BRADENTON, Fla. (WFLA) — Officials released the cause of death for Giovanni Pelletier, a North Carolina teenager who went missing a week before his body was found in a Manatee County, Florida, retention pond.
Pelletier was passing through the area with his cousins on Aug. 1 when he exited the car along Interstate 75 near State Road 70 and ran away.
His cousins said he started “tripping” after the group smoked marijuana and was acting erratically, trying to escape the moving vehicle. Pelletier sent his mother a text saying “Mom help me” at around 2 a.m.
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Video from a nearby Lowes showed Pelletier running toward the retention pond, where his body was later discovered by a family friend…