By RACHEL QUIGLEY
The Pittsburgh milk carton kid who was abducted by her school janitor for more than a decade when she was 14 was able to fulfill a rite of passage every woman should - she went to the prom. Tanya Kach, 31, vanished from her parents' home in 1996 and spent a decade imprisoned in the second floor bedroom of Thomas Hose, a janitor at her high school who seduced her when she was experiencing problems at home. While in captivity, Tanya was kept confined to one room, only allowed to shower once a week, forced to spend Christmas locked in the closet and forced to use a bucket as a toilet. But on Saturday night, with the help of local radio station Star 110.7, the 31-year-old was able to go to the ball.
She told WTAE.com: 'I got the shoes, jewelry with it, and then I just got the last finishing touches for the hair stuff and then he brought me my corsage today.' Her fiance, Karl McCrum, called The Bubba Show on the station and won tickets for the prom on the Gateway Clipper Fleet at Station Square. Once the radio hosts realized who it was, they immediately responded. 'I would like her to experience everything that she missed. Just because it's a little later in life, doesn't mean that you can't still enjoy it,' said McCrum. 'I'm excited to do something I never got to do and be with other people and dance and eat and have a nice time, it's going to be fun,' said Tanya.
'This is what I want to do is show people that even after something tragic in your life, you can move on and try and live a normal life.' She told ABC that she would think about her prom when she was in captivity and would cry over the fact she never got to go. Tanya was finally rescued when Hose started allowing her some freedom, knowing that she was too afraid and brainwashed to escape. But she eventually confided in someone who worked at the local store and police came to her rescue. She later wrote a book about her ordeal called The Tanya Nicole Kach story. Memoir of a Milk Carton Kid. When publicizing her book in October 2011, she spoke for the first time about what she had to endure while she was in captivity.
'I was just so brainwashed. 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 pop. 'About twice a week in the dead of night he led me down into a cellar with cold, concrete floors to take a shower. 'I was fine at first. I thought I was in love and felt my sacrifices were a labor of my love for Tom Hose. Soon, however, the ordeal began to take its toll.' She was forced to change her name to Nikki and dye her hair. Hose pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a minor, interfering with the custody of a child and child endangerment in 2007. He was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison and was denied parole last year.
