7 Disturbing Details Exposed as Missing Teen's Body Pulled from Pond

A Florida family's vacation ended in. tragedy when 18-year-old Giovani Peller. went missing. And authorities have now. confirmed that the body found in a. Florida pond is indeed him. With. questions still swirling about his final. hours, I'm going to be speaking with a. coroner about the forensic process, what. the identification means, what we still. need to know, and what might be. happening behind the scenes. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber. This is not an update I wanted to bring.

to you here on Sidebar. We talked about. the case of Giovani Peller, the. 18-year-old North Carolina teen who went. missing earlier this month. We did a. whole sidebar on him. Well, now. authorities have confirmed that the body. found in a Manatee County pond is indeed. Giovani. The Manatee County Sheriff's. Office said the District 12 medical. examiner's office used dental records to. confirm his identity. They say his body. was in such an advanced state of. decomposition that it required. additional forensic testing. The cause.

of death, to be clear, we don't know. what it is. It hasn't yet been. determined. As officials, they await. toxicology results, which could take. several weeks. But if you haven't been. following the case, I'm going to catch. you up. 18-year-old Giovani Pelier had. traveled with his mom, Bridget, her. fiance, and his four younger siblings to. Anglewood, Florida. That's on the Gulf. Coast. It's south of Tampa and St. Petersburg. But this trip wasn't just. about beaches and family time. It was. something else. It had more meaning. because Giovani was also planning to.

meet some cousins from his dad's side of. the family. People that he had never met. before, barely remembered, in hopes of. reconnecting. But instead, days later, he's found dead in a pond off I75. This case is complicated. It stretches. across multiple Florida counties and. involves several different law. enforcement agencies. It includes. conflicting accounts of what happened in. Giovani's final hours. So, I want to. walk you through the timeline here. Now, Giovani grew up in the Raleigh, North. Carolina area, but until age four, he. lived in Florida. And after turning 18.

this past April, Bridget, his mother, says he became very curious about his. father's side of the family. She's of. Italian and Puerto Rican descent. His. dad is African-American. And Giovani. wanted to connect with that part of his. family tree. Before the trip, he joined. a group chat with three paternal. cousins. And then you go to August 1st. at around 1:30 a.m. Those cousins. apparently picked him up from Anglewood. They were reportedly headed to Mims. That's on the other side of the state. It's several hours away. Now, why the.

cousins who apparently had never met. Giovani before picked him up so late at. night, that we still don't have an. answer for at the time of this. recording. And by the way, the cousin's. ages haven't been made public either. So, just keep that point. But not long. after leaving, Giovani sent disturbing. messages to his family. one to his mom. simply read, "Mom, help." Now, Bridget. was asleep at the time. She didn't see. it until the morning. He also apparently. sent similar messages to his. grandfather, his aunt. And by the time. Bridget checked her phone, she had.

missed a FaceTime call from Giovani. And. there was a voicemail from his paternal. grandfather, saying there had been quote. some kind of altercation and that the. cousins had left him on the roadside in. Bradenton. It's about 50 mi or so away. from where the family had been. vacationing. That's the allegation. Now, Bridget apparently tried to track. Giovani's location using his phone's. GPS. She found his backpack. She found. his phone inside. And this was near. State Road 70 and I75. But here's the. thing. She later told People magazine,

"My son eats, sleeps, showers, breathes. his phone." She said he would never have. left it behind. So, how did Giovani end. up outside the car? Well, according to. Bridget, one cousin later told her that. they'd smoked marijuana with Giovani. after picking him up. This is an. allegation. The cousin claimed that. Giovani got paranoid, cursed at him, threatened him with a knife during a. roadside confrontation, and then ran. off. Again, this is an allegation. But I. will tell you that that account is.

slightly different from the Charlotte. County Sheriff's Office public. statement. And that statement said that. Giovani quote began acting erratically. before exiting the vehicle and walking. away near State Road 70. ABC News has. reported that this information likely. came from the cousins, but search. efforts they began across multiple. counties immediately. Giovani's family. offered a $10,000 reward for information. leading to his location, the arrest or. conviction of anyone responsible for. harming him. That reward, by the way, was reportedly later increased to. $25,000. And according to posts from.

Bridget and other relatives on social. media, Giovani's paternal relatives. didn't participate in any of the. searches. Now, we couldn't confirm that. on our own, but that's again another. allegation in this case. Not to take. away from this story in any way, but one. of the reasons we can stay on top of. this, follow it, bring you any kind of. updates is because of our sponsors. And. one of those sponsors is One Skin. Now, I have to tell you, I know a thing or. two about hair, and a lot of people are. talking about this right here. This is. One Skin's scalp serum, the OS1 hair.

