Victim Katie Beers Date 1992 Assailants John Esposito | Attack type Kidnapping Name Katie kidnapping Weapons Gun | |
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Similar Kidnapping of Hannah Anderson, Murder of Denise Amber Lee, 2012 Bain murder kidnappings | ||
Katherine "Katie" Beers (born December 30, 1982) was kidnapped in New York in 1992 at age 9, by a friend of the family, and held in an underground bunker for seventeen days.
Contents
Kidnapping
Katie Beers disappeared on December 28, 1992, two days before her tenth birthday. She was lured by the promise of birthday presents to the home of a family friend, John Esposito. She left a message on her godmother's answering machine saying, "I've been kidnapped by a man with a knife." Esposito, almost immediately a suspect due to his own personal history, (he had a criminal record for previously grabbing a seven year old in a mall in an attempted abduction) falsely alleged that Beers was kidnapped by a third party while at the Spaceplex indoor amusement park, but security cameras disclosed that Esposito entered Spaceplex by himself.
Beers was held in a 6-foot-by-7-foot concrete bunker under Esposito's garage in Bay Shore, New York, concealed by a 200-pound concrete trap door. The bunker contained a commode toilet, television set, mattress and chains used to restrain Beers. Beers, along with other children, had played in the dirt displaced by the bunker as Esposito dug it a few years earlier. He told police he had built the bunker for Beers. On January 13, 1993, she was found alive in the bunker after Esposito led police to it. Although he was not charged with it, Beers later said Esposito had raped her during her captivity.
Aftermath
Esposito was sentenced on July 27, 1994 to 15 years to life, a sentence he served at Sing Sing prison in Westchester County, New York. He was found dead in his cell of apparently natural causes on September 4, 2013, just after a parole hearing.
Beers was sent to live with foster parents, due to severe neglect from her mother and abuse she had experienced before the kidnapping. She was raised by the foster family until adulthood.
Media
In January 2013, Beers published a memoir, Buried Memories (known as Help Me in the United Kingdom) about her ordeal. The book was co-written by reporter Carolyn Gusoff, who had previously covered Beers' case as it was happening.
The season 4 episode of Law & Order, "Nurture", was based on this case. ABC's 20/20 episode "Saved" covered Katie Beers story in February 2013.
