A new Lifetime movie produced by Elizabeth Smart will expose the horrific case of Tanya Kach, who was kidnapped at age 14 and sexually abused for a decade while held captive by her lover-turned-tormentor.
Tanya was just a teenager when she disappeared from her family home in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in 1996.
It later emerged that she had been lured to the home of school security guard Tom Hose, 38, who locked her in his second-floor room for 10 years.
She was eventually allowed to take a part-time job at a convenience store and took the opportunity to escape in 2006, but was left heartbroken to realize that her father blamed her for the kidnapping.
Tanya’s story will now be told in an upcoming documentary titled The Girl Locked Upstairs, starring Robert Baker and Jordyn Ashley Olson.
A new Lifetime movie will expose the horrific case of Tanya Kach (pictured), who was kidnapped at age 14 and sexually abused for a decade while held captive.
The film, set to be released this summer, will be executive produced by speaker, author and advocate Elizabeth Smart (pictured).
The film, set to be released this summer, will be executive produced by speaker, author and advocate Elizabeth Smart.
Smart recently celebrated the 21st anniversary of her own rescue after being kidnapped at knifepoint from her bed in her family’s home in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 5, 2002.
She was held captive and repeatedly raped by Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, for nine months before being rescued on March 12, 2003.
Smart, 36, a mother of three, whose own story has been repeated on screen several times before, is now at the helm of retelling Tanya’s story.
The duo will reunite in the upcoming documentary as Tanya. talks about the horrors of his captivity, as well as the victim guilt he experienced afterwards.
Their heartbreaking story began in 1995, when Tanya’s parents filed for divorce.
He already had a troubled relationship with his mother, with whom he was rarely in contact; Tanya claimed that she was also violent and abusive.
The teenager was forced to move in with her father and his then-fiancée, but the upheaval proved upsetting.
The upcoming documentary titled The Girl Locked Upstairs will star Jordyn Ashley Olson (left) as Tanya (right).
Actor Robert Baker (left) will take on the role of school security guard Tom Hose (right), 38, in the film.
School security guard Hose had lured the schoolgirl to the house (pictured) she shared with her elderly parents.
Tanya was bullied at her new school and soon turned to alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana as a form of escape.
His feeling of isolation grew and he ended up trusting Tom Hose, the school’s 38-year-old security guard.
Speaking earlier to KDKA-TV, Tanya said: ‘My mother was not in my life at that time. My father completely forgot that he even had a daughter and that we lived under the same roof, and I was hanging around with the wrong crowd.
Tanya recalled: ‘[Hose] He was an authority figure, he wore a uniform and a badge, someone you could trust, and he became a friend of mine.
Their illicit affair continued to develop and Tanya believed the couple were embarking on a serious relationship.
Hose served 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to a series of charges
In the end, Hose managed to lure the schoolgirl, who was 24 years his junior, to the house he shared with his elderly parents.
He kept her locked in an upstairs room and threatened to kill her and her family if she resisted or tried to escape.
While in captivity, Tanya was confined to a room, only allowed to shower once a week, forced to spend Christmas locked in the closet, and ordered to use a bucket as a toilet.
She was sexually abused, told to change her name to Nikki, and ordered to dye her hair.
Tanya, who later published a book about her ordeal titled Memoirs of a Milk Carton Boy, spoke for the first time about what she had to endure while in captivity in October 2011.
‘They brainwashed me. I feel humiliated now. Absolutely. Most of the time I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, along with a banana and a can of Faygo soda,” she said.
‘About twice a week, in the middle of the night, he would take me to a basement with cold cement floors to take a shower.
“At first it was fine. I thought I was in love and felt that my sacrifices were a result of my love for Tom Hose. However, the ordeal soon began to take its toll.
In 2006, Hose began allowing him some freedom in the belief that he was too afraid and had been brainwashed to escape.
The 24-year-old got a part-time job at a local store and eventually confided in a co-worker who called the police.
Hose served 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of involuntary diversion of sexual relations with a minor, interfering with the custody of a child and child endangerment in 2007.
The man who is now 65 years old was He was released last year and is registered with the Pennsylvania State Police as a sex offender under the state’s Megan’s Law.
The former hostage, now 41, has since claimed that her father Jerry Kach (pictured together above) does not believe her account that she remained under Hose’s control.
But, even though Tanya was released from captivity, He fought to reform family ties.
The former hostage, now 41, has since claimed that her father, Jerry Kach, does not believe her account that Hose keeps her under physical and mental control.
In her book, she dramatically claimed that after she escaped, her father verbally abused Tanya and told her he didn’t love her.
He also appeared on Dr. Phil, where he stated that he eliminated his father because he “didn’t need the negativity.”
Jerry, now 62, is alleged to have gone so far as to partially blame her for the kidnapping, with Tanya telling People: “That broke my heart.”
However, immediately after the book’s publication, he retaliated by arguing that 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 on trash TV and take 15 minutes, that’s fine.” But don’t drag me with you and tarnish my good name.
‘I love my daughter. But her last words to me were, “Have a good life, Jerry.” Those words really hurt.’