A 24-year-old woman who was missing for 10 years has been reunited with her father after spending most of the time locked in the bedroom of a house just three kilometres away. Tanya Kach had been living at the house in a suburb of Pittsburgh with a 48-year-old man who was a security guard at the school she attended as a teenager.
For 10 years she did not venture out alone, remaining in a locked bedroom in Thomas Hose’s home. The security guard was remanded in custody on Wednesday, charged with sexual assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.
After seeing her father for the first time since she ran away from home at 14, Kach said: ”I can’t believe I’m free.” Her father never stopped looking for her, and the search assumed a high profile in Pittsburgh, with the girl’s photograph appearing on milk cartons. But there were never any sightings of her.
She told reporters that Hose had kept her in the house by convincing her that nobody else cared about her. ”He told me no one was looking for me. He said the case was cold. I believed him.”
The security guard met her when he caught her skipping a class at school. They made plans for her to run away to live with him. She moved into his house, which he shared with his parents and younger brother. Hose moved her in when nobody was there and kept her presence secret. Some 10 months ago he introduced her to his parents as his girlfriend and she started to go out, making frequent visits to a nearby shop. This week, Kach finally told her story to the shopkeeper.
Hose has not been charged with holding her against her will. – Guardian Unlimited Â