A 6-year-old girl who has been missing since 2019 has been found alive under a basement staircase in her grandfather’s home in upstate New York, according to authorities.
Paislee Shultis, who was four years old at the time of her disappearance, was discovered by investigators Monday evening in a “small, cold and wet” space with her alleged abductor – her mother, Kimberly Cooper, 33, The Daily Freeman reports.
Cooper and Paislee’s father, Kirk Shultis Jr., 32, were believed to have abducted their daughter in central New York state at the time of her disappearance, according to the Saugerties Police Department.
The Daily Freeman reported that police obtained a warrant after receiving information that the girl was being hidden in a home in Saugerties.
Saugerties police detectives, officers, state police detectives and troopers descended on the home around 8 p.m. on Monday, ABC7NY reported.
The owner, Kirk Shultis, 57 – Paislee’s grandfather – allegedly told police that he had not seen Paislee since 2019 and had no idea she was being kept under the staircase.
Saugerties Det. Erik Thiele discovered the girl after he “noticed something about the staircase leading from the back of the residence into the basement of the house that caught his attention,” Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra told CBS New York.
After officers removed several of the wooden panels on the staircase, they reportedly saw “little feet.” Police said in a release obtained by The Daily Freeman that the compartment was “a makeshift room, under a closed staircase leading to the basement of the residence.”
According to reports, the parents were scheduled to lose custody of Paislee and her older sister at the time they allegedly abducted Paislee. The sister was at school on the day of the alleged abduction and was placed in the care of a legal guardian.
The Shultises were arraigned in Saugerties Town Court and released with appearance tickets for a later date, according to reports. All three defendants were ordered by the court to stay away from the children.
