young girl who went missing more than two years ago in 2019 was finally found hiding in a secret room under the stairs in a New York home.
This young 6-year-old girl named Paislee Shultis was just 4-years-old when she went missing from her Cayuga Heights home. After her disappearance, the police initially suspected her non-custodial parents – Kimberly Cooper and Kirk Shultis Jr – as her abductors, but did not bring charges.
She was located in a home in the town of Saugerties, in the Hudson River Valley, after a police search on Monday, authorities said.
According to the authorities, Shultis was found by New York Police after they acted on a tip that she was being hidden in Saugerties, a town in the Hudson Valley. They obtained a warrant to search a home on Fawn Road after receiving information that the youngster was being held at a residence on the street.
According to a report by NBC New York, the owner of the house had no knowledge of whereabouts when police knocked on the door, saying she hadn’t seen her since the child was reported missing.
After the police searched the house for the little girl, they found Shultis and her non-custodial mother, Kimberley Cooper, in a ‘makeshift room’ concealed beneath a closed staircase, which led to the house’s basement.
They both were apparently found inside the darkroom once the stairs were removed.
Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra said in a statement: “A little over an hour into the search of the residence, the child was located secreted in a makeshift room, under a closed staircase leading to the basement of the residence.”
After being found the little girl was taken to the hospital to get her checked up. She was found in good health. This is when she was released and reunited with her older sister.
However, Kimberly Cooper was arrested on charges including custodial interference and endangering the welfare of a child. Her non-custodial father, Kirk Shultis Jr, was charged with felony custodial interference and misdemeanour child endangerment.
