The body of a missing North Carolina teen has been found in Florida, where he disappeared more than a week ago after sending a disturbing final message to his mother, according to family and officials.

Giovanni Pelletier, 18, was found dead in a retention pond near the southbound off-ramp of Interstate 75 and State Road 70 on Friday, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office told FOX13 Tampa on Saturday. His backpack and cellphone were found nearby the previous day.

Pelletier’s mother, Bridgette Pelletier, confirmed the body of her son was found in a Facebook post.

"My son was recently found after a desperate search by OUR FAMILY ALONE, and we are still facing an active investigation into his death," she wrote. "I am living every parent’s worst nightmare, trying to find the strength to give him the goodbye he deserves. We ask that you please respect our privacy at this time as we try to navigate this for his 4 younger siblings."

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Pelletier’s cause of death was not immediately known.

Pelletier, who lived in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, with his family, was last seen on Aug. 1 while on vacation with his family in Englewood, Florida, when he left around 1:30 a.m. to visit relatives in Brevard County, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said. 

The teen had left in a vehicle with cousins from his estranged biological father’s side of the family, WRAL News reported. But shortly into the trip, Pelletier sent a chilling text message to his mother: "Mom, help." He reportedly sent similar messages to his grandfather and an aunt on his father’s side.

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said the cousins said Pelletier "suddenly began to act erratically before exiting the vehicle and walking away near SR70" in Manatee County.

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Pelletier family members from North Carolina immediately began searching for the missing 18-year-old. Nearly two dozen others joined the search effort on Monday, using ATVs and drones, FOX13 reported.

Pelletier’s aunt, Desiree Pelletier, told WRAL News on Thursday, before the teen's body was found, that the family was concerned about the involvement of the cousins after she claimed they changed their story.

"How on earth are we supposed to be okay with these three boys saying this is what happened and then they change it?" she told the station. "How are we supposed to be okay and not go for the possibility of something happened to him?" 

The white Chevy Malibu that Pelletier had traveled in with his cousins has been seized by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office, according to FOX13.

No further details about the investigation were immediately available.

FIRST ON FOX - The White House, faced with an ongoing and growing tsunami of murderous attacks by Islamic State-allied groups against Christians in sub-Saharan Africa, is now working closely with the State Department to find ways to stop the killing.

Last week, the White House told Fox News Digital, "The Trump administration condemns in the strongest terms this horrific violence against Christians," after the U.N. reported 49 Christians were butchered with machetes on July 27 in and around a church in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), while Catholic worshipers were praying for peace. Authorities say the killers were Islamist militants from the Allied Democratic Forces, also known as Islamic State DRC.

In neighboring Nigeria last month, 27 Christians were reported killed by Islamist Fulani tribesmen in the village of Bindi Ta-hoss, where residents are predominantly Christian. Eyewitness Solomon Sunday said, "I advised my family to seek refuge in the church, which seemed the safest place at the time. I lost my wife and second daughter in the attack; they were burned [alive] by Fulani militias." 

Local youth leader D’Young Mangut, who helped retrieve the bodies, added, "People are being killed like chickens, and nothing is being done."

"Such grisly proceedings have become commonplace in central Nigeria," John Eibner, president of Christian human rights organization Christian Solidarity International, told Fox News Digital. "It is part of a longstanding process of violent Islamization, of ethno-religious cleansing. Last Palm Sunday, 50 Christians were similarly slaughtered in nearby Bassa. Over 165 Christians have been killed in the last 4 months in Plateau State (one of Nigeria’s provinces) alone," he added.

"Massacres of the sort that happen in central Nigeria are also happening with increasing frequency in predominately Christian places like Congo and Mozambique. There is no simple solution."

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The U.K. division of Open Doors, a global Christian charity which supports and speaks up for Christians persecuted for their faith, told Fox News Digital, "The crisis facing large areas of sub-Saharan Africa is hard to overstate. It is potentially existential for the future peace and stability of several nations in the region, not least Nigeria."

"Around 150,000 people have been killed in Jihadist violence over the last ten years. Over 16 million Christians have been driven from their homes and their land across the region."

The Trump administration appears to be preparing for action. This week, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "The Department of State is working closely with the White House to identify opportunities to further the cause of religious freedom around the world."

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The spokesperson added, "Religious freedom for all people worldwide is a moral and national security imperative and a U.S. foreign policy priority.  As President Trump has stated, the United States will vigorously promote this freedom."

Nigeria is among the most dangerous places in the world to be a Christian. Recent Open Doors research shows that more Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than the rest of the world combined. Local bishop Wilfred Anagbe was threatened, and some 20 of his parishioners killed, after he spoke out against the killings to a Congressional Committee in March. 

This week, the bishop spoke exclusively to Fox News Digital, declaring that "the attackers form part of the larger Islamic- Jihadists family headed in Nigeria by the likes of Boko Haram, ISIS West Africa and similar groups. Nigeria has had a long history with Islamic fundamentalism. (But) the violence, killing and displacements without consequences suggests a new pattern where the Islamists have resorted to use their control of official government and apparatus to continue this jihad.

"There is a strong tendency by fundamentalist Muslims in Nigeria to turn the whole or part of Nigeria (in)to an Islamic State."

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"This is what the Nazis did to the Jews," David Onyillokwu Idah, director of the International Human Rights Commission, told Open Doors, adding, "It’s ethnic cleansing, step by step."

John Samuel, legal expert for Open Doors, told Fox News Digital that where the Islamist groups are operating, if Christians gather for "a prayer meeting, let's say, or go to a church, (it) could be a one-way ticket, or something very deadly."

"If you're a Christian, you either convert to Islam or die."

Samuel gives an example of a Nigerian Christian who was ambushed by Boko Haram fighters. According to his widow, "he was asked to deny his faith and say an Islamic prayer. He refused and he was killed instantly. You are a target. You are a target by the mere fact that you identify with Christ."

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Across the region, it’s claimed the Islamist attackers want the land belonging to the Christians they attack. Lawyer Jabez Musa fights in court in Nigeria to get this land back. He told Fox News Digital the displaced Christians "want their land restored back to them for their livelihood. The cry is always I have been dispossessed of what belongs to me, my house, the food, foodstuff, the land. As we speak, over 64 communities in Plateau State have been dispossessed and taken over by the Fulani militants."

"Only Christians are targeted, they're killed, displaced, and their lands are taken over."

Henrietta Blyth, CEO of Open Doors U.K. and Ireland, told Fox News Digital that "African governments must urgently provide three things: justice - because very few of these perpetrators are ever held to account, and this impunity emboldens them.  Restoration - people want their lives back, an opportunity to rebuild their homes, send their kids to school, have a future together.  And protection - the state must protect them from these attacks.  The security forces need to get out of their barracks and be deployed around the most vulnerable.

"For too long, nobody has been talking about the horrific wholesale slaughter of Christians and moderate Muslims in Africa. The Western world needs to wake up and be outraged," she said.

One grieving relative told reporters after the massacre in Nigeria’s Bindi Ta-hoss this past month, "We are tired of condolences and statements. What we need is real security, not sympathy." 

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Fox News Digital reached out to the governments of both Nigeria and the DRC but received no response.

Lawyer Jabez Musa pleaded "I urge the American government, especially President Trump personally … to come to the help of Christians."