By Michelle Watson, Artemis Moshtaghian and Lauren Mascarenhas | CNN
Charlotte Sena, the 9-year-old girl who went missing while on a camping trip at a New York state park two days ago, has been found safe and a suspect has been detained, authorities said Monday evening.
Police didn’t give specifics about where Charlotte was found, nor any additional details about the suspect.
“Charlotte Sena has been located and in good health,” New York State Police said in a news release Monday. “A suspect is in custody. This is still an active investigation.”
Charlotte, who was camping in Moreau Lake State Park with her family, went on a bike ride with close friends around dinner time and the girl never returned, officials said.
Police on Monday canceled an Amber Alert that had been issued Sunday morning.
When she disappeared, Charlotte was wearing an orange tie-dyed Pokémon shirt, dark blue pants, black Crocs and a gray bike helmet, according to a description provided by state police.
The number of people searching for Charlotte had grown to 400 people, state police said earlier. They were from 34 volunteer fire departments and private groups as well as federal, state and local law enforcement.
The search area had expanded over 46 linear miles, authorities said.
Charlotte was last seen around 6:15 p.m. Saturday, riding her bike in one of the park’s loops. She had done a few loops with friends and wanted to do one more by herself, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a Sunday news conference. Her mother reported her missing around 6:45 p.m., after Charlotte’s bike was found in the loop without her, Mazzone said.
“Once they found her bike during that search, they realized she’s not on it, she hasn’t gone too far, she didn’t get lost. Something’s really wrong,” CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller said earlier.
The very popular state park, roughly 45 miles north of Albany, is more than 6,200 acres and “lies amid hardwood forests, pine stands and rocky ridges,” according to the Department of Environmental Conservation.
“They’re using just about every resource you can think of – helicopters, thermal imaging, license plate readers, video – to the extent that it’s available in that park,” Miller said. “They have some of that technology in the area, but it’s not like had this happened in Albany or New York City.”
Moreau Lake State Park said in a Facebook post it is closed until further notice.