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A Michigan woman was arrested and charged with felonies after she allegedly kept her disabled sister-in-law locked in a basement for two years, where she nearly starved the victim to death and tested a radio non-stop.
Tasha Beamon, 48, was charged with vulnerable adult abuse and false imprisonment.
The victim managed to escape from the basement and broke a neighbor’s window on March 15 while trying to enter the house, alert police and escape captivity, according to MLive.
The neighbor called 911 and the victim told police that Beamon, the wife of the victim’s 58-year-old late brother, held her captive in the basement of the Saginaw home for two years before she found a way to free herself.
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Tasha Beamon, 48, was charged with vulnerable adult abuse and false imprisonment. (Saginaw County Sheriff’s Office)
“She told officers that she wasn’t fed very often and that she didn’t have access to water,” said Saginaw police Detective Sgt. Jeff Doud told the outlet.
The victim said Beamon had kept her on an old mattress since March 2024 with a nearby radio constantly blaring.
Police went to Beamon’s home and observed a lock on the basement door, a mattress on the floor and a radio playing at full volume. Police also said there was a 5-gallon bucket of urine in the basement.
“Usually there was someone there. She didn’t think anyone was home at the time, so she was able to break open a door and escape,” Doud said.
Police went to the home and observed a lock on the basement door, a mattress on the floor and a radio playing at full volume. (Google maps)
Emergency services transported the woman to a hospital, where she was treated for severe malnutrition. Hospital staff told police the woman would likely die if she was discharged.
The neighbor told ABC 12 he was shocked to suddenly find the victim in his living room with a metal pipe “almost as big as her.”
“I don’t even know how he had the power to break the window,” the man said. “I thought she was like 78 years old. She was tall, skin and bones.”
“At first he asked me to call the police, which was strange. But that was the first thing he told me: call the police,” he added.
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Police said there was a 5-gallon bucket of urine in the basement. (Saginaw Police)
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Beamon later admitted to police that he kept the woman in his home without allowing her to leave. He also made 40 calls to the hospital where his sister-in-law was hospitalized.
Investigators suspect Beamon was holding the woman captive to collect her disability payments, Doud said.
Beamon was arrested April 2 and booked into the Saginaw County Jail on $100,000 bail, the amount ordered after prosecutors described her as a danger to the public.
He will appear for a preliminary exam on April 20.