New York girl found alive under staircase after going missing in 2019

The child was allegedly taken by her noncustodial parents.

A young girl missing since July 2019 was found alive Monday, police said, in a "small, cold, and wet" room under a staircase in a house three hours from where she went missing.

Paislee Shultis was located in a home in the town of Saugerties, in the Hudson River Valley, after a police search on Monday, authorities said.

Paislee, who was 4 years old when she went missing, was found in good health, Saugerties police said. She is now back in the custody of her legal guardian and reunited with her older sister, police added.

Her noncustodial parents, Kimberly Cooper, 33, and Kirk Shultis Jr., 32, have been charged with custodial interference and endangering the welfare of a child.