The body of missing 18-year-old Giovanni Pelletier of North Carolina was found in a Florida retention pond after officials and his relatives launched a search.
Pelletier disappeared while he was vacationing in Englewood with relatives, Fox 35 reported Saturday.
The young man left on August 1 to visit family in Brevard County and got into a car with a cousin from his biological father’s side and a couple of the cousin’s friends. However, the victim’s family said he had never met the men in person.
Nearly 30 minutes later, Pelletier reportedly sent a text message to his mother that said, “Help me,” per Breitbart News.
“According to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO), the cousin and his friends told deputies Pelletier began to act erratically and got out of the car near I-75 and S.R. 70 in Manatee County. His backpack and phone were found on the side of the road later that day,” the Fox article continued.
The teen’s mother reportedly said the grandfather her son was supposed to meet told her there was an altercation and the cousins left him on the side of the road, per the Breitbart News report.
Family members, officials, and a nonprofit group called We Are The Essentials launched a search for the missing teen, who was later found on Friday in the retention pond at the southbound off-ramp of Interstate 75 and SR 70 in Manatee County, according to ABC 11.
There was no immediate evidence of foul play, but an autopsy will be performed to find more answers into how the young man died.
Video footage shows search crews at the retention pond where he was located:
Retired FBI Special Agent Frank Brostrom said officials will gain evidence from his body to piece together how he died.
The ABC 11 article noted that “investigators can match up with the version of events given by the cousins that he got in the car with. Twenty minutes after getting in the car, he sent an ominous text to his mom asking for help. His cousins told investigators Gio was acting erratically and pulled a knife, before leaving him on the side of the road.”
In the aftermath of her loss, his mother, Bridgette Pelletier, said she is “living every parent’s worst nightmare” as she and other relatives grieve.
