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Tanya Kach was 14 years old when a man whose job it was to keep her and fellow students safe — school security guard Thomas “Tom” Hose — abducted her.
While going through a challenging time, Tanya found solace with Hose, who groomed her while in middle school. After running away from home several times due to strains between her father, Jerry Kach, and his girlfriend, JoAnn, Tanya saw potential in creating a different life with Hose.
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On Feb. 10, 1996, Tanya ran away with Hose, who came up with a plan to lure her into his home and keep her there for over 10 years. She spent her adolescence hidden away from the world without even being allowed so much as a trip to the bathroom. Tanya also endured sexual abuse and threats at the hands of Hose.
It wasn’t until March 2006 that Tanya told someone about what had happened to her, and she was rescued. Even after her escape, her struggles were far from over, as her own father partially blamed her for her trauma.
“I know I went willingly, but that doesn’t excuse what happened,” Tanya said in People Magazine Investigates: The Disappearance of Tayna Kach.
So where is Tanya Kach now? Here’s everything to know about the events that led up to her abduction, what happened during the years that she went missing and a look at her life today.
Who is Tanya Kach?
In 1995, Jerry filed for divorce and obtained full custody of Tanya, he said in PEOPLE Magazine Investigates.
Around this time, Tanya and Jerry went to live with his girlfriend, JoAnn, in McKeesport, Pa. There, Tanya started at a new middle school, where she had trouble adjusting and became a target for bullies. “She felt afraid. She wanted no part of it,” Jerry recalled in PEOPLE Magazine Investigates.
Meanwhile, she didn’t get along with JoAnn at home, often “resenting” her and Jerry’s authority. As a result, Tanya frequently ran away but usually returned home within a day. Still, each time it happened, Jerry would call the police to report her missing.
What happened to Tanya Kach?
Tanya befriended her school security guard, Hose, then 38 years old, when he provided her respite from her bullies. “We started to get to know each other more. He would take me out of class just to talk to me,” she recounted in PEOPLE Magazine Investigates.
When Hose caught her skipping class one day, he let her off the hook and tested boundaries. “That’s when he leaned in, and that was the first time he kissed me,” she explained. “He told me I should leave and be with him forever.”
On the morning of Feb. 10, 1996, Jerry and JoAnn awoke to find Tanya gone. Although Jerry initially thought it was another instance of his daughter running away, he grew nervous after a few days and officially filed her as a missing person on Feb. 14.
Tom had devised a plan to get 14-year-old Tanya to leave her home for good. He had her go to his friend Judy Sokol’s house. Sokol, a hairstylist, then dyed Tanya’s hair and let her stay for several weeks, spending time with Hose. Eventually, Hose got Tanya drunk and raped her for the first time, Tanya recalled.
Hose then invited Tanya to live with him in the house he shared with his elderly parents and his 22-year-old son, The New York Times reported.
“I had to sneak up to his bedroom. We were in his room, very quiet. His parents were there, they didn’t know I was in the house,” Tanya told PEOPLE Magazine Investigates about her first time entering the home. “He took full control once he knew I was in his grasp.”
Hose began threatening Tanya that if his parents ever found out she was in the home, he would smother her to death. From then on, Tanya was forced to live inside Hose’s bedroom, using a bucket instead of the bathroom.
Speaking to A&E in May 2024, she revealed that Hose would sneak her downstairs to shower when his parents were asleep at night, and for years, all she could eat were his leftovers.
Hose also started sexually abusing her multiple times a day and made her document the specifics of each assault in a calendar.
When he was at work and she was alone in the room, she would entertain herself by doing quiet activities, like reading, watching TV at low volume and listening to music with headphones.
Tanya attempted to escape from Hose more than once, but each time, he scared her into staying.
“Whenever I tried to, that’s when he’d threaten my life,” she told the outlet. “He’d threaten to kill me in my sleep, throw me in a garbage bag and throw me in the river.”
