VINCENT GIOVANAZZI - 17 yo - Glendora CA

Police are looking for a 17-year-old boy who has been missing since last week, officials said.

Vincent Antonio Giovanazzi left his Glendora home about 5 p.m. on
Thursday and was supposed to be picked up by a friend, who was going to
drive them to the library, police said in a written statement.
But Giovanazzi never made it to the library, and never returned home.

Family members told police that this behavior is uncharacteristic of the teen, and they are concerned for his safety.

Officials do not suspect foul play.

"So far they are investigating this just as a runway," said
Glendora police Sgt. James De Mond. "There are no other suspicious
circumstances or criminal elements that we are looking into at this
time."
Giovanazzi is known to frequent Covina, Azusa, Baldwin Park, Venice Beach and Colby Trial in Glendora.

Giovanazzi is described as Italian with brown hair and hazel eyes. He is 6-feet tall and weights 170 pounds.

Police in Glendora are looking for a 17 year old boy who left his home last Thursday and hasn't returned.

Vincent Giovanazzi told his family he was being picked up by a friend
to go to the library, but he never made it to the library and never
came home.

He has not contacted his family and has not been seen since.

Giovanazzi left home without his ID, but he did have his cell phone. He
hasn't answered the phone since Friday. Police also said his phone had
some activity Friday morning, but nothing since.

His mother, Yvette Giovanazzi, said it's very uncharacteristic of her
son to not call or text. She, along with Vincent's brother Nick and
other family members, can't figure out what might have happened to
Vincent, who's a senior at Glendora High School.

Vincent is described as a good boy, but friends told police he may have
used drugs. Police are now interviewing the missing teen's friends.

Glendora police say they've received about 10 to 15 tips, but they're looking for more.

If you have any information please call the Glendora PD at 626-914-8250.

A Glendora family is desperately trying to find
out what happened to their 17-year-old boy, who mysteriously
disappeared two weeks ago when he left home to go to the library.
Officers don't think this is a case of a young teenager who suddenly
decided to run away from home. They say they're taking the
disappearance of Vincent Giovanazzi very seriously.
The 17-year-old had just started his senior year at Glendora High School, so his mother wasn't surprised when he called her two weeks ago and said he was going to the library to study. "Vincent called me on my cell phone, I was on my way home, and said
that a friend of his from school, they were going to work on project
together at the library," said Yvette Giovanazzi, the missing teen's
mother.
That was the last time Vincent's family has heard from him. Video cameras at the Glendora Public Library show he was never there. The library was also closed that night. Where Vincent went and why he hasn't called remains a mystery to his family. "I started to become worried because I usually always call him or he
always returns my calls right away or texts, and after like about 7:30,
8 o'clock I wasn't getting a call back," said his mother. The next day police say they pinged his cell phone and got a hit off a cell tower near an In-N-Out Burger. "Since that time, 13 days ago, it's been dead," said Lt. Tim Staab of the Glendora Police Department. Police have launched a major investigation. On Wednesday, they searched South Hills Park with a bloodhound. Vincent's family said he liked to hang out with his friends in the park. An even more extensive search of the park, using family and volunteers, has been planned for Saturday morning. His aunt says on a recent visit all Vincent talked about was his plans
for the future. Nothing to indicate he was unhappy or wanted to run
away. "We need answers, we need Vincent home. We are dying without him, we need him here," said Denise Weinberg, Vincent's aunt. Police say they need to the public's help to find out what happened to Vincent Giovanazzi. If you have any information on the teen's whereabouts, you're asked to call the Glendora Police Department at (626) 914-8250. The search on Saturday will start at 7 a.m. Any volunteers should show up at the park.

