Police fear a nine-year-old girl was kidnapped while cycling through Moreau Lake State Park in upstate New York as they continued their desperate search for her.
An Amber Alert was issued for Charlotte Sena on Sunday morning after she was last seen on a camping trip with her family at around 6.15pm on Saturday.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said Charlotte was “arrested under circumstances that lead police to believe she is in imminent danger of serious injury and/or death.”
“I just want my daughter back,” Charlotte’s mother, Trisha Sena, told the Albany Times Union through tears. She described Charlotte as “a good child” who was “confidential.”
Charlotte was last seen wearing an orange tie-dye Pokémon shirt, dark blue pants, black Crocs and a gray bicycle helmet. She is described as white with blonde hair, 6 feet tall and weighing 90 pounds.
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul said yesterday morning as she reported the results of the search: “You were here to make memories – ones that last a lifetime,” she said. “But instead the day turned into every parent’s nightmare.”
Charlotte Sena, a fourth-grade student from Greenfield, was last seen on a camping trip with family and friends at Moreau Lake State Park around 6:15 p.m. Saturday
The nine-year-old was reported missing at around 6:45 p.m. on the same day because she did not return from a bike ride
She was last seen wearing an orange tie-dye Pokémon shirt, dark blue pants, black Crocs and a gray bicycle helmet
According to an Amber Alert issued shortly after her disappearance, Charlotte is at risk of serious injury “and/or death.”
Hochul shared that she met with the girl’s parents.
“As a mother, as a grandmother, I can’t imagine the pain they’re going through,” she said. “They told me how happy their little girl was.”
Charlotte visited the state park, just 15 minutes from Greenfield, where she and her two sisters grew up. Family and friends camped, cooked and rode bikes together.
The nine-year-old and two close friends – so close that she considered them cousins - went for a bike ride on Saturday evening before it got dark.
They circled the path, and although her friends decided to turn back, Charlotte wanted to circle alone one last time.
When 15 minutes passed and she hadn’t returned to the campsite, parents David and Trisha sensed something was wrong.
They called her name, and when there was no answer, people left their food and tables to look for the nine-year-old, including strangers from other campsites.
Thirty minutes later, at 6:37 p.m., Trisha called 911. By 7 p.m., state police were on scene. The fourth-grader’s bike was recovered, but Charlotte was nowhere to be seen.
New York State Police issued an Amber Alert at 9:35 a.m. Sunday, determining it was “a child abduction” that had occurred the previous evening around 6:45 p.m.
An additional search team was deployed in the morning.
Over 100 people searched tirelessly, including forest rangers and 75 police employees.
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul held a press conference Sunday afternoon to provide an update on the search
Moreau Lake State Park is just a 15-minute drive from Greenfield, where Charlotte grew up
Over 100 people joined the search for the fourth grader, including 75 members of the police. Drones, an airboat and a boat with sonar were used
Charlotte’s mother Trisha described her as “trustworthy” and “a good child”. Governor Hochul called her “the kind of girl people wanted to be friends with.”
Officials have now closed Moreau Lake State Park until further notice and urged the public to stay off the trails and leave the search to the professionals.
Charlotte is a student at Corinth Central Elementary School who was recently elected student council representative.
The governor described her as “the kind of girl people wanted to be friends with” and one who cared about others – “the pride of every parent”.
Police set up a command post at the state park.
Hochul said they deployed two drones, an airboat, six underwater rescue teams and a boat equipped with sonar, as well as K-9 teams with bloodhounds.
“Tech experts” were brought in “to analyze other forms of communication in the park.”
Hochul added that the Schenectady Fire Department was assisting in the search because Charlotte was the niece of one of the members.
“We leave no stone, no branch, no table, no hut unturned, untouched, untested in our search for Charlotte,” she said.
“Hearts were broken in New York today.” Hopefully there will be a reunion. “Hopefully there will be a family that is traumatized but reunited.”
The police described the case on Sunday as a search of the park.
However, “the extensive search suggested that it was entirely possible that a kidnapping had occurred,” said Lt. Col. Richard Mazzone of the state police.
That sentiment was echoed by Stephanie O’Neil, public information officer for State Police Troop G.
“She’s a highly intelligent, adventurous nine-year-old – but that obviously doesn’t suit her,” O’Neil said.
She added that Charlotte had visited the state park before but wasn’t particularly familiar with it.
Charlotte’s father David is a member of Local Union 773 Plumbers, Pipefitters, Steamfitters and Service Technicians of Queensbury.
The union asked for help finding her, adding: “Please keep the Sena family in your thoughts and prayers.”