Paisley Schultis disappeared in July 2019, when she was four years old. Tompkins County New York State Police have declared her missing. The suspicion was that she had been abducted by her parents, who had lost custody of her.
Yesterday, New York State Police announced that Paisley, now six, was found healthy and intact at her grandfather’s home on Monday night. She will return to the family that raised her and her older sister.
Police in the town of Sugartes, New York, 210 miles from Tompkins County where the girl disappeared, arrived yesterday to search the home of 57-year-old Kirk Schultis, Paisley’s grandfather.
Officers arrived at the home with a search warrant, following information that Paisley was at the scene. Police have already conducted a search of the home of Kirk Shultis, who told police yesterday that he did not know where his missing granddaughter was.
About an hour after the search began, one of the officers examined the wooden staircase leading to Shultis’ basement. The manner in which the stairs were constructed aroused the suspicion of the policeman. He then noticed a blanket protruding through two steps. The policemen decided to dislodge a few steps, and noticed a pair of little girl’s legs.
A Sugartis police statement said Paisley was with her mother in a “small, cold and damp” room behind the staircase leading to the basement. Police arrested Paisley’s biological parents, Kimberly Cooper (33) and Kirk Shultis Jr. (32) as well as the grandfather. The three will stand trial.