On December 28, 1992, nine-year-old Katie Beers was captured by family friend John Esposito — then held prisoner and abused for weeks.

Katie Beers was just about to turn 10 years old when she was kidnapped by a predatory friend of the family and held prisoner for more than two weeks.

Just a few days before her 10th birthday in 1992, Katie Beers of Bay Shore, New York was lured into the home of a neighbor and family friend named John Esposito. He then held her captive in an underground bunker and sexually abused her for 17 horrifying days in a custom-made prison. He even told her that she would spend the rest of her life there as his prisoner.

However, Katie Beers’ horrific experience ended just as suddenly as it had begun, when Esposito confessed and she was rescued. However, her release from underground captivity also meant that she was liberated from her own family — who had been abusing the girl since she was just two years old.

This is the disturbing story of Katie Beers’ kidnapping and salvation.

Katie Beers’ Abusive Childhood

Katherine Beers was born in New York on Dec. 30, 1982. In her early childhood, she lived on Long Island with her biological mother and older half-brother, John Beers. Her mother, Marilyn, was neglectful of Beers and older brother, frequently leaving Katie in the care of godmother Linda Inghilleri and her husband, Sal.

This domestic arrangement was far worse as Katie Beers endured consistent sexual abuse at the hands of Sal Inghilleri. “I was sexually abused, physically abused, emotionally abused, and verbally abused,” Beers said, according to ABC News.

In an atmosphere that allowed sexual abuse to thrive, predatory family friend John Esposito hovered on the periphery of the children’s lives, showering young Katie and her brother John with attention and gifts. Esposito reportedly started sexually abusing John until Esposito believed he was “too old.”

In 1978, Esposito had pleaded guilty to the attempted abduction of a seven-year-old boy from a shopping mall, avoiding prison time, but Beers’ family appeared none the wiser. Beers would later say of her childhood, “I grew up in a world where abuse was swept under the rug, and not reported. Abuse wasn’t reported because the community didn’t know it was happening, abuse wasn’t reported because the community turned a blind eye, ignored it, didn’t report it, or didn’t know where to report it.”

Ironically, Beers’ abusive childhood gave her the mental fortitude she would soon need to survive a far more terrifying ordeal.