Missing teenager is found alive on a BOAT after '26 days of hell' as dad reveals tip that led to her discovery
Missing teenager is found alive on a BOAT after '26 days of hell' as dad reveals tip that led to her discovery
A New York teenager who had been missing for almost a month has been found safe aboard a large boat docked on Long Island.
Emmarae Gervasi, 14, was located on Friday afternoon by her own father aboard a large boat just off Main Street in Islip near a local fish market after he received an anonymous call giving clues as to her whereabouts.
Gervasi, from East Patchogue in Suffolk County, had been missing since December 9th. The marina where she was found is located 13 miles west of Patchogue.
'I did find her myself before police got there. It was the end of 26 days of hell seeing her alive in my arms. It was a gift from God. I can't describe the feeling I had when I grabbed her,' said Frank Gervasi, Emmarae's father said to News 12.
Emmarae is now recovering in hospital and the case remains an active investigation.
Her family had been worried sick after her sudden vanishing when she disappeared white retrieving some items from a Jeep outside her home on Tyrrell Street.
She was then seen getting into a dark-colored vehicle without any coat or shoes.
Security cameras captured her knocking on doors at a Bohemia motel the next day, but then she disappeared once again.
Throughout the past few weeks Gervasi said he had been following up on some leads and working closely with the the Suffolk County Police Department.
Emmarae Gervasi, 14, vanished without a trace on December 9 from her home in East Patchogue on Long Island. She was found on Friday in a boat in Islip, Long Island
In a video posted to Facebook on Saturday morning Frank Gervasi, Emmarae's father gave thanks to all those who helped in the search for his girl
Emmarae had been missing since December 9 and disappeared without wearing a coat or shoes
Friends and family alongside community members formed search parties to look for Gervasi.
A search was also conducted in upstate New York using police cadaver dogs and helicopters but thankfully no body was found.
Gervasi himself pleaded on social media for news and looked into leads into his a daughter's appearance himself, driving around on Long Island.
In a video posted to Facebook on Saturday morning, Gervasi gave thanks to all those who helped in the search for his girl.
'She is home. She is in a facility and getting the help she needs and is safe,' he said sounding relieved.
'I'd like to thank the community for all the support you gave us. Posting all the videos, pushing all the content, Handing out flyers, donating your time to look for my missing girl. It is those things that are going to help bring other kids home,' Gervasi said before explaining how he found her.
'I got an anonymous tip yesterday, and I want to thank that person for coming forward and giving me information about my daughter. The phone call that I received was that she was on a boat in Islip. I followed it up on my own and I went down there to check,' he explained.
'I bust into the boat and recovered my daughter. She has been saved and is alive. I believe it was persistency that helped bring her home,' Gervasi said.
Speaking with News 12 on Saturday, Gervasi told how he believes Emmarae went off with someone she knew but then became afraid to come back home 'because of the consequences'.
He also believes that she was picked up by a random man who took her trailer park before being transferred to the boat where she was held.
Emmarae's mother Melissa Dervay said a weight was 'lifted off my body' when the intense search ended.
'The moment I heard her voice and knew she was OK, I felt a weight lifted off my body,' Dervay told Greater Long Island.
'I've been so tense for the past four weeks, quietly fighting a battle. Now, I'm elated. I feel light, and I just want to scream, 'She's OK. She's been found.''
Emmarae with her father Frank Gervasi and her stepmother Alyson
Dad, Frank, believes Emmarae was picked up by a random man who took her trailer park before being transferred to the boat where she was held - and subsequently found
Emmarae is seen being held by her father, Frank, in a photo from when she was younger
Since his daughter vanished Gervasi got strange phone calls.
One of the calls came early one morning from an unknown number. The voice on the other end of the phone sounded like his missing daughter.
'She said 'I love you' and I said 'Emma?',' he explained - but the line quickly went dead and he was unable to trace the number.
Gervasi even put up a $10,000 reward for anyone who could help him bring his daughter home.
The Gabby Petito Foundation, run by the parents of Petito whose daughter Gabby went missing on a cross country trip with her boyfriend, who then killed her and himself, also put up a posting to help the family.
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