Bloodhounds were used in the search for a missing 9-year-old girl. Photo / AP
Bloodhounds were used in the search for a missing 9-year-old girl. Photo / AP
Drones, bloodhounds and an airboat were used in the search for a missing 9-year-old girl who had been camping with her family in upstate New York, officials said on Sunday.
Charlotte Sena was last seen cycling on Saturday evening in Moreau Lake State Park, about 60 kilometres north of Albany,and police said it was possible she was abducted.
She had been riding her bike around a loop in the bucolic park with other children when she decided to ride around one more time by herself. Her parents became alarmed when the fourth-grader failed to come back after 15 minutes, Kathy Hochul said at a briefing on Sunday.
The girl’s mother called 911 after her bicycle was found about 6.45pm on Saturday.
Officials issued an Amber Alert on Sunday morning after an exhaustive search because “it was quite possible that an abduction had taken place”, state police Lieutenant Colonel Richard Mazzone said. The alert describes her as a white girl with blonde hair and green eyes, about four feet and six inches tall (1.37 metres).
The more than 100 searchers on Sunday included police, forest rangers and civilians.
“We are leaving no stone, no branch, no table, no cabin unturned, untouched, unexamined in our search to find Charlotte,” said Hochul, who described her as a “joyful” girl who was recently elected a class officer for student council.
The girl, a resident of nearby Greenfield, was last seen wearing an orange tie-dye Pokemon shirt, dark blue pants, black Crocs and a grey bike helmet.
