Missing Long Island girl: What to know about the criminal case against 10 Suffolk defendants

A year after a missing Patchogue teenage girl was found aboard a yacht in Islip, the man who owns the vessel and nine co-defendants charged in connection with her alleged kidnapping and sexual assault await their fates as their case proceeds through Suffolk County Criminal Court.

Attorneys anticipate the now-15-year-old girl will be called to testify at a single trial for all the defendants sometime this year.

Newsday is not naming the girl because she is the victim of alleged and adjudicated sex crimes. The total number of defendants who go to trial remains to be seen as prosecutors and the defense are in the process of exploring plea offerings.

To date, just one of the 11 defendants in the indictment, Kevin McDonald, 21, of Bellport, has pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to 6 months in jail for second-degree rape.

Statements made inside and outside the courtroom suggest that several defendants are considering resolving their cases ahead of trial, while others will likely have their fates placed in the hands of a jury. The defendants could also seek to have their cases tried separately, but none have begun that process. All of the defendants pleaded not guilty.

"We’re still going through the process of reviewing all the discovery and exploring all the different possibilities of how we can resolve this in a just manner," said attorney Oscar Crisafio, who represents Daniel Burke, one of four men charged with kidnapping the girl after she left her family home on Dec. 9, 2024. "It just takes time."

Offers being considered would require defendants pleading guilty to the most significant charges in exchange for an agreed-upon sentencing recommendation and not plea bargains that would have them admit to lesser charges, several attorneys told Newsday. They declined to discuss the exact terms being explored in negotiations.

The 10 defendants are due in court between Jan. 7 and 30, among them Jacquelyn Comiskey, the Bellport woman who reported the girl’s whereabouts to police and a phone number shared by her father. That Jan. 3, 2025, phone call led investigators to the yacht, owned by Francis Buckheit, 65, of East Islip, and docked nearby at Whitecap Marina.

Michael Elbert, the attorney for Comiskey, 52, said he believes his client is "being treated unfairly" as her case enters a second year with the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence weighing on her.

"She spent a very short period of time with the alleged victim and the moment she learned she was not the 19-year-old adult that she claimed to be, she contacted the police and the girl’s father and waited for them to arrive to make sure she was safe," Elbert said. "Now she’s facing 25 years. I don’t think that’s justice."

Comiskey and Elizabeth Hunter, 35, of Islip, are facing child sex trafficking charges for allegedly trading the girl for sex with men in exchange for drugs and money while the girl was staying on the yacht, prosecutors have said.

The girl arrived at the marina on Dec. 13, 2024, after spending several nights at other locations. She allegedly spent the first evening at a house on Doane Avenue in Bellport with Alton Harrell, 36, who is facing a first-degree kidnapping charge, court records show. She then allegedly spent the next three nights with Burke, 63, at his mobile home in Bohemia and in a detached garage behind the Islip home of Robert Eccleston, 61, before arriving at the marina.

Buckheit and Burke are also facing charges of first-degree kidnapping, which includes the possibility of 25 years to life in prison if convicted. Eccleston is charged with second-degree kidnapping, which carries a maximum penalty of up to 25 years behind bars. Four additional men are charged with raping or attempting to rape the girl during her 25-day disappearance.

In total, 23 people in New York and Minnesota have been charged with crimes related to the Patchogue girl for various offenses dating back to 2023, a Newsday investigation found. Charges are still pending against 16 of those persons, including two New York State workers accused of abuse at residential centers where the girl was housed after she was found. Before she went missing, the girl's family sent her to a residential treatment program in Minnesota, but she ran away from the facility and encountered at least four men who were accused of sexually assaulting her before she was found by police.

The state workers, Deshaun McClean, 43, of Deer Park, and Darryl Joyner, 58, of the Bronx, have also been involved in plea discussions, their attorneys have indicated at recent court appearances. Joyner is due back in court this month with McClean next scheduled to appear in February.