Tanya Kach’s story had, and still does, all the makings of a Lifetime movie.
Kach talks about the harrowing ordeal of being held captive for a decade from the age of 14, after her friend Elizabeth Smart, a kidnapping survivor, persuaded her to share her story.
“A lot of women have messaged me, reached out to me and told me about something that’s going on in their life because they feel comfortable talking to me because I understand,” the now 42-year-old woman said. Independent, just a few days later The Girl Locked Upstairs: The Tanya Kach Story It premiered on Lifetime.
Before she disappeared in February 1996, the Pennsylvania teenager was struggling at home and school following her parents’ tumultuous divorce.
Months ago, Kach was caught by a school security guard when he tried to skip class to escape bullying peers at Cornell Middle School in the Pittsburgh suburb of McKeesport.
But instead of turning her in, Thomas “Tom” Hose, who was twice her age at 38, took care of her and the two became close.
Hose showered her with flowers, candies, gifts and cigarette money. They even kissed in the stairwell. She started to believe that he was in love with her.
He learned about Kach’s unstable home life, her thoughts about wanting to escape, and after gaining her trust, he took advantage of her weaknesses and convinced her to move in with him with the promise of a better life.
But for Kach, what started as a desperate attempt at a new beginning quickly turned into a nightmare.
Inside Tanya’s prison
On February 10, 1996, Kach was taken to Hose’s home in McKeesport, where he was held captive for 10 years.
The house where Hose lived with his parents and son was just a few kilometers away from the house where Kach lived with his father and stepmother before his disappearance.
Hose’s parents later claimed they never knew Kach was in their home. Associated Press.
Kach’s nightmare ended when he trusted the owner of a neighborhood deli and managed to escape. He was 24 years old at the time.
For the first four years of his decade-long captivity, Kach was not allowed to leave Hose’s second-floor bedroom; where she was locked up and sexually abused every day.
He had to use a metal box as a toilet, and Hose would bring him the leftover food from his meals.
Hose also forced Kach to record a series of diaries of his sexual experiences so he could “brag to his co-workers and friends,” according to the criminal complaint obtained by Hose. Associated Press.
“He asked me to keep a calendar book of our sex acts so I knew the dates,” she said.
Years passed, but he was still afraid of running away.
“He would threaten to kill me in my sleep,” Kach said Independent. “He threatened to put me in a garbage bag and throw me into the river.”
When Kach was 18, she learned she was a missing person after seeing her name and photo in the local newspaper.
Around that time, Hose began introducing her as “Nikki Allen”, his live-in girlfriend with family and friends, and even allowed her to leave the house occasionally, believing that she would not run away at that point.
“He trusted me to come out because he knew I was brainwashed,” he said.
He was allowed to go to church or the local deli, but the curfew was strict.
“I was scared,” he said, describing his first public appearance.
“He had given me these specific instructions and everything, and I was following the instructions, doing what I had to do, but I was like a deer in the headlights out there.”
His daring escape
During his short trips, Kach started working part-time at a neighborhood deli. He formed a friendship with his owners that would change his life.
“I saw what a family should be like,” he said Independent. “And I said, ‘I want that too.’”
This family helped Kach realize that her experiences with Hose and her life over the past 10 years were not normal.
Finally, on March 21, 2006, he found the courage to trust the deli’s owner, Joe Sparico.
“If you go to a website about missing children, you will see my photo,” she told Sparico through tears. Denver Post.
Sparico contacted his son, a retired police officer who was familiar with Kach’s case. Hose was arrested a short time later.
“I will never forget what it felt like to leave that house that day,” he later wrote. People. “I got in the police car, took a deep breath and thought, ‘It’s over.’ I’m free.'”
What happened to Thomas Hose?
In 2007, Thomas Hose pleaded guilty to statutory sexual assault, involuntary sexual intercourse, indecent assault and endangering the welfare of children, corruption of a minor, interference with the custody of children, and aggravated indecent assault. Associated Press.
Hose was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
At his hearing, Kach read a victim impact statement to Hose, telling him she was no longer his “puppet.”
“You took my innocence, my childhood. “You made me think that my family doesn’t want me, doesn’t love me, that no one cares or loves me except you.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “You controlled me for 10 years.”
“I’m planning to go somewhere,” he said, “and the main thing I want to do is help protect children and women from men like you.”
Hose apologized in court for his treatment of Kach.
“I would like to say that I am sorry,” he said. “I want Tanya to know how sorry I am.”
He concluded his statement by claiming that his actions were done to help Kach and that Kach often told him, “Thank you, if it wasn’t for you I’d be dead or on the streets.” NBC News.
Hose was released in 2022 after serving 15 years in prison. WTAE. He is registered as a sex offender under Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law.
Where is Tanya Kach now?
Kach went on to live a successful life. He earned his GED, got his driver’s license and went to college.
“I’ve built a really happy life for myself,” he said. “I couldn’t ask for more.”
In 2017, he co-authored a book with Lawrence Fisher titled: Memoirs of a Child in a Milk Carton: The Tanya Kach Story.
In September 2018, Kach married a man named Carl and became a stepmother and grandmother, as well as her stepson’s young children.
“We had a beautiful ceremony on the beach. “We were the only ones there, we wanted something very special,” Kach said. People in a previous interview. “He was my rock and my biggest supporter through all of this, through life and everything.”
Although he was happy to be reunited with his father after his rescue, he explained that he believed he was partly responsible for his father’s own abduction. After a bittersweet reunion, the two drifted apart and haven’t spoken since.
However, Tanya and her mother have become close.
“My mom and I are really close now,” she said. “He has been my biggest supporter and helped me get back on my feet after my rescue. “We went through intense therapy together and everything is really good.”
About a year ago, Kach encountered deli owner Joe Sparico, who rescued him.
“We were walking into a supermarket, hugging ourselves and catching up on everything in life because life just kind of gets in the way,” she said.
“But Joe wanted me to go out and make a life and live my own life, and you know, that’s what I did.”
The Girl Locked Upstairs: The Tanya Kach Story now available on Lifetime.