Giovanni Pelletier Missing: Teen Sent Chilling Text Prior to Disappearing

Yahoo

a day ago

An 18-year-old boy from North Carolina has not been seen or heard from since Aug. 1--the same day he sent his mother a frightening two-word text message.
Giovanni Pelletier was on a family trip to Florida with his mother, Bridgette Pelletier, her fiancé, Jeremy Brown, and Giovanni's four younger siblings, when he vanished in the early morning hours of last Friday. The purpose of the trip was for Pelletier to connect with his father's side of the family after years of estrangement, his mother told PEOPLE.
Bridgette Pelletier said her son had arranged for three of his cousins on his father's side to pick him up from where he was staying in Englewood, Fla. They did that at around 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 1.
A short time later, things got worrisome.
'Mom help'
Bridgette said that within 30 minutes of being picked up by his cousins, Giovanni texted her twice. One of the messages simply said "Mom help."
Giovanni also tried calling his mother at 1:56 a.m. and one minute later on FaceTime, Bridgette told PEOPLE. The teen also reached out to his aunt and grandfather when he couldn't reach her.
Bridgette did not see the calls and messages until 6:20 a.m. Friday when she awoke. She also says there was a missed call from one of the cousins who had picked Giovanni up.
"He only called me that one time," she told PEOPLE of her son's cousin. "And then no effort was made to communicate with me. No effort was made to come back to the house to let me know."
Troubling stories emerge
Later on, Bridgette said Giovanni's paternal grandfather left her a voicemail claiming her son had an altercation with his cousins, who left him on the side of the road in Bradenton. The grandfather said he did not have all the information but wished to be notified of when Giovanni was located.
Eventually, the cousin who had attempted to call Bridgette early Friday morning got in touch with her. He says Giovanni got into an argument with them over smoking marijuana and it led to a fight on the roadside, during which the boy says Giovanni pulled out a knife
"When that happened, they said they wrestled the knife from him, and then my son took off running," Bridgette said.
Bridgette says she recovered her son's phone and backpack, which had been left at the side of the road.
"My son eats, sleeps, showers, breathes his phone," she added, saying he wouldn't have left it there.
A reward is being offered
So far, a $10,000 reward has been offered, and a GoFundMe has been started to help aid the search efforts. Nearly $9,000 has been raised as of Thursday afternoon.
The investigation into Giovanni's disappearance spans from North Carolina down to Manatee County, Florida.
'We do not have any updates on this investigation and continue to ask anyone with information to come forward,' a Charlotte County Sheriff's Office spokesperson told the New York Post.
Bridgette also expressed disappointment with the law enforcement search efforts for her son and said she believes the boy's cousins know more than they are saying.
"None of these kids that were with him have tried to call me and ask me if I found him, asked me if he's okay, asked me anything," she said.
Giovanni Pelletier Missing: Teen Sent Chilling Text Prior to Disappearing first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 7, 2025
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