Story of Emmarae Gervasi 

An arrest has been made in the case of missing teen Emmarae Gervasi who was found alive on a boat after ’26 days of hell.’ 

Francis Buckheit, 65, was arrested on charges of rape and kidnapping in connection to Emmarae’s case, his defense attorney Danielle Marie Papa confirmed.

The 14-year-old was located on Friday afternoon by her father Frank Gervasi aboard a large boat just off Main Street in Islip, Long Island, after he received an anonymous tip about her whereabouts. 

The teen, from East Patchogue in Suffolk County, had been missing since December 9 after she went to retrieve some items from a Jeep outside her home on Tyrrell Street. 

‘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,’ .

On Monday, Buckheit entered a not guilty plea to charges of rape, kidnapping, and acting in a manner injurious to a child at First District Court in Central Islip, court records show. 

His arrest day is listed as January 3 – the same day Emmarae was discovered. Buckheit is being held without bail and is due back in court Thursday morning, records reveal. 

After being found safe, Emmarae is now recovering in the hospital and the case remains an active investigation. 

Her family had been worried sick after her sudden vanishing, as Frank previously told that prior to her coming home, the last time he spoke to his daughter she asked him what he was making for dinner. 

While outside of her family home to retrieve something from a car, she was 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 Frank said he had been following up on some leads and working closely with the Suffolk County Police Department.

Less than 24 hours after she disappeared, he said he got a tip that she was walking aimlessly along a long stretch of road in Bohemia until, he said, ‘she completely vanished without a trace.’

‘I fear that she is being held against her will. I know she is with somebody and they are either convincing her to stay or won’t let her leave or worse she may be dead by now.’   

He added: ‘I won’t stop looking until I find her.’  

Friends and family joined in on the search, alongside community members, to look for Emmarae. 

A search was also conducted in upstate New York using police cadaver dogs and helicopters but thankfully no body was found.

Frank himself pleaded on social media for news and looked into leads into his daughter’s disappearance himself, driving around on Long Island.

In a video posted to Facebook on Saturday morning, Frank 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.

‘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.

‘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,’ Frank said.

The worried father went on to tell New 12 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 to a 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.’

While she was missing, Frank said he started to get strange phone calls from unknown numbers, and that the voice on the other end sounded like his 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. 

He even put up a $10,000 reward for anyone who could help him bring his daughter home. 

The Suffolk County Police Department has since impounded the large boat from the dock as evidence.