A young American girl who went missing in 2019 has been found alive in a secret room under a staircase, police say.
Paislee Shultis was reported missing from Tioga County, New York when she was just four years old. Police at the time believed she had been abducted by her parents, Kimberly Cooper Shutlis, 33, and Kirk Shultis Jr, 32, who had lost custody of her.
It's currently unknown why they lost custody of her.
After police received information that Paislee, now age six, was being kept at a hidden location in the town of Saugerties, 260 kilometres from where she went missing, they obtained a warrant to search the house.
Kirk Shutlis Sr, 57, who owns the house, was there when police showed up and told them he didn't know where Paislee was.
But just over an hour into the search, the six-year-old was found in a makeshift room under a closed staircase that led to the basement of the house.
After police removed several boards, Paislee and Kimberly Cooper Shutlis were found hiding in the "dark and wet" enclosure.
Paislee is in good health, police say, and she's been reunited with her legal guardian and older sister.
Her parents lost custody of both Paislee and her older sister prior to her disappearance, which police believe may be the motivation behind her abduction.
"We believe... somebody informed the parents that the older child had been picked up by the legal guardian and by county officials at the time and that caused the parents then to take Paislee and flee," Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra told virtual news channel WNYT.
Paislee's parents and grandfather were all arrested and charged with her disappearance.
An investigation is ongoing and more arrests are pending, police added.
