A man has been arrested in relation to the disappearance of a 14-year-old girl.
Emmarae Gervasi went missing on December 9, 2024, and wasn’t found until 26 days later.
By means of a miracle, the teenager’s father located her with the help of local law enforcement and anonymous tip-offs.
Emmarae was found safe on a boat in Islip, just over 10 miles from her home in East Patchogue, New York.
On the day of her disappearance, 14-year-old Emmarae had gone to retrieve some items from a car parked up outside of her house.
She was then seen getting into another vehicle without her shoes or jacket in the rain.
The following day, CCTV footage showed Emmarae knocking on doors in at a Bohemia motel.
Speaking to News 12 after eventually locating Emmarae almost a month later, her father, Frank Gervasi, said it was a ‘gift from God’.
“It was 26 days of hell seeing her alive in my arms,” he said of the moment they were reunited.
“It was a gift from God. I can’t describe the feeling I had when I grabbed her.”
Now a man has been arrested in connection to Emmarae’s disappearance and has been charged with rape, child endangerment, and kidnap, The Patch reports.
Speaking to the publication, Defense attorney,Danielle Marie Papa, of Hauppauge, said that online court records show that Francis Buckheit has been arrested and is being held without bail.
He’s said to have entered a non-guilty plea, which was filed on Monday (January 6).
As per The Patch, Buckheit is next due in court on Wednesday (January 8).
UNILAD has approached the Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney’s office for comment.
In light of an anonymous tip helping locate Emmarae, her father took to social media to thank people for their help.
“I’d like to thank the community for all the support you gave us,” Frank penned the day after Emmarae was found.
“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.”
In regards to the person who tipped him off to Emmarae being on a boat in Islip, he said: “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.
“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.”
Emmarae’s said to have been taken to hospital to be checked over after being found last week.
