SAUGERTIES, N.Y. — Paislee Shultis, the 6-year-old girl who was reported missing in 2019, was hidden in a dark and cramped compartment beneath a staircase for hours Monday before police ripped it apart and discovered her.
“It’s quite possible they were under the staircase for four, four-and-a-half hours, almost five hours, before they were discovered,” Saugerties Police Chief Joseph A. Sinagra said Wednesday, referring to the girl and her biological mother, who were found together. “She stayed so still and so quiet with cops walking around under that staircase, literally, on top of them, above them.”
Police executed a search warrant Monday night at the home of Kirk Shultis Sr., 57, the girl’s paternal grandfather, after they received a tip.
Shultis was there with his son, Kirk Shultis Jr., 32, who denied knowing Paislee’s whereabouts, even though, as they were executing the warrant, investigators found a bedroom with Paislee’s name written on the wall and a bed that looked as though it had been recently slept in, Sinagra said.
He said police had been to the same home about a dozen times since the girl was reported missing in July 2019 from Spencer, about three hours away from Saugerties.
For more than two years, authorities in the small upstate New York town had gotten tips that a missing child was with her biological parents there — even though they lost custody in 2019.
Sinagra lamented how often police were misled.
“I understand as a parent that nobody wants to lose custody of their children,” he said. But, he added, police were “lied to every time we went to their front door — ‘No, she’s not here.’”
Police nearly ended Monday’s search after they concluded that Paislee was probably not inside, Sinagra told NBC affiliate WNYT of Albany.
But after he noticed something odd about a staircase to the basement, Detective Erik Thiele shined a flashlight through the floorboards and saw what appeared to be a blanket, Sinagra said.
“They started ripping the stairs apart and observed two small feet,” he said.
Thiele, Sinagra added, was the “hero of the hour.”
Also under the staircase was Kimberly Cooper, 33, Paislee’s biological mother, who had a warrant for her arrest in Ulster County, Sinagra said.
Although Paislee was initially frightened, Sinagra said, she took a turn for the better when a detective bought her a happy meal. The young girl remained joyful when she was reunited with her legal custodian and teen sister, Sinagra said.
There were no indications that she had been physically or sexually abused, but investigators learned she can’t read or write, Sinagra said.
Sinagra said Paislee’s biological parents need social service support moving forward.
“That’s the only way there is going to be a healing process and only way those children will ever have a chance at getting back with their parents,” Sinagra said.
Paislee’s father and grandfather, Kirk Shultis Jr., 32, and Shultis Sr., were charged with one count each of felony custodial interference in the first degree and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child, police said. They were released on their own recognizance, police said.
Cooper was charged with second-degree custodial interference and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child. She was remanded into custody for the arrest warrant from Ulster County, police said.
A man declined to comment at Shultis Sr.’s home Wednesday. On the home’s front lawn were two jungle gyms.
A neighbor, Nick Hudson, 44, said Wednesday he didn’t know the family that lived nearby. He said the allegations against them, while shocking, are not the first time parents are alleged to have gone to extremes in custodial cases.
“Custody is an incredibly complex matter. Obviously, what they did was wrong,” Hudson said. “I imagine the custodial parents would have been incredibly traumatized losing their daughter.”
The Shultises appeared in court Wednesday afternoon. They declined to answer questions from reporters as they walked in. Their next appearance is scheduled for April 27.
Shultis Sr.’s attorney left court Wednesday without commenting. His son’s attorney declined to comment on behalf of his client.
Cooper arrived at court later Wednesday. She stepped in and out of the courtroom wearing multiple layers of hooded clothing over her head. She declined to answer questions from reporters before she was escorted to an SUV by a court officer.
Prosecutor Lauren Swan said before the hearing concluded, “The mother is being investigated with the potential for additional charges.”
Cooper’s attorney, Carol K. Morgan, briefly spoke on behalf of her client after the hearing, urging the public to stop looking for sensational stories.
“They need to really know all the facts,” she said.
Cooper’s next court date was scheduled for March 2.
Other people who live at Shultis Sr.’s home are likely to be arrested soon in connection with obstruction of justice, Sinagra said Wednesday.