Parents accused of abducting 6-year-old found in a stairwell took her when her sister was at school, police say

• Paislee Shultis, who was reported missing in 2019, was found in a stairwell at her grandfather's home on Tuesday.
• Police believe her parents abducted her after they lost custody of her and her sister.

The parents accused of abducting a six-year-old girl who was found in a stairwell earlier this week took her while her sister was at school, police said.

Paislee Shultis was found alive in a sealed area under a wooden staircase of her grandfather's home in Saugerties, New York, on Tuesday.

Police believe Shultis was kidnapped by her biological parents, Kimberly Cooper and Kirk Shultis Jr., in 2019 after they lost custody of her and her sister. It is unclear why they lost custody.

Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra said told The Daily Freeman that on the day authorities were meant to take custody of the girls, the biological parents abducted Paislee Shultis while her sister was at school.

The sister was taken to a legal guardian, whose identity was not made public, CBS New York reported.

Meanwhile, Shultis' parents took her directly to Saugerties — a town 150 miles away from where they originally lived — where they "hid out" at her grandfather's house, Sinagra told The Daily Freeman.

After Shultis was reported missing in 2019, her biological father and grandfather repeatedly told the police they didn't know where the girl was, and that her mother had taken her and fled to Philadelphia, Sinagra told CNN.

"We'd been at the home ... almost a dozen times over a two-year period to follow up on leads," Sinagra told CNN.

Shultis' father and grandfather only gave police only limited access to the house and did not allow them into the bedrooms or basement area, the police chief told CNN. The men also told police they had set up a bedroom for her in case she ever returned.

"Our belief is that at times when we went into the residence, although we were given limited access, they were using [the staircase] to hide the child," Sinagra told The Daily Freeman.

Sinagra told CNN that police were never able to execute a search warrant on Shultis' grandfather's house until this week. He said officers found the girl after seeing "small feet" while ripping off the staircase.

The girl's father and grandfather were charged with one count each of felony custodial interference in the first degree and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child, NBC News reported.

Her mother was charged with custodial interference in the second degree and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child, NBC News reported. She is being held in Ulster County Jail as she was wanted on an active warrant from Ulster County Family Court.

Hearings for all three were held Wednesday and their cases were adjourned until a later date.

Shultis has since reunited with her legal guardian and her sister, police said. On her way to the police station, she asked officers for a McDonald's meal, Sinagra told The Daily Freeman.