MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. – The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said they have “preliminarily determined” a body found Friday belongs to 18-year-old Giovanni Pelletier, the teen who went missing from Charlotte County last week, according to a news release.
Deputies said they made the determination based on evidence collected from the scene.
According to the release, the decomposed body was found on Friday in a retention pond near the southbound off-ramp of Interstate 75 and State Road 70.
On Monday, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said they were looking for Pelletier, who was last seen in Manatee County on Friday, Aug. 1.
According to the sheriff’s office, Giovonni Pelletier was vacationing with his family in Englewood before leaving around 1:30 a.m. to visit relatives in Brevard County.
While traveling north on I-75 with his cousins, Pelletier began acting erratically before exiting the vehicle and walking away near State Road 70 in Manatee County, the sheriff’s office said.
But on Friday, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey addressed questions about the agency’s involvement in the search for Pelletier.
Sheriff Ivey said that the only connection to Brevard County is that three young men Pelletier was with are from Brevard County.
According to Ivey, there is no evidence Pelletier ever came to Brevard County.
Officials from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said a positive identification is pending further testing and an autopsy is scheduled for Sunday.
The investigation is ongoing.
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