15 Found in Upstate New York … 29 Year Old Family Acquaintance Amanda Hellman Arrested

Ky-Lea Fortner and Shaeleen Fitch-Fortner found safe!!!

Two teenage sisters, then 15 year old Ky-Lea Fortner and 13 year old Shaeleen Fortner went missing and had not been seen since 4/27/15 in Binghamton, New York. The two girls live with their foster family where they were last seen at their Susquehanna Valley school waiting to get on the school bus at the end of the school day. The police had considered this a case of runaway teens. Flashforward nearly one year later, Ky-Lea Fortner and Shaeleen Fortner have been found in upstate New York.

According to the State Police, the two teens were found Wednesday night about 15 miles away from where they were last seen at a property in the nearby town of Vestal at 327 Torrance Ave. 29 year old Amanda Hellman, a “family acquaintance,” was arrested at the property Thursday on suspicion of kidnapping second degree, a class-B felony. Hellman was arraigned before a judge and remanded without bail to the Broome County Jail, in Binghamton. Both girls were turned over to Broome County Family Services.

Two teenage sisters have been found in upstate New York nearly a year after vanishing and a family acquaintance has been charged with their kidnapping, police said Thursday.

Ky-Lea Fortner and Shaeleen Fitch-Fortner were reported as “teen runaways” last April. The girls — then aged 15 and 13 — had been living with a foster family in Binghamton when they disappeared and were last seen waiting for a bus at their school, according to New York State Police.

They were found Wednesday night about 15 miles away from where they were last seen at a property in the nearby town of Vestal, state police said in a statement Thursday.

Police said Amanda Hellman, a 29-year-old “family acquaintance,” was arrested at the property Thursday on suspicion of kidnapping second degree, a class-B felony. Hellman was arraigned before a judge and remanded without bail to the Broome County Jail, in Binghamton.