Exclusive | Who failed Emmarae Gervasi? The childhood trauma, rehab and worrying posts before Long Island teens 25-day ordeal and rescue
A year before leaving her home and allegedly being held captive and abused on Long Island, 14-year-old Emmarae Gervasi was like many other teens, posting on TikTok and Instagram.However, some of her pictures and videos should have raised red flags.Multiple posts showed her wearing nothing more than lingerie and acting in a sexually suggestive manner.One video appeared to show her driving at 4 a.m., posted when she was just 13-years-old.Despite barely being a teenager, Emmarae has already lived through significant issues.
She had behavioral problems for some years due to a trauma she suffered in her childhood, according to her family, and had run away from home multiple times.Emmarae had been treated at substance abuse facilities in New York and then Minnesota, where she was also admitted to juvenile detention for allegedly hitting a cop.The middle-schooler was freed from detention with an ankle monitor into the custody of her unconventional father, Frank Gervasi – an auto detailer and amateur porn star with facial tattoos and an uncompromising attitude – in September.The unthinkable nightmare she has been subjected to since has left her community reeling, scratching their heads as to how Emmarae, from a loving family with her teacher mother and two brothers nearby, could disappear into the hands of abusive criminals for 25 days.Already a vulnerable person, she was failed by the authorities, teachers and parents who were allegedly monitoring her, apparently lured through social media by a predator then allegedly hidden in a series of dingy hideaways to keep her from being found.Frank had no idea she’d run away from his Patchogue house on Dec.09, wearing no shoes and a T-shirt and into a dark world no teenager should be exposed to.Emmarae was last seen entering a blue Honda car, telling her stepmom she was going to fetch something from a truck in the driveway.The next time her father saw her was when he rescued her from a luxury yacht docked at Whitecap Marina...