Missing Teenager Found Alive on Boat by Dad, Man Arrested: '26 Days of Hell'

Authorities in New York have arrested a man in connection with the disappearance of a 14-year-old girl who has since been found.

Emmarae Gervasi disappeared from Suffolk County, N.Y., on Dec. 8, according to local police.

She was found on a boat in a canal in Islip on Friday, Jan. 3, her father Frank Gervasi said in a social media post.

Suffolk County police confirmed to PEOPLE that Gervasi was found last Friday, but did not confirm details of where and how she was found.

A man was arrested in connection with her disappearance, per Suffolk County police. They redirected further queries to the District Attorney’s Office, who did not respond to PEOPLE’s requests for further information.

Emmarae was last seen in East Patchogue on Dec. 9 at 5 p.m., Suffolk County police told PEOPLE. Her father Frank previously told PIX 11 that the teenager had stepped out of her house to get something from the driveway and was taken from there.

“I believe that she might have left willingly to get something out of a car and maybe got pulled in at that point,” he said, adding that he believed she was being held against her will.

Frank spent the last few weeks desperately looking for the girl, driving around day and night, and offered a $15,000 reward for her return, according to a GoFundMe that was set up after her disappearance.

He received a tip on Friday from a woman who told him the child was on a boat in Islip, and Frank followed the lead, he explained in a video on Saturday. When he arrived, the tipster told him she was scared to go onto the boat.

After he "bust into the boat," Frank recovered the girl, he said in the video; no one else was present on the boat at the time.

"It was 26 days of hell seeing her alive in my arms,” Frank told News 12 Long Island after the rescue.

“It was a gift from God. I can't describe the feeling I had when I grabbed her,” he said.

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Frank has since been sharing updates about the investigation and addressed claims that his daughter had run away.

“The only important thing that should matter right now is my daughter’s recovery and her safety,” Frank said in a video on Facebook, adding that they are “working [to] getting her the care she needs.”

An investigation is ongoing.

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