Florida authorities have recovered the body of Giovanni Pelletier, the 18-year-old from North Carolina who disappeared on 1 August after sending his mother a text reading, “Help me.” The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said the remains were found on Friday in a retention pond off the southbound off-ramp of Interstate 75 at State Road 70, close to where the teenager’s phone had last pinged. Pelletier had travelled to Florida with his mother to meet relatives on his incarcerated father’s side. According to deputies, he left Englewood that day with a cousin and two of the cousin’s friends; about 25 minutes into the drive he sent distressed messages to several family members. The cousin told investigators the teen began acting erratically, pulled a knife and then exited the vehicle on the highway. His backpack and phone were later recovered on the roadside. Investigators said there were no immediate signs of foul play, but an autopsy scheduled for Sunday will determine the cause and manner of death. The search—conducted by family members, local deputies and the nonprofit We Are The Essentials—had extended across nearby wooded areas and waterways before concluding with Friday’s discovery. The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office continues to treat the case as an open death investigation.