Hundreds searching after 9-year-old Charlotte Sena vanished in possible ‘abduction’ | US News
A nine-year-old girl disappeared while riding her bike at a campground in what police are calling a potential abduction.
Hundreds have joined the search for Charlotte Sena, who disappeared from a campsite at Moreau Lake State Park in upstate New York.
Sena, a fourth grade student from nearby Greenfield, New York, was visiting the park with her family and friends over the weekend. Authorities now believe she could be in ‘imminent danger.’
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Sena’s disappearance was ‘every parent’s nightmare.’
‘As a mother and as a grandmother, I cannot imagine the pain they’re going through,’ Hochul said.
Her parents described Sena as ‘a fourth grader just recently elected to be a class officer for student council,’ Hochul said. ‘Everybody thought of her as just a really nice girl, the kind that people wanted to be friends with, the kind that looked out for other children, the pride of every parent.’
According to the governor, Sena went for a bike ride with some close friends on Saturday evening before nightfall. After they returned, the intrepid fourth grader decided she would take one more loop around the campsite by herself.
‘Literally 15 minutes later, she hadn’t come back yet,’ Hochul said. ‘And that’s really when the nightmare begins.’
Sena’s family began searching for her and calling her name. Her parents discovered her bike abandoned on the side of the bike path around 6.45pm.
New York State Police arrived at the campground around 7.00pm, and have been searching for Sena ever since.
State Police have since conducted an ‘exhaustive’ search of Moreau State Park using drones, aircraft, and ground teams using a bloodhound and other search dogs.
‘When we couldn’t find her here, it was quite possible that an abduction had taken place,’ State Police Lieutenant Colonel Richard Mazzone said.
An Amber Alert was issued on Saturday night, which remains active for a large portion of upstate New York.
‘The child was taken under circumstances that lead police to believe that they are in imminent danger of serious harm and/or death,’ the alert stated.
It also noted that Sena was last seen wearing an orange tie-dye Pokemon shirt, dark blue pants, black Crocs, and a gray bike helmet.
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.
Get your need-to-know
latest news, feel-good stories, analysis and more
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