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using code sidebar at onskin.co. That's 15% off at onskin.co with code. sidebar. And after you purchase, they're. going to ask you where you heard about. them. Please support Sidebar. Tell them. that we sent you. Reard County Sheriff. Wayne Ivy spoke at a press conference. This is before Giovani's body had been. found. And his goal was to clarify how. his agency got involved. and he said the. search parties in Bvard County were. organized because of misinformation. about the car that was involved and that. there was no credible evidence Giovani.

was ever in Bvard. We also spoke, by the. way, with investigator Billy Lane from. the volunteer group We Are the. Essentials. This is an incredible group. It's a team of former law enforcement. and military personnel who use their. skills to help families locate missing. loved ones. It's an incredible work that. they do. Lane, who was brought in on. this case, described their approach. here. We started a conversation Sunday. night with the family and what we try to. do is provide ground assistance. We are. uh you know ground searchers. So our job.

is to gather as much facts as possible. We have to start our own investigation. because typically law enforcement won't. share information with us which is fine. So we start from ground zero using the. family's information that they are able. to provide us of locations, times, dates. and places. And then uh Monday morning. uh we were on the ground at 7:00 a.m. to. start a ground search and uh we started. moving forward from there. >> And what did you do after that? >> So our ground searches typically were.

isolated to the. area which was very near where the. family lived at. And this was based on. several factors. Uh one of them was uh. text messages that we received and we. did a timeline of the text message and. based on the help mom help text message. he would have been in this area in the. vehicle. Uh based on other information. the mother had provided us based on the. GPS uh path of travel from the home back. to Mims would taken the car down that. road. So we felt like this is a very.

important area. Plus, it hadn't been. searched based on our information. And. this was a 10-mi stretch of River Road. from uh Winchester to I75. that was very secluded. There was no. cameras out here. It's very wooded. There was construction zones out there. There are areas that people could have. pulled off to the side of the road and. stopped without anybody seeing them. Plus, at 2 o'clock in the morning on. this road, they had very little traffic. So, our job was to start eliminating. Hopefully, we're our job was to try and. locate him alive and in good health, but.

the secondary is to try to eliminate. areas that he is not in. So, we were out. there hoping to find him, but in the. meantime, we're eliminating areas. We. use a mapping program and it shows every. step we take, but what's most. importantly shows every step we don't. take. So, we're able to close in those. areas. So for five days uh we spent on. the ground searching but in addition to. that we also provided support for the. family. We were answering questions for. the family as former law enforcement.

officers. You know why isn't this. happening? When will this start. happening and what should we expect? In. addition to that we're also filtering. outreach through media sources so we. could keep Giovani's story alive in the. news. So that was very uh timeconuming. to say the least. was very encompassed. There was a lot of moving parts of this. and the fact that. this could be a search that would span. more than 50 miles from the home. So, we.

had to organize and structure our search. based on facts that we were being given. at the time. >> Then we go to last weekend and. authorities preliminarily identified. Giovani's remains that were found in a. retention pond near where he was last. seen. Now, previously, the Manatee. County Sheriff's Office said the body. was so decomposed that additional. testing was needed to confirm the. identity, but we now know through the. identification of those dental records. that these are indeed the remains of. Giovani Pelleteer. Bridget had started a.

GoFundMe to cover search expenses, but. after Giovani's death, she updated it to. raise funds for funeral, medical, legal. costs to raise more than $32,000 so far. The change.org or petition is now. calling for the FBI to step in, citing. the case's multi-county nature, potential gang connections, possible. interstate elements, and it warns that. without federal involvement, key. evidence could be lost and those. responsible may never be held. accountable. Okay, so I want some. perspective on this and who better to. bring in than Dr. Na Rutherford from the.

Richland County Coroner's Office. Uh, thank you so much for coming on. Really. appreciate you taking the time. A little. confused about dental records. Exactly. So, can you walk us through how dental. records exactly are used to confirm the. identity of a body, especially when you. have an advanced decomposition case like. Giovani's? >> Well, sometimes that's all we have to go. on. So, when you have a person who is. missing and you have a possible. identity, one of the things that I say.

to families is I don't want to give you. someone else's bad news. So, please, if. you can remember where um where your. child, where your loved one may have had. dental procedures done, did do they have. a bridge in their mouth? Did they ever. get veneers? Do they did they have their. wisdom teeth removed? Give me a little. bit of that dental history that you. remember and where they may have been. seen because those X-rays lined up. against the skeletal X-rays are going to. give us a pretty clear picture. >> This may be a juvenile question. I think.

