Kidnap suspect needs new lawyer
BALLSTON SPA — Craig Ross Jr., the alleged kidnapper of a 9-year-old girl who was taken from a state park on Sept. 30, needs a new attorney after his lawyer took a new post with Saratoga County’s government.
The selection of a new attorney will delay Ross’ case.
George Conway, Saratoga County’s conflict defender, was named as the county’s attorney Tuesday evening by the Board of Supervisors. He replaces Michelle Granger, who a spokeswoman for the county said, is “exploring another opportunity within the county.”
Conway’s departure from the conflict defender’s office means that Ross must be appointed a new attorney. The situation prompted the adjournment of his Thursday morning appearance in front of Saratoga County Judge James A. Murphy III.
Ross faces several charges, including kidnapping and multiple counts of predatory sexual assault against a child, connected to the alleged kidnapping of the girl from Moreau Lake State Park. The girl’s disappearance triggered a massive search that ended when she was found two days later at Ross’ Milton trailer home.
Ross Jr., allegedly left a ransom note at the girl’s parents’ house — and fingerprints on that note helped lead to his arrest, officials said. Ross had dropped the ransom note
in the mailbox at the family’s residence around 4:20 a.m. on Oct. 2.
A state trooper guarding the house saw the vehicle pull away and did not suspect it was someone connected to the kidnapping. By the time he went to the mailbox and realized what was inside, Ross had slipped away.
The 46-year-old, who pleaded not guilty in November, could serve 25 years to life if convicted.
Conway will be paid between $151,042 to lead the county’s legal department. Prior to being a conflict defender, he was an assistant county attorney in 2011 and the county’s labor attorney in 2018.
Since 2020, turmoil between the representatives of the large and small towns on the Board of Supervisors has prevented the county from keeping a stable list of top government attorneys. Stephen
Dorsey, who served the county for a decade, left during the political upheaval. He was replaced by Michael Hartnett, who was elected as a family court judge in 2022. Granger replaced Hartnett as county attorney in 2023. Granger will move to be the county’s public health attorney, a county spokeswoman said.
The resolution passed on Tuesday noted the appointment was effective immediately. However, a spokeswoman said that Conway will begin his new role on Jan. 1, 2024.
It is unclear who in the county’s conflict defender’s office, which includes three assistant attorneys, would be appointed to take on the Ross defense. Conway was not immediately available for comment. Conway’s exit from Ross’ case was previously reported by Wnytchannel 13.
Ross has remained in Saratoga County jail without bail since his arrest two days after the Sept. 30 kidnapping, when police found him and the girl in a camping trailer in the backyard of his mother’s residence in Milton.
State Police and other law enforcement agencies have conducted a painstaking investigation to build their case against Ross, including using search warrants to gather mobile phone data on his movements around the time of the kidnapping.
Police also have been exploring whether Ross may have any connection to the abduction and murder of two teenagers who vanished in 2003 and 2005 after last being seen near Saratoga County mobile home parks in the town of Milton, where Ross and members of his family have lived for decades.
The remains of 18-yearold Jennifer “Moonbeam” Hammond and 19-yearold Christina N. White were later found a few miles apart in a rugged region of the isolated Lake Desolation State Forest, roughly 10 miles north of where both teens were last seen on summer days in Milton.
Matthew Robinson, a lead investigator in those cases for the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office, said in October they had “no information to indicate that he was or was not involved” in the murders, but that Ross would face scrutiny in those cases, as well as other unsolved murders.