Ex-FBI agent impressed by ‘quickness’ in Charlotte Sena search
- Missing 9-year-old Charlotte Sena was found safe after going missing
- Police searched home of suspect who was in area at time of disappearance
- Ex-FBI agent credits 'two-pronged' investigation for finding Sena
maylen
(NewsNation) — Charlotte Sena, a 9-year-old girl, has been found safe after disappearing from a state park in upstate New York.
Former FBI agent and NewsNation contributor Jennifer Coffindaffer is impressed by the “quickness” of the investigation that led to the recovery of Sena.
“I liked the fact that they kept this a two-pronged investigation,” Coffindaffer said Monday on “CUOMO.”
“They fully had converged on that area and stayed searching for her while what I call the intelligence-based investigation was going on, which is really key, where they’re taking the geofencing data, they are taking the information from the interviews, they’re taking the surveillance camera information, and they’re putting it all together to make a puzzle to lead them to where she could possibly be,” she added.
An Amber Alert was issued Sunday morning in the search for Sena, who had been camping with her family in upstate New York, officials said. Sena was last seen Saturday evening in Moreau Lake State Park, about 35 miles north of Albany. She had been riding her bike around a loop in the park with other children when she decided to ride around alone one more time and never returned.
New York State Police said in a news release Monday night they identified a possible suspect in the area when Sena went missing. They then searched “multiple residences” where the suspect was known to reside and located Sena “safe and in good health.”
Police have not identified the suspect but planned a news conference for Thursday. The Albany-Times Union reported the suspect allegedly has a sexual abuse criminal history, citing law enforcement sources.
“One of the first things that would have been done was to get that sex offender registry and to look at every sex offender that was in a close-by proximity to this park,” Coffindaffer said. “They’re going to look at the background, they’re going to figure out where they were, and they’re going to hone in on each of those individuals in that area and dial down on those people.”
NewsNation digital producers Tom Palmer and Liz Jassin contributed to this report.
