Crime Weekly - S3 Ep149: Crime Weekly News: Charlotte Sena Suspect Connected to More Cases?

Episode Date: October 12, 2023

On Saturday, September 30th, 2023, 9-year-old Charlotte Sena was camping with her family at Moreau Lake State Park near Albany NY when she went for a bike ride with some close friends around dinnertime. She was riding her bike in one of the loops in the state park, and she had done a few loops with her friends and wanted to do one more before heading back to the campsite, so her friends went on without her, reporting they last saw her at 6:15 PM. When she was not back within ten minutes, her family went looking for her, and she was reported missing at 6:45pm. 46-year-old Craig Ross Jr. was taken into custody after Charlotte was found in a cabinet inside a trailer behind his mothers home near the intersection of Middle Line Rd and Barrett St in Milton, NY. Just a few days ago it was reported that Craig Ross Jr. is being looked at in connection to two cold case murders nearby. Try our coffee!! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.com Become a Patreon member -- > https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeekly Shop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shop Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcast Website: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.com Instagram: @CrimeWeeklyPod Twitter: @CrimeWeeklyPod Facebook: @CrimeWeeklyPod

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And we're going to get right into this week's episode, but before we do, we're going to plug some new merch. In case you can't see, if you're watching on YouTube, you can definitely see if you're listening on audio, you're just going to have to imagine it, or go over to the YouTube channel and check these things out because they are fire. I'll overmind real quick. If you're not watching on YouTube, you can see here, kind of derived from a phrase I use often, the nothing burger right there in the middle. And J&R Marketing did a great job of adding on to it, creating what we call the weekly meal. So it's basically you get some fries, you get a little shake or soda, whatever your preference is.

And yes, some lies. And right now, and Stephanie, why don't you tell them what you have on real quick and then we can tell them where they can go. So I feel like this shirt was the best selling at Crime Comedy. Without a doubt. Yeah. Without a doubt, the best one, not even close. So it says Crime Weekly Sofa Division. And I like it because the O in sofa is like a little, what is that called? A little magnifying glass. Yeah. I always, I always want to call it a microscope, but, and then the, the O in division is a thumbprint, but my favorite part is the back. Yep, the back's fire.

People actually thought that was two different shirts. Can you see? Oh my God. Can you see? Yeah, solving crimes from the sofa. It's got a sofa with caution tape around it since 2020, which is obviously when we started the podcast, December 4th, 2020. And I love it.

I love the colors. The red really pops. I like the sofa on the back colors. The red really pops. Like I like the sofa on the back. It's a really good quality. I actually have this in a normal size and I got it in a 3XL as well to wear to bed. To sleep in, good call. Yeah. And right now you can get these two shirts and also the white Crime Weekly shirt and a baby blue Crime Weekly hoodie over at crimeweeklypodcast.com. All you have to do is click shop and the four items are right there. They only come in the colors that you're seeing right now. So you get the black for the weekly meal, the gray for the sofa division, white for

Crime Weekly, and then baby blue for the hoodie. We did that to keep it simple and it's also easier to keep it in stock because when you have multiple colors then you have to have sizes for those multiple colors which makes it harder to keep up on inventory so you can get what you want so if you go over there right now again it's crimeweeklypodcast.com the website needs to be updated we're working on that so bear with us there we're gonna redo the entire thing but for right now you just click shop and it brings you right to it. Cause some of you had mentioned that you didn't see these t-shirts on our bond fire link, which I removed from the website, but some of you still had it saved or in your browser or whatever. So yes, when you go to bond fire, you're going to see some of the older items we had, like the pineapple shirt, which will be coming over to this website as well at some point. But eventually, I'm just going to shut that bonfire store down.

I might even do it this week. So you definitely want to go over to CrimeWeeklyPodcast.com to get these shirts and any others that we drop in the future. Any final words from you, Stephanie, before we dive into it? Nope. All right. Terrible segue here, but this is a really sad story. We're going to get right into it.

