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 has been missing for nearly a month has been found safe aboard a large boat docked on Long Island.

Emmarae Gervasi, 14, was located 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 phone call with clues to her whereabouts.

Gervasi, of East Patchogue in Suffolk County, had been missing since December 9. The marina where she was found is 13 miles west of Patchogue.

‘I found her myself before the police arrived. It was the end of 26 days of hell to see her alive in my arms. It was a gift from God. I can’t describe the feeling I had when I held her,” Emmarae’s father Frank Gervasi told News 12.

Emmarae is now recovering in hospital and the case remains an active investigation.

Her family became concerned after her sudden disappearance when she vanished while retrieving some belongings from a jeep outside her Tyrrell Street home.

She was then seen getting into a dark-colored vehicle without a jacket or shoes.

Security cameras recorded her knocking at a motel in Bohemia the next day, but then she disappeared again.

In recent weeks, Gervasi said he has been following up on some leads and working closely with Suffolk County police.

In a video posted to Facebook by Frank Gervasi on Saturday morning, Emmarae’s father thanked everyone who helped in the search for his girl

Emmarae has been missing since December 9 and disappeared without a coat or shoes

Friends and family, along with community members, formed search groups to look for Gervasi.

A search was also conducted in New York State using cadaver dogs and police helicopters, but fortunately no body was found.

Gervasi himself made the case for news on social media, looking for clues to his daughter’s appearance while driving around Long Island.

In a video posted to Facebook on Saturday morning, Gervasi thanked everyone who helped in the search for his girl.

‘She’s home. She’s in a facility and she’s getting the help she needs and she’s safe,” he said with relief.

“I would like to thank the community for all the support you have given us. Post all videos, push all content, hand out flyers, donate your time to search for my missing girl. It’s those things that will help bring other kids home,” Gervasi said before explaining how he found her.

‘Yesterday I received an anonymous tip and I would like to thank that person for reporting it and providing information about my daughter. The call I got was that she was on a boat in Islip. I investigated it myself and went there to check it out,” he explained.

‘I rushed into the boat and got my daughter back. She was saved and alive. I believe it was perseverance that brought her home,” Gervasi said.

Speaking to News 12 on Saturday, Gervasi talked about how he thinks Emmarae ran off with someone she knew, but then became afraid to come back home “because of the consequences.”

He also believes she was picked up by a random man who took her caravan park before being taken to the boat where she was being held.

Emmarae’s mother Melissa Dervay said a “weight was lifted from my body” when the intense search ended.

“The moment I heard her voice and knew she was okay, I felt a weight lift off my body,” Dervay said. Greater Long Island.

‘I’ve been so tense these past four weeks, silently fighting a battle. Now I’m elated. I feel light and I just want to scream, ‘She’s fine. She has 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 caravan park before being transferred to the boat where she was being held – and then found

Emmarae is held by her father, Frank, in a photo from when she was younger

Since his daughter disappeared, Gervasi has been receiving strange phone calls.

One of the calls came early one morning from an unknown number. The voice on the other end sounded like his missing daughter’s.

“She said ‘I love you’ and I said ‘Emma?’” he explained, but the line quickly went dead and he couldn’t trace the number.

Gervasi even offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who could help him bring his daughter home.

The Gabby Petito Foundationrun by the parents of Petito whose daughter Gabby went missing while on a cross-country ski trip with her boyfriend, who then killed her and himself, also posted to help the family.