Teen vanished on trip to see estranged dad's family after sending haunting text to mom
Giovanni Pelletier, 18, was last seen around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 1, when his cousins came to pick him up from where he was staying on a trip to connect with his dad's side of the family, his mom, Bridgette Pelletier, told People magazine.
Within 30 minutes, he sent two texts to his mom — including one begging her, 'Mom help.'
3 Giovanni Pelletier was last seen on Aug. 1 after disappearing on a road trip with his cousins.
GoFundMe
The teen also called his at 1:56 a.m. and tried to reach her again a minute later on FaceTime — then texted an aunt and his grandfather for help when he didn't get a reply from his mom.\
However, his mom, who was staying with him on the Florida trip, missed them as she slept — and woke at 6:20 a.m. to the eerie messages from her son, along with a missed call from one of the cousins who'd picked up Giovanni, she said.
Bridgette Pelletier said she then got a message from her son's paternal grandfather — whom he'd been heading to see — claiming that Giovanni had fought with his cousins as they smoked marijuana, getting left on the side of the road in Bradenton for pulling out a knife.
'He said he didn't have all the information but for me to let him know when I found Giovanni,' the tearful mom told People.
Bridgette eventually discovered her son's phone in his backpack, abandoned by the side of the road, using GPS data.
3 His mom, Bridgette Pelletier (l), has accused the cousins of not doing enough to find her son.
Facebook / Bridgette Pelletier
3 A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to Giovanni's discovery or an arrest and conviction.
Facebook / Bridgette Pelletier
'It was his phone and his backpack, and he wouldn't have left that. My son eats, sleeps, showers, breathes his phone,' she said.
She believes the cousins haven't told her the full story, and claimed none of them had helped her in the search for Giovanni, which has spanned Charlotte and Brevard counties.
'They said they wrestled the knife from him, and then my son took off running,' Bridgette said, describing the behavior as completely out of character for her son.
'He [the cousin] only called me that one time. And then no effort was made to communicate with me. No effort was made to come back to the house to let me know,' she said, through tears.
'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.
She also accused law enforcement of not doing enough to help find her son.
Brevard County Sheriff's Office did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
'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 Post.
Bridgette and Giovanni had traveled to Florida, where his estranged father lives, in late July, along with her fiancé, Jeremy Brown, and Giovanni's four siblings, to visit a relative undergoing chemotherapy.
A $10,000 reward is being offered for any information leading to Giovanni's discovery, or to an arrest and conviction.
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