On Saturday, September 30th, 2023, nine-year-old Charlotte Senna was camping with her family at Morrill Lake State Park near Albany, New York, when she went for a bike ride with some close friends around dinnertime. She was riding her bike in one of the loops in the state park, and she had done a few loops with her friends and wanted to do one more before heading back to the campsite. So her friends went on without her, reporting they last saw her at approximately 6.15 p.m. When she was not back within 10 minutes, her family went out looking for her,

and she was reported missing at 6.45 p.m. Parents' worst nightmare right here. Yeah, I've been following this case because it is kind of local to me. It's, you know, just a couple hours away from me. And yeah, like you said, this has been always my worst nightmare. And my kids wonder why I'm so overprotective, because it can happen. It's a state park. What's a state park? It's not like you're in the middle of the city. It's not like it's a super populated area. A state park. and you just cannot let your kids out of your sight. Anything could happen.

And this could have gone very, very badly. This could have gone worse than it did. And luckily, there was a happy ending here, but it's still an interesting case to talk about because what happened was- Well, there's a lesson. There's a huge lesson. That's the point. That's what we're trying to do here with these. Even when we don't have a positive outcome, what's the lesson we can take from it? And like you said, this one is positive, but we can still learn a lot from it. It's also a reminder because I even find myself getting a little lax sometimes because now that my son's getting older, he's 11, he's trying to exert his, oh, he's 12. He just turned 12. He's trying to exert his independence. He wants to go out and

do more things. He wants to ride his bike to the neighborhood behind our house. He wants to do all of this stuff. And I know that eventually I have to sort of let him do that a little bit, right? But do I? You know, do I? 12 is still very young. So it is a reminder to not kind of let your kids bully you into giving them more independence and more freedom than they are ready for because they don't really understand the world and what's

out there in the same way that we do, especially you and I, considering what we do every day. Can I weigh in on this real quick before we get into this actual story? Because you bring up some valid points there because I think people come to us and they're looking for guidance, especially working some of these cases in the past. And there's no right answer as far as when it's okay for your child to be out on their own. You have to make that decision. But one rule of thumb that I will apply

when my children are old enough is, are they physically capable of defending themselves and getting away from someone? Now, again, if they encounter someone huge or fast, it might not be the case, but overall, are they in a position where if they see something that's not right, can they pedal fast enough? Can they run fast enough? Or if they get into a smaller location, can they at least hold their own? And I think that's how you got to kind of judge it because you can have a 17 year old boy who's three feet tall and, you know, 60 pounds. He's someone who's

going to be a victim of opportunity for most people they're going to see him as someone who could be easily overtaken and therefore susceptible to something like this so I don't think you can base it on age or experience I know that's a really kind of sad way of looking at it but as I go forward with it if my girls are not in a position where I felt like if someone approached them, like let's just say a man in this situation, that they could at least scratch and claw their way out of it, then I'm not going to leave them alone. I got to be there or my wife has to be there to defend them, period. If that's not the case, then they're not going alone. And if they don't like it, they can be mad at me. I'd rather

have them be mad at me than lose them forever. That's just the way I look at it. Pros and cons. Yeah, I agree. And I mean, I remember being that age and wanting to do the same. So there's a little bit of that. Of course. Same thing.

I have to give him a little leash. I have to let him do things on his own. But there's a happy medium. He's getting to the point. I haven't seen him in person in a while. But He's getting to the point. He's not like a, I haven't seen him in person in a while, but he's getting to the point, maybe another year or two, I feel like he might be in a position where if someone confronted him, he could at least get away from that person, whether it's, you know,

if he's on a bike or he has to use a fist or whatever. I also think, isn't your son going to some self-defense type stuff as well? Boxing, yeah. Boxing. I love it. I love that. And I recommend that for all you guys outing. I love it. I love that. And I recommend that for all you guys out there. I took boxing as a kid too. One of those things, boy,

girl, don't really care. Get them into something. Our editor, Shannon, does jujitsu. Love jujitsu. Amazing stuff. It's good for your health. And it also, you hope you never use it, but if you need to in that moment, having that muscle memory might save your life. So maybe think about getting your kids into something where there's karate or boxing or jujitsu. There's tons of stuff out there that can be a lot of fun. You can do it with them. Teach them how to run real fast. How to run real, yeah, get on the track team. But something where you can get them into something where if they're found in a situation that's a physical altercation where someone tries to grab them, they know what to do. And when all else fails, kick them in the, you know what? That's my final word on that. We interrupt this program to bring you an

