Officials are still searching for a missing teenager who, right before he disappeared in Florida, sent his mother a chilling text message.
The subject of the search is 18-year-old Giovanni Pelletier who was vacationing with relatives from North Carolina when he went to visit other relatives in the eastern part of the state on August 1, Fox 13 reported on Friday.
The outlet continued:
He got into a white Chevy Malibu 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.
Roughly 25 minutes into the trip, Giovanni sent a chilling message to his mother: “Help me.” He also messaged other family members with similar pleas. That was the last time anyone heard from him.
As the search enters its eight day, the nonprofit group called We Are The Essentials is also working to locate Pelletier, per WFLA.
The cousins who picked him up told officials with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office that when they were going north on Interstate 75, the teen began acting erratically, got out of the vehicle, and walked away near State Road 70 in Manatee County. The young man’s cellphone and backpack were reportedly later found in that area.
His aunt told WESH, “We want to find Gio, that’s our goal end here, is to find him no matter what.”
His mother said her son is not the kind of young man who would cause stress or problems for no reason.
“He will try to figure out everything out on his own before he brings it to you as an issue. This isn’t just one person. Gio has such a domino effect on the people that are impacted by this. You can see how many people are trying to come together, so many strangers, anybody that met Gio. He lights up a room,” Bridgette Pelletier stated.
His family is now offering a reward of $25,000 for information leading officials to his whereabouts.
According to ABC 11, the teen’s mother and step father were asleep when the text and a phone call from him came in. “The next morning, Gio’s mom, later told by the grandfather he was supposed to meet that there had been an altercation and the cousins left him on the side of the road,” a reporter for the outlet said.
