A mother says her nine-year-old daughter was kidnapped by a stranger even after she taught her exactly what to say if approached by an unknown adult.
Trisha Sena’s daughter Charlotte was riding a bicycle when she was kidnapped in Moreau State Park in upstate New York last year when a stranger asked her for help getting something out of his truck.
‘That’s something we talk to our children about: that adults don’t ask children for help. They ask other adults,” Sena said. fox news.
Charlotte followed her mother’s careful instructions and told the man, later identified as Craig Ross, that he could do it himself or ask another adult.
But Ross persisted, telling Charlotte that her hands “were too big to reach the back of his truck.”
The kind girl agreed to help, only for Ross to pounce on her and throw her into the back of his truck.
Trisha Sena’s daughter Charlotte was riding a bicycle when she was kidnapped in a New York park last year when a stranger asked her for help getting something out of his truck.
Charlotte appears in the photo after being rescued. Her mother says the family has been through a horrible situation, but they are grateful to have their little daughter home.
“And he said, ‘My hands are too big. I can’t reach the back of my truck,” Sena explained:
‘So she decided to help him. And at that point, he pushed her into the back of his truck and drove by our campsite with Charlotte in the back… and she was gone for 47 hours.’
Sena had also taught her children to always go out in pairs, but Charlotte was separated from the other children before being kidnapped.
‘In short, the role is that they go in pairs. You can’t go alone. They were riding bicycles and wanted to return,” Sena explained.
And Charlotte said, “I’m going to go one more time.”
‘She didn’t tell anyone. They all stopped and she continued pedaling. And, unfortunately, there was someone waiting on the other side of the circuit.
Sena quickly realized that Charlotte was missing and called the police.
It was an agonizing 34 hours after the girl was kidnapped that police got a break in the case when a car pulled up to the family’s home a short distance from the camp and the driver got out in the dark to leave a ransom note. in the mailbox.
Law enforcement had been monitoring the girl’s home and watched the scene unfold.
Craig Ross Jr. was sentenced to 47 years to life in prison on kidnapping and sexual assault charges.
Law enforcement is seen searching for Charlotte in October 2023.
Officers rushed to the mailbox, investigators quickly isolated the fingerprints, connecting the print to the suspect and his white camper parked next to a double-wide trailer two miles away.
Police then swooped on the trailer, arrested Craig Ross Jr., 46, and found the girl in a cabinet.
Sena said the past year has been the most difficult of his life, but the family is working to move forward.
‘As a family, we have made a lot of progress going forward. “Charlotte has made a lot of progress going forward,” he told Fox News.
Following the terrifying experience, Sena has become an advocate for updating the Amber Alert laws and the Child Survivor Privacy Act.
Sena and her sister Jené also call for harsher sentences for child abusers.
‘I mean, these people who commit crimes against children will be released in six months, or they will be released with their sentence served…
“And our children are not protected by allowing them to return to the streets,” Jené said.
Ross was sentenced to 47 years to life in prison on kidnapping and sexual assault charges.