Kidnapped Southern Tier Girl Found Hidden Under Hudson Valley Staircase
Several media outlets are reporting the discovery of a Tioga County, New York child who had been missing for about two-and-a-half years hidden under a staircase over 100 miles from her home.
One of those reports from Associated Press says police found Paislee Shultis as they were searching a home in Saugerties in the Hudson Valley.
Police in Saugerties say the child was found healthy Monday night, February 14.
Some reports said the child had been taken from near Cayuga Heights in Tompkins County. But later accounts indicated the, then four-year-old, as from the Town of Spencer in Tioga County.
She was reported missing in July 2019 and authorities had suspected her non-custodial but biological parents, Kimberly Cooper and Kirk Shultis may have taken her.
Earlier searches of the home turned up nothing but during the Monday search, a detective noticed something looked odd around the staircase and noticed what appeared to be a blanket. A closer look revealed a cold, wet makeshift room under a basement staircase in Cooper’s home.
The girl was turned over to her legal guardian and reunited with her older sister.
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