Law&Crime Sidebar - New Footage Released in Teen's Mysterious Death

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. There's no one in this area with Giovanni. There's no one that's chasing him. He's by himself. We have learned a lot of new details about what apparently happened in the moments leading up to a teen's disappearance during a vacation in Florida. We're talking about Giovanni Pellateer. What he allegedly said to fellow passengers as they drove from I-75 to what traffic cameras showed him apparently doing,

Starting point is 00:00:38 we are taking you through the timeline step by step as the teenager's family tries to grapple with their sudden and enormous loss. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. More than a week after 18-year-old Giovanni Pellateer was found dead in a retention pond right off of the interstate. of law enforcement officers are revealing what has been uncovered so far in their investigation and why they still don't have concrete answers as to what exactly happened to Giovanni. Now for those of you who are new to this story real quick, here's what we know so far based on reporting that back on July 31st, Giovanni was with his mom, Bridgeta Pellateer, her fiance and his siblings on a trip to Englewood, Florida from North Carolina.

Starting point is 00:01:24 Now, Giovanni, who turned 18 in the spring, was interested in apparently reconnecting with his birth father's side of the family. And so he made plans with at least one cousin to meet up while he was in the Sunshine State. In the early morning hours of August 1st, we're talking at around 1.30 a.m. Three men arrived in Englewood from Brevard County, clear on the other side of the state to pick up Giovanni and take him with them back to Brevard. During a news conference on Tuesday, Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells made a clarification. This is important. While one of the men identified as Latrell was Giovanni's paternal cousin, the other two men were not. They were identified as Zach and Jalen.

Starting point is 00:02:07 They were believed to be Latrell's friends. Wanted to clear that up. Now, not long after Giovanni left that night, his mom and other family members say they got some very disturbing text messages. But they didn't see them because they were asleep. When Bridget woke up, she realized that Giovanni was missing. And the last text that he had apparently sent her, his mom, just said, mom help. He'd last been seen on the side of I-75 at State Road 70 in Manatee County. This is where Giovanni's cousin apparently said the teen took off into the night.

Starting point is 00:02:43 Sheriff Wells recognized how much this ensuing week-long search impacted the family and made that clear during his news conference. I do want to say that our prayers continue to go out to Bridget, the mother of Giovanni and the entire family as they struggled during this very difficult time. And we pray that blessings are bestowed upon them. And we're here to hopefully give them some information that will give them closure at some point. Now, the sheriff provided a much firmer timeline of what allegedly happened not long after Giovanni apparently left with his cousin. Take a listen. I think it's important to go back and start from the beginning. So on Thursday, July 31st, there's communications between Giovanni and his cousin, Latrell Hearn, about the trail picking up.

Starting point is 00:03:50 Giovanni, who's in Charlotte County, and taking him back to Bavard County where LaTrell lives. They're trying to figure out the details at 5.41 p.m. LaTrell texts that is going to have to use his grandmother's car, which is a white Malibu. At 8.30, they're still texting each other. They text about smoking weed. Giovanni says that I haven't had a smoke in a while because the court stuff. going on in North Carolina and he goes on to say, I definitely need a smoke. At 10.08 p.m. LaTrell, Jalen Washington, and Zachary Cumm. start heading toward Charlotte County. Zach Cummings is the driver of the White Malibu of the time. During interviews, LaTrell tells detectives that not long into the drive they start smoking weed in the car and

Starting point is 00:04:52 Giovanni starts tripping they stopped the car at an unknown location along River Road before they got to I-75 because Giovanni needed to use the bathroom the trail said that Giovanni is acting out and raging before getting back into the car they continued driving on I-75 and at this point, they're about 26 miles away south of 070.50. At 155 a.m., Giovanni sends his mother a text saying health. At 156 a.m., he sends another message that says, help, followed by me. Jalen says Giovanni was tripping, telling them, I am a demon, and I will wreck this car and says he will kill them all as he tries to open up their door while the car is still moving.

Starting point is 00:06:03 This happens while they're in Manatee County, close to State Road 70. Zachary, the driver, pulls the car over onto the side of the road on the shoulder, the northbound. on I-75 on the east shoulder of State Road 70, Jalen and Zach are in the front seats, and they hear that Giovanni has a knife. Now, we know that he always carried a knife. He had two knives, he had a forward-in pocket knife, and he had a blade, but this knife was still in the sheath, never took it out. So Giovanni is allegedly, supposedly starting to panic in the backseat of this car, this Malibu. Possibly a reaction to the marijuana that he ingested.

Starting point is 00:06:51 And could be something else. Police are still trying to work out the exact details on that. By the way, they're still awaiting toxicology results. But Zach, Jalen, and Lattrell, they claim that Giovanni basically freaks out. And then starts running into traffic. They said that Giovanni gets out of the car and begins running southbound in the southbound lanes of I-75. They didn't see him in the middle of the northbound lanes and almost get hit by a truck. This is the last time they see him.