important Wayfair message. Wayfair's got style tips for every home. This is Styles McKenzie helping you make those rooms sing. Today's style tip. When it comes to making a statement, treat bold patterns like neutrals. Go wild like an untamed animal for an area rug under a rustic farmhouse table from Wayfair.com. Powerful fears. This has been your Wayfair style tip to keep those interiors superior. Wayfair, every style, every home. Yeah, it's very, dude, when this happened, I was like, because this happened at the end of September. And I was like, see, this is, and I show my kids, you know,

I'm like, this is what's going on. Like, look at this. This is why. Look at this girl's picture. She looks like a girl you go to school with, I'm sure. She looks like a girl that could be sitting in your classroom. No one knows where she is right now. She's in a place where her parents cannot find her. If you get to a place where I cannot find you, Aiden, what can I do?

I'll try my best. I'll search to the ends of the earth, but what am I gonna do? So, you know, there's a little bit of fear tactics. Yeah, but I think that's needed. So how Charlotte's parents kind of figured out that she was missing and that they feared that she was abducted

was they went to go find her and they found her bike abandoned in that loop. And they were like, oh shit, you know, she's not the type of person who's just gonna they found her bike abandoned in that loop. And they were like, oh, shit, you know, she's not the type of person who's just going to get off her bike and start walking. Why would she get off her bike when she can ride her bike back to the campsite? There's not a flat tire. The bike's in fine working condition. What's going on here? This definitely to them said she's been taken. Once again, nightmare i don't know what i would do so state police were very quick they were on the scene by 7 p.m by uh the following sunday afternoon over 100 people

were searching the state park they were joined by another 300 people the following day but luckily around 6 30 p.m on monday october 2nd the amber alert for charlotte was canceled and law enforcement officials announced she had been found safe. So 46-year-old Craig Ross Jr. was taken into custody after Charlotte was found in a cabinet inside this RV behind his mother's home near the intersection of Middle Line Road and Barnett Street, which is kind of right around the corner from the state park. And Ross was tracked down after Charlotte's parents received a ransom note that had been placed in their mailbox demanding $50,000. His fingerprints were found on the note. They ran the prints. It was discovered he was in the New York State Police System for a 1999 DWI charge in Saratoga Springs. They also cross-checked that against cell phone pings from people who were

in the park at the time of Charlotte's abduction, and Ross was one of them. Now, since Charlotte's been taken in safely, which thank God, this could have gone so much worse, right? What if this dude's motive was not a ransom? What if his motive was, like many other child abductors, something more nefarious? Yeah, sexual nature. Just call it what it is. Yeah. By the time they figured out who he was, it would have been too late. Yep. So thank God that that didn't appear to be his motive in this case. But New York State Police, since she's been brought home safely, they've been very tight-lipped about it. But Ross's ex-girlfriend has started talking to the media, and she's basically said a bunch of stuff.

She said, listen, this is some dude who never wants to work. He always wants to find people to mooch off of. He lives in an RV behind his mom's house. He's kind of a loser. And this ex-girlfriend, her name's Amanda Priest. And she says the motive was money, which I mean, it's pretty obvious because he asked for a ransom. But the interesting thing is, it looks like he targeted Charlotte Cena purposely. So Amanda Priest said, quote, Charlotte's grandfather sued the town of Greenfield years ago, and people around Saratoga are aware of this. I think that's why he held her ransom. He was hoping to get some of the money because he's struggling financially, end quote.

So it turns out Charlotte's grandfather, Patrick Cena, sued the town in 1998 after a sledding accident. He was awarded his RV that he'd been living in. So she believes this was premeditated. He was following the family. He was watching Charlotte's whereabouts. Most likely, he followed them from their home to the state park. And that is when he waited for Charlotte to be on her own. The opportunity was there once again. I understand that Charlotte wanted to ride around the loop one more time.

