People Magazine Investigates Recap for Held Captive
People Magazine Investigates Recap for Held Captive: This week’s People Magazine Investigates is titled Held Captive and covers the case of Tayna Kach.
–Tanya’s father Jerry (whose identity is concealed) talks about his daughter’s growing up years.
-Tanya’s childhood was tumultuous. She faced abuse at the hands of her mother, but her parent’s divorce made things worse. Things did not improve when Jerry married his now-wife Jo-Ann.
-They moved to McKeesport, PA and tried to make a better life for Tanya. However, things only seemed to get worse since the area was a far cry from the sleepy town where she grew up. On top of that, she was bullied relentlessly and often got into fights.
-At that point, things got so bad that Tanya ended up running away several times. She would often go back home after awhile (after being reported missing)….until one day she never returned. This time, the police didn’t take the report seriously since this happened so often.
-Tanya’s grandma found a letter from Tanya in her house, which led them to Judy Sokul, a woman who helped disadvantaged kids. She’d admitted to helping Tanya once, but never saw her again.
-Another letter was found, which looked to be from a male. The contents inferred he was in a sexual relationship with Tanya.
-Jerry reports this and it turns out that the man in question was Kevin Churchfield. He would babysit his kids and would often sexually proposition her. Despite reporting him, she continued to babysit for him.
-Kevin was charged, but since Tanya failed to appear in court the case was dropped. He was also given a lie detector test, where he admitted to having a sexual relationship with her. He did not admit to killing or abducting her. Despite the results of the lie detector test, he walked since there was no evidence or anything.
-Jo-Ann finds Tanya’s diary, which discusses a guy named Tom and Judy. This leads to Judy getting questioned again. She says that she heard Tanya had a crush on Tom Hose, who was a security guard at the school. Tanya once sent him a letter, but he turned it in to the school. Once this was confirmed, he was cleared as a suspect.
-Two years later, a body was found that fit the description of Tanya. Since it was decomposing, they needed to wait for a confirmation. However, the girl was identified as Kimberlie Krimm, another girl who was missing.
-Ann Marie Callaghan was found dead in 1995, found in the same disturbing way as Kimberlie.
-The two girls (and Tanya) were young teens who went to Cornell Middle School, making authorities wonder if there was a connection.
-Almost three years later, the Center for Missing and Exploited Children helped bring awareness to the case, even putting Tanya’s picture on a milk carton.
-Ten years later, Tanya was still missing. The case went cold an unsolved….until March 21st, 2006. A tip led them back to Tom Hose, the security guard at the school who was questioned early on in the case.
-Authorities arrive at Tom’s and he is brought to prison while Tanya was set free and reunited with her family.
-After a long, well-deserved celebration, Tanya went to authorities to give her statement. Due to the disturbing nature of the statement, it will not be shared, but Judy was involved in the entire thing.
-Tanya also remembered when Kimberlie’s body was found and how Tom had such a cold reaction.
-One day in 2000, Tanya was allowed to leave and run errands, but using an assumed name. She was so brainwashed that she did what was told and didn’t try to escape. She was soon allowed to go to the local deli, where she got to know the owners. This allowed her to interact with others and see what a normal life could be.
-Tanya finally got the courage to tell Joe the deli owner her true identity and everything else that was going on. Joe promised to help her and finally was able to get the ball rolling so she could be set free.
-Pretty soon, there is enough evidence to arrest Tom and Judy. However, he could not be connected to Ann Marie or Kimberlie’s murders.
-Tanya also must deal with her father, who began to blame her for what happened.
-Tom was charged and sentenced to five to fifteen years in prison.
-Tanya still suffers from her abuse and has several health issues, including having to get a hysterectomy. She continues to try and heal and even wrote a book about her experience. She also went no contact with her father and stepmother, who are upset with how they were portrayed in the book.
-Tom was released in 2022, leaving her on edge and living in fear. However, she has a husband, two stepkids and two grandbabies to love!
-Ann Marie and Kimberlie’s murders remain unsolved.
