Many stories about missing children end in tragedy. Thankfully, a father’s dedication, bravery, and persistence led to him being reunited with his 14-year-old daughter after she disappeared nearly a month before.
Although Frank Gervasi worked closely with law enforcement, he personally located his daughter and brought her back to safety. His heroism has been likened to to the plot of the Liam Neeson movie franchise Taken.
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Gervasi worried that his daughter was being held against her will.
Emmarae Gervasi vanished from her home in East Patchogue, Long Island, on December 9, 2024, the Daily Mail reported. She went to retrieve some items from a Jeep outside her home and never came back inside. A large-scale search ensued, and local police and Gervasi worked to find the young teen.
Less then 24 hours after she went missing, Gervasi received a tip that someone saw his daughter walking aimlessly along a road. When they were still searching for her, Gervasi told the Daily Mail, “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.”
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'I bust into the boat and recovered my daughter,' Gervasi said.
Thankfully, she was still alive. After pleading on social media and working with friends and community members, Gervasi got an anonymous tip. In a Facebook video he shared after he found his daughter, he explained. “The phone call that I received was that she was on a boat in Islip,” he said in the clip, according to the Daily Mail.
“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.”
A 65-year-old man was arrested in connection with the case.
Later, in an interview with News 12, Gervasi said he believed his daughter went off with someone she knew and was afraid to go back home because of the consequences. He also believed someone she knows picked her up. Gervasi thinks a random man transferred her to the boat where she was later found.
Sixty-five-year-old Francis Buckheit was arrested in connection with Emmarae’s case. He was charged with rape and kidnapping, his defense attorney confirmed to Patch in Patchogue, New York
The man was arrested the same day Emmarae was found.
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 noted, according to the Daily Mail. He was arrested on January 3, the day Gervasi found his daughter.
Police were holding him without bail and he was due back in court later this week, the news outlet reported. Since her father found her, Emmarae has been in the hospital recovering. The case remains open and active.
