It’s not often that stories about children being abducted have a happy ending. But remarkably, Charlotte Sena, who disappeared during a family camping trip last Saturday evening in upstate New York, has been found alive and well.
The suspected kidnapper approached the Sena family home at around 4.20 a.m. on Monday and left a ransom note in the mailbox along with a fingerprint that investigators were able to use to identify him. The suspect, Craig Nelson Ross, Jr., 46, had had his fingerprints taken in 1999 after he was arrested for driving under the influence.
On Monday evening, SWAT teams and law enforcement descended on Ross’s mother’s address and surrounded a trailer. There, they arrested Ross and discovered Charlotte inside a cupboard.
Some have argued that Ross could have been arrested earlier when delivering the ransom note, as a state trooper was surveilling the Sena family home. But overall, the story reflects very positively on law enforcement, whose swift and professional response ensured the safe return of an endangered young girl to her family.