Neighbors of Charlotte Sena describe tactical raid to rescue 9-year-old from predator’s camper

Harris Marley
Harris Marley

International Courant

It was “a scene proper out of a film” as Charlotte Sena was rescued in a surprising scene Monday evening, neighbors mentioned. 

“SWAT vans and cop vehicles had been right here in seconds. Weapons out. There was a speedy succession of a minimum of 5 flash bangs,” mentioned Michael, who lives close to Craig Ross Jr., the person accused of kidnapping 9-year-old Charlotte from a New York state park over the weekend.

Regulation enforcement officers rescued Charlotte from a cupboard in Ross Jr.’s trailer behind his mom’s property in Milton, state officers mentioned. Michael’s spouse, Erica, mentioned she “grabbed my children to cover them within the basement” as officers stormed in.

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“At first I noticed two vehicles pull up on my grass and as I’m popping out to yell at get off the grass, police bounce out with tactical gear and vests,” she mentioned. “And similar to that (as snapped her fingers) a minimum of 15 swat vans and police vehicles are everywhere in the home. A minimum of 30 officers. Full gear. Weapons. The flash bangs had been proper exterior my bed room. The priority was extra, what if he runs into our yard and takes my children or us as hostages?

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Timeline of occasions resulting in the restoration of Charlotte Sena in New York. (Google Maps)

“Throughout the raid, I caught a glimpse of her face and I mentioned that’s her. She’s in there. After which I noticed her getting wheeled into the ambulance. I simply wished to hug her and maintain her till her mother got here to get her and inform her she’s secure. She turned like everybody’s baby. Everybody within the space loves her and wished her to come back dwelling. And the police did too. You possibly can see and listen to them exhale. They had been high-fiving with smiles. It was an incredible consequence.”

Just a few hours earlier than the raid, a few idling police vehicles appeared considerably misplaced on the mouth of a avenue resulting in a cul-de-sac within the Senas’ neighborhood in Greenfield, residents mentioned.

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It was shortly earlier than 6 p.m. Monday when Charlene and her oldest daughter Briella, 11, observed the police exercise about 200 yards to the correct of their dwelling. 

At that time, they didn’t know that Charlotte was allegedly being held in opposition to her will by Ross Jr. 5 minutes away within the different course. 

As time handed, they noticed an ambulance. Then, a helicopter circled overhead. Then, a convoy of regulation enforcement automobiles, together with from state police and the FBI, rolled by their neighborhood and stopped on the road close to their dwelling. 

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This police handout picture exhibits Charlotte Sena within the clothes she was carrying when she vanished in Moreau Lake State Park on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. (Police handout )

“Then you definitely simply knew,” Charlene informed Fox Information Digital Monday evening. “They discovered Charlotte.”

The little woman had been lacking since Saturday, when Ross Jr. allegedly kidnapped her from Moreau Lake State Park – a well-liked, 4,600-acre tenting web site nestled between Lake George and Saratoga Springs – the place she was staying together with her household. 

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New York State Police examine automobiles for Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, who was on a household outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she went lacking Saturday night as officers conduct a search on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, N.Y. (Hans Pennink for Fox Information Digital )

Regulation enforcement in full tactical gear blasted by a camper behind Ross Jr.’s mom’s double-wide trailer and located Charlotte in a cupboard, Gov. Kathy Hochul mentioned throughout a press convention Monday evening. 

“They’d what they name a dynamic entry, a tactical maneuver, and inside the camper they positioned the suspect. After some resistance, the suspect was taken into custody, and instantly the little woman was present in a cupboard, coated. She was rescued,” Hochul mentioned. 

“And she or he knew she was being rescued. And she or he knew that she was in secure arms.”

View of a camp web site on Loop A the place Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, NY, was on a household outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she went lacking Saturday night as officers conduct a search on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, N.Y. (Hans Pennink for Fox Information Digital)

No particulars about Sena’s situation had been launched, however the governor mentioned there doesn’t look like “outward hurt,” and state police mentioned she is “in good well being.”

The younger woman is recovering and being evaluated in a hospital.

Her aunt, Jene Sena, informed Fox Information Digital in a textual content, “We’re simply elated she got here dwelling.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul provides her remarks after Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, New York, was on a household outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she went lacking Saturday night and was discovered secure this as we speak and a suspect is in custody Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, New York. (Hans Pennink for Fox Information Digital )

Sense of security is robbed from a neighborhood

Sena’s lacking individuals case seized the area like a bear in a lure, and robbed some households in the neighborhood of their sense of security. 

Charlene stopped letting her oldest daughter experience her bike or take the bus since information broke of the kidnapping, and she or he has been scared to let her two youthful daughters play exterior their very own dwelling. 

