LUKE FINCH - 3 yo - Riverfront Park/Cocoa FL

Police are asking for help in finding a father, who is accused of
abducting his 3-year-old son Saturday after a court-scheduled
visitation.Paul Martikainen, 36, was with his son, Luke Finch,
at Riverfront Park around noon. He was being monitored by a
court-appointed supervisor because of his history of alleged abuse
against the child.But Martikainen slipped away from the supervisor around 1 p.m.

He was last seen driving a 1990s model Ford Explorer with a Florida tag of 142-KEA.Anyone with information is asked to contact the Cocoa Police Department at (321) 639-7620.

* * * *

A Florida Missing Child Alert has been issued for a 3-year-old boy from Cocoa. Officials
say Luke Finch, was last seen in the area of Taylor Park at Harrison
& Delannoy Street in Cocoa Florida, wearing a blue sweatshirt, blue
pants and black and red fire engine sneakers.

The child may be
in the company of Paul Martikainen, a white male, 35 years old, 5 feet
11 inches tall, 176 pounds, blonde hair and green eyes. They may be
traveling in a green Ford Explorer, with a dented rear bumper, tag
number 142KEA.

If you have any information concerning the
whereabouts of this endangered person, please contact the Cocoa Police
Department at 321-639-7620 MISSING CHILD ALERT
PARENTAL ABDUCTION LUKE FINCH
Date Missing: 11/28/2009
Missing From: Cocoa County: BREVARD
Birth Date: 1/3/2006 Age Disappeared: 3 yrs 10 months
Height: 2' 09" Race: White Hair: Blonde
Weight: 33 Sex: Male Eyes: Blue

A Palm Bay man accused of abducting his young son from a supervised
visit Saturday may have escaped to the water in a 32-foot sailboat
painted gray to elude authorities, Cocoa police said.Police
believe Paul Martikainen may have taken his 3-year-old son, Luke Finch,
aboard the sailboat, which was at the Salt Creek Marina at 107 16th
Ave. SE, said Cocoa Police Department spokeswoman Ofr. Barbara Matthews."We found out (Martikainen) had a boat there and people saw Paul and Luke in a dinghy going out to a boat," Matthews said.Finch
was reported missing Saturday afternoon after he disappeared from a
Cocoa park during a supervised visit with his father. Martikainen, 35,
was able to slip away from the supervisor sometime after noon.An
Amber Alert sent out Saturday evening said Martikainen was believed to
be traveling in a green 1995 Ford Explorer with tag number 142KEA.
Shortly after news of the alert ran on local news broadcasts, a witness
called authorities to report the vehicle was at the marina, Matthews
said.St. Petersburg police found the Ford and impounded it. They learned that a friend of Martikainen bought the boat in October.Witnesses at the marina said they saw Martikainen and the boy get into the 32-foot Bristol sailboat, Matthews said.It
was recently painted "battleship gray," Matthews said, possibly to try
conceal the boat on the water. That means the abduction could have been
planned in advance, Matthews said.Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg was assisting with the search on Sunday, said spokesman Petty Officer Robert Simpson.Martikainen,
Finch's non-custodial parent, was ordered to have supervised visitation
because of previous allegations of child abuse against the boy,
Matthews said.Matthews said the child's mother is "afraid....but very hopeful.""Our goal is his safe return," she said.Martikainen
is described as being 5 feet 11 inches tall, 176 pounds, with blonde
hair and green eyes. Finch is described as being 2 feet 9 inches tall,
33 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes. According to the Amber
Alert, the child was last seen wearing a blue sweatshirt, blue pants
and black and red fire engine sneakers.Cocoa police ask anyone with information to call (321) 639-7620 or dial 911.

