SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Craig Ross Jr., the 46-year-old New York man accused of kidnapping a 9-year-old girl off a bicycle trail at a state park near Lake George, was arraigned on first-degree kidnapping charges around 3 a.m. Tuesday, according to jail records.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a late-night news briefing that the suspect had been identified after allegedly leaving his fingerprints on a ransom note that state police witnessed him stuffing into Charlotte Sena’s mailbox around 4:20 a.m. Monday.
Jail records show he was booked into the Saratoga County Jail in Ballston Spa, New York, around 3:40 a.m. A mugshot was not immediately available.
CHARLOTTE SENA RESCUED FROM CAMPER CABINET, KIDNAPPING SUSPECT BUSTED AFTER LEAVING RANSOM NOTE
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 Latham, N.Y. (Hans Pennink for Fox News Digital )
Ross was arraigned in the early morning hours in an emergency hearing before Justice Tim Brown at the Milton Town Court on a kidnapping charge, according to the Albany-based WNYT-TV.
State and federal tactical teams on Monday evening stormed a camper behind his mother’s double-wide trailer in Milton, just outside Saratoga Springs.
“Within the camper, they located the suspect,“: Hochul said during a Friday evening news briefing in Latham. “After some resistance, the suspect was taken into custody, and immediately the little girl was found in a cabinet, covered. She was rescued.”
Charlotte was taken to a local hospital, where she reunited with her family, Hochul said.
This police handout photo shows Charlotte Sena in the clothing she was wearing when she went missing in Moreau Lake State Park on Saturday, September 30, 2023. (Police Handout )
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Ross was still being questioned when the governor spoke around 11 p.m. Monday, she said, and court documents were not immediately available before business hours Tuesday.
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 went missing Saturday evening as officials conduct a search on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, N.Y. (Hans Pennink for Fox News Digital )
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“We are just elated she came home,” Jene Sena, Charlotte’s aunt, told Fox News Digital Monday evening after the arrest.
Fox News’ Chris Eberhart contributed to this report.
