Uploaded May 2015 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
When 2 young girls are kidnapped, their Amish Community teams up with Law Enforcement to take down to accused kidnappers.
On August 13, 2014, two sisters were abducted from their family farm stand in rural St. Lawrence County, NY, near the Canadian border. An enormous search was undertaken immediately in this mostly rural area led by Gus Burns, and the FBI joined in the next day.
Law enforcement met with Amish elders, who consented to a sketch being prepared, as there were no photographs of the missing girls. That night, August 14th, both girls were released and abandoned miles from their home. The girls had been held captive, sexually abused, and videotaped for nearly 24 hours. They ran to the closest house, and those people brought the girls home. That night, by candlelight, the girls told their story to investigators – translated into English by their father. The eldest remembered extremely specific details, what the house looked like, what the “road machines” (cars) looked like.
The search teams then created a grid and drove road by road looking for possible matches in a 30 mile radius. When investigators checked at the residence of STEPHEN HOWELLS (a registered nurse) and NICOLE VAISEY (a dog groomer), they became suspicious, and after speaking to the couple at their home and then at the police station, Howells and Vaisey admitted they had taken the girls. When officers searched the house, they found multiple cameras, and evidence that a sound-proof room was being built. They also found evidence that other children may have been exploited and abused.
Now the couple are facing federal charges for producing child pornography, state charges for the abuse and kidnapping of the Amish sisters, and additional charges involving four more children.
When 2 young girls are kidnapped, their Amish Community teams up with Law Enforcement to take down to accused kidnappers.
On August 13, 2014, two sisters were abducted from their family farm stand in rural St. Lawrence County, NY, near the Canadian border. An enormous search was undertaken immediately in this mostly rural area led by Gus Burns, and the FBI joined in the next day.
Law enforcement met with Amish elders, who consented to a sketch being prepared, as there were no photographs of the missing girls. That night, August 14th, both girls were released and abandoned miles from their home. The girls had been held captive, sexually abused, and videotaped for nearly 24 hours. They ran to the closest house, and those people brought the girls home. That night, by candlelight, the girls told their story to investigators – translated into English by their father. The eldest remembered extremely specific details, what the house looked like, what the “road machines” (cars) looked like.
The search teams then created a grid and drove road by road looking for possible matches in a 30 mile radius. When investigators checked at the residence of STEPHEN HOWELLS (a registered nurse) and NICOLE VAISEY (a dog groomer), they became suspicious, and after speaking to the couple at their home and then at the police station, Howells and Vaisey admitted they had taken the girls. When officers searched the house, they found multiple cameras, and evidence that a sound-proof room was being built. They also found evidence that other children may have been exploited and abused.
Now the couple are facing federal charges for producing child pornography, state charges for the abuse and kidnapping of the Amish sisters, and additional charges involving four more children.
