Missing 9-year-old Charlotte Sena found safe in Albany; suspect in custody
Patrick Kane, a friend of the Sena family, talks with Todd Piro about 9-year-old Charlotte Sena's rescue and the family's reaction to police finding her safely.
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 Monday 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 Tuesday.
CHARLOTTE SENA RESCUED FROM CAMPER CABINET, KIDNAPPING SUSPECT BUSTED AFTER LEAVING RANSOM NOTE
Craig Ross Jr. pictured in an undated booking photo. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul identified Ross as the man suspected of kidnapping a 9-year-old girl named Charlotte Sena from a state park bicycle trail over the weekend. He was being held without bail on a first-degree kidnapping charge. (Saratoga Sheriff's Office)
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 court documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
"The defendant did abduct [the victim] and wrote a ransom letter with the intent to compel the payment of a ransom for her," state police wrote in a felony complaint.
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 )
He was being held without bail on a single charge of first-degree kidnapping, New York State Police said Tuesday morning.
State and federal tactical teams on Monday evening stormed a camper behind his mother's double-wide trailer in Milton, just outside Saratoga Springs.
Read court records in Craig Ross Jr. arrest (Mobile users go here)
"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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Saratoga County Correctional Facility where Craig Nelson Ross Jr., alleged abductor of Charlotte Sena, is being held without bail Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023, in Ballston Spa, N.Y. (Hans Pennink for Fox News Digital )
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.
A 1999 drunken driving charge allowed police to find Ross' fingerprints in a law enforcement database, Hochul said. They allegedly found the prints on the ransom note after state police standing guard near the family home witnessed him drop an item in the mailbox.
Local reports also revealed he had been charged with misdemeanor "obstruction of breathing" in April 2017, according to the Saratogian newspaper.
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.
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