In December 2024, 14-year-old Emmarae Gervasi disappeared from her Long Island home barefoot and without a jacket. For 26 days, her father, Frank, barely stopped searching. He offered a $15,000 reward, flooded social media with pleas for information and followed every lead he could find. Then, on January 3, 2025, he received a tip. Emmarae was supposedly being held on a boat docked in Islip. Frank drove there himself. Before police even arrived, he forced his way onto the vessel and found his daughter alive inside. “I did find her myself before the police got there,” he later said. “It was 26 days of hell.” Police soon arrested Francis Buckheit. Prosecutors later alleged Emmarae had been held on his 56-foot boat for weeks and s**ually ab*sed there. Then the case widened. Other suspects were arrested on allegations that Emmarae had been se*ually exploited for drugs and money while she was missing. By August 2026, authorities had arrested 13 people connected to the case, and at least one defendant had pleaded guilty to sex trafficking. After nearly a month missing, Emmarae’s father was the person who finally opened the door and brought her home.