And her friends were like, OK, this seems pretty safe. We'll catch you back at the campsite in a couple minutes. A child should never be left alone because if somebody is following them or if somebody with bad intentions is wandering by, that does open up the crime of opportunity window, which is now this kid's alone. Nobody can identify me or my vehicle. I can snatch her and it'll be like I was never here. So at this point, Ross is being held on first degree kidnapping charges. But just a few days ago, it was reported that Craig Ross Jr. may be looked at in connection to two cold case murders nearby. The murder of 19-year-old Christina White and 18-year-old Jennifer Hammond, who went missing two years apart in 2003 and 2005, and their bodies were later found dumped in rural Greenfield, New York. John Kelly, who's a criminal profiler and president of Stalk, Inc., told Fox News, quote, he's alleged to have abducted her, but we also know that the best predictor of present or future behavior is past behavior.

So has he ever abducted in the past? End quote. Look at John Kelly saying a Derek Levasseur. I can't take credit for that. Dr. Chris Mohandy. Yeah. Well. My guy.

Look at John Kelly saying a Chris Mohandy. Yeah. But he's right. And that's why, you know, that's why you say it so often, because it's absolutely true. When he said, he said in the car that day, I'm like, damn, I am stealing that. I am stealing that and I am trademarking it. It's mine. Yeah. Now it's John Kelly's. Now it's John Kelly's and everybody else in the country, because I'm sure Chris probably heard it from someone as well.

So Kelly says that whoever took White and Hammond knew the area very well and may have had a preference for redheads. And then they have this visual representation of Craig Ross Jr.'s potential route home from the state park. And they got this based on a time-lapse video of his path home. And this is where police started asking people on that path who lived on that path for home security video so they could sort of like track him. And apparently his route home from the state park runs near wooded areas that are linked to these two unsolved murders. So there's potential that he may have been involved with those. I don't really know. I guess it's possible the M.O. of asking for a ransom doesn't really add up. However, what you will see is because Charlotte was nine and he knew her family had money,

and clearly he was able to watch this family and this little girl for long enough that he understood their movements. He understood where they were going. He was able to follow them without being seen. He's not a newcomer to this sort of activity. So maybe he thought, well, I've kidnapped before. I've abducted successfully before. I can do it again.

But in this case, instead of, you know, killing the person, I can get some money from it because I'm financially strapped. So it's not an immediate, you know, canceling him out as being potentially connected to these two unsolved murders of Christina White and Jennifer Hammond. The M.O. doesn't really match. However, the ages of the victims don't match either. So this could have just been a branching off from something he was used to. He could have been using his past knowledge in these successful abductions to to make some money. So I don't know. What do you think about that? Do you think it's possible?

Yeah, it's absolutely possible. But that's that's the first thing I want to say here is New York State Police, I applaud you. Incredible job in this case, working what you have available, all the science and technology at your fingertips, using that to solve this case as quickly as possible and potentially save a life. That's number one. Secondly, you could have solved this case and then got up at a press conference and announced how great you are for saving this little girl. And you know what? Nobody would have faulted you for it. But instead, you're expanding that investigation. You're saying, okay, we solved this case, but now we have this monster in custody. Has he committed other crimes? So instead of just sitting there and, you know, putting their, you know, their, their trophy around their neck or their, their metal around their neck, I should have said, and

just going with that, they're saying, nope, let's keep pulling on these threads. Let's see how much we can figure out. That's a great investigator. That's a great division, whatever investigative division they're in. That's how you get it done. So congratulations to you guys. New York state police stepping it up. There was also a New York State Police officer who was one of the individuals, I guess the main individual, who re-looked at the Rex

Huberman case, the Gilgo Beach case, and was the one that found that report that linked back to Rex Huberman that was taken 10 years ago. So New York State Police, I'm not saying, I don't know everything. I'm sure people are going to be in the comments talking bad about them. But I mean, for the things that we're hearing, get statement to make like they're great or they're bad, you know? Yeah, exactly. I agree. But the guys involved with this great job. That's how it's done. Now for the lesson. Back to the lesson here. You said something in there that was important. Yes, you want to be with your kids at all times if you can as a parent. But if not, you want to ingrain in your children and their friends that under no circumstances do you leave one or the other alone. You always go together. You always go back to the simple phrase buddy system. No one is ever left behind by themselves. Someone always has to stay with them.

