two men.
Police have said little about the strange case, citing the ongoing investigation. The third man on that fateful drive has not been publicly named.
Inside Edition Digital reached out for comment Friday to Philadelphia police, but has not heard back.
Diaz and Scott-Thomas had been good friends since childhood, their families said.
Scott-Thomas' mother says her son had an apartment down the street from his father, and had been studying electrical engineering at a technical college.
She and her ex-husband were surprised to learn that Ausar had not attended class since the Christmas break, she said. Beauford said she learned her son had been AWOL from class when she went to the school to hand out missing fliers bearing her son's image.
Ausar had never let on that he'd stopped going to class, she said.
"He was doing very well before he dropped out," Beauford tells Inside Edition Digital. "I don't get it. I know he didn't want to disappoint me or his dad, so he lied to me and to his dad" about college, she said.
She blames "bad influences" for her son's departure from class. "If he was still in school, we wouldn't be having this conversation," she said.
Beauford says she plans to meet with police to make sure her son and his friend are not forgotten, and to push them for answers in the strange and mysterious investigation.
"These are two young men who lost their lives. I want answers," she says. "We're not giving up. I'm not accepting that they jumped in the water. No way."