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“After I discovered how shut it was to me, it actually hit dwelling,” Charlene mentioned. “My oldest is 11 and my youngest is 5, they usually experience by this half on a regular basis. 

“Now it makes me extra suspicious of everyone, since you’re happening a motorcycle experience, and also you’re that near your loved ones, and also you’re simply gone straight away.”

New York Sate Police seek for Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, New York, who was on a household outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she vanished Saturday night, as officers conduct a search on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, New York. (Hans Pennink for Fox Information Digital )

Search groups look alongside the park boundary for Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, New York, who was on a household outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she was reported lacking Saturday night, as officers conduct a search on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, New York. (Hans Pennink for Fox Information Digital )

Charlene was referring to Sena, who had been driving her bike near her household’s campsite when she was snatched on “Loop A,” which is well accessible from Outdated Saratoga Highway. 

Solely a rusted, brittle fence about chest excessive that may simply be stomped on separates the park from that part of the campsite. 

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Charlene mentioned she has not seen the suspect in individual, however the considered him residing beneath her household’s nostril for years is terrifying. 

“If he is a predator, it is a searching floor for him. He may’ve been driving round this half when my children had been out,” she mentioned. 

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Security and one of these alleged, brazen crime shouldn’t be often a priority for the usually serene setting close to the Hudson River, residents close to the state park informed Fox Information Digital. 

Across the nook from the alleged abduction web site, Phil and Gail have lived with their canine in a good looking dwelling and make the most of the surroundings. 

Gail likes to go for walks alongside the lake, and Phil likes to fish. “Nothing like this has ever occurred. It’s extremely quiet,” Phil mentioned as a big group of rescue searchers walked by their dwelling.

“It is scary now,” Phil mentioned. “The entire world goes to hell.”

Timeline of occasions resulting in the restoration of Charlotte Sena in New York. (Google Maps)

A map depicting the search space for 9-year-old Charlotte Sena. She was reported lacking this weekend after she didn’t return from a motorcycle experience whereas tenting together with her dad and mom in Moreau Lake State Park. (NY Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation )

There was nowhere within the space to flee the crime. Seemingly everybody for miles knew in regards to the case and had been on edge. 

Lacking flyer posters had been plastered throughout gasoline stations, shops and meals institutions, whereas dozens of digital indicators about an amber alert lined a number of main highways between New York Metropolis and Saratoga County, which is about 45 miles north of Albany.  

By Monday afternoon, the search effort swelled from 100 to 400 folks. Searchers informed Fox Information Digital Monday afternoon that the park’s terrain vastly varies, together with steep elevations and brush so dense they needed to break up the shrubbery with each step. 

A minimum of a half dozen checkpoints had been arrange throughout the park, the place New York State troopers stopped each car, checked trunks and requested for info.

State Police seek for Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, New York, was on a household outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she disappeared Saturday night, as officers conduct a search on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, New York. (Hans Pennink for Fox Information Digital)

This case hit Briella, who is barely two years older than Charlotte and has a sister who’s one 12 months younger than her, significantly laborious. 

“I used to be solely serious about (Charlotte),” she mentioned. “By way of college, that is all I used to be serious about. I could not get something on high of my thoughts. I used to be simply praying and hoping she was OK, as a result of she’s just a bit woman.”

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At her younger age, if she was in Sena’s place, Briella mentioned all she would have the option to consider is, “Is anybody searching for me? Am I ever going to get again dwelling?”

Charlene taught her women to be security aware, even earlier than Sena’s case rocked the realm, and makes use of security code phrases that solely her mother and her women know. 

Amber alert signal seen on Northbound lane of Route 87 for Charlotte Sena, of Greenfield, New York, who was on a household outing in Moreau Lake State Park when she vanished Saturday night, as officers conduct a search on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, in Gansevoort, New York. (Hans Pennink for Fox Information Digital)

Finished in by his personal ransom notice

Ross Jr. allegedly left a ransom notice within the Sena household’s mailbox round 4:20 a.m. Monday, Hochul mentioned. 

Police traced the fingerprints on the notice to Ross Jr.’s 1999 DWI arrest in Saratoga County, and recognized him because the suspect inside 10 hours, in keeping with the governor. 

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Hochul mentioned most tales don’t finish like this, however “Charlotte might be going dwelling.”

“I am blissful we’ve a constructive consequence,” Charlene mentioned as she smiled to her daughter. 

Chris Eberhart is against the law and US information reporter for Fox Information Digital. E-mail tricks to [email protected] or on Twitter @ChrisEberhart48.

Neighbors of Charlotte Sena describe tactical raid to rescue 9-year-old from predator’s camper

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