Main image: the area where a kidnapped girl was held captive in the fall of 2023 (Google Maps); Inset right: Craig Ross, Jr. (Saratoga Sheriff’s Office)
An upstate New York man in his late forties will spend a prison term equivalent to at least his current age behind bars for the terror and violence he inflicted upon a 9-year-old girl last fall.
In February, Craig Ross, Jr., 47, pleaded guilty to kidnapping Charlotte Sena from a campsite at Moreau Lake State Park — located roughly 47 miles north of Albany — and sexually assaulting her in September 2023.
During a vituperative sentencing hearing, victim impact statements excoriated the condemned man for the horrific crime that caught the attention of people and officials across the Empire State.
During the two days Charlotte was missing, a ransom note turned up in her family’s mailbox. That written demand led to a relatively quick resolution. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, flanked by law enforcement, was the person who announced that a fingerprint on the note matched Ross. He had been arrested for a DWI in 1999 in Saratoga Springs.
“She is a beautiful, sweet, nine-year-old girl,” the girl’s aunt told the media during initial search and rescue efforts. “She has blond hair, bangs, and green eyes. Just under five feet tall.”
She was last seen riding her bicycle at the park around 6:15 p.m. on Sept. 30, 2023 — wearing a gray helmet and a Pokémon T-shirt. An Amber Alert was issued the next morning at 9:35 a.m. and canceled by 6:45 p.m. the day after that. In all, she had been gone just over 48 hours, according to Albany-based ABC affiliate WTEN.
While over 100 search and rescue professionals combed 46 miles around and near Lake Moreau, the girl was found confined inside a cabinet in Ross’ camper parked behind his mother’s home in Ballston Spa, some 20 miles southwest of the park where she was abducted.
“We are thrilled that she is home and we understand that the outcome is not what every family gets,” her family said in a statement released after the recovery effort proved successful. “A huge thank you to the FBI, the New York State Police, all of the agencies that were mobilized all of the families, friends, volunteers.”
But a relatively quick end was small comfort to the girl.
During the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Saratoga County Assistant District Attorney Jennifer L. Buckley read a statement penned by the survivor, who did not appear in court, herself.
“Because of you, I can’t sleep at night,” Charlotte’s message read, in comments reported by The Associated Press. “I was imprisoned for two and a half days, and now you will be imprisoned for 47 years.”
Ross was sentenced to spend 25 years to life in prison on one count of kidnapping; he was sentenced to spend 22 years to life behind bars on one count of predatory sexual assault of a child. The charges were assessed to run consecutively, or one after another.
“You were haunting my thoughts, but now, I will be haunting yours,” the prosecutor continued, still speaking for the girl, in comments reported by WTEN. “Eventually, I might forget you, but you won’t forget me. You will never be able to affect anyone again.”
The length of the sentence suggests the girl’s kidnapper will likely die in prison — though there is a small chance for a late-in-life release.
“He will be 93 years old when he’s even eligible to talk about parole consideration,” Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen said at a press conference earlier this year, according to the Times Union.
The girl’s family also addressed the man, who has multiple sclerosis, whose crime changed their lives forever.
“What kind of a person wakes up in the morning and decides they’re going to steal someone’s kid?” the girl’s uncle read — one among many of statements from family members. “What kind of a monster does that? You, Craig Ross, you did that. You probably thought it was going to be easy to get away with, look at me, does it look easy now.”
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