Overview

• A male body recovered on Aug. 8 from a retention pond off the I-75/SR 70 off-ramp in Manatee County has been preliminarily identified as 18-year-old Giovanni Pelletier.
• Pelletier vanished on Aug. 1 after sending his mother a distress text reading “Mom, help”; his backpack and cellphone were found near the discovery site.
• The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office has opened a death investigation and scheduled an autopsy and toxicology screening to determine the cause of death.
• Authorities say there are no immediate signs of foul play in the teen’s death pending further forensic analysis.
• Pelletier’s family has confirmed his passing, requested privacy for his four younger siblings and questioned the shifting accounts provided by the cousins he was traveling with.