I say that all the time when I interview. an expert such as yourself because this. is not my u this is not my expertise but. is it is it would I be correct in saying. that when you're dealing with teeth um. they are harder to to destroy than other. parts of the body and while other parts. of the body may be uh you not maybe not. would not be able to be used to be for. purposes of identification or easily. destroyed the teeth are.

they are they're going to typically stay. with the skull unless there been there. there's been some sort of blunt force. injury, crushing injury or projectile. injury to the face. So sometimes if. we're putting together a skull, because. that's what's going to happen in the. autopsy suite, this advanced decomp. decomposed body, not only will the. pathologist take a look, but they will. often bring in a forensic anthropologist. who will help to piece the skull and lay. out the skeleton as much as possible to.

look for blunt force injuries, to look. for any crushing injuries, sawing. injuries, uh cutting injuries that may. have happened to the bone. And it's no. different for the teeth. A lot of times. when we find a skull, the teeth are. still there unless they had some sort of. dental procedure where teeth were. removed. And so comparing those dental. records for someone that we believe it. to be um is very helpful. >> And um how accurate is it? >> It's accurate. There's no no two people. have the exact same mouth. And so if you.

compare those dental records and they. line up, that's the that's the great. thing about looking at the skeleton is. that your teeth have like you have your. normal anatomy, right? But most of us. have had a a cavity. We're not going to. have a cavity in the exact same spot. Those things should line up. And he's. 18. He has to have some sort of dental. history. >> That's a good point. Um, and by the way, just generally speaking, we're talking. about a very specific state of these.

remains where they were found. What are. the challenges that coroners face when. you have a body that's discovered in. water in this advanced state of. decomposition? And why does the. decomposition happen? >> So, first of all, you can have a. complete skeleton skeletonization of a. body within 7 days. And most people. don't know that. So, they think that. you're dealing with this whole body. here. So, let's talk about the factors. What has been the average temperature in. Florida during the time that this young. man was missing? What was the.

precipitation levels? Was it rainy? Was. it windy? What was going on during that. time? Also, is there any animal activity. for that area? So, you have to think. about gators. You have to think about. any wildlife that may have come in. contact with that body. Just vultures, for example, they're going to fly around. where where a decomposed body is. And so. what is it that has happened to this. body? And it does prove to be. challenging because you not only have. the outdoor elements, the temperature,

but you also have water and wet things. break down faster. And so that moisture. level is going to be really important. And what state advanced decomposition. can mean a number of things. If he was. submerged, those gases started happening. and he floated back to the top. he's not. even going to look like himself for a. visual identification. So, they can only. go off of what he was wearing. Um, uh, proximity of where he may have gone. missing. But those dental records and. then DNA are going to be the most.

helpful things to make sure that this is. young man. But the other thing about. this is where are the other things that. should have been with him? His cell. phone, his backpack, his clothing items. Was he found naked? Was he found wearing. clothes? So many things come into play. because all of those things are going to. tell us a little piece of the story. >> Yeah. What do you think about it? I. mean, this is a very interesting place. for him to be found, right? This pond. >> So, here's here's my number one thought.

Red flag leaving at 1:30 a.m. If my. 18-year-old son is leaving at 8 at 1:30. in the morning, I'm staying up to make. sure that he is where he tells me he's. going to be. That that was weird to me. But again, we listen and we don't judge. The other things that are that are. challenging for me, the toxicology. report, was his body so advancely. decomposed that we that we have tissue? Do we have liver? Because that's. probably going to be one of the things.

that's going to help us the most. A week. out, we should still have some of the. organs to be able to test. Brain, liver, kidney. Do we have eyes? We don't know. Again, was there animal activity? eyes. are sometimes the fir one of the first. things to go. And so this is just a. weird case. If you look at the time. frame, 30 35 minutes max that he was. gone from his mom. He called for help. He tried calling several people. He sent. text messages. The cousin supposedly. tried to call. What was this erratic.

behavior? Was he known to have erratic. behavior? I want to look at his mental. health history. I want to look at his. medical history. What happened in this. very short time frame? And did he just. spaz out and the cousins got freaked out. and left him? Or were they doing drugs? Did this young man present something to. them and say, "Hey, let's try this." We. we will never know. We need those. cousins to talk. >> By the way, what about toxicology? So, how does toxic toxicology testing work? And um why does it take several weeks to. to determine the cause of death in a.

case like this? >> Well, you want to be careful. You don't. want to make any rush decisions. So. you're looking instead of us having. blood and urine samples and possibly. vitrius samples which is from the eye. those things can be run a little bit. faster but when you're looking at the. liver brain kidney you have to do some. more specialized testing and you want to. confirm that testing. So it's not about. just doing a test and saying hey we see. opiates here or we see marijuana. It's. about going the step further and trying.

