I reported Sunday about a three year old little boy, Luke Finch that had disappeared with his father, Paul Martikainen. The father managed to slip away from a supervised visitation at the Riverfront Park in Cocoa Florida around noon on Saturday.
Cocoa Police Department spokeswoman Officer Barbara Matthews said that they found out that Martikainen had a 32 ft boat there and people reported him and Luke in a dinghy going out to the boat. She said apparently the boat had recently been painted a battleship gray which possible been to attempt to conceal the boat on the water which could clearly mean that the abduction had been planned ahead of time.
Little Luke’s mother has sole custody of Luke after the couple were divorced four years ago. She was pregnant with Luke and Martikainen agreed to give up his parental rights as part of their divorce agreement according to the Florida Today newspaper. It went further to report that the couple started living together again in Sept. 2006 and then separated again in January 2008 when he filed for joint custody because he claimed he had developed a father/son bond with Luke.
Christa Finch. 29, made a public appeal that was televised Monday saying, “Please, just bring Lukey home.†When told about the boy and his father being spotted getting on board a sailboat which left the harbor, Christa said, “He’s probably scared…he’s never been on a boat in the water and I am sure he’s very scared.â€
Martikainen supposedly purchased the 1977 32 ft Bristol sailboat from Debra Van Skiver, who works for Neptune Towing and Recovery near the marina, for $6109 around the third week of October. He told Skiver he was buying it for someone in Arkansas and he was going to fix it up and deliver it to him even though he had no experience in sailing. He seemed to be living aboard the boat while he did some work on it. Van Skiver expressed some concerns as she said, “This is a man with not a lot of sailing experience. It is impossible to take care of a child and sail a boat without multiple people.â€
Fortunately the US Coast Guard located the boat and found Luke and his father on board safely late Monday night. They were located about 140 miles southwest of Fort Meyers Beach, Fla. They kept the boat under surveillance all night and then early Tuesday morning two Coast Guard Cutters and a helicopter converged on the boat and safely got Luke Finch. The child is aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Crocodile which should arrive at the coast guard station in Ft. Meyers beach around 7 pm tonight.
Paul Martikainen was left on the sailboat while it is being towed in by the Coast Guard Cutter Kodiak Island. When they get to shore Martikainen will be taken into custody by the FBI. Luke is reported to be in good condition and will be returned to his mother who will be meeting them in Ft Meyers.
Thank God for the safe return of little Luke. This is an answer to a lot of prayers. I for one am so happy this little boy will be back with his family where he belongs. I wish him and his family a very Merry Christmas and I hope Santa is especially good to little Luke this year.
Let’s continue our prayers for the rest of the children as well. Maybe some of them will receive the same blessing as Luke has today through our prayers. The list goes on but at least some have been found safe and returned to their homes. Here is the list: Caylee Anthony (found dead), Adji Desir (remains missing), Haleigh Cummings (remains missing), Somer Thompson (found dead), Elizabeth Olten (found dead) , Masaraha Ross (remains missing), Alex Mercado (drowned) Rebecca Marie Allen (found alive), Sandra Cantu (found dead), Anthony Holland (found alive), Shaniya Davis (found dead), Hassani Campbell (remains missing), Giovanni Gonzalez (reported dead), Neveah Buchanen ( found dead) and Shannon Dedrick (found alive), Angel Miguel Perez (found safe) Luis Martinez (found dead) Luke Finch (found alive), Kayvon Lewis (fighting for his life) and Andrue Jankwitz and Nathaneal Hale (both missing) .
Jan Barrett
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10 users commented in " Missing 3 Year Old Luke Finch Found Unharmed and Safe "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackGreat news! Thank the Lord he is safe!!!!
This really is an early Christmas miracle (to me). An answer to a lot of prayers. And I also want to thank the wonderful men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard as well as the FBI and Cocoa Beach police department for working together and doing a fantastic job of finding Luke and bringing him home. They are true heroes! God bless all of them!
My sister is one of detectives who helped find Luke. I am so proud of her. She is an amazing person, and phenomenal public servant. He’s a lucky little boy!
Kudos to LE on this one. It must have been extremely stressful making contact with Martikainen, not knowing what to expect, and negotiating Luke coming off the sailboat onto the Coast Guard boat.
It would be interesting to know what Martikainen’s plans were.
Thank God, another answer to our prayers! Thanks Jan!
Thank God for a happy ending.Merry Christmas Luke.Wish every story had a happy ending.It would be the greatest gift this year if Haleigh and the other lost children were returned home safe.My prayers will keep going till news comes for the children that are still lost.Thanks for keeping the coverage.
Is it just me or has the Amber Alert system, the FBI, and various other LE offices been in top notch form lately? Even when unable to have a happy ending, as in this instance, they have found the child and continue to seek justice and answers.
Let’s pray that Haleigh is the next child returned unharmed.
Thank you, Jan, for the article. This was a happy ending!
Holly’s Gmom – I was thinking the same thing. In the most recent missing children’s cases, LE has been in top form. I don’t know if that is coincidence or if the increased number of missing children’s cases has resulted in more LE training.
my name is luke finch lol
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