A search is underway for a nine-year-old girl believed to have been abducted as she rode her bike around Moreau Lake State Park in upstate New York.
An Amber Alert was issued for Charlotte Sena on Sunday morning. She was last seen around 6.15pm the previous day while on a camping trip with her family.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children stated that Charlotte ‘was taken under circumstances that lead police to believe that (she is) in imminent danger of serious harm and/or death.’
Charlotte was last seen wearing an orange tie-dye Pokémon shirt, dark blue pants, black Crocs and a gray bike helmet. She is described as White with blonde hair, standing 5-foot-1 and weighing 90 pounds.
‘I just want my daughter back,’ Charlotte’s mother, Trisha Sena, told the Albany Times Union tearfully.
She described Charlotte as ‘a good kid’ who is ‘trusting.’
Charlotte Sena, a fourth grade student from Greenfield, was last seen around 6.15pm on Saturday while on a camping trip with family and friends in Moreau Lake State Park
The nine-year-old was reported missing around 6.45pm the same day when she failed to return from a bike ride
She was last seen wearing an orange tie-dye Pokémon shirt, dark blue pants, black Crocs and a gray bike helmet
Charlotte is believed to be at risk of serious harm ‘and/or death,’ according to an Amber Alert issued shortly after she disappeared
Charlotte was visiting the state park just 15 minutes away from Greenfield, where she and her two sisters were raised. Family and friends camped out, cooked and rode bikes together.
The nine-year-old and two close friends – so close she considered them cousins – went on a bike ride Saturday night before darkness fell.
They rode loops around the trail and although her friends decided to head back, Charlotte wanted to go around one last time by herself.
When 15 minutes passed and she hadn’t returned to the campsite, parents David and Trisha sensed that something was wrong.
They called her name, and when there was no response, people abandoned their food and tables to search for the nine-year-old, including strangers from other campgrounds.
Thirty minutes later, at 6.37pm, Trisha dialed 911. State police were on site by 7pm. The fourth grader’s bike was recovered, but there was no sign of Charlotte.
New York State police activated an amber alert at 9.35am on Sunday, noting that it was ‘for a child abduction’ that occurred around 6.45pm the night before.
An additional search team was deployed that morning.
Over 100 people searched tirelessly for the fourth grader, including forest rangers and 75 law enforcement personnel.
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New York State Governor Kathy Hochul hosted a press conference Sunday afternoon where she provided updates on the search
Moreau Lake State Park is just a 15-minute drive from Greenfield, where Charlotte was raised
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul held a press conference Sunday morning to provide updates on the search. She was joined by members of law enforcement including the FBI.
‘They were here to make memories – the kind that last a lifetime,’ she said. ‘But instead, the day turned into every parent’s nightmare.
Hochul shared that she had met with the girl’s parents.
‘As a mother, as a grandmother, I cannot imagine the pain they’re going through,’ she said. ‘They shared with me how joyful their little girl is.’
Charlotte is a fourth grade student at Corinth Central Elementary School who was recently elected a class officer for the student council.
The Governor described her as ‘the kind of girl that people wanted to be friends with,’ and one who looked out for others – ‘the pride of every parent.’
Law enforcement established a command post at the state park.
Hochul said they were using two drones, an airboat, six underwater rescue teams and a boat equipped with sonar as well as K-9 teams with bloodhounds.
‘Tech experts’ had been brought in ‘to analyze other forms of communications in the park.’
Hochul added that the Schenectady Fire Department was assisting in the search, as Charlotte was the niece of one of the members.
‘We are leaving no stone, no branch, no table, no cabin unturned, untouched, unexamined in our search to find Charlotte,’ she said.
‘Hearts are broken today in New York. Hopefully there will be a reunion. Hopefully there will be a family that has been traumatized but reunited.’
Law enforcement still described the case as a search of the park on Sunday.
However, ‘the exhaustive search meant it was quite possible an abduction took place,’ State Police Lt. Col. Richard Mazzone said during the press conference.
Charlotte’s father David is a member of Local Union 773 Plumbers, Pipefitters, Steamfitters and Service Technicians out of Queensbury.
The union asked for help in finding Charlotte and added: ‘Please keep the Sena family in your thoughts and prayers.’
