A 6-year-old girl, who had been missing for two years, was found safe in a secret room under the stairs at an Upper Saugertys home - detectives saw her "little leg" in a hiding spot, police said .
Authorities said the parents of little Paisley Schultis had kidnapped her daughter in 2019 after losing custody of her and hid her in Sogarties, where her maternal grandfather lives.
One tip led police to Grandpa's house on Monday night—when an eagle-eyed detective noticed something about the ladder and its steps and then, using a flashlight, a piece of blanket pierced through the cracks. Looked and saw.
"The spies used a tool to remove several wooden steps, and only then the detectives saw a pair of short legs," police said.
"After removing several more steps, the child and his kidnapper were discovered," police said, adding that Paisley and his mother were "taken to a makeshift room, under a closed staircase leading to the basement of the residence."
According to the local daily Freeman, Paisley was 4 years old when her parents lost custody of her and her older sister in Cayuga Heights, more than 150 miles away. It is not clear why the officers were taking the children.
But on the day officers were supposed to pick up the children, Paisley's parents fled with him to Saugerties, police said. The eldest daughter was in school at the time of the kidnapping. She started living with a legal guardian.
Police said they are still trying to figure out what happened in the coming months, but no charges were filed at the time against Paisley's parents, Kimberly Cooper, 33, and Kirk Shultis, 32. .
Then on Monday, officers received a notification that Paisley was at the home of his grandfather, Shultis' father, 57-year-old Kirk Shultis Sr.
Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra told the outlet that "the police first went to the house after receiving information about [Paisley] being in that house.
"At times we'd go there, and sometimes, we encountered resistance, and other times, they'd say, 'Oh, no, you can come in and look around. There's no one here The child is not here,'' he said.
"And we believe that sometimes when we went into the housing, although we were given limited access, they were using this space to hide the child," Sinagra said.
On Monday, officials described Paisley and Cooper as a "small, cold and wet" secret room under the stairs.
Cooper and Shultis Jr. were charged in the case along with Shultis's father.
All three face charges of custodial interference and endangering children.
Local resident Annette Wrolson told The Post on Tuesday that the arrests of her neighbors were surprising.
"They're as normal as can be - except for the fact that they have playground equipment and I've never seen a child in the 12 years we've been living here," said Wrolsen, 63 .
She remembers just one time last summer when she saw the kids in Shultis' yard for a birthday party for one of Shultis Sr.'s granddaughters.
"But I always mention, 'How come there are never any kids? Wrolsen said. "I have a horse, and I ride up and down the road all the time. Never a kid outside. No one ever heard, never saw. It's scary."
Before being released into the custody of his legal guardian and older sister at an undisclosed location, Paisley was examined by paramedics and found to be fine. Police said the girl recognized her elder sister.
The Daily Freeman said, Sinagra said Paisley was "well taken care of and in good health".
"The only problem is that she hasn't gone to school, and they weren't educating her at home," Sinagra said.
The girl got excited when police went by the way to reunite McDonald's with her sister and guardian - as she said she had not been treated for some time, the cop said.
"The detective turned the car around and went to McDonald's and ordered his food from McDonald's," he said.
According to a local ABC affiliate, Schultis and his father have been released on their identities.
NBC said Cooper is being held in the Ulster County Jail on an excellent family court warrant. The Daily Freeman said he was being held on $50,000 bail.
The trio have been ordered to stay away from the kidnapped girl and will be produced before the Sogarties town court on Wednesday afternoon.
A man who answered the door at the family home on Tuesday told a reporter, "You're trespassing. Get off my f—king property."
Saugerties Police did not respond to requests for comment.
Paisley's sister could not be contacted on Tuesday.