Tanya Kach’s story had all the hallmarks of a Lifetime movie – and now it is one.
Kach speaks about the harrowing ordeal of being held captive for ten years from the age of 14, after fellow kidnap survivor Elizabeth Smart convinced her to share her story.
“Many women have messaged me, reached out to me and spoken out openly about something that has happened in their lives because they feel comfortable talking to me because I understand,” the now 42-year-old said . The independent, just days later The Girl Locked Upstairs: The Tanya Kach Story premiered on Lifetime.
The Pennsylvania teen had been struggling at home and at school in the aftermath of her parents’ tumultuous divorce before disappearing in February 1996.
Months earlier, when Kach tried to skip class at Cornell Middle School in the Pittsburgh suburb of McKeesport to avoid peers who bullied her, she was caught by a school security guard.
But instead of reporting her, Thomas “Tom” Hose, who at 38 was more than twice her age, took an interest in her and the two became close.
Hose showered her with flowers, candy, gifts and money for cigarettes. They even shared a kiss in the stairwell. She started to believe she was in love with him.
He learned of Kach’s unstable family life and her thoughts about wanting to run away. After gaining her trust, he took advantage of her vulnerabilities and convinced her to move in with him – with the promise of a better life.
But what may have started as a desperate attempt at a new beginning for Kach quickly turned into a nightmare.
In Tanya’s prison
On February 10, 1996, Kach was lured to Hose’s home in McKeesport, where she was held captive for ten years.
The house, where Hose lived with his parents and son, was just a few miles from where Kach had lived with her father and stepmother before she went missing.
Hose’s parents later claimed they never knew Kach was in their home The Associated Press.
Kach’s nightmare ended when she confided in the owner of a nearby deli and escaped. She was 24 years old at the time.
For the first four years of her decade-long captivity, Kach was not allowed to leave Hose’s second-floor bedroom, where she was locked inside and sexually abused daily.
She was forced to use a metal can as a toilet and Hose brought her leftovers from his meals.
Hose also forced Kach to record their sexual encounters in a series of diaries so he could “boast to co-workers and friends,” according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Associated Press.
“He made me keep a calendar of our sex acts, so I knew the dates,” she said.
Years passed, but still she was too scared to escape.
“He threatened to kill me in my sleep,” Kach said The independent. “He threatened to throw me in a garbage bag and throw me in the river.”
When Kach was 18, she discovered she was missing after seeing her name and photo in the local newspaper.
Around that time, Hose began introducing her to his family and friends as his live-in girlfriend “Nikki Allen” and even allowed her to leave the house on occasion, believing that she would not run away at that moment.
“He trusted me to date because he knew I was brainwashed,” she said.
She was allowed to go to church or the convenience store, but had a strict curfew.
“I was scared,” she said, describing her first time in public.
“He had given me those specific instructions and everything and I followed the instructions and did what I had to do, but I was like a deer in the headlights out there.”
Her daring escape
During her short trips, Kach began working part-time at a neighborhood deli. She developed a friendship with the owners that would change her life.
“I saw what a family should be,” she said The independent. “And I said, ‘that’s what I want.’”
That family helped Kach realize that what she had with Hose, and her life for the past decade, was not normal.
Finally, on March 21, 2006, she found the courage to confide in the deli’s owner, Joe Sparico.
“If you go to a website for missing children, you will see a picture of me,” she tearfully told Sparico. The Denver Post.
Sparico contacted his son, a retired police officer familiar with Kach’s case. A short time later, Hose was arrested.
“I will never forget what it felt like to leave that house that day,” she later wrote People. “I got into the police car, took a deep breath and thought, ‘It’s over. I am available.'”
What happened to Thomas Hose?
In 2007, Thomas Hose pleaded guilty to statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault and endangering the welfare of children, corruption of a minor, interference with child custody and aggravated indecent assault, according to The Associated Press.
Hose was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
During his hearing, Kach read a victim impact statement in which he told Hose she was no longer his “puppet.”
“You took away my innocence and my youth. You made me think that my family didn’t want me or love me, that no one cared about me or loved me except you,” she said. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “For ten years you controlled me.”
“I plan on going somewhere,” she told him, adding that “the most important thing I want to do is help protect children and women from men like you.”
Hose apologized in court for the way he treated Kach.
“I’d like to say I’m sorry,” he said. “I want Tanya to know how sorry I am.”
He ended his statement by claiming that his actions were done to help Kach and that she often said to him, “Thank you, without you I would be dead or on the streets,” according to NBC News.
After serving 15 years in prison, Hose was released in 2022, he said WTAE. He is registered as a sex offender under Megan’s Law in Pennsylvania.
Where is Tanya Kach now?
Kach led a successful life. She got her GED, got her driver’s license and went to college.
“I’ve built a very happy life for myself,” she said. “I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
She co-authored a book with Lawrence Fisher in 2017 titled: Memoirs of a Milk Carton Boy: The Tanya Kach Story.
In September 2018, Kach married a man named Carl and became stepmother and grandmother to her stepson’s young children.
“We had a beautiful ceremony on the beach. It was just us there, we wanted something very private,” Kach shared People in an earlier interview. “He’s been my rock and he’s my biggest supporter through all of this and through life and everything.”
Although she was happy to be reunited with her father after being rescued, she has since revealed that he believes she is partially responsible for her own kidnapping. After a bittersweet reunion, the two became estranged and have not spoken since.
However, Tanya and her mother have become close.
“My mother and I are very close now,” she says. “She became my biggest supporter and helped me get back on my feet after my rescue. We have undergone intensive therapy together and are doing very well.”
About a year ago, Kach ran into Joe Sparico, the deli owner who saved her.
“We walked into a grocery store and we hugged each other and we talked about everything in life, because life kind of gets in the way,” she said.
“But Joe wanted me to go out and build a life and live my life, and you know what, and that’s what I did.”
The Girl Locked Upstairs: The Tanya Kach Story is now available on Lifetime.