Heartbreaking update in case of teen whose body was found days after texting mom ‘help’
An autopsy examining the body of Florida teenager Giovanni Pelletier has made a ruling on his cause of death, after he was discovered in a body of water a week after going missing.
Pelletier, 18, was reported missing after being picked up from his mom’s home by a cousin and two of his cousin’s friends on August 1 at 1.30am. They drove him to a paternal grandfather’s home, a three-hour drive away.
But within 30 minutes of leaving, he sent a tragic final text, simply pleading ‘Mom help’. Sadly however, mother Bridgette had fallen asleep while studying for an upcoming pharmacy exam.
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Speaking to People, Bridgette said that her son’s paternal grandfather left her a voicemail saying that an altercation had taken place, and her son had been left by the side of the road in Manatee County, Florida.
It later emerged after speaking to other relatives that the group had smoked cannabis and allegedly got into a fight, with the cousin claiming that Pelletier pulled a knife on the group before running away – something Bridgette expressed skepticism about.
Tragically, after a week-long search from law enforcement and family members, 18-year-old Giovanni’s body was found by a family member, in an advanced stage of decomposition in a retention pond.
In an important update regarding what caused Pelletier to be found dead in this location, a medical examiner has ruled that there appears to have been no foul play in the lead up to his death.
This was backed up by Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells, who shared video in August that showed the teen descending an embankment that leads to the retention pond where he he would meet his tragic end.
“The important thing that I want you to see — there’s no one chasing him,” he told the press conference.
After studying his body, the medical examiner agreed, saying: “Although some autopsy findings may be obscured due to the advanced decomposition there was no evidence of significant antemortem trauma.”
In a grim detail, the autopsy report also revealed injuries ‘consistent with alligator scavenging’ which confirmed reports that an alligator was seen interfering with his remains when a family member discovered him on August 8.
A small amount of ethanol was also found in the teen’s liver, but the examiner noted that this is ‘consistent with decomposition’.
Although the report was unable to indicate how Pelletier had come to die in that body of water, an ‘extremely rare congenital coronary abnormality’ was identified during the autopsy that could provide some clues to investigators.
While it could not be ruled for certain, the examiner noted that this condition is ‘disproportionately associated with heart failure or sudden cardiac death, particularly during physical exertion’.
“Although the contributions of possible toxicologic substances not found during testing, and the coronary artery abnormality cannot be completely excluded, in view of these findings, it is my opinion that the cause of death is most likely drowning,” they added.
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Topics: Florida, True crime, Parenting, Crime
More information has come to light about a baby who was found dead in a closet.
Last month, 21-year-old Laken Snelling was arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant.
Police said in statement at the time: “On Wednesday, August 27, 2025, around 10:30 a.m., officers were dispatched for an unresponsive infant at a residence in the 400 block of Park Avenue. When officers arrived, they located an infant that was pronounced deceased at the scene.
“Laken Snelling, 21, was arrested on August 31, 2025, and charged with Abuse of a Corpse, Tampering with Physical Evidence, and Concealing the Birth of an Infant. She is currently being held at the Fayette County Detention Center. Ms. Snelling is the infant’s mother.”
Snelling is a student at the University of Kentucky and is studying Interdisciplinary Disability Studies. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges she’s facing and is due back in court on September 26.
The cheerleader is currently living at her parents’ house after she was released on a $100,000 bond by a Fayette District Court judge on September 2. As the investigation continues, more information about the harrowing incident has been revealed, namely where the corpse of the infant was found.
A Lexington Police Department incident report says that they received a 911 call on August 27, and that they found the baby in the closet. A cause of death and gestational age for the baby is yet to be determined, but the coroner’s office has confirmed that the infant was a boy.
The report states, per PEOPLE: “Complainant just found a dead baby in a closet. It is cold to the touch.”
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It goes on to say that Snelling was not home when police, EMTs and the fire department arrived at the property.
