A North Carolina community gathered this past weekend to honor the life of 18-year-old Giovanni Pelletier. Giovanni was found dead in a Florida pond last month, just days after he texted his mother asking for help.
The teen traveled from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Florida in July to spend time with relatives. On August 1, around 1:30 a.m., he was picked up in Englewood by a paternal cousin and two of the cousin’s friends.
According to Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells, the group planned to take Giovanni to Brevard County. Roughly half an hour later, Giovanni sent two text messages to his mother. One of them read, “Mom help.”
Authorities later said surveillance cameras captured Giovanni running at full speed down an embankment near the pond where his body was later found.
“He’s coming down there, almost [at an] uncontrollable sprint,” Sheriff Wells said during an August 19 news conference. He emphasized that the footage showed Giovanni alone. “The important thing that I want you to see — there’s no one chasing him. There’s no one around him,” Wells added.
The sheriff added that the vehicle Giovanni had been riding in was two miles away at the time the video was recorded. The three individuals who had traveled with him cooperated with the investigation and allowed deputies to search the car.
Investigators believe that Giovanni had been in the water for several days before his body was found. Although the circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear, authorities have said that no foul play is suspected. They also stated Giovanni may have smoked marijuana before getting into the car that night.
As reported by CBS affiliate WNCN, on Saturday, September 13, Giovanni’s family, friends, and community members gathered at Hope Community Church in Apex, North Carolina, to remember him. His girlfriend Arden spoke about the difficulty of processing what had happened.
View this post on Instagram
She described Giovanni as someone who brought laughter into every room. “No matter what, he was always spitting some jokes, finding something funny, he was always just being the brightest person in the room,” Arden said, according to the same outlet. She added that the situation remains “very confusing and very hard to process.”
Family members are also struggling to come to terms with his sudden loss. His maternal cousin Morgan Hall emphasized the family’s goal to celebrate Giovanni’s life in the way he would have wanted.
“We’re just trying to keep pushing forward, keep our heads high and do what he would want us to do and celebrate him the best we could,” Hall said. She admitted that waiting for answers has been emotionally draining.
The family of Giovanni Pelletier is struggling to put the pieces together behind his mysterious death. Authorities have “preliminarily determined” that human remains found in a retention pond in Manatee County belonged to the 18-year-old. Read more: https://t.co/pbbg1sxV0V pic.twitter.com/8tsFeGIZnJ
— TV One (@tvonetv) August 14, 2025
“As of right now, we’re still just in the waiting process, which makes it harder to grieve but it gives you a little hope at the end of the day that we might get a better resolution in the end,” she added.
Investigators are awaiting toxicology results to determine whether drugs or alcohol played a role in Giovanni’s death. Until those results are released, the family is left to keep searching for closure.
Giovanni’s mother, Bridgette Pelletier, has shared with PEOPLE how difficult it has been to live with the cryptic final texts from her son. She said Giovanni had sent the messages only about 30 minutes after getting into the car with relatives.
Giovanni Pelletier
Recall Gio went missing while on vacation with his mom and was later found dead after being picked up at 1:30 AM by his cousins.
Initial autopsy did not provide any obvious signs of the cause of death.
Officials are awaiting the toxicology results.
His… pic.twitter.com/amLqrFsOza
— Jennifer Coffindaffer (@CoffindafferFBI) August 18, 2025
She now has unanswered questions about the texts and the circumstances under which her son died, which has made grieving even more painful for her.