A Palm Bay man suspected of abducting his young son from a
supervised visit Saturday may have escaped to the water in a 32-foot
sailboat, authorities said Sunday.Police think Paul Martikainen
may have taken his 3-year-old son, Luke Finch, aboard the sailboat,
which was at the Salt Creek Marina at 107 16th Ave. SE in St.
Petersburg, said Cocoa Police Department spokeswoman Officer Barbara
Matthews."We found out (Martikainen) had a boat there and people saw Paul and Luke in a dinghy going out to a boat," Matthews said.Finch
was reported missing Saturday afternoon after he disappeared from a
Cocoa park during a supervised visit with his father. Martikainen, 35,
was able to slip away from the supervisor sometime after noon.An
Amber Alert sent out Saturday evening said Martikainen was thought to
be traveling in a green 1995 Ford Explorer with tag number 142KEA.
Shortly after news of the alert ran on local news broadcasts, a caller
told authorities that the vehicle was at the marina, Matthews said.St. Petersburg police found the Ford and impounded it. They learned that a friend of Martikainen bought the boat in October.Witnesses at the marina said they saw Martikainen and the boy get into the 32-foot Bristol sailboat, Matthews said.It
was recently painted battleship gray, Matthews said, possibly to
conceal the boat on the water. That means the abduction could have been
planned in advance, she said.The Coast Guard in St. Petersburg was assisting with the search on Sunday, said spokesman Petty Officer Robert Simpson.Martikainen,
Finch's non-custodial parent, was ordered to have supervised visitation
because of previous allegations of abuse against the boy, Matthews said.Matthews said the child's mother is "afraid … but very hopeful.""Our goal is his safe return," she said.




Police seek helpPaul
Martikainen is described as being 5 feet 11 inches tall, 176 pounds,
with blond hair and green eyes. Luke Finch is described as being 2 feet
9 inches tall, 33 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes. According to
the Amber Alert, the child was last seen wearing a blue sweatshirt,
blue pants and black and red fire engine sneakers.Cocoa police ask anyone with information to call (321) 639-7620 or dial 911.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is joining the search for a
Cocoa man accused this weekend of abducting his 3-year-old son during a
court-supervised visit, then setting sail on a friend’s boat off a St.
Petersburg marina.Cocoa
Police Department spokeswoman Barbara Matthews said the FBI is
preparing an “Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution” warrant for
35-year-old Paul Martikainen.Witnesses who saw
Martikainen and son Luke Finch on the news Saturday night called police
and reported they had seen them take a dinghy out to a 32-foot Bristol
sailboat at about 4 p.m. at a St. Petersburg marina, Cocoa police said.Police in Cocoa said Saturday that Martikainen disappeared with his son from a supervised visit in a Cocoa park.St. Petersburg police responded to the Salt Creek Marine Center and found Martikainen’s green 1995 Ford Explorer.In a statement issued today, Matthews said police are seeking a warrant to search the vehicle.The
U.S. Coast Guard is broadcasting an announcement each hour on the
marine emergency channel, while authorities attempt to locate the
vessel, which witnesses reportedly saw towing a skiff behind it, police
said.The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will disseminate flyers tonight in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area.Investigators
determined that one of Martikainen’s friends bought the sailboat in
October and the vessel remains unregistered. The boat was recently
painted battleship gray, possibly to conceal identifying numbers and to
camouflage the craft while under way, Cocoa Police spokeswoman Barbara
Matthews said.Martikainen has no known extensive boating
experience, Matthews said. “We’re not sure he has a destination in
mind,” she said. “We don’t know where he’s going, where he’s taking the
child. He’s certainly not an experienced sailor, which is a concern.”Cocoa detectives are working with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, U.S. Coast Guard and other law enforcement agencies to find the boat.“It’s a huge search area,” Matthews said. “That area is absolutely flooded with boats that are now winter residents.”A
court-appointed supervisor monitored the pair because of the father’s
history of alleged abuse against the child, police said. But they
slipped away undetected.“I don’t know what the circumstances were,” Matthews said.“The
concern is that he’s not supposed to have the child,” she said. “His
visitation is supposed to be supervised, so yes, we are concerned.

