Frank Gervasi said he tried everything to help his daughter, Emmarae, heal from a personal trauma she suffered at age 11. In recent months, Emmarae, now 14, found solace caring for horses at a riding facility in Miller Place, Long Island.
"She was there like six hours a day," Frank Gervasi told me, providing photos of his daughter tenderly hugging one horse and feeding another. "That was like her therapy."
Emmarae Gervasi, 14, has found solace in caring for horses.
Yet since December 9th, Emmarae Gervasi has been missing. Soon, it will be three weeks since she left her father's house on Terrell Street in Patchogue on a rainy evening about 5 p.m., barefoot and wearing a black outfit.
As the days piled up since her disappearance, Emmarae's dad increased his social media presence Christmas week, making appeals on Facebook and Instagram for viable tips that can help locate his daughter, as he was seen driving around Long Island.
"It's those posts that are going to bring her home," Frank Gervasi told me.
"We're exhausting all leads."
Frank Gervasi Instagram post, December 25, 2024.
Frank Gervasi owns an auto detailing shop in Suffolk County and recently offered a $15,000 reward for information that brings his daughter back. He said he is working with 5th Precinct detectives on his daughter's case. He fears Emmarae is being exploited, because she's had struggles that are not uncommon among teens on Long Island.
The Gabby Petito Foundation, which launched after the 2021 disappearance and murder of a vibrant, cross-country vlogger from Blue Point, Long Island, is assisting the Gervasi family on social media. The foundation has more than 200,000 followers.
Emmarae Gervasi, 14, feeds horse at facility in Miller Place, Long Island.
"She has a tattoo on the back of her neck 222," the foundation observed about Emmarae, "and on one of her arms of a rose."
Emmarae Gervasi stands 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs about 140 pounds.
She has black hair and brown eyes.
Emmarae Gervasi, 14, strikes a playful pose in photo provided by her father.
14 year old Emmarae had posted selfies on her Facebook page, some of them dating back to December 2023, when she was still 12 and on the cusp of entering her teen years. She went missing one or two days in the past, later confiding to her father she'd been exposed to bad things.
The Suffolk County Police Department told me Thursday, December 26, that Emmarae is now featured on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website. Three years ago, one of the directors there told me that 92 percent of missing teenage girls are "exploited runaways."
The father doesn't know if his daughter has been moved anywhere, so he wants her 'missing' story to go national.
"I'm trying to stay positive," Frank Gervasi said. "I need this across the country."
IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
SUFFOLK COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT AT (631) 854-8552
OR CALL 911
Great article Mary.