4-Year-Old Toddler Missing For Two Years Found Alive In Secret Basement Room

A young toddler from New York who has been missing for two years was found alive on Monday, Feb. 14, in the basement of her non-custodial parents’ home, with her parents ending up being arrested for the kidnapping act.

Paislee Shultis, who went missing when she was four, was found in the basement of her grandparent Kirk Shultis, Sr.’s home in Tompkins County, with her non-custodial mother Kimberly Cooper wrapped around the child as they both hid from authorities who were searching the home, the New York Post reported.

Kirk Shultis, Jr., who repeatedly told officers that the child was not there, was arrested alongside Shultis’s father and Cooper. Paislee Shultis, meanwhile, was transferred to police custody before being reunited with her older sister, according to NBC New York.

Kirk Shultis, Jr. and Kimberly Cooper had lost custody of their two daughters in 2019, though the reason behind the loss of custody has yet to be made public. Before the police were able to pick up the kids, the two reportedly kidnapped Paislee and hid her in her grandparents’ home.

The older sister, who has since been transferred to a legal guardian, had not been abducted because she was at school during the kidnapping.

Cooper and Shultis, Jr. hid their daughter under the basement of the house, which was reportedly closed and covered with a blanket to make it seem inconspicuous during the times when police officers explored the home to look for the child.

The local police reported that Paislee Shultis has not been able to go to school and that her parents have not been educating her or letting her go outside in the two years that she has been in their custody.

Shultis, Jr. and his father had been released on their own recognizance, while Cooper remains in jail on a $50,000 bond. The two who have been released have been ordered to stay away from Paislee Shultis and her sister.