Charlotte Sena case: FBI child abduction unit making 'miracle' recoveries more common
MOREAU, N.Y. — A specialized FBI unit dedicated to finding abducted children went under the radar in this week's recovery of a kidnapped 9-year-old girl in Upstate New York.
The 70-agent team called CARD – Child Abduction Rapid Deployment – found 99 of 217 children who have been snatched by predators since it started deployments in 2006, Supervisory Special Agent Leslie Adamczyk told Fox News Digital.
She described the often unseen unit as "advisers" who work in the background of major abduction investigations, like this week's dramatic search for Charlotte Sena, who was found alive in a cabinet of the suspect's trailer.
"We serve as a force multiplier. That's the word that we like to use," Adamczyk said. "Our team is comprised of subject-matter experts who have worked many of these cases, so they're able to advise in situations where maybe you have an investigative agency who hasn't done one or hasn't had a successful one."
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Resources include profilers from the behavioral analysis unit that specializes in crimes involving children, investigative strategy recommendations, a centralized command post and access to the vast array of FBI resources.
And in almost every case, they have a full team on the ground within 12 hours, Adamczyk said.
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In Charlotte's case, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Sunday that the FBI was already in Upstate New York working with state troopers after the 9-year-old was reported missing Saturday evening.
Charlotte's case is part of an ongoing investigation, so the FBI and state police can't divulge details about the case or specifics of the CARD team's involvement.
But residents in Saratoga County in Upstate New York have told Fox News Digital it was a "miracle" that Charlotte was found alive.
One neighbor, who lives next to suspect Craig Ross Jr.'s home, described law enforcement's visible jubilation after they found her.
"(Charlotte) became like everyone’s child. Everyone in the area loves her and wanted her to come home," Ross' neighbor, "Erica," told Fox News Digital.
"And the police did, too. You can see and hear them exhale. They were high-fiving with smiles. It was an amazing outcome."
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Charlotte was the most recent example of a positive outcome, but it doesn't always end with the child coming home alive.
Adamczyk provided a breakdown of the outcomes of the CARD team's 203 deployments since 2006.
They searched for 217 victims and recovered 99 of them alive, she said.
There are 24 who are missing and 94 were found deceased (69 murdered, 21 accidental deaths, one suicide and three undetermined), according to Adamczyk.
These types of cases involving children take an emotional, mental and physical toll on each agent – and law enforcement officers in general – and it becomes even more traumatic if they don't find the victim alive.
"It's certainly something that we're really cognizant of," she said when talking about the agents' mental health, especially after tragic outcomes. "We try our best to make sure everyone is OK after each case."
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Adamczyk established an after-action plan to address this concern. After each deployment, she and the team leader personally check on each agent involved.
They talk about things that went well, things that could have gone better and things to think about when the next deployment happens, she said.
"I think that's the most helpful thing for us because you don't want to necessarily go and talk to your family about this. It's not the happiest stuff, and they might not understand," she said.
CARD is broken up into four regional teams, and each team "is very tight."
"We all take care of each other," Adamczyk said.
Stranger abductions are "very rare," Adamczyk said.
The most common types of abductions she's seen recently involve online exploitation and "catfish-type" scams in which someone pretends to be someone they're not and uses someone else's photo.
"A child meets someone online, and they begin communicating," she said. "And a lot of times, they're targeting someone who is vulnerable and form a relationship.
"Then they decide that they're going to run away together or the subject is going to come get the victim and pick her up and take care of her. So, that's definitely a trend that we've seen an uptick in over the last few years."
Adamczyk had a message she wanted to relay to local and state police departments.
If they can't deploy boots on the ground, they can provide phone consultations to help find abducted children, and they provide training courses all over the country on how to handle these types of cases.
"We only want to help. We're not interested in taking over the case," Adamczyk said. "We all have the same goal, and that's to bring the child home alive to their family."
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In this week's case, New York State Police were considered the lead agency in Charlotte's investigation and arrest.
State police worked around the clock – along with the FBI's CARD team – to track down Charlotte's alleged abductor, arrest him and bring the girl back to her family.
"After some resistance, the suspect was taken into custody, and immediately the little girl was found in a cabinet, covered. She was rescued," Hochul said during a press conference Monday night.
"And she knew she was being rescued. And she knew that she was in safe hands."
Ross Jr. was charged with first-degree kidnapping, although authorities said more charges could be filed.
He's being held in Saratoga County jail without bond.