Thousands of children in this country go missing every year, but this week in upstate New York, 6-year-old Paislee Shultis was miraculously found, hiding in a cramped, small, space along with her biological mother Kimberly Cooper.
The girl–who had been missing since 2019–and her mother were discovered at the home of Shultis’ paternal grandfather, Kirk Shultis.
According to TODAY “Saugerties Police Chief Joseph A. Sinagra told NBC News that police believe Paislee and Cooper were in that dark and cramped space for hours while police were working to get a search warrant.”
As police were searching the home, they went up and down the staircase and even around it “but Paislee did not make a sound,” Sinagra said.
Only after the police took the stairs apart, were Paislee and her mother discovered.
“At that point in time the child went into hiding — up to four hours the child was in that crawlspace,” the police chief told NBC News correspondent Jesse Kirsch.
Sinagra said Detective Erik Thiele found them hiding under the stairs “when he shined a flashlight through the cracks after seeing something odd.”
Police said the girl’s father “denied knowing where Paislee was even though investigators found a bed that looked recently used and a bedroom with Paislee’s name on it,” according to TODAY.
Paislee’s parents lost custody of her in 2019. At the time, Kirk also had a warrant out for his arrest.
The girl’s mother was “charged with second-degree custodial interference and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child” and “Shultis Jr. and Shultis Sr. have been charged with one count each of felony custodial interference in the first degree and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child,” police said, according to TODAY.
Despite enduring such a traumatic experience, Paislee is “doing fine” and “has been returned to legal guardian.”
In situations like this, it’s easy to give up hope, but Luke 1:37 tells us “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
“In law enforcement, we don’t always have those magic endings,” Sinagra said. “It’s important and underscores why we do the jobs that we do.”