Residents of a quiet suburban town in upstate New York were left stunned when police descended on their peaceful neighborhood Monday night to rescue 9-year-old Charlotte Sena, who was allegedly kidnapped while riding a bike through a local park.
Neighbors Michael and Erica told Fox News how “SWAT trucks and cop cups were here in seconds,” carrying officers who had their “guns out” as they searched for the fourth grader, who was found safely hiding in a cupboard in Craig Ross Jr.’s trailer on his family’s Milton propoerty.
“At first I saw two cop cars pull up on my grass and as I’m coming out to yell at [them], ‘Get off my grass,’ police jump out with tactical gear and vests,” Erica recounted.
“And just like that, at least 15 SWAT trucks and police cars are all over the house — at least 30 officers, full gear, guns. The flash bangs were right outside my bedroom,” she said, as her husband described “a rapid succession of at least five flash bangs.”
But Erica said she was more concerned about their children.
“The concern was more, what if he runs into our yard, and takes my kids or us as hostage.”
Fortunately, that did not happen — and Ross was taken into custody “after some resistance” at around 6:30 p.m., Gov. Kathy Hochul announced at a news conference Monday night.
She said Charlotte was “immediately” found in a cabinet cupboard.
“She was rescued and she knew she was being rescued,” Hochul said. “She knew that she was in safe hands.”
The girl’s parents were then notified that she was rescued and appeared to be “physically unharmed,” but she was still brought to a local hospital as a precaution.
“During the raid, I caught a glimpse of her face, and I said ‘That’s her, she’s in there,’ Erica said of the discovery that the missing girl was being kept so close to where she lived. “And then I saw her getting wheeled into the ambulance.
“I just wanted to hug her and hold her until her mom came to get her and tell her she’s safe,” Erica said. “She became like everyone’s child. Everyone in the area loves her and wanted her to come home.
‘And the police did, too,” she added. “You can see and hear them exhale. They were high-fiving with smiles. It was an amazing outcome.”
The Post observed authorities removing boxes from the property on Tuesday.
The community had been on high-alert amid the two-day search for Charlotte, who decided to take one last lap around Loop A around a picnicking field at Moreau Lake State Park alone on Saturday — but never returned.
The path is easily accessible from Old Saratoga Road, where a chest-high fence could easily be stomped over.
Charlotte’s bike was found a short while later, and a 100-person search party comprising state troopers, special ops, forest rangers, park police and civilian volunteers soon converged at the scene.
During the search efforts, one neighbor — only identified as Charlene —- said she stopped letting her oldest daughter ride her bike or take the bus, and has even been afraid to let her two young daughters play outside.
Her 11-year-old daughter, Briella, said it hit her particularly hard, as well, because she is only two years older than Charlotte.
“I was only thinking about [Charlotte],” Briella told Fox News Digital. “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.”
Briella added that if she were in Charlotte’s position, all she would be able to think about is “Is anyone looking for me? Am I ever going to get back home?”
A break in the case came Monday morning when Ross reportedly dropped a ransom letter bearing his fingerprints in the Sena family’s mailbox.
Investigators entered the prints into their database and matched them to the 47-year-old, who had previously been arrested in Saratoga in 1999 on a DWI charge, Hochul said.
For several hours before the raid that evening, Milton residents said they saw a slow build up of law enforcement personnel.
At around 6 p.m., Charlene and Briella said they noticed a couple of idling police cars — which seemed unusual for their street, which leads into a cul-de-sac.
Soon, they would also see an ambulance pass by and a helicopter circling overhead, before a convoy of law enforcement vehicles — including from the state police and FBI — rolled through their neighborhood and stopped on the street near their home.
“Then you just knew — they found Charlotte,” Charlene said.
She said she did not know Ross personally, but is horrified that he lived so close.
“When I found out how close it was to me, it really hit me,” 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.”
“If he’s a predator, it’s a hunting ground for him,” she added. “He could’ve been riding around this part when my kids were out.”
Police are now probing whether Ross had been stalking Charlotte, if he is a pedophile, or if he is simply a criminal who was trying to make money off her ransom, Newsweek reports.
They will also speak with his family and friends about his whereabouts and his character, while simultaneously comparing his DNA against a database of child abduction cases as he remains behind bars without bail.