Six-year-old girl in US found two years after going missing
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NEW YORK • A six-year-old girl has been found alive and in good health in a makeshift room underneath a staircase in a house in New York state, two years after she went missing, according to police who said they suspected she was abducted by her biological non-custodial parents.
Officers found the girl, Paislee Shultis, in a house in the town of Saugerties, two years after she went missing from Spencer, New York, about 290km to the west, the Saugerties Police Department said in a statement on Tuesday.
At the time, police believed the girl's biological parents, Kimberly Cooper, 33, and Kirk Shultis Jr, 32, had abducted her.
The couple did not have custody of the girl, police said.
On Monday, police said they received a tip about the girl's whereabouts and obtained a search warrant.
They said they went to the house of the girl's grandfather where they searched for about an hour before locating the child hidden in a makeshift room, under a closed staircase leading to the basement.
Upon removing the boards, the girl and her mother Kimberly were found hiding in the dark and wet enclosure, police said.
Paislee was taken to the police headquarters where paramedics examined her, police told the Daily Freeman, the community's local newspaper. She was in good health and released to her legal guardian.
Police arrested her parents and the girl's grandfather Kirk Shultis, 57. They face charges of custodial interference and endangering the welfare of a child.
Police said they had interviewed Kirk Shultis Jr several times since the girl went missing. He maintained that he had no knowledge of her location and told officers that he had not seen the child.
Officers said they were baffled as to how the girl's abductors had managed to hide her for so long.
"We'd been at the home... almost a dozen times over a two-year period to follow up on leads," police chief Joseph Sinagra told CNN. "They lied to us for two years, including the father who stated that he had no idea where his daughter was."
The girl is in good health and there is no evidence of abuse, according to local outlet CBS2, adding that she had asked police to buy her a McDonald's Happy Meal after being rescued.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