Instead, Snelling was found to be around five minutes away from the house and she was taken to police headquarters and asked to be ‘checked out’ medically. The college student was then arrested a few days later.
While Snelling is known to be the mother, her ex boyfriend has reportedly had a paternity test be done to determine if he was the father of the deceased child.
Izaiah Hall is said to have dated Snelling before her relationship Jordon Connor.
Tests are yet to reveal the father of the baby.
If you need support and advice following a pregnancy loss, you can contact Share Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support on 800-821-6819 or info@nationalshare.org.
Featured Image Credit: Fayette County Detention Center
Topics: Crime, News, Parenting, US News, True crime
Warning: this article discusses the death of a child which some readers may find distressing
A major update on the cheerleader who placed her newborn baby boy in a garbage bag and left him in a closet has been revealed.
Just last month, 21-year-old Laken Snelling was arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing the birth of an infant after police responded to an unresponsive infant.
Police said in a statement at the time: “On Wednesday, August 27, 2025, around 10:30 a.m., officers were dispatched for an unresponsive infant at a residence in the 400 block of Park Avenue. When officers arrived, they located an infant that was pronounced deceased at the scene.
“Laken Snelling, 21, was arrested on August 31, 2025, and charged with Abuse of a Corpse, Tampering with Physical Evidence, and Concealing the Birth of an Infant.
“She is currently being held at the Fayette County Detention Center. Ms. Snelling is the infant’s mother.”
According to an arrest citation obtained by LEX 18 News, the University of Kentucky student admitted to giving birth to the baby and ‘concealing the birth by cleaning any evidence, placing all cleaning items used inside of a black trash bag, including the infant, who was wrapped in a towel’.
Since her arrest, she has pleaded not guilty to the charges levied against her and appeared in court yesterday (September 26), where she waived her right to a preliminary hearing.
The cheerleader is living with her parents as she was released on a $100,000 bond by a Fayette District Court judge on September 2, and is awaiting sentencing.
Previously, the coroner was working out just how the baby boy had died, as Snelling initially told police she had fallen unconscious on top of the newborn and awoke to him discolored and unresponsive. However, she later admitted something that is a major update in the case of his death.
According to newly released court documents, Snelling revealed a different story.
Newly unveiled court documents show that when Snelling was transported to UK Hospital, the day after she gave birth, she spoke to staff at the University of Kentucky’s Labor and Delivery unit.
It was there that she admitted the baby had shown ‘a little bit of fetal movement’ and made a ‘whimper’ sound, which she ‘guessed’ meant he was alive at birth.
According to the Kentucky Kernel, the infant appeared to be full term.
Snelling was studying Interdisciplinary Disability Studies before she dropped out. She had also been a member of the University of Kentucky’s competitive cheerleading STUNT team, and had made a post on TikTok which listed out her future aspirations for the year ahead before her arrest.
Her video showed her plans using emojis, which included an engagement ring, a house, money, and a picture of a woman feeding a baby a bottle.
Kentucky laws prohibit abortions unless in the case of life-threatening situations for the mother.
Featured Image Credit: University of Kentucky
Topics: US News, Crime
The daughter of the so-called ‘Skara Cannibal’ has spoken out about what her father is like.
In 2010, Isakin Drabbad murdered his girlfriend, Helle Christensen, and cut off parts of her body to eat them.
He was convicted of her murder a year later and committed to a mental health institution.
Drabbad’s daughter Jamie-Lee Arrow was around nine-years-old when her dad started dating Christensen, and she went on to refer to her as her ‘stepmom’.
“She made me feel special,” Arrow said of her.
Now 23, Arrow is lifting the lid further on what her upbringing was like with her father and what her relationship is like with him now in an episode of Evil Lives Here: The Killer Speaks, set to air this evening (April 27) on Investigation Discovery/ID.
Sharing why she decided to take part in the documentary, Arrow said, as per PEOPLE: “I want people to understand the darkness I came from and that I actually managed to get myself out from under it.
