Police: Girl missing since 2019 found with abductor in home’s secret room
Police say they received information that the child was being held at 35 Fawn Road in Saugerties and obtained a warrant to check out the home on Feb. 14.
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Feb 15, 2022, 6:56 PM
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Updated 990 days ago
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yesterdayPolice located a young girl in Saugerties, NY who had been missing since 2019, authorities say.
Paislee Shultis should have been celebrating her birthday Monday, but instead she was found by police - allegedly being held captive by her abductors in a small, wet space beneath floorboards at a home in Ulster County.
She went missing from upstate New York two years ago when she was 4 years old.
Saugerties police say she was found alive and unhurt at 35 Fawn
Road Monday with her non-custodial parents and paternal grandfather.
News 12 saw two men at the home on Tuesday moving a truck and
equipment toward the front of the driveway.
Detectives found Paislee on a search warrant after getting several
tips that the girl was there.
Police say at first glance there was no sign of her until they
noticed something wrong with some floorboards in a makeshift basement stairwell
and saw the girl's blanket and feet.
Neighbors say at least one older child lives there but that no
kids were ever seen outside.
Police say the girl's mother, Kimberly Cooper, was found hiding
with Paislee.
Cooper and the girl's father, Kirk Shultis Jr., as well as
paternal grandfather Kirk Shultis Sr., are charged with custodial interference
and endangering the welfare of a child.
Sources tell News 12 Kirk Shultis Jr. was arrested in North Carolina for possession of methamphetamines in 2019, months before Paislee went missing.
From the Saugerties PD:
At the time of search warrant execution, the owner of the
residence denied having any knowledge of the child’s whereabouts telling
officers that he had not seen the child since she was reported missing in
2019. 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. Upon removing the step boards, the child and her
abductor, Kimberly Cooper were found hiding in the dark and wet enclosure.
The child was transported to police headquarters where she
was examined by paramedics and released in good health. She has since been
turned over to a legal guardian and reunited with her older sister.
Kimberly Cooper, 33, was charged with custodial interference and
endangering the welfare of a child. She also had an active warrant issued
through the Ulster County Family Court and was remanded to Ulster County Jail.
Kirk Shultis Jr., 32, and Kirk Shultis Sr., 57, were charged with
the felony of custodial interference in the first degree and misdemeanor
endangering the welfare of a child. They were arraigned and released on their
own recognizance.
Stay-away orders were issued for each defendant.
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