to quantify those uh positive results so. that you have a number to see if they. fall within toxic or critical ranges. >> I was wondering one of the things that. might be a challenge if you have. multiple jurisdictions that are. involved, right? What role does a. coroner play? How do they coordinate. with uh law enforcement? And if you are. dealing with multiple jurisdictions, multiple agencies. So, in the state of Florida, they have a. medical examiner system. So, what they. typically do is the medical examiner's.

office is going to be the one that's. performing that that autopsy, but they. have investigators that are bringing. them information from the scene so they. can try to piece together what may have. happened to this young man. In some. areas, they're called investigator. coroners, deputy coroners, um corner. investigators. And so I know that the. state of Florida has investigators that. go out to scenes, but they're just. bringing information back to that. medical examiner. In my jurisdiction, we. work with wherever the the body is.

found, that's who has jurisdiction. So, even if a resident lived in Richland. County, we had this case um a few years. ago, the person went missing from. Richland County, but they were found um. a few counties over, where that body is. found becomes the jurisdiction, but they. will work with us to receive any. information that we may have. And it's. usually just law enforcement at that. point. >> And for this case, there's still a lot. of unknowns, right? When we talk about. exactly how he died, the circumstances. surrounding his death. Obviously, there's speculation out there. There's. questions that might need to be. answered. There could always be the.

possibility of natural versus unnatural. causes of death. Right? So what is the. evidence there? When when when evidence. is limited or it's conflicting, how do. you determine whether something is. natural or unnatural? >> So here's the thing. We know that this. young man left in a healthy state. So. this is probably not going to be a. natural death. At best, it would be. undetermined. If they can't find any. signs of trauma, the toxicology comes.

back clean, they will more than likely. rule this death as undetermined, maybe. rule it as accidental if they thought. that he may have wandered into the pond. and somehow drowned. Um, but I'm I'm. speculating that there may be an. undetermined cause of death if there's. nothing that pops positive on that. toxicology. If they don't see any signs. of trauma, they don't see any signs of. like blunt force injuries, crushing. injuries, anything that looks like he. may have been strangled, determining. whether or not he drowned would be. difficult because his body is in this.

body of water. He's swollen. He's going. to, you know, bloat and not look like. himself. They could take a look at the. lungs and see if there's a large amount. of fluid in there, but again, he's been. in this pond possibly for for seven days. or so. >> Would you be able to determine time of. death? you would look at um bug activity for. that and then you would look at when he. was last known to be alive and you would. have a range but it's not going to be. exact unless you find more information. that helps you narrow down that time.

frame. >> One thing you mentioned and I've. actually talked to other um you know. forensic investigators about this. There. is an aspect to your job and I think you. were talking about it where do you ever. conduct um interviews yourself with. witnesses, family members? Do you take. that information, those reports, and how. do you determine whether or not it is. completing the picture, if it's. corroborating the picture? Um, do you. just take it as true? What's your role. in trying to determine because a lot of. it is based on, you know, other, you.

know, witness testimony and what might. be the circumstances surrounding a. person's death, not just the body. itself. What is your role in that? >> We put together a timeline. And so we. the most important question is when were. they last known to be alive and what. state of health were they in prior to. them going missing? And so we try to put. together that timeline. And sometimes. when we're talking to families, they. give us a lot more information than they. would give to law enforcement because. we're the corner's office. We're doing.

an investigation to try to figure out. what happened to your loved one. So. they're sometimes sharing information. with us that that adds to that timeline. or takes away from that timeline. when. we go and talk in in my jurisdiction, we. take law enforcement with us. They have. body cameras. We don't. And so they turn. that body camera on, they're speaking to. us. They're they're giving us. information. But anyone who's on that. scene, we're going to isolate them, move. them away from each other, try to get.

the full story from everyone that we. can. And then law enforcement is going. to take information that we give them. and information that they gather and put. it together. And we typically will do. what's called a fatality review so that. we can compare information and see if. there are any gaps in the stories, any. inconsistencies that they may be able to. take and go down a different path. Sometimes people tell the corner's. office things that they would never tell. law enforcement and we're able to share. that information. >> Uh Dr. Nita Rutherford, I got to tell. you, I learned so much when you come on.

Thank you so much for taking the time uh. to talk about this. It's really a. heartbreaking case. We're going to. continue to follow it. We want to see. what happened here with Giovani. But. really, thank you for making it easy for. us to understand. Always appreciate it. >> Thank you so much. >> And that'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 YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time. [Music].