Milton, New York – A couple of idling cop cars seemed somewhat out of place at the mouth of a street leading to a cul-de-sac in upstate New York, a few hours before law enforcement swarmed their neighborhood, residents said.
It was shortly before 6 p.m. Monday when Charlene and her oldest daughter Briella, 11, noticed the police activity about 200 yards to the right of their home.
At that point, they didn’t know that abducted 9-year-old Charlotte Sena was allegedly being held against her will by Craig Ross Jr. five minutes away in the other direction.
As time passed, they saw an ambulance. Then a chopper circle overhead. Then a convoy of law enforcement vehicles, including from state police and the FBI, rolled through their neighborhood and stopped on the street near their home.
CHARLOTTE SENA RESCUED FROM CAMPER CABINET, KIDNAPPING SUSPECT BUSTED AFTER LEAVING RANSOM NOTE
This police handout photo shows Charlotte Sena in the clothing she was wearing when she vanished in Moreau Lake State Park on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (Police handout )
“Then you just knew,” Charlene told Fox News Digital Monday night. “They found Charlotte.”
The little girl had been missing since Saturday, when Ross Jr. allegedly abducted her from Moreau Lake State Park – a popular, 4,600-acre camping site nestled between Lake George and Saratoga Springs – where she was staying with her family.
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Law enforcement in full tactical gear blasted through a camper behind Ross Jr.’s mother’s double-wide trailer and found Charlotte in a cabinet, Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a press conference Monday night.
“They had what they call a dynamic entry, a tactical maneuver, and within the camper they located the suspect. After some resistance, the suspect was taken into custody, and immediately the little girl was found in a cabinet, covered. She was rescued,” Hochul said.
“And she knew she was being rescued. And she knew that she was in safe hands.”
Search teams look along the park boundary for Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, NY, who was on a family outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she disappeared Saturday evening, as officials conduct a search on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, N.Y. (Hans Pennink for Fox News Digital )
No details about Sena’s condition were released, but the governor said there doesn’t appear to be “outward harm,” and state police said he’s “in good health.”
The young girl is recovering and being evaluated in a hospital.
Her aunt, Jene Sena, told Fox News Digital in a text, “We are just elated she came home.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul gives her remarks after Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, NY, was on a family outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she went missing Saturday evening and was found safe this today and a suspect is in custody Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, N.Y. (Hans Pennink for Fox News Digital )
Sense of safety is robbed from a community
Charlotte’s missing persons case seized the region like a bear in a trap, and robbed some families in the community of their sense of safety.
Charlene stopped letting her oldest daughter ride her bike or take the bus since news broke of the abduction, and has been scared to let her two younger daughters play outside their own home.
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“When I found out how close it was to me, it really hit home,” Charlene said. “My oldest is 11 and my youngest is five, and they ride through this part all the time.
“Now it makes me more suspicious of everybody, because you’re going on a bike ride and you’re that close to your family, and you’re just gone in an instant.”
New York Sate Police search for Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, NY, who was on a family outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she vanished Saturday evening, as officials conduct a search on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, N.Y. (Hans Pennink for Fox News Digital )
Search teams look along the park boundary for Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, NY, who was on a family outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she was reported missing Saturday evening, as officials conduct a search on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, N.Y. (Hans Pennink for Fox News Digital )
Charlene was referring to Charlotte, who had been riding her bike close to her family’s campsite when she was snatched on “Loop A,” which is easily accessible from Old Saratoga Road.
Only a rusted, brittle fence about chest high that can easily be stomped on separates the park from that section of the campsite.
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Charlene said she hasn’t seen the suspect in person, but the thought of him living under her family’s nose for years is terrifying.
“If he’s a predator, it’s a hunting ground for him. He could’ve been riding around this part when my kids were out,” she said.
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Safety and this type of alleged, brazen crime isn’t usually a concern for the typically serene setting near the Hudson River, residents near the state park told Fox News Digital.
Around the corner from the alleged abduction site, Phil and Gail have lived with their dogs in a beautiful home and take advantage of the scenery.
Gail likes to go for walks along the lake, and Phil likes to fish. “Nothing like this has ever happened. It’s very quiet,” Phil said as a large group of rescue searchers walked by their home.
“It’s scary now,” Phil said. “The whole world is going to hell.”
State Police search for Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, NY, who was on a family outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she went missing Saturday evening, as officials conduct a search on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, N.Y. (Hans Pennink for Fox News Digital )
A map depicting the search area for 9-year-old Charlotte Sena. She was reported missing this weekend after she failed to return from a bike ride while camping with her parents in Moreau Lake State Park. (NY Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation )
There was nowhere in the area to escape the crime. Seemingly everyone for miles knew about the case and were on edge.
Missing flyer posters were plastered all over gas stations, stores and food establishments, while dozens of digital signs about an amber alert lined several major highways between New York City and Saratoga County, which is about 45 miles north of Albany.
By Monday afternoon, the search effort swelled from 100 to 400 people. Searchers told Fox News Digital Monday afternoon that the park’s terrain vastly varies, including steep elevations and brush so dense they had to split the shrubbery with every step.
At least a half dozen checkpoints were set up all around the park, where New York State troopers stopped every vehicle, checked trunks and asked for information.
State Police search for Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, NY, was on a family outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she disappeared Saturday evening, as officials conduct a search on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, N.Y. (Hans Pennink for Fox News Digital)
This case hit Briella, who’s only two years older than Charlotte and has a sister who’s one year young than her, particularly hard.
“I was only thinking about (Charlotte),” she said. “Through school, that’s all I was thinking about. I couldn’t get anything on top of my mind. I was just praying and hoping she was OK, because she’s just a little girl.”
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At her young age, if she was in Charlotte’s position, Briella said all she would be able to think about is, “Is anyone looking for me? Am I ever going to get back home?”
Charlene taught her girls to be safety conscious, even before Charlotte’s case rocked the area, and uses safety code words that only her mom and her girls know.
Amber alert sign seen on Northbound lane of Route 87 for Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, NY, who was on a family outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she vanished Saturday evening, as officials conduct a search on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, N.Y. (Hans Pennink for Fox News Digital)
Done in by his own ransom note
Ross Jr. allegedly left a ransom note in the Sena family’s mailbox around 4:20 a.m. Monday, Hochul said.
Police traced the fingerprints on the note to Ross Jr.’s 1999 DWI arrest in Saratoga County, and identified him as the suspect within 10 hours, according to the governor.
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Hochul said most stories don’t end like this, but “Charlotte will be going home.”
“I’m happy we have a positive outcome,” Charlene said as she smiled to her daughter.
