Missing New York Teen Found on Boat After Disappearing from Home Last Month

A New York teen who had been missing for nearly a month after she mysteriously walked out of her home without a jacket or shoes in December has been found alive, police and her family said.

Emmarae Gervasi, 14, vanished from her family’s residence in the Long Island village of Patchogue on December 9 when she left barefoot at around 5:00 p.m., the New York Post reported. 

She was seen getting into a black car, then last spotted on security cameras knocking on doors at a motel, according to Greater Long Island. 

After that, Emmarae was not seen or heard from until she was found on a boat in a marina in the nearby Long Island town of Islip. 

According to posts that documented the desperate weeks-long search for the teen on her dad’s Facebook, he found her on the boat “thanks to a crucial tip”:

“We are relieved to share that Emma is safe and currently receiving care at a hospital after enduring 27 days of trauma,” reads a post shared by her father, Frank Gervasi, that was originally posted in a human trafficking awareness group by a woman named Stephanie Rae.

“I’ve been able to hug her and we are so grateful to have her back with us,” Rae continued. “To address any misinformation, Emma was found in Islip by her father, thanks to a crucial tip.”

The woman, whose exact relationship to the girl is unclear, also stated that Emmarae was not in Islip “willingly,” and said that she cannot provide more details due to the ongoing police investigation. 

Frank had been consistently posting on Facebook since the day his daughter went missing, asking his followers to help him search and even offering a $15,000 reward:

After she had been missing for 11 days, Frank begged whoever Emmarae was with to “let her go and bring her back safely,” promising that he would “spend the rest of my life looking for you, if it’s the last thing I ever do.”

In a video update posted on Christmas Eve, Frank acknowledged that the girl is a “troubled teen,” but “that doesn’t discount the fact that she’s my daughter”:

“We are actively looking for her, and we’ll stop at nothing to find her… I just want to make it clear to whoever has my daughter, that she needs to come home.”

“If you have her, just know that I’m coming for you. Have a nice day,” Emmarae’s father added. 

In an interview with PIX11 Thursday, Frank said that his daughter may have been forced into the car she vanished in. 

“I believe that she might have left willingly to get something out of a car and maybe got pulled in at that point,” Frank Gervasi said.

She was found at the marina one day after that interview was published, with her dad announcing it in a Facebook update:

Police said the 14-year-old “is in custody and in good health,” the New York Post reported.

Emmarae’s mother, Melissa Dervay, told Greater Long Island that it felt like a weight was “lifted off my body” when she found out that her daughter had been found.

“The moment I heard her voice and knew she was OK, I felt a weight lifted off my body,” Dervay said. “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.’”

No arrests have been made in relation to her disappearance, according to PIX11.