Cocoa boy's mom begs for son's return

COCOA, Florida - Christa Finch and her mother, Julie, pleaded this afternoon for 3-year-old son Luke's safe return.

"I know Jesus is with us, and if anyone can pray, please pray with us that we get Lukie back very soon," Christa Finch said during a press conference at Cocoa Police Department.

She cried and held up two photos and a stuffed toy owl that the boy sleeps with.

Christa Finch said her ex-husband, Paul Martikainen, was not in the boy's life for his first two years. She said the toddler was nervous about the supervised visits with his father when they began in February, but she said he had grown more comfortable since then.

Finch said Martikainen was supposed to return the boy to her at 7 p.m. Saturday at the police department.

Police would not release information on the identity of the court-appointed supervisor for the visit.

Police warned that the father might alter the boy's haircut or hair color.

Luke' mother said he has a dimple in his right cheek and a faint scar under his left eye. She said he also has big blue-green eyes.

According to Brevard County court records requested by our partners FLORIDA TODAY, Paul Martikainen and Christa Finch married in December 2004. She filed for divorce in July 2005.

At the time, she was pregnant with Luke. As part of their divorce agreement, Martikainen agreed to give up parental rights to the unborn child.

In later documents, Martikainen said Finch moved back in with him in September 2006, then moved out in January 2008. When they broke up, he filed for joint custody, saying he had helped care for the child and developed a bond.

Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is joining the search for Martikainen, who is accused 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 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.