The footage allegedly shows Giovannni Pelletier almost get hit by a truck running across the freeway, before an “controllable sprint” down an embankment toward the pond where his body was recovered; this after his cousins say they smoked weed and he started “raging,” before texting his mother “help.”
Authorities in Florida provided a major update in the death of 18-year-old Giovanni Pelletier, the teen whose body was found in a pond a week after he went missing during a family trip to Florida.
On Tuesday, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office gave a press conference in which they detailed Pelletier’s alleged actions the night of his disappearance, after he was picked up by his paternal cousin and two of his cousin’s friends around 1:30 a.m. on August 1 to drive with them to Brevard County.
Per Sheriff Rick Wells, Giovanni had never met the three men who picked him up in person before, but spoke and texted with his cousin beforehand.
During the presser, new video footage was also shown of the “last sighting” of Pelletier — possibly filmed moments before he ended up in the pond where his body was found.
“They text about smoking weed. Giovanni says, ‘I haven’t had a smoke in a while because of court stuff going on in North Carolina,’ and he goes on to say, ‘I definitely need a smoke,'” Wells said of their texts that night. Per Pelletier’s cousin, in an interview with police, “not long into the drive, they start smoking weed in the car and Giovanni starts tripping.”
As they pulled the car over so Giovanni could use the bathroom, the other three told authorities he was “acting out and raging” before getting back into the vehicle. Moments later, at 1:55 a.m., he texted his mom saying, “Help” — before another two messages a minute later reading, “Help” and “Me.”
One of the cousin’s friends told police Giovanni was “tripping … telling them, ‘I am a demon and I will wreck this car and will kill them all.'” The friend also said he tried opening the door, while the car was still moving. The three said they then pulled over, hearing Giovanni had a knife on him. Per Wells, Pelletier always carried one — and confirmed it was still in its sheath, never taken out.
It’s then they said Pelletier got out of the vehicle and booked it, as they saw him “almost get hit by a truck.” That’s when they said they last saw him, leaving his backpack and phone on the side of the road. A short while later, the cousin called his grandfather, telling him what happened, before trying to call Giovanni’s mother a minute later, though she didn’t answer. They kept driving home, before the cousin called Giovanni’s mother again around 6:50 a.m. and told her what happened.
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Later that morning, a truck driver found the backpack and phone and took them with him toward Tampa, where Giovanni’s mother tracked it. Tampa police later located both items. Per Wells, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office processed the vehicle that picked up Giovanni and found “no foul play, no blood, no evidence” inside. Though he said marijuana residue was found inside the car, Wells was unsure whether it was tested.
It would be about a week, on August 8, when Pelletier’s body was found in a pond by a private investigator hired by his family.
“No signs of any trauma to the body, no indication he was shot, no indication he was stabbed,” said Wells, who added that the medical examiner still hasn’t determined a cause of death, while they also await toxicology results. The Sheriff also said the cousin and his friends have been cooperative, even pinpointing where Giovanni got out of the car.
It’s then Wells shared two new pieces of video, showing what appears to be the teen running from the vehicle around 2:18 on the night in question. The highway footage shows a truck swerving out of the way to avoid hitting someone. A nearby Lowe’s, meanwhile, provided additional video showing someone running down what Wells called a “steep embankment” in an “almost uncontrollable sprint.”
Per Wells, the pond where Giovanni’s body was found was just at the edge of the embankment, just out of view of the camera.
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“The important thing I want you to see is that there’s no one chasing him. There’s no one around him. When he’s coming down that embankment, the vehicle is two miles away,” said Wells. “So, there’s no one in this area with Giovanni. There’s no one chasing him. He’s by himself.”
“What we don’t know is what happened when he hit that pond. I’m not going to speculate. The death is undetermined,” he continued. “We don’t have anyone that comes down that embankment after him, they don’t look for him. He’s there, we believe, until he was located by the family friend on Friday, the 8th. We don’t know what happened once he got to the pond.”
That video, said Wells, is “the last sighting of him that night.”
That body was positively identified as Pelletier on August 14.
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