The U.S. Coast Guard this morning rescued a 3-year-old boy who was abducted by his father in Brevard County.

Two cutters and a helicopter converged on the sailboat where Luke Finch
was being held by his father, Paul Martikainen of Palm Bay, police said.

The boy is now on the Coast Guard Cutter Crocodile, which is expected
to arrive at Fort Myers Beach at 7 p.m. The father is still on the
sailboat, which is being towed to shore.

"Detective Nellie Woodruff is also aboard the Cutter with Luke. Luke
seems to be in good health. Investigators are transporting Luke's
mother to Ft. Myers for the reunion," Cocoa police said in a statement.

The Coast Guard spotted the sailboat about 5:40 p.m. Monday about 95
miles southwest of Sanibel Island, according to a federal criminal
complaint made public this morning.

It appeared the sailboat was traveling toward the Yucatan Peninsula and Mexico, the complaint said.

The Coast Guard kept the sailboat under surveillance until this morning's rescue at sunrise.

"Paul Martikainen is still aboard the sailboat which is being towed to
shore by the Coast Guard Cutter Kodiak Island. They will make landfall
much later in the evening . . . " the Cocoa police statement said.

The statement included a prepared comment from Cocoa Police Chief Mark Klayman.

"We are extremely happy about the outcome of this. It could have gone
so much worse and we are so thankful that Luke is safe. This was a
group effort and would not have been possible without the help of many,
many law enforcement agencies," Klayman said.

Police said Luke was abducted by Martikainen during a supervised visit
Saturday at the Riverfront Park in Cocoa Village, federal court
document said.

A court-appointment supervisor, who was monitoring the visit because of
previous allegations of child abuse, left Martikainen and Luke at the
park at about 12:30 p.m. while he ate lunch at a restaurant located
across the street.

When the supervisor returned, he couldn't find the child or Martikainen.

Luke's car seat had been removed from the supervisor's vehicle, and Martikainen's green Ford Explorer was gone.

Investigators said witnesses called police and reported seeing the pair
at the Salt Creek Marine Center in St. Petersburg. They said Paul and
Luke got into a 32-foot Bristol sailboat and left the marina.

Police also found Martikainen's 1995 green Ford Explorer at the marina.

The federal criminal complaint said Martikainen bought a boat, which he
painted battleship gray, off the auction Web site eBay in October.

Investigators also learned Martikainen disconnected his cell phone on or about Nov. 23.

Authorities have said the sailboat was painted in the "battleship gray"
color to possibly attempt to conceal the boat on the water.

Police were concerned because the father has "no known extensive boating experience."

Martikainen faces one federal count of international parental kidnapping.

The Coast Guard has scheduled a press conference at 11 a.m. at in St. Petersburg.

Capt. Timothy Close, Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg commander, is expected to speak about the search and rescue effort.

- The mother of Brevard County boy Luke Finch has been reunited with her son.Christa
Finch told the public that she is thankful to everyone for helping find
her son. Luke was found in a sailboat approximately 140 miles southwest
of Sanibel with his father, Paul Martikainen, early Tuesday morning.Mother
and child were reunited in Ft. Myers when the Coast Guard Cutter
Crocodile came into port. He was with Detective Nellie Woodruff, who
Cocoa police said the boy knows and is comfortable with.Finch said when she talked to her son on the phone, he said, "I love you Mommy, I love you and I can't wait to see you.""This
is absolutely the best day of my life," Finch said at a press
conference Tuesday afternoon. "I can't wait to see Luke. I'm just going
to hug him and kiss him all over his face."Finch said she was relieved to hear "his little voice" on the phone after he had been rescued.The Coast Guard said they located the sailboat late Monday night and kept the boat under surveillance the entire night. By sunrise Tuesday, two Coast Guard cutters and a helicopter converged on the sailboat and safely recovered Luke. As the sailboat was being towed to shore, it sank. The FBI will now take over the investigation.On
Saturday, Martikainen, picked up his son at a park in Cocoa for a
supervised visit. The next time they were officially spotted was across
the state at a marina in St. Petersburg.Witnesses reported seeing Martikainen and the little boy get on the sailboat, which had been painted battleship gray.The
Department of Children and Families told News 13 a child abuse
investigation had been opened up against Martikainen and was closed
last week.Finch said in a news conference Monday that she has always been concerned something like this might happen.Authorities
didn't think Martikainen is an experienced sailor because employees at
the Salt Creek Marina said they had to show Martikainen how to start
the motor and how to tie knots.Workers at the marina said
Martikainen told them the boat was for a friend and he was preparing to
sail it to Arkansas. He asked for a GPS, charts and other items for the
journey.

