NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: The man who is suspected of kidnapping a nine-year-old girl named Charlotte Sena from an upstate New York campground last weekend is now being investigated for any potential links to the unsolved murders of two teens who disappeared from the region two decades back, authorities said.
Craig N Ross Jr, 46, was charged earlier this week with kidnapping the little girl after SWAT teams discovered her hiding in a closet inside the suspect’s trailer in Ballston Spa, just a couple of days after she was reported missing during a family campaign trip.
As the probe into Sena's case continues, Ross is set to be grilled by law enforcement to find out possible connections to any other major cases in the vicinity, which include the years old abduction and slayings of 18-year-old Jennifer Hammond and 19-year-old Christina White.
What did the authorities say?
“At this time, we have no information to indicate that he was or was not involved,” Saratoga County Sheriff’s Investigator Matthew Robinson, who is the lead investigator on the women’s unsolved murders, told the Times-Union. “There’s no, like, hot lead that says he’s our guy or anything like that,” Robinson said.
However, Robinson noted that the department was looking into any “association [Ross] has with any major case in the area” as part of a “standard investigative step.”
“And that is something that we are actively working on,” he added.
When did the two teenagers vanish?
According to the authorities, the Hammond and White's cases are said to be linked and have been under investigation ever since the two young women vanished in 2003 and 2005 respectively, near mobile home parks in Milton, the same place where Ross has lived for decades.
Robinson, who is also tasked with assisting state police on the Sena case, wouldn’t say if Ross was ever interviewed in connection to the Hammond or White cases. “Not with any kind of significance" he said when asked if Ross’ name ever came up in either investigation.
Where was Jennifer Hammond last seen?
Hammond, a magazine sales company employee, was reported missing by her employer back on November 2, 2003, after she was last seen being dropped off at the Creek and Pines Trailer Park to try to sell mags, police said.
All of her belongings were later discovered inside the Albany hotel room where she’d been staying with her co-workers.
Hammond’s remains were found a few miles away in October 2009. As of now, details related to her death haven’t been released.
Where was Christina White last seen?
A couple of years later, White was reported missing after she was last seen by her family on the evening of June 30, 2005.
As per investigators, witnesses told them that they had spotted her walking alone on a road about three miles from her home.
Her skeletal remains were discovered by a hunter in March 2006 in the Daketown Forest in Greenfield, 10 miles from where she was last seen alive.
An autopsy found she had been fatally stabbed in the chest and abdomen.
Investigators have previously said there’s a strong possibility Hammond and White may have been killed by the same perpetrator due to the proximity of where they were abducted and where their remains were found.
“At this time, there is no direct evidence or information that links Ross to the White or Hammond cases,” Robinson said.
When was Craig N Ross Jr arrested?
Ross was arraigned overnight Monday, October 2, on a charge of first-degree kidnapping in relation to the Sena case. Police said that more charges are expected.
His alleged victim, Charlotte, was initially reported missing Saturday evening when she vanished while riding her bike around Loop A at Moreau Lake State Park in Saratoga County.
It is not yet known if Ross targeted Charlotte specifically or went after her at random when she was alone for just a few minutes.
“He literally drove up to the family’s mailbox, assuming they were not home [at] 4:20 in the morning, opens the mailbox and inserts the ransom note leaving the critical piece of evidence behind — his own fingerprint,” Governor Kathy Hochul said earlier this week.
Ross is being held without bail at the Saratoga County Correctional Facility.
