CHARLOTTE COUNTY, FL — The search continues for a North Carolina teen who was vacationing in Florida when he went missing more than a week ago.
Giovonni Pelletier, 18, left Englewood, where he was staying with family, on Aug. 1 around 1:30 a.m. to visit other family members in Brevard County, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post.
His cousins told investigators that Pelletier “began to act erratically” while they were traveling north on Interstate 75 before getting out of the vehicle and walking away near State Road 70 in Manatee County, the sheriff’s office said.
His mother, Bridgette Pelletier, told People a different narrative about his disappearance.
She was asleep when cousins from his father’s side picked up the teen to bring him back to their home across the state for a visit.
Bridgette didn’t notice until after 6 a.m. that she had two missed texts, including one that said “Mom help," and a missed phone call and FaceTime attempt from her son just a half hour after he left, she told the media outlet. (Read her full interview with People here.)
One of the cousins he left with also tried calling her, and she learned later that her son called her sister and father for help, as well. Giovanni’s paternal grandfather also left her a voicemail saying that there had been an altercation between the teen and his cousins, who left him on the side of the road in Bradenton, she told People.
She used the GPS data from his phone to track him down and found his backpack and phone on the side of the road.
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“He wouldn’t have left that,” Bridgette said. “My son eats, sleeps, showers, breathes his phone.”
When she spoke to the cousin who tried calling her overnight, he told her that the group smoked marijuana after they picked up Giovanni, who panicked, cursed at them and pulled out a knife while they were on the side of the road, People said. He allegedly ran off after they got the knife away from him.
His mother said that this doesn't sound like how her son would act.
While his siblings and stepfather have returned to North Carolina for the start of the new school year, his mother remains in Florida trying to find Giovanni, who “has gone missing under deeply troubling and suspicious circumstances,” according to a GoFundMe fundraiser launched by his aunt.
As of Friday afternoon, the family has raised nearly $16,000. The donations will be used to allow Bridgette to remain in Florida as she searches for her son.
“Giovanni is smart, kind and full of life. He didn’t deserve this. Our family is devastated, terrified, and doing everything in our power to bring him home — but we’re receiving very little help from officials, and we are being forced to search on our own,” his aunt wrote on GoFundMe.
Anyone with tips in this case are asked to contact their local law enforcement agency for verification, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said. Those agencies will contact CCSO to follow up on valid tips.
CCSO can also be reached at its non-emergency line, 941-639-2101.