Minutes ticked by slowly as crews on Fort Myers Beach tied down the
87-foot U.S. Coast Guard cutter Crocodile, which carried 3-year-old
Luke Finch.
Here's a Coast Guard video of the rescue at sea...
His mother, Christa Finch, stood at end of the dock,
wringing her hands and wiping tears as she watched and waited to spot
her blond-haired “Lukey.” It was the end of a three-day search for and
retrieval of the boy, who was found in the Gulf of Mexico, about 140
miles southwest of Fort Myers Beach, with his alleged abductor, his
father Paul Martikainen.
When Luke finally appeared about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, carried in the
arms of Cocoa police Detective Nellie Woodruff, his bright orange life
jacket swallowing his tiny frame, Christa ran to her son, hugged him
and fell to her knees.
She did not let go.

“I thank God I have my little boy,” Finch told reporters minutes after the reunion.

The
rescue, aided in large part by a tipster at a St. Petersburg marina,
came a day before bad weather was forecast to strike that part of the
Gulf.

Martikainen, who has been embroiled in a custody battle
with his ex-wife, is in FBI custody and will likely face a federal
kidnapping charge, a bureau spokesman said. He was escorted ashore
about 8 p.m. Tuesday.

When asked if he felt badly about abducting the boy, the cuffed Martikainen said only: “Nope.”

He remained expressionless as FBI agents led him away.

Martikainen has an initial court appearance before a U.S. magistrate in Fort Myers today.Rescue at sea


It took authorities 49 hours to catch up with the two by Monday evening.

A
Coast Guard HC-130, a large rescue plane designed for long-range
searches, spotted the vessel using night vision gear while searching a
22,995-square-mile section of the Gulf.

The plane kept a steady
distance, and was later replaced by a smaller Coast Guard Falcon
aircraft, as Coast Guard rescuers prepared for a dawn seizure of the
32-foot sailboat.

Crews from the Coast Guard cutters Crocodile
and Kodiak Island boarded the vessel about 7:15 a.m. Tuesday and took
Luke without incident, said Coast Guard Capt. Timothy Close.

The
boarding crew was armed but did not draw weapons, said Coast Guard
Senior Chief Stephen Smith, who led the team taking custody of Luke.
The Coast Guard characterized Martikainen’s reaction as compliant after
he saw the armed boats surrounding his.

“It all happened very quickly,” Close said.

When
authorities discovered the pair, Woodruff was flown in. She was
familiar with the custody case and knew the family. With a helicopter
hovering overhead, Woodruff was hoisted down onto the Crocodile, where
Luke was taken aboard.

There, he was fed popsicles, pretzels and
treats, officials said. He seemed confused by what had happened and did
not seem to understand it, Smith said.

Luke was met by his mother, grandmother and a legion of police, Coast Guard and media.

Christa
Finch called the rescue a “miracle” and credited the work of law
enforcement officials. She said she believes her ex-husband took Luke
as a well-planned act of “vengeance.”Custody battle


Luke’s abduction followed a divorce and custody battle between his parents.

According to court documents:

Martikainen and Christa Finch were married in December 2004, but their relationship quickly soured.

Christa considered Martikainen erratic and aggressive and feared for her physical safety.

Within six months, the two were separated. Christa filed for divorce the following month.

