A popular crime documentary series has delved into the disturbing true story of a 14-year-old girl who was held captive and sexually abused for a decade.
Tanya Kach was just a teenager when she disappeared from her family’s home in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in 1996.
It would later emerge that she had been lured to the home of 38-year-old school security guard Tom Hose, who locked her in his second-floor bedroom for ten years.
She was eventually allowed to take a part-time job at a supermarket and took the opportunity to escape in 2006, but was left heartbroken when she realized her father blamed her for the kidnapping.
Here, FEMAIL has exposed the harrowing reality surrounding the case after an episode of People Magazine investigates investigated The Disappearance of Tayna Kach.
Tanya Kach was just a teenager when she disappeared from her family’s home in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in 1996
School security guard Thomas Hose had lured the schoolgirl to the home (pictured) he shared with his elderly parents
The moving story began in 1995 when Tanya’s parents divorced.
She already had a difficult relationship with her mother, who rarely had contact – with Tanya claiming she was also violent and abusive.
The teenager was forced to move in with her father and his then-fiancée, but the unrest proved disruptive.
Tanya was bullied at her new school and soon turned to alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana as a form of escape.
Her sense of isolation grew and she eventually confided in 38-year-old school security guard Tom Hose.
Tanya previously told KDKA-TV, “My mom wasn’t in my life at that time. My father completely forgot that he had a daughter and that we lived under the same roof, and that I was hanging out with the wrong people.”
Tanya recalled, “(Hose) was an authority figure, he wore a uniform and a badge – someone you would trust – and he befriended me.”
Their illicit romance continued to develop and Tanya believed the pair were beginning a serious relationship.
Hose served 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to a series of charges
Hose eventually managed to lure the schoolgirl – who was 24 years his junior – to the home he shared with his elderly parents.
He kept her locked in an upstairs bedroom and threatened to kill her and her family if she resisted or tried to escape.
During her captivity, Tanya was locked in one room, allowed to shower only once a week, forced to spend Christmas locked in the closet and ordered to use a bucket as a toilet.
She was sexually assaulted, ordered to change her name to Nikki and ordered to dye her hair.
Tanya, who later published a book about her ordeal titled Memoir of a Milk Carton Kid, first spoke about what she endured while in captivity in October 2011.
“I was just so brainwashed. I feel humiliated now. Absolute. I usually ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, along with a banana and a can of Faygo soda.
“About twice a week in the middle of the night, he would lead me to a basement with cold, concrete floors to take a shower.
‘In the beginning it went well for me. I thought I was in love and felt that my sacrifices were a work of my love for Tom Hose. But soon the ordeal began to take its toll.”
Hose started in 2006 giving her some freedom in the belief that she was too scared and ‘brainwashed’ to escape.
The then 24-year-old took a part-time job at a local supermarket and eventually confided in a co-worker who called the police.
Hose subsequently served 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2007 to charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a minor, interfering with the custody of a child and endangering the child.
The now 65-year-old does Released last year and is registered with the Pennsylvania State Police as a sex offender under state law Megan.
Tanya believed that she and Hose, who was 24 years her senior, were starting a serious relationship
The former hostage, now 41, has since claimed that her father – Jerry Kach – (previously pictured together) does not believe her story that she is being kept under Hose’s mental and physical control.
But despite Tanya being freed from captivity, she struggled to reform family ties.
The former hostage, now 41, has since claimed that her father, Jerry Kach, does not believe her story that she is being kept under Hose’s mental and physical control.
In her book, she dramatically claimed that after she escaped, her father verbally abused Tanya and said he did not love her.
She also appeared in Dr. Phil, where she claimed she cut her father out of her because she “didn’t need the negativity.”
Jerry, now 62, reportedly went so far as to partly blame her for the kidnapping, with Tanya telling People: “That broke my heart.”
However, in the immediate aftermath of the book’s release, he retaliated, claiming he felt demonized by his estranged daughter, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
He said, ‘If you want to go out and tell your story, go to trash TV and have 15 minutes, fine. But don’t drag me along with you and smear my good name.
‘I love my daughter. But her last words to me were, “Have a good life, Jerry.” Those words really hurt.”