Suspect in Kach case tries suicide in McKeesport home

A former school security guard accused of keeping a girl captive in his McKeesport home for 10 years tried to kill himself Monday, hours before he was to go on trial, lawyers said.

Thomas Hose, 48, stabbed himself and took pills in the McKeesport home he shares with his parents, said defense attorney James Ecker, who received a phone call from Hose's mother, Eleanor Hose, about 7 a.m. She came into the kitchen and found Hose sitting in a chair "in a lot of blood."

"I talked to him. He sounded very out of it," Ecker said.

Paramedics took Hose to Mercy Hospital, Uptown. Ecker said his client "seemed to be doing well" later yesterday morning and was in stable condition. Hose was being treated for six or seven superficial stab wounds, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge John A. Zottola said.

Ecker, who visited Hose at the hospital, couldn't remember what kind of pills Hose swallowed or how many.

Hose was on house arrest while he awaited trial on charges of statutory sexual assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse in the role he played in the 1996 disappearance of Tanya Kach, who was 14 at the time. Kach, now 25, emerged March 21 from what she called a decade in captivity and told her story to a McKeesport deli owner, who contacted police.

Zottola postponed the start of the trial for Hose and co-defendant Judith Sokol until May 14. Sokol, 58, a former hairdresser from Duquesne, is accused of helping Hose change Kach's appearance and conceal her whereabouts.

Zottola also revoked Hose's bond.

Hose was involuntarily committed to Mercy yesterday for a psychiatric evaluation because he's considered a danger to himself, Zottola said. After three days, Hose likely will be moved to Mayview State Hospital, where doctors will determine whether he is competent to stand trial, the judge said. After that, Hose could be housed at the county jail until trial, he said.

Ecker said he talked to his client three times Sunday night and Hose seemed fine.

"I was very concerned when I got the call this morning," Ecker said. "I've had this happen before, but it's not something you get used to."

Zottola issued a gag order on prosecutors and defense lawyers, who had been negotiating a possible plea agreement in recent days. Lawrence Fisher, Kach's private attorney, said the gag order prevented him from commenting on yesterday morning's "bizarre developments." Fisher wouldn't say how his client handled the news of Hose's apparent suicide attempt.

Sokol's attorney, Angela Carsia, declined to comment.