Charlotte Sena Found, Suspect Charged With Kidnapping: Reports

MOREAU, NY — Charlotte Sena, the 9-year-old girl abducted in Saratoga County, New York Saturday evening, has been found "safe and in good health" and a suspect has been charged in her kidnapping, according to officials and multiple reports including the Times Union.

A man, identified as 47-year-old Craig Nelson Ross Jr., has been charged with first-degree kidnapping in connection with the little girl's disappearance after authorities said they matched a fingerprint found on a ransom note left in the Sena family's mailbox to his profile in New York State's database from a 1999 DWI case.

Officials said the little girl was abducted while riding her bicycle Saturday in Moreau Lake State Park, about 35 miles north of Albany. The search, which was led by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers, expanded over 46 linear miles and was made up of 400 certified search and rescue personnel across several law enforcement agencies and 34 volunteer fire departments.

Private search and rescue groups also banded together to help bring Charlotte Sena home.

"It's been a long two days, but tonight our prayers have been answered," New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in a news conference Monday evening.

"Yesterday, I held Charlotte's parents David and Trisha in my arms," Hochul continued. "I went to the campsite and saw the place that she had just been a joyful little girl the day before, riding her bike. I was on the road she rode her bike on, saw where she left it. And her parents were just so overcome with sadness and grief ... I said to them, 'I promise you this: we will bring Charlotte home to you.' And as each hour went on, hope faded."

When the first 24 hours of a child's disappearance give way to the first 48, you start thinking the worst, Hochul noted. But "what happened what extraordinary" as the case started to break at 4:20 a.m. Monday.

It was then that a car pulled up to the Sena family's home—which was being guarded by state police as Sena's parents remained at the campsite where they had last seen their daughter—and someone dropped a ransom note in the mailbox, Hochul said.

Investigators were then able to match a fingerprint on the ransom note with that of someone in New York State's database—identified as Nelson Ross Jr., who had been arrested in Saratoga in 1999 for DWI.

Research led the investigators to the Nelson Ross Jr.'s mother's home, behind which the suspect lived in a camper, Hochul explained.

Nelson Ross Jr. was found in the camper and taken into custody. Charlotte Sena was found in a cabinet.

"She knew she was being rescued," Hochul said. "She knew she was in safe hands."

As of Monday evening, Craig Nelson Ross Jr. was still being questioned and charges had not yet been brought against him but are "fully expected," Hochul said.

The Sena family said they wish to keep details about their daughter's ordeal scant for now but Hochul said that the little girl seemed to be "outwardly physically unharmed."

"Everybody thinks, 'if it was my child, I would want everybody under the sun looking for them,'" Hochul said of the sight of search and rescuers working together Monday. "And that's what this team did."

This story is being updated.