'My 10 years as a sex slave': Milk carton kid held hostage in her abductor's bedroom describes her ordeal for the first time



It was one of Pittsburgh's most enduring mysteries.



14-year-old Tanya Kach vanished from her parents' home in 1996 and was not seen again for another 10 years.

The teenager spent a decade imprisoned in the 2nd floor bedroom of Thomas Hose, a security guard at her high school.



Back from the dead: Tanya Kach, who vanished in 1996 aged 14, has spoken about her ordeal for the first time

Lovestruck teen: Kach said she believed she was beginning a relationship with Hose, 25 years her senior

Over time Kach's captor allowed her some limited freedom.



And though too fearful and 'brainwashed' to escape, Kach eventually confided in a store worker.



The sensational revelation brought police to the rescue of the girl they had been hunting for a decade.



Now a grown woman, Kach has spoken for the first time about her horrific ordeal.



In an interview to publicise her new book, Kach said she was already a troubled teen at the time of her abduction.

Her parents were breaking up and, in dealing with her problems, the teenager confided in Hose, meeting him under the stairwell at school.



Kach said she believed she was beginning a relationship with Hose, 25 years her senior.

She told KDKA-TV, 'My mother wasn't in my life at that point. My dad completely forgot he even had had a daughter and we were living under the same roof, and I was hanging around with the wrong crowd.'



Kach recalled, 'He was an authority figure, wearing a uniform and a badge. (He was) somebody that you would trust, and he befriended me.'



Kach ran away from home, to Hose's house, where he lived with his parents and a son.



Incredibly Hose's parents say they never knew about the teenager who spent 10 years hidden in the second-floor bedroom.



Kach told CBS News her life confined to Hose's bedroom 24 hours a day was 'absolutely horrible.' She was allowed downstairs to a take a shower just once a week at best.



The vulnerable teen was forced to use a bucket as a toilet.



'He put a bucket in there, and said, 'That's your bathroom,'' Kach said. 'I was just so brainwashed. I feel humiliated now. Absolutely.'

In her forthcoming book Kach describes her routine.

'Most of the time I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches along with a banana and a can of Faygo soda pop. Sometimes Tom Hose smuggled me leftovers from his dinner.



'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.'



The hardest time for the missing girl were holidays. She spent four Christmas Eves inside a closet on the second floor of the Hose family home.



'It broke my heart,' she said. 'I thought of my family, wondering if they were thinking about me.'



Trusted friend: Kach's parents were breaking up and the teenager confided in Thomas Hose, a security guard at her school

Abuser: Incredibly, Thomas Hose's parents claim they never knew about the teenager who spent 10 years hidden in his second floor bedroom

Kach was also forced to change her hair colour and her name to Nikki.



After some time Hose permitted her to go on the back porch when he was getting ready for work.



She says she was too afraid to leave because Hose threatened to find and kill her.



'He would just point. I was like a dog,' she said. 'I did what my master told me. I went in the closet.'



Hose over time trusted Kach with limited freedom to go out. She was befriended by the owner of a nearby shop and one day told him the truth- that her name was Tanya and that she was the girl police had been searching for all these years.



House of horrors: Kach was eventually allowed to go on the back porch when Hose was getting ready for work

Thomas Hose, now 53, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a minor, interfering with the custody of a child and child endangerment. He is eligible for parole in February 2012.



Kach said, 'He's an absolute monster. There's just no words to explain him.'

As well as penning her autobiography, 'The Tanya Nicole Kach story. Memoir of a Milk Carton Kid', Kach has been studying to become a real estate agent.

But since the end of her captivity she has struggled to reform family bonds.



The former hostage has claimed that her father doesn't believe her account of being kept under Hose's mental and physical control.

Grown up: Kach, pictured leaving court, was 25 in 2007 when Hose pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison

Father and daughter: Tanya and Jerry Kach were initially happily reunited after Tanya's rescue but are now estranged

After she escaped Jerry Kach verbally abused Tanya and said he didn't love her, she dramatically claims in the book.

Appearing on the 'Dr. Phil' chat show earlier this week Kach said she had cut her father out of her life two years ago because she 'didn't need the negativity'.

But Jerry Kach has retaliated saying he feels demonised by his estranged daughter's book, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported.



He said: 'If you want to go out and tell your story, go on trash TV and have your 15 minutes, fine. But don't drag me down with you and besmirch my good name,'

'I love my daughter. But her last words to me were 'Have a nice life, Jerry.' Those words really hurt.'

