A mum accused of abducting her own daughter and hiding her beneath the stairs has seemingly smirked in her mugshot.
Kimberly Cooper was arrested on Monday after police found her six-year-old daughter Paislee Shultis held in a dark, damp room beneath the stairs in their upstate New York home.
She was arrested after a two year hunt for her daughter after she went missing in 2019.
Kimberly, 33, along with her husband, Kirk Shultis Jr, 32, had kept her isolated from society over that period.
In Kirk’s own mugshot he appeared emotionless after what he’d done to his daughter whilst his wife smirked.
Paislee was abducted over two years ago by her parents after they lost custody of her in 2019, when she was four.
She had vanished from the home of her legal guardian in Cayuga Heights, New York, with her parents hiding from police.
Investigators at the time suspected the parents were responsible and on Monday local police in upstate New York got a tip she was with the couple.
Officers searched the property and spoke with the residents, including Kirk, and his father Shultish Sr, 57.
Kirk claimed he had no idea where his daughter was.
But during a search of the property, Detective Erik Thiele "noticed something about the staircase leading from the back of the residence into the basement of the house that caught his attention", according to a statement released on Tuesday.
When he shone a flashlight into the stairs he saw a pair of tiny feet.
Officers removed several steps and found the child and her mother Kimberly Cooper were hidden in a makeshift room secreted behind the stairs.
In a statement, Saugerties Police said: "The child was located secreted in a makeshift room, under a closed staircase leading to the basement of the residence.
"Upon removing the step boards, the child and her abductor, Kimberly Cooper were found hiding in the dark and wet enclosure."
Police took the child to the Saugerties Police Department headquarters where she was assessed by medics and returned to her legal guardian.
Kimberly, Kirk, and his father were all arrested and charged with felony custodial interference and endangering the welfare of a child.
