Saratoga Springs patrol officer Kristen VanWert outside the office of the Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Public Safety. (Photo provided)
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Patrol officer Kristen VanWert unintentionally contributed to the recent rescue of a 9-year-old Greenfield girl.
The longtime Saratoga Springs cop fingerprinted alleged captor Craig Nelson Ross Jr. during an intoxicated driving arrest in 1999. State police matched that forensic record with an imprint found on a ransom note from early Monday morning.
This eventually led authorities to a camper where the girl was found alive, safe and healthy. The 46-year-old man was arrested at the scene.
“I was totally shocked, like, ‘oh, boy, I can’t believe a simple task from 24 years ago led to this,'” she said. “I was floored.”
VanWert learned about her connection to the fingerprint on Tuesday morning from Public Safety Deputy Commissioner Jason Tetu. The seasoned cop had long forgotten about Ross’ late 1990s arrest — a comparatively garden-variety offense in Saratoga County.
News interviews aren’t the norm for VanWert, who currently sits as the department’s longest-serving officer.
“It’s an interesting dichotomy: she’s been a police officer for many years and is very good at what she does, which obviously requires a certain assertiveness, but on a personal level, she’s not somebody who’s looking for the limelight,” said Public Safety Commissioner James Montagnino.
VanWert is the daughter of Linda Quattrini, who became the police department’s first female sergeant in 2004 and lieutenant 2007. Quattrini eventually retired in 2013 after 30 years on the force.
Officers are eligible to retire after 20 years of service. Since the dawn of COVID-19, turnover in agencies across the country has increased as a result of retirements, lower retention rates and a smaller applicant pool.
VanWert is in her 32nd year on the job.
“I love the community,” said VanWert. “I love working with the public and I immensely enjoy the job.”
Montagnino commended VanWert for her work, including her decades-old arrest of Ross.
“Having somebody close to home here in our department, who has played a critical role in saving what could have been a horrible tragedy, and turning it into a blessing reunion, it just doesn’t get any better than that,” Montagnino said.
The girl was first reported missing while on a camping trip with family and friends at Moreau Lake State Park. On Sunday morning, authorities issued an Amber Alert, a widely-dispersed signal to notify a possible abduction.
Based in part on the fingerprint, SWAT teams on Monday searched multiple homes associated with Ross before landing on a West Milton camper.
Flash grenades were unloaded on Barrett Road. Ross suffered minor injuries while allegedly resisting arrest. He was apprehended on the ground.
Milton Town Supervisor Scott Ostrander, who served full-time with the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Department from 1987 to 2018, is thankful for the outcome.
“Like I said, this is the best case scenario, obviously, that’s come out of this and it’s unusual that it usually ends up this way,” said Ostrander. “But thank God for the family that it worked out the way it did.”
The camper is located in the back the double-wide home of Ross’ mother. Property records show that the 46-year-old has owned a Corinth home closeby the girl’s family since 2019. The Circle Drive address was also listed in arraignment documents.
Prior to the case, Ostrander said that he was unfamiliar with the 46-year-old man. Most of what he’s heard about his presence in Milton since then is speculation.