Missing nine-year-old Charlotte Sena was snatched on Saturday night in a narrow, 15-minute window after venturing off alone for a bike ride while on a two-night camping trip with her family.
Charlotte was cycling alone on Loop A of Moreau Lake State Park in New York near Saratoga Springs when she vanished on Saturday night at 6.15pm.
She had been playing with friends throughout the day but decided to cycle alone at 6.15pm before the sun went down.
It should have only taken a few minutes for to complete the small loop.
At 6.30pm, her parents realized she hadn’t returned and grew worried. By 6.45pm, they’d phoned police and found Charlotte’s bike discarded in the park.
There is now a frantic search underway for the child, for whom an Amber Alert was issued on Sunday morning after rangers searched the park and found no sign of her.
Charlotte Sena was last seen cycling around Loop A in the Moreau Lake State Park in upstate New York near Saratoga Springs. She went for the cycle alone at 6.15pm, and was never seen again. Police were unable to find her anywhere in the park, so believe she was abducted
Nine-year-old Charlotte Sena has been missing since Saturday night, when police say she was snatched from the campsite where she was staying with her family
It was a busy, warm evening at the campsite but no one has yet reported seeing her being taken.
Now, New York State Police are frantically looking for the ‘trusting’ child and her family are begging for any witnesses to come forward.
‘In the park alone, someone had to have seen something. It was crowded, dinner time, a busy campsite, a 75 degree weekend day.
‘I find it very hard to believe that someone didn’t notice something,’ Charlotte’s aunt, Jené Sena said during an interview on the YouTube true crime podcast DutyRon.
New York State Police are confident Charlotte was abducted, but it’s unclear if there is any surveillance footage from the campsite that indicates how she was taken.
They have not disclosed how many people were in the park, or how far Charlotte’s bike was found from the campsite.
Charlotte (far right) as a younger child with her mother Trisha, father David and sisters. The devastated family is desperate for her to come home
Charlotte is shown in a more recent video uploaded to social media by her aunt
Charlotte is 90lbs and 5ft 1in tall. Her family say she is ‘trusting’ and a ‘good kid’
Charlotte has asked her parents if she could ride her bike alone on Saturday at 6.15pm
No description of a suspect or vehicle has yet been given.
In a TikTok video last night, Jene, Charlotte’s aunt, said: ‘In a TikTok, she said: ‘There isn’t information that we can tell at this time but if you can keep sharing her photo and praying really, that is the best that our family can ask of anyone tat this time.
‘The police are doing their job. If you know anything at all, police contact the New York State Police. Any information would help.’
Charlotte’s mother Trisha told The Albany Times Union this weekend that she is a ‘trusting’ child.
‘I just want my daughter back,’ she said.
She and husband David have three daughters. The family lives nearby in a $200,000, three-bedroom home in Porters Corner, New York.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul was at the state park yesterday to help with the search
Park rangers were joined by New York State Troopers in the search for missing Charlotte
Volunteers searched the park yesterday after the Amber Alert was issued. Police say she is not there and had to have been removed by a captor
Trisha works for Stewart’s Shops, a grocery store chain.
The family was meant to stay at the state park for a second night on Saturday when Charlotte vanished. Now, the park is closed.
‘This family is hurting. You can’t imagine what the last 36 hours have been like for them. It’s devastating,’ Patrick Kane, a friend of the family, told The Times Union on Monday morning.
Kane runs a remodeling business and said he had worked with Charlotte’s father David in the past.
The Corinth Central School District, where Charlotte is in the fourth grade, issued a statement on Sunday after her disappearance.
‘The Sena family has the full support of the entire Corinth district and community. The district has mobilized its crisis team which has training and protocol to follow for such situations.
‘Our staff will be ready to respond to student concerns and questions. We will also have extra counselors on site for any students or staff who should need their support.
‘The district maintains its focus on the safety and the well-being of our students and staff. Our hearts go out to the Sena family.’
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