Craig Ross, the suspect in the weekend abduction of a 9-year girl who vanished while riding her bicycle at a New York state park, is being held without bail at the Saratoga County Jail on charges of first-degree kidnapping.
Ross, 46, was arraigned early Tuesday morning during an appearance in Miltown Town Court, and arrived at the jail at about 3:40 a.m., the Albany Times-Union reported. Ross' photograph was released through Vine, a national victim notification network.
Ross is charged with abducting the girl, Charlotte Sena, who had last been seen at Moreau Lake State Park on Saturday, prompting a two-day hunt of the 6,250-acre park and the surrounding area.
She disappeared after she had asked for permission from her family to ride around a small loop road near the campsites one last time by herself. Officials issued an Amber Alert after her family and friends reported her missing at about 6:45 p.m.
New York State Police and Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday night that Ross allegedly left a ransom note at the girl's home before dawn Monday, and that a fingerprint found on the note led to a series of raids of locations tied to Ross.
The fingerprint was matched to fingerprints taken from when Ross was arrested in Saratoga Springs for charges of driving while intoxicated. Hochul said there is no indication yet linking him to the Sena family.
The girl was found in a cabinet in a trailer adjacent to a mobile home where Ross' mother lives. The trailer is about 13 miles south of where the kidnapped girl lives with her family.
According to state police, Ross suffered minor injuries during the arrest by a State Police Special Operations Response Team, which was assisted by an FBI SWAT team.
The girl was taken by ambulance to Albany Medical Center Hospital, where State Police said she is in "good health."
Ross was arrested less than three hours after the police said the searchers, consisting of about 400 certified search and rescue personnel from dozens of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, as well as fire departments, were searching in an area of 46 linear miles.
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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