An Amish Girl Holds Hands With Her Family Members During A Funeral Procession.
An Amish girl holds hands with her family members during a funeral procession for Naomi Rose Ebersole, one of the schoolchildren killed by a suicidal gunman on Monday, in Georgetown, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania October 5, 2006. The Amish community began to bury the young victims of Monday's Nickel Mines schoolhouse shooting on Thursday. Reuters

Two Amish girls, sisters aged six and 12, were reportedly abducted and planned to be used as sex slaves.

Recent developments into the kidnapping of the sisters in upstate New York emerged during the preliminary hearing in St. Lawrence County on Thursday, Aug. 21.

According to CNN, the Amish sisters were kidnapped from their family's vegetable stand by Nicole Vaisey, 25, and Stephen Howells II, 39. Held captive for nearly 24 hours, they were reportedly handcuffed together, chained to a bed and sexually abused.

However, the search for the missing sisters was reported to have captured a wide response from the media, the police and even an Amber Alert that, according to Detective Sgt. Brooks Bigwarfe, the couple decided to abandon their plans of using the sisters as sex slaves.

According to Inquisitr, an Amber Alert was issued by the police. The department finally rescued the Amish girls, after the couple reportedly thought it was too risky to keep them, so left the sisters in a deserted area 12 miles from where they were held captive.

"There's no doubt in my mind that if they were successful they were going to continue with future acts," district attorney for St. Lawrence County, Mary Rain, said.

According to the investigation, the couple used a Doberman Pinscher and Golden Retriever mix puppy as bait to lure the Amish sisters. Vaisey told Bigwarfe that she and boyfriend Howells have been planning the abduction for weeks. The couple was believed to be on a "shopping spree" for sex slaves. Howells was reported to have already scouted the vegetable stand a week before the kidnapping.

Police said the couple used the puppy named Kaleidoscope to lure the girls into approaching the car they parked near the stand. Howells had asked the girls if they wanted to pet the dog. But the older sister reportedly got suspicious, so he pushed them into the back of the car.

"When he started forcing them into the vehicle, they were both screaming and yelling," Bigwarfe said.

Nicole Vaisey's attorney, Bradford Riendeau, claimed his client was not the mastermind in the abduction. She was reportedly under the control of Howells who told her what to do.

"I don't think she had any control over what went on in the relationship. That was the essential ground rule of it," he said.

Meanwhile, Howells' attorney, Amy Dona, failed to comment on her client who failed to show up at the hearing.

Nicole Vaisey and Stephen Howells II have reportedly been charged with second degree kidnapping. They will face prison sentence for 25 years once proven guilty of abducting the Amish sisters.

Source: YouTube/ABC News