CORINTH, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The search for 9-year-old Charlotte Sena took 48 hours, with an Amber Alert issued on October 1. Her family and the people of Corinth are relieved she was found safe and alive.
Charlotte’s family released the following statement after the reunion with their daughter: “We are thrilled that she is home and we understand that the outcome is not what every family gets. 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.”
Schools in the area are also supporting the Sena family and wearing orange.
Police said that Charlotte was inside a cabinet in the home of Craig Ross, Jr. He was arraigned and charged with kidnapping on October 2 in Wilton Town Court.
Corinth resident Debbie Stollery, owner of The Barn, did what she could to help during the search. She said she opened the store on October 2 for families and students who needed extra support while the search continued into the week.
“The cloud was hanging over everybod. Everybody could feel a portion of what the family was going through,” Stollery said. “We thought, we’ll open just for the after school hours so parents, after the kids had gone through counseling sessions in school, could come, breathe a sigh, and relax for a minute.”
Stollery said she’s proud of the work her community and thousands of others did to help bring Charlotte home. “Everybody was doing what they could and they wanted to help as much as they could,” she said. “Some of the people here were qualified to be search and rescue workers and so those people went and helped out. Everybody else wanted to help out but didn’t know how, they didn’t want to get in the way, but to see the police and investigators coming from all over the state it was phenomenal.”
