Sounak Sengupta
On Investigation Discovery’s ‘People Magazine Investigates: Held Captive: The Disappearance of Tanya Kach,’ survivor Tanya Nicole Kach-McCrum recounts how her captor, Thomas Hose, imprisoned her in his McKeesport, Pennsylvania, residence from early 1996 to early 2006. The episode focuses on how she survived her decade-long ordeal and managed to escape from her abductor’s grip. If you’re curious to learn more about the case, including Thomas’ prison sentence and his current whereabouts, we’ve you covered. Let’s dive in then, shall we?
Who Is Thomas Hose?
Thomas “Tom” Hose worked as a security guard at Cornell Middle School in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in February 1996. He befriended Tanya Nicole Kach-McCrum, a 14-year-old eighth-grade student who labeled herself as a misfit. The teen had been going through a difficult time with her parents divorcing, domestic turmoil, and other students bullying her at school. According to the show, he, then 38, brought her candies and cigarettes, listened to her woes, and tried to make her laugh. Tanya often skipped classes until Tom caught her in the act one day.
However, much to Tanya’s surprise, Tom promised not to report her but allegedly leaned in and kissed her. The security guard manipulated the disturbed teen into thinking she loved him. Weeks later, he lured her into his elderly parents’ house in McKeesport, where he lived in a room upstairs, in February 1996. For the next decade, he imprisoned her in his upstairs bedroom, away from his parents, fed her his leftovers, and gave her a bucket for her bathroom needs. He kept the erstwhile teen confined in a closet during the holidays.
After Tanya turned 18, Tom allowed her to leave his room but kept her hidden from his parents. Over the next five years, he created a fraudulent identity for her and introduced the teen as Nikki Diane Allen — his live-in girlfriend — to his parents. He sometimes allowed her to leave the house to run errands and even let her work a part-time job at a local convenience store under a strict curfew. During the last ten months of her ordeal, Tom permitted Tanya to visit JJ’s Deli Mart, where he formed a friendship with the owner, Joe Sparico.
Thomas Hose Was Released in 2022
The grocery store owner, Joe, was suspicious of the dynamics between Tanya and Tom since he was aware of the vast age difference between them and the complete control he exerted over the teen. Overwhelmed by emotions, Tanya told him on March 21, 2006, about her circumstances and asked him to check websites for missing children. The shocked store owner immediately contacted the authorities, and the police arrived at Tom’s door to rescue her and arrest her captor. The officers brought her to the police station and handed her to her family.
Tom was charged with three counts of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, statutory sexual assault, interfering with the custody of a child, corruption of a minor, and child endangerment. Facing over a century in prison if convicted, he pled guilty to all charges in 2007 and was sentenced to five to 15 years, with a maximum sentence date of February 9, 2022, on a count of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse. His parole was repeatedly dismissed, and he served his entire sentence before being released in February 2022. The 65-year-old is registered with Pennsylvania State Police as a sex offender under the state’s Megan’s Law.
Read More: Tanya Kach: Where is the Kidnapping Survivor Now?
