LONG ISLAND, NY — As the search for Emma Gervasi reaches three weeks, members of the community have come forward with the organization of a search party on New Year’s Eve in Shirley, a neighborhood she has been known to frequent.
On Dec. 9, she told her stepmother that she had to get something from her family’s truck parked outside their Patchogue home, and went out into the rainy night in just a T-shirt, no coat, and possibly no shoes, and an unknown car pulled up and she was gone.
The 14-year-old has not been seen since, and her father, Frank Gervasi, has spent his days and nights frantically trying to track her down, getting maybe three hours of sleep per night as the search goes on.
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“I feel that she might have went outside my driveway to get something and was pulled inside the car against her will, and I still strongly believe that she is being held against her will as we speak,” he said in a video post to Facebook. “So the pressure is on for me as a dad to find her and help her.”
Gervasi credited the 5th Precinct’s detectives for their work on her case so far.
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“I call them every three minutes with new leads and things like that, but I think as a joint effort, that’s what’s going to bring that little girl home,” he said, adding that his followers posting across the country is what’s going to help bring her home too.
Gervasi’s plight has touched the community, drawing the attention of the empathy and support of complete strangers at the hashtags: BringEmmaHome and bringemmaraehome.
Facebook followers from all over the United States have been sharing Emma’s photo and information in hopes it will bring her home, and back on Long Island, there is a grassroots effort to aid police in the search for her.
Shirley resident Nick Cortese was drawn to Gervasi’s story because of his feelings about the safety of his own daughter, who is seven and diagnosed on the autism spectrum. He’s calling on the community to undertake an island-wide search for Emma, including all bars, hotels, and woods.
“I feel really bad; It’s a horrible situation,” he said. “I can’t imagine losing my own daughter. I don’t know what I would do.”
Port Jefferson resident Joe Lombardo has been following Gervasi’s posts.
As the father of a 15-year-old girl himself, he’s concerned for Emma’s welfare.
He has been seeing Gervasi’s posts and keeps on sharing them, and when he saw Cortese’s post about the search party, he notified him.
“Hopefully, they find her and she comes home safe,” he added.
Volunteers will meet outside Applebee’s at 1 p.m. with plans to search nearby neighborhoods, as well as the Pine Barrens.
Cortese says he expects to have at least 50 people turn up.
“We’re just going to meet over there, and we’re going to spread people out,” he added.
She was last seen wearing a black T-shirt and black leggings, according to her profile on the website of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
She has brown hair and eyes, stands 5 feet, 4 inches tall, and weighs about 140 lbs, according to her father.
Suffolk police’s 5th Squad of detectives in Patchogue are investigating her disappearance, a spokesperson said Tuesday.
A police spokesman said Gervasi’s profile was added to the center’s site as a matter of routine.
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It is not clear why the department did not send out an alert of its own, as is the case for missing children and vulnerable adults.
Emma is a beautiful, smart girl who has had some “trouble” in her life and has suffered trauma and “hurting on the inside,” Gervasi said in his Facebook post.
He does not know if she is still on Long Island.
“There’s been zero signs of her for 19 days now — no one’s no one seen her,” he said. “Today is day 21 by the way, and she’s still missing.”
“As a dad, I find it hard to just continue my life,” he said. “I wake up every day and feel defeated. I’m on three hours sleep, and every day I want to quit. Every day I want to quit, but I just know she needs me. She’s out there somewhere, and she needs her dad. So the search continues every day.”
“Leads from you guys help and just keep reposting my stuff; share it across the country,” he said. “Share it wherever you have to share it, put hashtag, bring Emma Ray home. Okay? Let’s get my little girl home.”
A $15, 000 reward is being offered for Emma’s safe return.
Her family is asking anyone with information to call, 631-294-0265.
Tipsters can also call 1-800-220-TIPS, a confidential police hotline.
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