Another two men have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping and disappearance of a Long Island teenager who went missing for nearly a month.
Daniel Burke, 63, and Robert Eccleston, 61, were both hit with kidnapping and rape charges in the disturbing case, Newsday reported.
They are the fourth and fifth men to face charges in connection with the disappearance and assault of a 14-year-old who went missing on Dec. 9 from her father’s home in East Patchogue.
The victim’s father actively joined the hunt for his daughter and found her on his own on Jan. 3 inside a boat docked in Islip.
(The Daily News is not identifying the victim or her father given that she is a minor and the alleged victim of sexual abuse.)
The victim’s father said afterward that he believed his daughter was caught in a sex trafficking operation. Suffolk County prosecutors have said the boat owner, Francis Buckheit, planned to take the teenager down to the Carolinas. The boat was otherwise empty when the victim’s father busted in and located his daughter.
According to the victim’s father, his daughter stepped outside to grab something from the driveway at their home and then got into a mysterious vehicle.
Buckheit, 64, was the first person to be arrested and charged in the case, followed days later by Bunice Knight, 47, and Alton Harrell, 35. All five suspects lived on Long Island and have been charged with rape. Four of the five have also been charged with kidnapping, with Knight as the lone exception.
Knight is also the only one of the five to post bail so far, according to Newsday.