How did Tanya Kach escape?
In the spring of 2000, Hose gave Tanya the alias “Nikki Diane Allen” and told his family that she was his girlfriend. After four years in captivity, he let her out for the first time to buy clothes, giving her directions and waiting for her to return. “He trusted me to go out because he knew I was brainwashed,” she told A&E.
Hose began giving Tanya more freedom, and she eventually got hired at a local convenience store, JJ’s Deli Mart, in 2005. When she witnessed the owners, Joe Sparico and his wife, Janet, having a healthy relationship, it helped her realize she was in a bad situation with Hose.
On March 20, 2006, Tanya cried at work and told Joe that her real name was Tanya Kach, not Nikki Allen and that Hose had been holding her captive. Later that day, Joe called the police, who arrived at Hose’s home and escorted Tanya off the premises.
Tanya told PEOPLE Magazine Investigates, “I took my first step out that door, and I said, ‘I don’t know where it goes from here, but I hope it’s home.’ “
When she and her father reunited at the police station, she “collapsed” into his arms. “We cried, we laughed, it was a plethora of emotions,” Jerry said.
Upon returning home, they celebrated with cake. However, Jerry and JoAnn later said that Tanya’s story “didn’t add up” and questioned why she didn’t leave Hose’s house sooner.
What happened to Thomas Hose?
Hose was arrested and charged with several different offenses.According to court papers obtained by PEOPLE Magazine Investigates, Hose faced three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, one count of statutory sexual assault, two counts of aggravated indecent assault, one count of interference with custody of a child, one charge of endangering the welfare of a child, one count of corruption of a minor and one count of indecent assault.
Notably, Hose wasn’t charged with kidnapping because Tanya went willingly with him. In the end, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
According to ABC News, Sokol pleaded guilty to statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault and corruption of a minor — stemming from her dyeing Tanya’s hair to hide her identity and letting Hose rape Tanya in her home.
Sokol was sentenced to six to 23 months in prison, per New Castle News.
Where is Thomas Hose now?
Hose was released from prison in February 2022 after serving his complete 15-year sentence, WTAE reported. He still lives in the same house where he held Tanya captive and is a registered sex offender.
In PEOPLE Magazine Investigates, Tanya said she lives 15 minutes away from him and fears running into him.
“I don’t want to look into the eyes of the man who did such horrible, horrendous things to me. I hope he lives the rest of his life in that house,” she said. “I hope he rots in that house.”
Where is Tanya Kach now?
After escaping, Tanya reconciled with her mother, Sherri, who supported her in different ways. “She helped me get my driver’s license; she helped me with college,” she told A&E. “She took me shopping to get clothes. My mom was a big supporter.”
In 2011, Tanya released her book, Memoir of a Milk Carton Kid: The Tanya Nicole Kach Story, to give hope to others going through difficulties and trauma. After it debuted, Tanya became estranged from her father and JoAnn, who felt that she had “blamed” them for the incident, Jerry said in PEOPLE Magazine Investigates.
For her part, Tanya attempted to stay in touch. “I tried with my dad,” she said in the episode. “I tried so hard. It breaks my heart every day.”
Today, Tanya is married to her husband, Karl McCrum. The couple met while working at K-Mart in 2008 and later wed in September 2018, according to her Instagram.
When she’s not spending time with her family, Tanya speaks at schools and with organizations about her experience. She has also told her story on a larger scale: Her kidnapping was the subject of the Lifetime movie The Girl Locked Upstairs, produced by Elizabeth Smart. (Smart, like Kach, was kidnapped at age 14 and escaped — and like Tanya, her captors were eventually freed from prison.)
In addition, Tanya shared her story in a season 7 episode of the docuseries PEOPLE Magazine Investigates.
“It was incredibly difficult to find myself again and become the person that I am today,” she shared. “I will always be psychologically damaged. But it doesn’t mean I’m not strong.”