Paislee Joann Shultis, the minor who was reported missing two years ago, was found hiding with her mother under the stairs of a house in New York.
Over the years of investigating and searching for the girl, detectives have visited the house several times, but it wasn’t until a major tip this week that authorities were able to obtain a search warrant and enter the basement of the house, where they discovered the missing girl.
Paislee, now 6, was released to her legal guardian and reunited with her older sister, police said Tuesday. He is healthy but has missed out on important experiences such as attending school, police said.
His mother, father and a third man were charged. The lawyer for one of the three defendants asked for patience until “the facts come out.”
Police visited a key house nearly a dozen times
The minor was reported missing on July 13, 2019 in Cayuga Heights, a town near Ithaca, New York.
At the time, she was believed to have been kidnapped by her parents, Kimberly Cooper and Kirk Shultis Jr., who did not have her legal custody, the Saugerties Police Department said in a press release this week. Police Chief Joseph Sinagra confirmed to CNN that the two are Paislee’s biological parents.
In the early days of the investigation, the girl’s father denied knowing her whereabouts and told police that Cooper had taken his daughter and fled to Philadelphia, the statement added.
Several of the information authorities received over the past two years led them to a house in Saugerties, a town about 257 kilometers east of Cayuga Heights. However, without a search warrant, officers were often denied entry and only allowed “limited access” on a few occasions, the chief said.
“We’ve been to the house…almost a dozen times over a two-year period to follow the clues,” Sinagra said. Kirk Shultis Sr. and his son were given limited access to officers, police said, and were not allowed in the bedrooms or basement.
And each time they denied knowing anything about the girl, said the chief. He added: “They lied to us for two years, including the father, saying he had no idea where his daughter was.”
Key clue led to the girl’s rescue
This week, an individual gave authorities the information they were looking for to obtain a warrant to search that house, the chief told CNN.
“This lead was recent, it was factual, the information provided was corroborated,” he said. Although authorities had received other information about the house previously, Sinagra said, they were unable to execute search warrants “based on rumors.” Police did not say what the information was or who it came from.
But as soon as the police received this information, they acted.
“We immediately dispatched uniformed officers to the residence and they positioned themselves outside around 4 pm on February 14, 2022,” he said.
“The goal was to make sure no one got in or out while our detectives were writing the search warrant,” the chief added. “Once the search warrant was issued, at approximately 8:06 pm, we executed that search warrant.”
What the detectives found in the house
For the first time, detectives were able to search every room in the house and go to the basement, where the police chief said he found what appeared to be an apartment.
“There was a kitchen, there were bedrooms, a living room. One of the rooms was dedicated to Paislee. There was her name on the wall, there were clothes all over the room, it looked like someone had slept late in bed.” said Sinagra.
Residents told police the girl was not in the house and said they had arranged the room that way in case she returned.
The girl’s room was also close to a staircase, under which the police would eventually discover the girl and her mother hiding. A detective made the discovery after noticing something strange on the stairs and, after looking closer, saw a blanket in the cracks, the chief said.
“So they grab some tools and start dismantling the ladder. And when they go down the stairs, they see a pair of feet, little feet,” said the chief of police.
In that hideout, police also found blankets, a pillow and clothes, the chief said, adding that it was clear that the place had been used more than once.
“It is our opinion, based on our investigation, that this location was likely used every time we sent an agent to the residence to follow up on a lead,” he said.
Parents Lost Custody Before She Disappears, Boss Says
Cooper was charged with two misdemeanors: interfering with custody and endangering the well-being of a child. Carol K. Morgan, Cooper’s attorney, said: “We should all wait until the facts are out. Everyone needs to be patient before drawing their own conclusions.”
Kirk Shultis and Kirk Shultis Sr. were charged with interfering with first-degree custody, a felony, and endangering the well-being of a child, a misdemeanor. Lawyers for the two declined to comment.
Hearings for the three were held on Wednesday (16) and their cases were adjourned to a later date. Sinagra told CNN that Cooper and Shultis lost custody of Paislee and her sister in 2019, prior to their disappearance. A legal guardian was given custody, the chief said.
“Depending on what was the reason why Paislee and her sister were removed from their mother and father’s custody, that may have been corrected,” he said. “Whatever the disability is, it can be corrected and these parents can have full custody of their children today, but this will be a huge setback for them.”
What do we know about the girl’s condition?
As police searched the house, Paislee made no sound, Sinagra said.
“Not a word until they were fully exposed,” she said, adding that when she was finally discovered by the police, the girl was upset.
“I’m sure when she saw several of our officers, who were heavily armed… it was traumatizing for the girl.”
But he was healthy and the next day, Tuesday, appeared to be in a good mood, he said.
“We don’t know what Paislee has lived with for the past two years and we don’t know what kind of damage she may have suffered because of the conditions she had to live in,” the boss said. “She was separated from her sister, she didn’t have the functions of a normal girl, in terms of being able to go to school.”
Police have not shared any details about the guardian to whom Paislee was turned over, or the nature of their relationship.
Source: CNN Brasil
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