Starting point is 00:07:24 He left behind his backpack and cell phone, so they took that and placed it onto the side of or I-75 at Sit-Row-70 at the entrance ramp on the east side. At 226 a.m., the trail calls his grandfather to let the grandfather know that Giovanni got out of the car. At 227, LaTrell calls Bridgette, Giovanni's mother, but there's no answer. We know that they continue northbound on I-75. We have them stopping at the Flying J Truck Stop

Starting point is 00:08:05 and Hillsborough County off the I-4, and you can tell by their phones that they eventually may get home to Bavard County. I know. Just a wild story. but this is one that we wanted to cover. This is one we want to stay on top of. And the reason we can do that, the reason we can really do a deep dive into stories like this is because of the amazing support we get from our sponsor, Morgan and Morgan.

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Starting point is 00:08:58 after being offered only $500,000. And even if you think your case isn't worth millions of dollars, why not start a claim and fight for what you deserve? Morgan and Morgan makes it so simple. You can start a claim from your phone in just eight clicks. So if you're injured, you can easily start a claim a claim at for the people.com slash elsie sidebar by clicking the link below or scanning the QR code on screen something interesting to note here is that yes the cousin calls bridget doesn't get an answer

Starting point is 00:09:29 lets his grandfather know what's going on but based on everything we've seen so far they don't apparently call the police and they don't stick around to make sure giovanni's okay they allegedly just drive back several hours to bavard county now some of giovanni's family and friends They noted on social media Tuesday that the cousin had a duty of care to Giovanni and that he shouldn't have abandoned him. Now, the second time that LaTrell calls Bridget, this is hours later, according to the sheriff's office, she picks up. At approximately 6.50 a.m., LaTrell calls Bridget again. She answers, and he gives them, gives her the information on what transpires that night. At 7.13, Bridget calls the Magic County Sheriff's Office to look for Giovanni on I-75.

Starting point is 00:10:23 She says from the 911 call that we collected, I received some missed calls from my son this morning. He was being picked up by a relative and I was told that they left him on the side of the highway. That there was some type of an altercation and a knife was involved. He asked if a deputy could do a wellness check and make sure that he's okay. And Bridget gives the information she has so far to a 911 dispatcher. She states, so I'm getting this from people who were there. He said they were in the car and I guess they had given my son some wheat. And my son doesn't like normally do any drug.

Starting point is 00:11:03 I guess they had given him some weed and then he started to freak out and said he wanted to get out of the car. and they were like, hey, just calm down, thinking maybe it was the drugs he was taking. They kept saying, calm down, and everything will be okay. And then I guess he got out of the card to go to the bathroom, and that's when I received the text saying, Mom, help in that time frame, she said. And then he said that they continued to freak, he continued to freak out and didn't know what was going on. They left him behind on I-75.

Starting point is 00:11:39 Bridget is heading northbound on I-75 to try to locate her son. A deputy response to that area, but finds no pedestrian on the interstate. Okay, and so around this time, that is when Giovanni's backpack with his cell phone inside is found. But I'll tell you what, it was the act of a good Samaritan that actually sent Bridget, again, Giovanni's mother, on a bit of a wild goose chase. Take a listen. At 721, a truck driver who is checking the load on his truck, it's a sod truck, pulls off in that same area on the east side of I-75, northbound, sees the backpack, picks it up. He travels to Tampa with the backpack. Bridget sees that the phone is moving, but does not know that it's a truck driver that actually has the bag and has the

Starting point is 00:12:34 the phone. She eventually calls Tampa PD and an officer responds to the area where the truck driver was doing some work, recovers the cell phone and the battery. Now remember, all of this information is being relayed from one jurisdiction to another. So there's a lot of agencies being involved in this. Latrell had traveled from Bervard County to Charlotte County to pick Giovanni up, then allegedly left him on the side of the road in Manatee County. So there was a lot of coordination that had to happen. And according to law enforcement, Zach, Jalen, and LaTrell, they were all cooperative during the course of this investigation so far.

Starting point is 00:13:16 At 928, Charlotte County Sheriff's Office opened a missing person case. And we also learned that Charlotte County reached out to Bavard County Sheriff's Office. And they were instrumental in interviewing all the passengers of the passengers, in the vehicle and as this investigation unfolded. They voluntarily give Barbard County the vehicle, the White Malibu that they were in. Barbar County processes the vehicle and finds no foul play, no blood, nothing,

Starting point is 00:13:51 no evidence whatsoever inside that vehicle. Charlotte County reaches out to us once again to check to see if Giovanni had been admitted to any hospitals or possibly was arrested and there was no sign of Diabani and our system. On Monday, August 4th, Charlotte County requests the assistance of the Magic County Sheriff's Office as they search the area that the trail says they dropped off Giobani on I-75. They do an extensive search east of the interstate and warded areas

Starting point is 00:14:34 on both sides of State Road 70 and find nothing. On Tuesday, August 5th, Charlotte County comes back to Manatee County, along with a volunteer team that have a cadaver dog. Also, the Charlotte County Aviation Unit was flying overhead. We had three of our detectives assisting them with searching the areas that they wanted to search that day. After about four and a half hours, they told our detectives that they're not really sure that giovanni is in this area now why is that

Starting point is 00:15:09 important we know that he got out of the car on river road before he got on to i75 so as investigators they're starting to think maybe he never made it to say road 70 now i can't speak for the charl county detectives i can't speak for chair primel but they know the backpack was there but there's no siding of Giovanni in that area at this time. And something else to point out here. During this very, very critical period, it's not just deputies. It's canine handlers, it's drone operators, it's helicopter pilots. They're all looking for this 18-year-old.

