A child who had been missing since 2019, when she was 4 years old, has been found alive.
Paislee Shultis went missing more than two years ago from her home in Cayuga Heights, New York. On Monday, she was found by police inside her paternal grandfather’s home. Paislee was hidden underneath a staircase in the New York home, about 45 miles south of Albany. The home is about 160 miles away from where the child was abducted.
According to the Saugerties Police Department, authorities investigated the home after receiving a tip about the child’s whereabouts.
The shocking discovery was made by Detective Erik Thiele. He looked at the stairs in the basement and noticed a blanket between the cracks. As a result, he started removing the stairs one at a time.
However, police said in a statement on Tuesday that they discovered a pair of little feet after using a … tool to dismantle several of the wooden steps. The infant and her kidnapper were found inside when a few more steps were removed. It was damp, chilly, and cramped.
After turning 4 the child vanished from her home when her noncustodial parents took her away. The police arrested Kimberly Cooper and her two husbands Kirk Shultis Jr. and Kirk Shultis Sr. for taking the child away illegally. During previous investigations officers searched this specific residence but the suspects denied all knowledge and involvement in the missing child case.
Authorities also claimed that on multiple occasions, they were only given restricted access to the house. Kirk Shultis Sr. and Kirk Shultis Jr. were charged with one count each of misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child and felony custodial interference in the first degree. Cooper was accused of misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree custodial interference.
A girl who has been missing since 2019 has been discovered alive, according to upstate New York police. According to investigators, Paislee Shultis was discovered beneath a home’s stairway on Monday during a police search.
Orders of protection were issued against all three defendants.
Astonishingly, Paislee, now 6, is in good health. She was examined by paramedics just after she was found. The child has now been returned to her legal guardian.