Searchers found the body of a missing
Glendora teenager Saturday in a remote hiking area near his home, dead
from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.
Vincent Antonio Giovanazzi, 17, was found about 8 a.m. in the
foothills of Glendora off of Colby Trail, north of Loraine Avenue,
Glendora police Lt. Tim Staab said.
He disappeared August 27 after telling family members he was
going to the library, the lieutenant said. A review of library
surveillance cameras show he never arrived.
His uncle, Bill Cooper, described the senior at Glendora High School as "genuinely a nice, good, caring kid."
"We spent a lot of time hiking together and stuff," he said. "I'm going to miss him for the rest of my life."
About 300 family members, friends and community members set out
Saturday mourning to scour the wooded areas near Giovanazzi's home,
Staab said.
"It was only because of those 300 volunteers that we were able to find Vincent this morning," he said.
Staab added that family members were grateful for the outpouring of community support.
The body was found under a tree in a remote area about half a
mile up Colby Trail, and about one mile from his home, authorities and
family members said. Giovanazzi would often hike in the area.
Because of the remote area where the body was located, Staab said it appeared he did not want to be found.
A cousin of Giovanazzi first made the discovery, officials said.The Los Angeles County Department of Coroner will conduct a full
investigation to determine the cause of death, Staab said, however a
handgun was found near the body and the death initially appeared to be
a suicide.
"He appears to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head," Staab said.
The gun belonged to a family member, he added.
Staab said the condition of the body indicated it likely had
been there about two weeks - the amount of time that Giovanazzi has
been missing.
Since his disappearance, family members have asked the public's
help finding Giovanazzi and even offered a $10,000 reward for
information.
"The family is very distraught," the lieutenant said. "My heart goes out to them."
Cooper said he was searching with Lt. Staab when the body was found.
"(Staab) got a phone call and turned real serious," Cooper said. "He said, 'Get your wife and come with me.'"
Cooper said Giovanazzi showed no signs of being suicidal before his disappearance.
"I talked to him the week before," he said. "I kind of noticed he was down, but nothing to this scale."
A memorial of flowers and photographs marked the entrance to Colby Trail Saturday afternoon.
Area residents, such as 25-year-old Valerie Mendoza, stopped by to pay her respects.
Though she said she did not know Giovanazzi personally, she said the incident had affected the whole neighborhood.
"It just makes you so sad," she said. "People all around the
city were talking about it. Everyone was holding out that they'd find
him, that they'd find him alive."

When her nephew first went missing three weeks ago, Lynn Cooper didn't know what to do.

They had searched local spots and police were investigating, but 17-year-old Vincent Giovanazzi couldn't be found.

It wasn't until Cooper, and others, turned to using social networking
sites like Facebook when they gained traction in their search. Unfortunately, the story had a tragic ending. Vincent was found dead from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound Sept. 12.

A memorial service was held for Vincent at St. Dorothy Catholic Church Saturday.

But without the help of an organized search party - made possible through
the help of a Facebook group - Cooper doesn't believe they ever would
have found his body. "We hiked all around while he was missing. My husband
probably came within 20 feet of (Vincent) the day after he went
missing," Cooper said. "If we didn't have that search he would have
never been found." A friend of Vincent's father living in North Carolina set up the Facebook group to coordinate a search, Cooper said.

Once the page was up, the story gained major attention, the community rallied and group members skyrocketed.

In no time, hundreds of people had joined pledging their help at the
search, according to the site which has now been changed to a memorial
page for Vincent. On the day of the search, when Cooper arrived at the Baskin-Robbins on Route 66, she was amazed.

"It was absolutely overwhelming to see," Cooper said. "So many people
reaching out to us, so many people who cared, it kind of blew my mind."
It isn't uncommon for police to use sites like Facebook and MySpace to investigate crimes.

But, at least from a local police standpoint, the social networking utility
had never been used in such a capacity by law enforcement, officials
said. In more than two decades of service at the Glendora Police
Department, Lt. Tim Staab has never seen so many people turn out for a
search effort. On Sept. 12, hundreds of local community members and concerned parties showed up to search for Vincent.

And while the outcome was tragic, the community effort and ability to come together swiftly was impressive, Staab said.

"It was really comforting for the family to see so many people concerned,"
Staab said. "If it weren't for that, I doubt we would have found
Vincent's body any time soon." One person who was involved in spreading information regarding the search for Vincent was Covina resident Stephanie Alexander.

The 32-year-old Alexander didn't attend the search and doesn't personally
know the Giovanazzi family. But Alexander did read about the story in
this newspaper. From there she searched MySpace for information and
turned whatever she found over to the family and police. When the Facebook group came about for the search party,
she sent information to this newspaper and to others to garner support.
"The search efforts organized through Facebook seem to have
been the most effective way to get the information out," Alexander
said. "Reaching out to Vinny's friends, in a way that they could relate
to was a great way to get them involved in, and aware of, the actual
search." Police agencies often use flyers, word of mouth and, most prominently, the media to reach audiences quickly.

But with tools like Facebook, that could change.

It may not be the most reliable, but Facebook is a mass communication tool
that can ascertain information fast from sources the family and police
may be otherwise unaware of, Alexander said. While sites like Facebook can be a great tool for the
public and police, social media can be detrimental or dangerous, social
media applications expert and USC professor Sandra Chrystal said. "Social media can be an effective mass communication tool
for health and safety message dissemination, but it has an equally
powerful negative potential," Chrystal said. While police signed off on the Facebook group in Vincent's
case, the ability for the community to do much of this on their own
could give rise to citizen investigation. Staab warned against that. "We are worried that people begin to do things that may put
themselves in jeopardy or they do things they don't understand may
compromise our investigation or where we have gone," Staab said.
"(Facebook) was useful this time around and if in the future I see a
need for it, not only will I ask the media, we will consider using the
Facebook resource as well."