Starting point is 00:15:49 They're all looking for Giovanni. And his family had launched search parties as well, spreading out across the state to cover every possibility. But unfortunately, and a sad turn of events and something that we mentioned on a previous sidebar, Giovanni's body. would be found back where it all started on the side of I-75 in a retention pond. On Friday, August 8th, about 3.15 p.m., Manit County Sheriff's Office received a call about a body located in a pond right off of I-75 at the exit ramp to State Road 70. We learned that a friend of the family had been searched in the area and had located the body.

Starting point is 00:16:30 I send my entire homicide team out there along with their sergeant, lieutenant, captain, and major to process this scene. The medical examiner investigator also responds to help with the processing of the body. According to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, it is believed that Giovanni's body had only recently floated to the top of the water. so that's why searchers hadn't seen him at first glance. But not long after the remains were found, despite authorities not officially saying it was Giovanni, they did release information saying there didn't appear to be any bodily injuries. We do a deep x-ray, a scan of the body that Emmy does that night.

Starting point is 00:17:18 There's no signs of any trauma to the body. There's no indication that he was shot. There's no indication that he was stabbed. There's nothing at that time. that helps us determine cause of death. On Saturday, August 9th, detectives in crime scene texts go back out to the scene. They conduct another thorough investigation of the area,

Starting point is 00:17:42 search of the area. Our drone unit also flew over the pond and the surrounding area but didn't find anything of anybody. On Sunday, the District 12 medical examiner performed an autopsy of the body, preliminary indication was no signs of trauma, No signs of trauma or foul play, but the cause of death is still undetermined.

Starting point is 00:18:02 So what do we have? Giovanni's remains, they were finally identified using dental records, and deputies interviewed the men who had been inside the Chevy Malibu that night, and sheriffs in at least two different counties said the Bavard County family has been helpful and responsive to the investigation. My detectives reach out to Bavard County, who help us reach out to Giavon, Giovanni's cousin, Jalen, LaTrell, and Zach, and we request that they interview again with us. They do so freely. We respond to Bavard County, and we interviewed the three. They give us the exact same story that they gave Bavard County.

Starting point is 00:18:47 They also agreed to come back to Manchi County to help us pinpoint exactly where they pulled off the side of the road and where Giovanni got out of the car. And I will tell you, in a ground-breaking development, according to Sheriff Rick Wells, deputies were able to pinpoint Giovanni's location on traffic cameras. Although the picture is grainy and unfocused, Sheriff Wells says Giovanni can be seen in traffic at one point, even almost getting hit by a truck. Point him out right here. He's coming eastbound. Now he's walking back westbound.

Starting point is 00:19:22 And there's a concrete barrier right here. and down here is with the ponder. So then we continue to check cameras and we get lucky at a Lowe's which is located on the west side of St.Rose 70. We have a camera that's pointed at the embankment

Starting point is 00:19:45 now that he comes down at 2.19 a.m. play that then. And I want you to stay focused right here. Now that's a steep in basement. It's coming down there, almost an uncontrollable sprint. Have you ever gone down a hill, you know, what i'm talking about but the pond is right here at the edge of that embankment i mean the important thing that i want you to see there's no one chasing him there's only no one around him in fact

Starting point is 00:20:38 when he's coming down that abatement the vehicle is two miles away so there's no one in this area with Giovanni. There's no one that's chasing him. He's by himself. And what we don't know is what happened when he hit that pond. I don't know. I'm not going to

Starting point is 00:21:09 speculate. The death is undetermined. So we know that we don't have anyone that comes down that embankment after him. They don't look for him. He's there. we believe until he was located by the family friend on Friday the 8th we really don't know what

Starting point is 00:21:41 happened once he got into the pond and once again I think anything that I say would be pure speculation we're still waiting for the ME to determine a cause of death and we're also still waiting for the toxicology so we don't have all the answers we know this is the last siding of him that that night so for now investigators are awaiting toxicology reports to come back which could take the next few weeks but from there the cause of death could potentially be determined which would obviously provide a lot more answers to this puzzle and to be clear no charges have been filed in connection to this case we'll keep a very careful eye on it's all we have for you right now here on sidebar everybody thank you so much for joining us and as always please subscribe on

Starting point is 00:22:21 YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.

Law&Crime Sidebar - New Footage Released in Teen's Mysterious Death

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