A decomposing body was found in the search for a missing teen from North Carolina.

According to reports from local media outlets, he had vanished after sending his mother an alarming text for help, pleading with her to get him out of here.

Now, 18-year-old Giovanni Pelletier’s remains were discovered in a retention pond off I-75 in Florida, where he happened to travel to connect with his estranged father and family.

His body was formally identified on Saturday afternoon, as per the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

The teenager’s mother was said to be living every parent’s worst nightmare, angrily noting how her son was found by a private eye in the swampy area as authorities failed to stumble upon it while scouring the location.

The mother says her son’s remains were located when a desperate search was carried out by the family alone. They are now still facing an active investigation into the death, it was revealed by the heartbroken mother through Facebook. ‘I am living every parent’s worst nightmare, trying to gather the strength to give him the final farewell that he deserves’- she cried.