Two days after cops burst into a camper to find 9-year-old Charlotte Sena stuffed in a cupboard and allegedly found her abductor wearing only his underwear, new details have emerged about the sketchy past of Craig Nelson Ross Jr.
Ross, 46, was arrested in 2017 on accusations he choked someone in a domestic incident, NBC reported Wednesday, citing police records. Cops wrote that he “applied pressure on the throat of the victim” during an altercation that ended in his arrest.
No other details on the incident were revealed Wednesday. Prosecutors charged Ross with “criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation,” a misdemeanor offense in New York, where the incident occurred.
Records show that Ross was “released on his own recognizance” after being arraigned at the Moreau Town Justice Court—less than four miles from Moreau Lake State Park, the location where Ross is accused of kidnapping Sena on Saturday as she rode her bike on a camping trip.
Ross now faces a felony charge of first-degree kidnapping that, unlike his last arrest, has forced him to remain in custody without bail. Authorities said Wednesday that Ross hasn’t been cooperative with investigators—refusing to divulge a motive for the alleged crime.
Ross has pleaded not guilty and invoked his Fifth Amendment right to silence, cops said. He was appointed a public defender, who did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday night. A spokesperson for New York State Police told The Daily Beast that more charges against Ross are expected to be filed in the coming days.
Ross’ criminal past is ultimately what led to his arrest on Monday night, according to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. She revealed in a news conference that cops were able to hunt him down largely because of a fingerprint he left on a ransom note that matched a print logged in a state database stemming from his 1999 arrest for driving under the influence.
Few details are available about the 1999 incident, but, without it, it’s unclear how long it may have taken authorities to find Sena—who was miraculously found to be in “good health” physically despite being abducted for nearly 48 hours.
New York State Police Lt. Col. Richard Allen told NewsNation on Tuesday night that the fingerprint was the “first real, solid piece of evidence we had in this case.”
The fingerprint also appears to have saved New York State Police from an embarrassing mishap. Hochul said Ross hand-delivered a ransom note to Sena’s family home—that was being surveilled by state law enforcement—in the early morning on Monday. The alleged kidnapper was able to drive his truck to the home’s mailbox and drop off the note—which reportedly demanded $50,000 and may have been penned by Sena—inside before he casually drove away.
Hochul said state troopers spotted Ross’ truck at the home but failed to follow it and make a probable cause arrest. That apparent blunder was avenged hours later, however, when a forensics team matched a fingerprint on it to Ross.
Ross’ name was tied to several properties in upstate New York, Hochul said, all of which were searched by cops. He was eventually found in a camper that sits on the same property as his mother’s double-wide trailer in the tiny village of Ballston Spa, about 17 miles from Moreau Lake State Park.
Ross’ mother was interviewed by police to see if she may have known about the abduction. He said authorities’ consensus as of Tuesday was that it was too early to tell if she knew anything.
“We are working with her and interviewing her and as far as charges on her, it’s—it’s too early to say what may or may not happen there,” Allen said. “We’re still trying to determine what she did know and didn’t know at the time.”
While cops hone in on Ross’ mom, who hasn’t spoken publicly since her son’s arrest, other members of Ross’ family have publicly condemned him. His son, Joshua, yelled at a TMZ cameraman that his dad is “disgusting,” “gross,” and that he “should die.”
“We want nothing to do with him,” he said. “I couldn’t give a fuck if the dude dropped dead tomorrow.”
While a motive remains unknown, Allen speculated Tuesday that Ross didn’t target Sena specifically—possibly swiping her from the state park on a whim in what he called a possible “crime of opportunity.”
“I think this is a guy that had a rough life and a lot of issues in his life,” Allen said. “We may never fully know [his motive to kidnap] unless he tells us.”
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEnZiipKmXsqK%2F02eaqKVfmLWivsuoq62dXaiyr63SZpilpJWcsqV5wJubrpukpL9ur9GaoKBloqTAtHnJq2SwmaNivK%2BvxGaYnJulqLKlec6fZJygn6C2r7OMqZyrq5%2Bj