Inside the Story of the Kidnapping, Captivity and Escape of Tanya Nicole Kach

This is the story of Tanya Nicole Kach-McCrum, an American woman who was trapped in the room of a security guard in her school for ten years.

The security guard, Thomas Hose, came under the pretense of a savior; to save her from her troubled family life. Sadly, Hose took advantage of the little and naive Tanya and turned her 'manageable life' into a nightmare.

Tanya's Story Begins

Tanya Kach's story all began when she was an eighth-grader at Cornell Middle School in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.

Tanya was battling with her chaotic family, her parents had recently gotten divorced. She was living with her father, Jerry Kach, and his then-fiancée, Jo-Ann Kach, both now 63. Tanya had a cat-dog relationship with Jo-Ann, and Tanya didn't have a good relationship with her mother also. These family tensions led to an unregulated life; she started drinking and smoking cigarettes and marijuana.

She innocently befriended the school security guard, Thomas Hose, completely unaware that this would spin her life into a terrifying nightmare. Hose made friends with Tanya, casually pulling her out of classes, setting the stage for what was about to unfold. The day he kissed her after she ditched class was the turning point.

Being under the manipulative control of Hose, at only 14, Tanya chose to leave her family and move in with him. She spent her first four years living there stuck in a bedroom upstairs, never allowed to leave.

Hose kept her existence a secret from his parents, even making her use a bucket in place of a bathroom. It wasn't until 2000 that he gave Tanya a new identity - introducing her as his girlfriend "Nikki Allen" to his folks. This got her some freedom, albeit with a strict curfew.

She made her keep a journal where she recorded how many times they had s-ex. Considering it was an everyday occurrence, Hose bragged about his numbers with his friends and co-workers.

The Great Escape and Life After

As the years rolled by, Tanya began to sense her relationship with Hose was anything but ordinary. Thanks to Joe Sparico, a local grocery store owner and her new friend, she managed to escape on March 21, 2006.

She revealed her real identity to Sparico, who saved her by calling the police. Her nightmare was finally over.

Hose was found guilty of a number of serious charges and got a 15-year sentence in prison. Tanya got back with her family but sadly fell apart from her dad and stepmother who wrongfully blamed her for what had happened.

Hose served his 15-year sentence and was released in 2022. He was also registered as a s-ex offender.

Tanya has come a long way since that ordeal. She finished her GED, attended college, and co-wrote a book about her experience in 2017 called "Memoir of a Milk Carton Kid: The Tanya Nicole Kach Story". In 2018, she married Carl and now enjoys being with a supportive family, including stepchildren and grandchildren.

From Tanya's Story to Media Frenzy

Tanya Kach's terrifying ordeal and thrilling escape had the media's attention and even inspired a Lifetime TV movie titled "The Girl Locked Upstairs: The Tanya Kach Story." This movie aired in 2024 and featured Jordyn Ashley Olson as Tanya and Robert Baker as Hose.

The movie aimed to spotlight Tanya's ordeal and the courage it took to overcome it. Elizabeth Smart, another abduction survivor, was an executive producer on the project.

Despite the horrifying event she went through, Tanya Kach has managed to find joy and hope. She met Carl, her loving partner, in 2008 and they got married a decade later.

She acknowledges Carl as her rock and her greatest support. She also got back in touch with Sparico, her grocery store savior.

The End.

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