If you do that, you decrease the likelihood that the offender will attack, even if it's premeditated, because now they have to take control of two people. And if they are only able to get one, now there's a witness out there that may potentially know what they look like, know what their vehicle looks like. So it may deter them just by you being there with your friend or your sibling. That's one. And then also as a parent, just to kind of add to what we were saying earlier as far as age and also the size of your child and what their background is as far as self-defense, have they taken any training? All of those things should be part of the equation. I would also add in there location and setting. If they're in a location that's controlled, like your backyard

or a dead end street that has, you know, a gated, it's a gated community where it's no one in or out, you have a little bit more leeway there. If it's a setting where it's a gated community, but it's a public event where there's a ton of people there that you don't know, well, then it's off the table. So you have to evaluate every situation. But the simple rule of thumb is if there are people who have access to that area that you don't personally know, then you don't leave your kids alone. It sounds a little maybe, you know, controlling, but I can promise you that if you do that, there's a high likelihood that your kids are going to be safe because frankly, you're never going to have your eyes off of them.

And if someone decides to do something stupid, they're going to have to go through you first. And I can live with that. I can live with that outcome. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like I said, the best possible outcome here with Charlotte. Amazing. I was real worried for a couple of days, real worried because it's the last thing you want to see, especially that close to home. The last thing you want to see.

A little nine-year-old girl. She's adorable. They're showing pictures of her on the news. It's basically just a couple hours away from where you live. Now you're wondering, like, is there some child abductor on the loose? Do I have to be worried? Are there going to be more kids taken? Is she ever going to be found?

There's a ton of questions running through your head, and I can't even imagine what her parents were going through, even for that short time. And I'm sure that Charlotte's parents, it will be a long time before Charlotte's out riding her bike by herself. Agreed. Agreed. And I'm glad that they have Charlotte back. And I think we can all learn from this. By no means, we're blaming them no they you know they probably great they didn't know that their friends were gonna they'll leave alone yes exactly so it could happen to me it could happen to you could happen to anybody but i think that the moral of the story is here again if if you're not someone who maybe get a little complacent like you said this kind of reels you back in because it doesn't

just happen in the areas that you see in because it doesn't just happen in the areas that you see in the movies. It can happen right in your own backyard. And you could have been involved in a lawsuit years ago where you got money and you think nobody remembers it, but there could be someone out there who's on hard times and has decided to make you or someone you love their target. So you always have to be aware of your surroundings. You always have to be cognizant of the people that are in your immediate reach, I guess. We actually had someone put on social media on Instagram, I believe it was, where she pod in because Stephanie and Derek have made me so afraid of someone walking up behind me. And I responded to her in the, I responded to her in the DMS and I said, I'm glad you're doing that, but make sure that bad boy's on transparency mode.

Cause I don't even like that. And she's like, Ooh, good call. And I'm like, just saying it could always, we can always do better. That's how we prevent these things. So shout out to her and shout out to all of you who take our advice and apply it every day. And you're not just necessarily sitting here listening or watching these cases for the sake of the tragedy and it not being you. You're educating yourself. You're informing your family members and you're empowering everyone around you so that you don't become a victim of a crime like this. Be vigilant. Be aware. I wish I didn't have to give you that advice.

I wish I could give you more uplifting advice like dance like no one's watching. Sing like no one's listening and live your life to your fullest. Like obviously do those things in the, in the safest environments. You know, I want you to have a great life, but remain vigilant and be aware of your surroundings at all time for yourself, for your family, because it's not, it's not a super rosy world out there all the time. Well said.

We're going to be out of here. But again, if you want to pick up your merch, go to crimeweeklypodcast.cast.com check it out we're going to be back later this week with a new episode i won't spoil it tonight but it's a new case so make sure you check it out everyone stay safe out there we'll see you soon