MILWUAKEE - The mother of the 14-year-old Milwaukee boy who drowned in Racine County is speaking publicly for the first time about the controversy surrounding her son's death.

With family at her side, Cherry Nelson remembers her 14-year-old son Darieus.

"I would like my son back," she told TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Tom Murray in the office of her pastor at Redemption Fellowship Church. "I don't sleep at night, because I'm so used to him being there. He'd come in and kiss me."

Loved ones comforted this grieving mother when she arrived for Sunday morning's service. Relatives waited for two days on the shore of Browns Lake in Racine County. The watched divers and a helicopter search for the body of the boy who did not know how to swim.

"He wanted to become a football player," Cherry recounted.

Darieus talked about that dream just one week before his death during an interview. A TODAY'S TMJ4 crew spoke with him while working on a report about a free summer fitness camp for Milwaukee teens.

"I'd rather be here than at home playing video games," Darieus said on July 7. "Video games don't really do anything for you."

Cherry Nelson contends she gave permission for her son's gym teacher Michael Hicks to pick up Darieus and drive him to the boot camp sessions in South Milwaukee. However, Cherry maintains Hicks never asked to take Darieus out on his boat near Burlington after last Tuesday's workout.

"He did not get my permission," Cherry explained.  "I didn't know anything about this. I would have never let my child go anywhere swimming."

This mother said Hicks has not contacted her since the drowning.

"That's who I was waiting to hear from because I just want to know what happened," she said. "Why was my child out there?"

Authorities tell TODAY'S TMJ4 that Hicks will likely not face criminal charges. Hick's attorney said is client believed he had permission to take Darieus boating.