Posted on 03/22/2006 6:33:18 PM PST by aculeus
A woman who disappeared as a teen 10 years ago had been living with a middle school security guard who didn't allow her to leave his home for several years, police said Wednesday.
Tanya Nicole Kach, now 24, was reunited with her family this week. She had been living at the man's home, located about two miles from her father's house in the Pittsburgh suburb of McKeesport, police said.
The two met when Thomas Hose, 48, worked as a security guard at a school where Kach was a student. It was not immediately clear how she ended up at the home.
She was discovered Tuesday when she approached a convenience store owner and told him that she wasn't Nikki Evans, the name the owner knew her by. She said she was being kept locked in a bedroom, said the owner, Joseph Sparico.
When she told him her real name, he said, she was upset and shaking.
"I was so scared that nobody would believe me," Kach told WTAE-TV from her father's home Wednesday.
Sparico's son, a retired McKeesport police officer, recognized Kach's name, and Sparico contacted authorities.
Allegheny County Police Superintendent Charles Moffatt said Kach had been staying at the home Hose shared with his parents since 1996, and was not allowed to leave for the first four years she was there.
When others came over, Kach had to stay in a bedroom, Moffatt said.
"She had no contact with people, other than the people that were in the home," Moffatt said.
Moffatt said Hose would tell her what to eat and what to wear, but there was no indication that Kach had been physically restrained. He said charges were pending but would not elaborate.
James Ecker, Hose's attorney, said police planned to charge his client with sex crimes involving a minor. The attorney said there was no indication that Kach had been abducted or kidnapped.
"As far as I know no one has ever said she was held against her will," Ecker said.
Kach disappeared Feb. 10, 1996, said Police Chief Joseph Pero. She was initially listed as a runaway, but her status was changed to a missing person. He wouldn't say why.
The woman's father, Jerry Kach, was grateful for her return: "I just say thank you. There is a God and he brought my little girl back home."
Copyright 2005 Associated Press.
She claims she was brainwashed.
By the picture in post #14, I'd say that she had used a little too much peroxide....
Looks like she made it out to the beauty parlor at least. There is something strange. Was she a special needs student?
It appears that she had free access to the outside and that a store owner knew her by a fake name.
If so, how come in ten years she was not able to contact anyone at home, seeing they were just down the road?
You're right. Something stinks.
It appears that she had free access to the outside and that a store owner knew her by a fake name.
If so, how come in ten years she was not able to contact anyone at home, seeing they were just down the road?
You're right. Something stinks.
If she is slightly retarded, that would explain a lot without connivance on her part being involved.
Regardless of anything, the guy is in big trouble. The police had him in for questioning all day and he is now charged with a whole bunch of serious crimes.
I don't disagree. I would want a lot of answers from him too.
No idea - I just found the picture on the WTAE site and posted it. There's a short video clip of her with her father there as well. The whole thing is pretty weird.
..." It was not immediately clear how she ended up at the home."
Sometimes it is so hard to understand the in's and out's of life.
We dont know what was going on at her parents house and why she was 1st listed as a runaway. Maybe there were problems there and she did runaway for awhile. Or maybe she was brainwashed or drugged. If she wanted to stay there and this Hose knew she was being looked for he should have stepped forward and said where she was. So in my mind that says he isnt innocent and that he did keep her there. Yes this all sounds hard to believe but there are many cases where a man or woman can make a child believe they are unwanted, unloved and that they are the only ones who want them. I guess we will find out in court. At least her parents have her home alive, so many never come home.
Again, the girl could be mentally deficient ~ almost as bad as some of us posting on this thread who can't figure out why she didn't run away.
The police have told the girl to give very little information to the press as the case was being investigated at the time of her interview. She was the big story on the 6 O'Clock news.
About 10 minutes after her interview was shown on the news word came that the guy had been charged with several serious crimes.
We'll know more about the whole mess tomorrow.
I can see it now
"Hi Mom, Hi Dad"
"Son, who is that 14 year old girl with you?"
"Oh, she just needs a place to stay for a bit, I know her from working at the school, her parents are mean."
"Oh, OK , but she can't stay for more than, say, ten yeas."
"OK Mom, you are the best."
This guys is how old and still living at home, where are the parents (not the gilrls, the guys) in all this???
Thanks for the ping.
The article says she wasn't allowed out for the first four years. That's a long time to be messing with someone's head.
Bizarre situation, that's for sure!
I think the guy just got old and she tired of him.
It really doesn't matter what the girl thought and did when she was fourteen years old. As soon as she spent the first night there without her parents' knowledge and permission that's a crime. The guy was an adult and she was not. I'd say a long, long stretch in prison for the guy sounds about right.
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