“I still struggle with feeling like I am my own person and that my dad has got nothing to do with who I am.”
Drabbad has now been released from hospital but remains under its supervision.
In a particularly emotional part of the two hour-long episode, Arrow goes and visits her dad for the first time in four years.
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“He started crying and hugged me and seemed happy to see me,” she recalled when she saw him in October 2024. “I so wanted to believe that he had changed and that he had become the dad I always wanted and needed.”
The 23-year-old went on: “His true colors started to show again. I just have to accept that my dad is actually sick and probably capable of doing that even though it hurts to admit that to myself.”
Sadly, since filming, Arrow has once more become estranged from her father who sent her a ‘long, twisted, sick text message’.
She visited her father a few times on her own once filming wrapped, but then he sent the text.
him,” Arrow shared. “But then something happened.”
The young woman further divulged: “He sent me a long, twisted, sick text message where he basically threatened me and my family if I ever reached out to him again.”
Arrow is somewhat relieved that she received the ‘twisted’ message as it’s given her the closure she needed.
“It was like I needed that to understand how sick it all is,” she said.
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Investigation Discovery
Topics: Documentaries, Life, True crime, Parenting, Crime, Weird
A Kentucky student whose infant child was found dead after being stuffed in a closet was reportedly dating a former college basketball player before her arrest.
Laken Snelling, 21, was taken into custody by the Lexington Police Department on August 31. She has since been charged with Abuse of a Corpse, Tampering with Physical Evidence, and Concealing the Birth of an Infant.
The arrest came four days after officials were dispatched to the cheerleader’s off-campus residence in the 400 block of Park Avenue. It was there that they located an unresponsive infant ‘wrapped in a towel inside a black trash bag’, as per an alleged arrest citation.
The police report added that Snelling ‘admitted to concealing the birth by cleaning any evidence, placing all cleaning items used inside a black trash bag, including the infant’.
The baby was pronounced dead at the scene, with officers labeling Snelling – who was studying Interdisciplinary Disability Studies at the University of Kentucky – as the child’s mother.
The woman reportedly entered a not guilty plea on September 2 and will appear in court again on September 26.
Before her recent arrest, the student was reportedly dating popular ex-athlete Connor Jordan, according to The New York Post.
The couple’s relationship was documented via various images and clips uploaded to social media, which included snaps of the pair posing together and embracing, the Post explained.
Jordan previously played basketball at King University, Tusculum University and Lincoln Memorial University, as per iHeart.
It is not known whether he is the father of the infant that was found at the Snellings’ off-campus residence.
Snelling is listed as a senior at the University of Kentucky and has been a member of the school’s STUNT cheerleading for the last three seasons, Lex18 reported.
Jay Blanton, a spokesperson for the University, has said the accused has withdrawn from school and that she is ‘no longer on the STUNT team as well’.
An autopsy has since deemed the baby’s cause of death inconclusive, the outlet wrote.
Notably, the Fayette County Coroner’s report read that ‘extensive microscopic analyses are essential to determine the cause and manner of death’.
Gary Ginn, the coroner leading the investigation, continued: “I understand the community’s concern and sensitivity surrounding the death of a child.
“This death affects many lives in our neighboring state of Tennessee and as well as those in the commonwealth. We are conducting a thorough and methodical death investigation to ensure all facts are carefully considered.”
On Tuesday (September 2), Snelling posted a $100,000 bond in court on Tuesday and is now on ‘home incarceration with no ankle monitor’, as per Lex18.
She is now set to ‘live with parents’ at their home in Tennessee after being held in custody at the Fayette County Detention Center.
If found guilty of corpse abuse and tampering with physical evidence, Snelling could face up to five years in jail and be ordered to pay a fine of up to $10,000.
Lexington Police’s Special Victims Section is continuing to investigate the alleged crime. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Lexington Police at (859) 258-3600. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Bluegrass Crime Stoppers by calling (859) 253-2020 or online, as per an arrest notice.