UPDATE: The Manatee County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) said an autopsy was conducted on the body they found in a pond along Interstate-75 on Friday.
MCSO said they have enough evidence to believe the body is that of missing 18-year-old Giovanni Pelletier. However, MCSO said due to the advanced stage of decomposition, the Medical Examiner has yet to make a positive identification, and more forensic testing is needed.
According to the Medical Examiner, no foul play or trauma was found during the autopsy, and the cause and manner of death are pending toxicology and further investigation, per the report.
Detectives said they believe the body had been in the pond for multiple days before floating to the surface.
Watch report from Annette Gutierrez
"It’s not the outcome that anybody wants...This is devastating," said Shelley Croft, a Licensed Private Investigator with the organization, We Are the Essentials. "This family's been through a lot the past week."
We Are The Essentials, an organization of private investigators that helps search for missing people, took on the case and issued an alert earlier this week, when he went missing on August 1st.
Pelletier is from North Carolina and vanished while vacationing in Englewood with his family.
At the end of the trip, his mom said his cousins picked him up to take him to Brevard County on Florida's east coast.
While traveling north, his aunt said Pelletier texted his mom saying, "Help me."
During an argument, Pelletier reportedly exited a vehicle near SR-70 in Manatee County. His phone and backpack were found about a half mile away near Bradenton along I-75. Soon after a body was found in that area.
Saturday, the family along with the organization made a post that Pelletier is dead.
Croft said while the family has some sense of closure, this is not the outcome they wanted.
"That's the last thing you want to do is have to bury your child," said Croft. "But there are families out there that don't have those answers that are still seeking those answers years later. So for it to come to an end within a week's period of time. We're grateful for that, because that not knowing is the hardest thing."
Right now, the family is asking for privacy.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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