The
situation had gotten so bad between the couple that Christa, who was
now pregnant with Luke, petitioned the court to prevent Martikainen
from visiting his future son unsupervised.

Despite that, those
first visits between Luke and his father were unsupervised. Martikainen
eventually sought joint custody, claiming he and the boy had formed a
bond during his first two years.

Christa and investigators said Monday such a bond never existed and that, if anything, Luke was nervous around his father.

The boy grew more comfortable once a court-appointed supervisor went along, they said.

The years did nothing to soothe the relationship between Martikainen and the family.
Christa
filed restraining orders against Martikainen in October 2008, claiming
he had defamed her and committed past abuse. Christa’s mother, Julie
Finch, filed a restraining order against him alleging assault.

Court
documents show Martikainen pleaded no contest in June to a misdemeanor
charge of disorderly conduct over a February fight with the women while
exchanging Luke in the Cocoa Police Department parking lot.Disappearance


Family Court Circuit Judge Charlie Roberts allowed Martikainen supervised visits Thursday evenings and nine hours on Saturdays.

The
visit Saturday in Riverfront Park in Cocoa was going as smoothly as
previous reunions, said Bob Rumble, a friend of Martikainen who was
appointed by the judge to oversee visitations.

“There was
absolutely no indication” Martikainen would run off with the child,
said Rumble, who was a character witness for the father during an
October hearing in the custody case.

“I had to use the restroom
and we had ordered lunch and when I went in to use the restroom and
order lunch that’s when they disappeared,” Rumble said Tuesday, noting
he was not a court official in the case. “That’s when I started
searching for them frantically, and then once I realized I couldn’t
find them there at the park, I went ahead and called police.”

Rumble said he has never seen Martikainen abuse Luke or Luke act afraid around his father.

“They had a very loving relationship,” Rumble said.

“He’s
very, very discouraged with the custody issues,” Rumble said, “and I
think he let that discouragement take over his sensibility. He wanted
to be with his child.”Out to sea


A few hours later that Saturday, Martikainen and Luke were seen
leaving Salt Creek Marina in St. Petersburg on Martikainen’s 32-foot
Bristol sailboat, which sank as it was being towed after the rescue.

People
at the marina said Martikainen had been living on the sailboat for the
past month as he restored it. He had recently painted it battleship
gray, a hard-to-spot color in the water.

Gabriel Guzman said he saw the father and son depart the dock.

“He
lost his zodiac, it drifted that way,” pointed Guzman. “So we picked it
up and passed it to him. He made a circle, and I saw the child inside
the cockpit.”

Guzman said he believed it was odd the way Martikainen had the zodiac, a small boat, tied up.

“It was really weird, like he was in kind of a hurry or something,” Guzman said.

The disappearance prompted statewide media and law enforcement attention, including the Coast Guard.

Christa held a televised news conference Monday, tearfully begging her ex-husband to bring back her “Lukey.”

She
said she didn’t even know her ex-husband owned a boat and does not
believe he had much sailing experience. In fact, she would have never
believed he would have taken the boy to sea if not for witnesses at the
marina. The boat was heading south, but officials said they do not know
where he was attempting to go.Home safely


Luke passed the time on the long voyage back to shore Tuesday shooting a toy gun at the crew who helped to rescue him.

The
little boy's one complaint: His feet hurt because the shoes he wore
when he was taken were too small for him. Luke came ashore wearing his
camouflaged shirt, matching green pants and white socks.

Again Christa Finch thanked the rescuers, the police, the tipster.

"I would have given everything I owned to have him back safe," she said. "It just puts things into perspective."

As
his mom spoke with reporters, putting into words the ordeal she and her
family experienced the past three days, Luke ran up to her, wanting to
be carried. She lifted him and her son wrapped his arms around her neck
and held on to his stuffed owl, Uh Oh.

“It's OK, mommy,” he whispered in her ear.

Minutes later, Luke told her one more thing.

He wanted to go home.