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A ransom note, fingerprints and cell phone pings. How New York police tracked down a missing 9-year-old girl and the suspect in her disappearance
CNN ^ | October 31, 2023 | Elizabeth Wolfe and Andy Rose

Posted on 10/03/2023 3:36:58 AM PDT by lowbridge

A ransom note dropped in the mailbox at the home of missing 9-year-old Charlotte Sena before dawn on Monday provided investigators an invaluable break in the case that ultimately led New York authorities to arrest a suspect and reunite the girl with her family after a frantic two-day search, state officials announced.

Fingerprints left behind on the note were instrumental in identifying suspect Craig Nelson Ross, Jr., 47, and tracking him to a residence where law enforcement arrested him Monday evening and immediately found Charlotte hidden in a cabinet, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced in a news conference.

-snip

At around 4:20 a.m. Monday, the suspect drove by the Sena family home and placed the ransom note in their mailbox, according to Hochul. Despite the early hour, Charlotte’s parent’s were still at the campsite searching for their daughter.

When state police discovered the note, they were able to recover fingerprints from the document and began running them through law enforcement databases to see if they could find a match, the governor said.

A hit came at 2:30 p.m., identifying the fingerprint as Ross’, the governor said. Ross’ fingerprint had been entered into the database for a 1999 incident of driving while intoxicated, she said.

Investigators then determined Ross may have been living in a residence behind his mother’s home. Two state and federal SWAT teams descended upon residence in helicopters, made entry and arrested Ross around 6:30 p.m., Hochul said. Charlotte was immediately found inside a cabinet.

-snip

In addition to the fingerprints, investigators also analyzed cell phone pings around the park at the time of Charlotte’s disappearance, Hochul told CNN Monday night. Additional insight came from park records, which contain information about visitors who paid an entrance fee or registered to camp overnight, she said.

(Excerpt) Read more at amp.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: kidnapping; newyork
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1 posted on 10/03/2023 3:36:58 AM PDT by lowbridge
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To: lowbridge

Thank God for someone ignorant about fingerprints. Probably not brilliant to publish all the mistakes a kidnapper makes.


2 posted on 10/03/2023 3:47:25 AM PDT by Hieronymus
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To: lowbridge

Gov. Karen and CNN trying to make this case about her.


3 posted on 10/03/2023 3:47:54 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
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To: lowbridge; ransomnote

Ping
😎


4 posted on 10/03/2023 3:50:25 AM PDT by PGalt (Past Peak Civilization?)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

She did PO a ton of people with her idiotic grandstanding in this case. But then, everything - EVERYTHING- that is done by any NYS Agency is micro-managed by “The Chamber” to make the Prince (Cuomo) and subsequently the Princess (Hochul) “look good…”


5 posted on 10/03/2023 3:53:23 AM PDT by Shady (The Force of Liberty must prevail for the sake of our Children and Grandchildren...)
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To: Hieronymus

“Probably not brilliant to publish all the mistakes a kidnapper makes.”

They probably didn’t.


6 posted on 10/03/2023 3:53:37 AM PDT by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Have!)
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To: lowbridge

47 year old man still living on momma’s property ......


7 posted on 10/03/2023 3:55:42 AM PDT by ronniesgal (The bidens are actually more white trashy than the Clintons, and that's sayin' something)
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To: lowbridge

The more I read about this incident, the more it looks like a crime that was planned and carried out by Beavis and Butthead.


8 posted on 10/03/2023 3:57:38 AM PDT by Alberta's Child (If something in government doesn’t make sense, you can be sure it makes dollars.)
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To: CodeToad

Good point. It wouldn’t surprise me if they had some DNA, and even if one doesn’t have DNA immediately from the kidnapper, if 23 and me or ANcestrery.com play ball, I imagine that they are capable of narrowing in on a group of cousins, and probably in most cases a sibling group, fairly quickly.


9 posted on 10/03/2023 3:58:12 AM PDT by Hieronymus
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To: lowbridge

NO PICTURE?? WHY??


10 posted on 10/03/2023 3:58:46 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: lowbridge

They publish a photo of the girl but not the kidnapper?


11 posted on 10/03/2023 3:59:56 AM PDT by Flavious_Maximus (Tony Fauci will be put on death row and die of COVID!)
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To: lowbridge

But Joa Xiden and his collection of liars and frauds in the WH can’t find a bag of cocaine on camera. Kudos to the great PD departments out there as they get lost in the shuffle of the endless leftists of big cities.


12 posted on 10/03/2023 4:01:03 AM PDT by quantim (Victory is not relative, it is absolute. )
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To: Ann Archy

Exactly- ive posted his name into search engine and cant even find a photo- just news stories with cathy hochul plastered all over the stories-

his name is
Craig Nelson Ross, Jr


13 posted on 10/03/2023 4:09:29 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: Flavious_Maximus

“They publish a photo of the girl but not the kidnapper?”


That’s what I’ve noticed in every article on this crime. Usually, the victim and all minor’s faces are blurred in pictures regarding crimes. In this case, I’ve seem pictures of her and her parents and siblings but not one picture of the perp. Has anyone seen a picture of him?


14 posted on 10/03/2023 4:11:53 AM PDT by CFW (I will not comply!)
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To: CFW

He did have an arrest record, so at least there ought to be an old mugshot.

For my guess I am going with overweight, myopic, caucasian loser in t-shirt that has some holes in it.


15 posted on 10/03/2023 4:24:57 AM PDT by babble-on
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To: Hieronymus

Probably not brilliant to publish all the mistakes a kidnapper makes.

I was thinking the same thing then I remembered there are dozen of real life crime shows on TV that show how evidence is gathered and where the criminal made their mistakes.

Crime is Darwinism in action - the dumb ones get caught while the smart one don’t.


16 posted on 10/03/2023 4:45:33 AM PDT by CIB-173RDABN (I am not an expert in anything, and my opinion is just that, an opinion. I may be wrong.)
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To: babble-on

“For my guess I am going with overweight, myopic, caucasian loser in t-shirt that has some holes in it.”


That’s what I was thinking as well. However, as more and more time passes without a picture, I’ve started rethinking that assumption.


17 posted on 10/03/2023 4:54:59 AM PDT by CFW (I will not comply!)
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To: CFW

I did some searching on Facebook, and someone posted a photo who looked to be a Caucasian bearded loser. No idea if they posted the right guy. (What’s going on in Corinth, NY page)


18 posted on 10/03/2023 5:08:55 AM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: lowbridge

Isn’t the perp a known sex offender?

If so, XiNN left a bit out, didn’t they...


19 posted on 10/03/2023 5:10:43 AM PDT by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
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To: lowbridge

Something hinky is going on. A local rag reported that the perp is a sex-offender, then later removed the info...

https://heavy.com/news/craig-ross-jr/

But without a retraction.

There us a lot more to this story.

NYS is in cover-up mode.


20 posted on 10/03/2023 5:13:42 AM PDT by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
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