New York State Police has defended a trooper’s failure to arrest Craig Ross after he allegedly delivered a ransom note at Charlotte Sena’s family home.
Ross, 46, was charged with first-degree kidnapping after Charlotte was found hidden in a cabinet in a campervan at the back of his mother’s house, almost 48 hours after she was snatched while riding her bike in Moreau Lake State Park in Saratoga County, upstate New York.
His arrest came after he drove to the home of Charlotte’s parents and left a ransom note in their mailbox at around 4.20am on Monday. Fingerprints pulled from the note matched Mr Ross’ - they were on the state’s database from a 1999 DUI arrest.
Mr Ross was arrested nearly fourteen hours after the note was delivered.
A spokesperson for NYSP told Fox News Digital that the trooper tasked with surveilling the Senas’ home didn’t arrest Mr Ros because his presence did not seem unusual amid the many visits that the family received from members of the community.
“Like many other instances where families are experiencing something traumatic, we anticipated there would be a flow of constant traffic in front of the house throughout the night to show support for the family,” the spokesperson said.