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NEW details have emerged about the man who has been charged with kidnapping Charlotte Sena, 9, from a campground in upstate New York on Saturday.
Sources say Craig N. Ross Jr., 46, was reclusive and broke before he snatched the elementary school girl and left a ransom note in her parent’s mailbox begging for money.
Officials say Ross dropped the ransom note off in a pickup truck around 4.20am and then took off.
“The ransom note allegedly asked for $50,000 and Ross may have made the girl write it,” according to the Times Union.
A fingerprint from a 1999 DWI arrest matched a fingerprint left on the ransom note, which helped police find him.
A neighbor of Ross’ mother told Fox News that Ross’s mom was a mean drunk who never let her son in her home.
The man recalled a childhood memory of Ross – who was 10-years-old at the time – cutting his finger.
“I told him we should go to your mom for a Band-Aid,” the neighbor said. “She wouldn’t let him in, and he took this big boulder and smashed it against the door and kept smashing it.”
She eventually gave her son a bandaid, and then sent him on his way, the man recalled.
“Earlier this year, he said Ross put a tarp over the camper window facing his – which at first he thought was to cover a leak but now appears more suspicious,” per the same outlet.
He says he watched Ross become reclusive as he got older.
Several neighbors told The Daily Mail he was suffering from multiple sclerosis and had recently moved onto his mother’s property due to his declining health.
He had also fallen behind on payments, the source said.
Sena went missing during a family camping trip at Moreau Lake State Park in upstate New York on Saturday.
She vanished after taking a bike ride, which sparked a massive search with hundreds of volunteers, and multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
Ross, who lived in Ballston Spa, New York – which is located about 175 miles north of Manhattan – was arrested on a first-degree felony kidnapping charge on Monday.
He is being held in jail without bond.
Police found him clothed in a pair of underwear with Sena – who was stuffed inside a cabinet in a camper next to his mother’s trailer – on Monday.
Sena was alive and appeared to be physically unharmed when officials found her, according to New York governor, Kathy Hochul.
Ross’s criminal history includes a DWI offense in 1991 and a misdemeanor charge of criminal obstruction of breathing in 2017, according to police.
Ross is not a registered sex offender.
A public information officer with the New York State Police, has shared the details of the 2017 offense with The U.S. Sun.
“On April 21, 2017, at approximately 5:31 p.m., State Police of Queensbury responded to a residence in Corinth, NY, for the report of a physical domestic dispute,” the NYSP said.
“The investigation determined that Craig N. Ross Jr., 40, of Corinth, NY, reportedly applied pressure on the throat of the victim during the altercation.
“Ross Jr. was arrested at the scene and transported to SP Wilton for processing.
He was arraigned at the Moreau Town Court and released.
