A couple was arrested Friday night in the kidnapping of two young Amish sisters in upstate New York — and authorities credited the plucky older girl with providing crucial information that led to the busts.
Stephen Howells II, 39, and Nicole Vaisey, 25, were each hit with two counts of first-degree kidnapping for snatching Delila Miller, 7, and Fannie Miller, 12, from their family’s roadside farm stand in northern New York, the St. Lawrence County District Attorney’s Office said.
The Miller sisters vanished Wednesday evening in Oswegatchie and turned up cold, wet, and hungry Thursday night at the door of a house 15 miles from their home in the farming community near the Canadian border.
“The arrest of the two persons have with no doubt saved young children from future abuse at the hands of these two,” the DA’s office said, adding that Fannie provided “crucial information” that pointed investigators to Howells II and Vaisey’s home.
“The suspects agreed to go to the sheriff’s office to be interviewed earlier today and they were arrested after those interviews,” Rain said Friday.
But authorities gave no indication what was done to the girls between their terrifying abduction Wednesday evening and their mysterious return late Thursday.
Photos posted on Howells’ Facebook page show him posing with three young children who appear to be his kids with captions like “Father’s day kickball” and “Monster truck show with kids.”
The family worked with a sketch artist who spoke Pennsylvania Dutch to create a sketch of Fannie, who was described as cross-eyed, while the only description given of Delila was that she had a scar on her forehead and was missing her front teeth.
The girls — who are among the youngest of Mose and Barb Miller’s 13 kids — routinely took on the chore of selling the fruits, vegetables, jams and other products of the farm.
They had left the rest of their family during evening milking when they went to wait on customers.
The suspects face 25 years to life behind bars if convicted.