Missing teen found dead in pond caught on camera alone ‘sprinting’ toward water: ‘There’s no one chasing him’

BRADENTON, Fla. - More than one week after 18-year-old Giovanni Pelletier was found dead in a Manatee County retention pond, the sheriff’s office is releasing video that sheds more light on what he was doing before he disappeared earlier this month.

The video was shown during a press conference on Tuesday, and it shows Pelletier running, almost uncontrollably, down an embankment leading to the retention pond where his body was later located.

What they're saying:

"There’s no one in this area with Giovanni," Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells explained. "There’s no one chasing him. He’s by himself. What we don’t know is what happened when he hit that pond. We don’t know. The death is undetermined. We know we don’t have anybody come down that embankment after him. He’s there, we believe, until he was located by that family friend on Friday, the 8th. We really don’t know what happened when he got into that pond."

The sheriff said they are still waiting for the medical examiner to determine a cause of death, and they are still waiting for toxicology reports, which could take up to two months.

The backstory:

Pelletier was on vacation in Englewood with family from North Carolina when he left around 1:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 1, to go visit relatives on Florida’s east coast.

He got into a vehicle with a cousin from his biological father’s side of the family, along with two of the cousin's friends, but according to relatives, Giovanni had never met the men in person. He had only spoken to one cousin on the phone before.

After reconnecting with his biological father’s side of the family, Pelletier made plans for his cousins to pick him up to see additional family in Brevard County.

Pelletier and his cousin texted about smoking weed and, according to Sheriff Wells, Peletier wrote that he hadn’t smoked weed in a while because he had court stuff going on in North Carolina. 

"I definitely need a smoke," Pelletier texted back.

According to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, Pelletier’s cousin said not long into the drive, they smoked weed in the car and Pelletier started "tripping."

Investigators said they stopped the car along River Road before they got to I-75 because Pelletier needed to use the bathroom.

The cousin told detectives Pelletier was acting out and started "raging" before getting back into the car.

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According to MCSO, the four continued driving north on I-75 and at 1:55 am., Pelletier sent his mother a text that read, "Help." One minute later he sent his mother another text that said "help" and then a text that said "me."

Another person in the car told investigators that while Pelletier was tripping, he said, "I am a demon and I will wreck this car."

The sheriff said the people in the car told detectives Pelletier also said he would kill them all, and he opened the car door while the car was still moving on I-75 near SR 70. Wells said Pelletier was known to carry knives.

According to MCSO, the driver pulled the vehicle over, and they said Pelletier got out of the car and started running in the southbound lanes of I-75. Then he ran into the northbound lanes and almost got hit by a truck.

The sheriff said Pelletier left his backpack and cellphone behind and the people in the car took the items and placed them on the side of SR 70.

Timeline:

According to MCSO, at 2:26 a.m. the cousin called his grandfather to let him know that Pelletier got out of the car. At 2:27 a.m. he called Pelletier’s mother, but she didn’t answer. 

The trio continued driving to Brevard County.

At 6:50 a.m. the cousin called Pelletier’s mother again and told her what had happened.

At 7:13 a.m. Pelletier’s mother called 911 and asked the operator to have deputies do a wellness check near where Pelletier got out of the vehicle.

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Pelletier’s mother told the 911 operator there was an altercation involving a knife before he got out of the car. She said the people in the car gave her son some bad marijuana, and he started freaking out.

The sheriff said a trucker saw the backpack and cell phone on I-75, picked up the items and drove them to Tampa.

Pelletier’s mother, according to Wells, saw her son’s phone moving but didn’t know a truck driver had her son’s phone.

She called Tampa police and an officer located the truck driver doing work and recovered the phone and the backpack.

Shortly before 9:30 a.m., the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office opened a missing person’s case and contacted the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.

Dig deeper:

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said the family willingly turned over the vehicle to be processed.

"They said take it, do whatever you need to do. The crime scene went through it and there was no evidence of wrongdoing," said Ivey.

On Friday, Aug. 8, a family friend found a partially submerged body in a retention pond near the intersection of I-75 and State Road 70 in Manatee County.

That body was positively identified as Pelletier on Aug. 14.

Pelletier's family has called for federal investigators to take over after they claim local law enforcement has "failed to treat the case with urgency."

What's next:

Sheriff Wells said officials are still awaiting toxicology reports on Pelletier's body.

He added that Pelletier's family can view the videos of him running on the interstate and then sprinting toward the retention pond alone.