The Disturbing Case of Katie Beers: The Girl in The Dungeon
Image courtesy: All That’s Interesting
Trigger warning: This piece contains descriptions of sexual assault and may be disturbing/triggering for some. Reader discretion is advised.
Trust begins with family. Your ability to foster healthy relationships in life depends on your ability to trust people, but what if your own family betrays you?
Like other kids her age, nine year old Katie should have had fun, games and studies in her routine. Unfortunately, these innocent activities were replaced by the horrific experiences of abandonment, abuse and abduction
Katie was kidnapped and held captive for 17 days by someone she trusted.
Katie’s Childhood
Katie was born on 30th December, 1982, in Long Island, New York. She had a childhood that nightmares are made of. Her mother, Marilyn Beers totally neglected her and left the little girl at the mercy of her godmother, Linda Inghilleri and her husband, Sal (short for Salvatore) Inghilleri.
Whenever you hear the word godmother, it gives a picture of a warm and loving mother figure but Linda was anything but. She used Katie as a slave and made her do all the housework — from laundry and cooking dinner to cleaning bathrooms.
You would’ve thought, maybe, Linda’s husband was kind enough to stand up for the child, but here’s another shocker. While Linda was busy being a waste of space on earth and making Katie do all the work, Sal was busy sexually assaulting Katie. The sexual assault began when she was just two years old and would almost always happen on “Sundays”. When Katie turned seven, she told Linda about it, but knowing the vile person that Linda is, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that she called Katie a liar.
Katie endured too much too soon. The innocent little girl was subjected to child abuse by not one, but three adults whom she was supposed to trust.
- Abandonment by her biological mother, Marilyn, who neglected her.
- Slavery by her godmother, Linda, who made her do all the housework.
- Sexual assault by her uncle and Linda’s husband, Sal.
There was another person in Katie’s life who she found comfort in and began to trust — John Esposito, a friend of the Beers’ family who soon became Katie’s only friend too. Katie had lived her childhood days in loneliness as her so-called-family was abusive, because of which, she didn’t trust others.
Image courtesy: NY Post
John was an exception.
He often took Katie and her stepbrother out to toy stores and also gave them gifts. She found solace in John and the time she spent with him helped her escape from the reality of everyday horrors at home.
Was he worth Katie’s trust? Or was he going to become the worst chapter of her life?
The Kidnapping of Katie Beers
28th December, 1992, two days before her tenth birthday, Katie was kidnapped from Spaceplex where she had gone with John. Spaceplex is a place where kids can enjoy gaming and fun activities. For nine year old Katie, Spaceplex was the ideal place to celebrate her birthday with John. But then…
Katie went missing. This kidnapping happened when Katie and John were at Spaceplex, which means Katie disappeared from John’s sight. How was this possible unless John was really careless?
Katie also made a phone call to Linda saying she was kidnapped by someone with a knife. The one thing that sticks out weirdly enough is that how did a nine year old child get access to a phone while being held hostage by a kidnapper?
Think about it. A kidnapper wouldn’t allow the kidnapped child to make a phone call to announce the kidnapping to the world. Even if it was for ransom, the kidnapper would make the call.
So, either this kidnapper was the dumbest kidnapper in the world to allow a kid to make the phone call, or he thought he was too smart and was trying to mislead the authorities in a different direction.
It’s highly unlikely that the detectives and cops didn’t catch this.
Captain Dominic Verone, the Head of the Long Island Police Kidnapping Division got concerned when he got to know about Katie’s kidnapping and the phone call. He felt as though someone was making it look like an abduction by some outsider when in reality it was possibly a close family member.
He was focused on finding the little girl first and ensuring her safety. In kidnapping cases, time is the most vital factor because when you don’t know the motive, you don’t know when the perpetrator could end a life.
Captain Verone decided to involve the FBI as there was no other clue they had besides the call that Linda received from Katie, after she was kidnapped. The FBI would investigate the call and shocking details will emerge later.
There were three main suspects:
Marilyn Beers — Katie’s biological mother.
Linda Inghilleri — Katie’s godmother.
Salvatore Inghilleri — Katie’s sexually abusive uncle.
BUT the last person who had been with Katie was none of these three. It was John Esposito.
The Dungeon Of Terror
While all of this investigation was going on, where actually was Katie?
A petrified Katie was trapped in a sound-proof and locked underground dungeon that was so horrible that it’s impossible to believe that someone could create something like this for a child. This dungeon was created specially for her by the one she trusted and thought was her good friend — John Esposito.
On the day of the kidnapping, John had bought Katie a video game so that he could lure her to his home to play. He sexually assaulted Katie in his house. At some point, she tried calling 911 when John wasn’t looking but he saw her and quickly disconnected the call.
Then he put Katie in a closet. But that’s not the dungeon. John’s mind is far more sinister than that.
He had created some sort of a mechanism to lift a huge, 200 pound slab of concrete off the floor of his house which led to a tunnel. He dropped Katie 3 feet down into the tunnel and she had to crawl her way through to find a door. This door opened to the sickening dungeon.
It had a filthy mattress where Katie would spend the next 16 nights sleeping in absolute terror. That’s not all. The disgusting monster also put a chain around the little girl’s neck. If hell looks like anything, this is it.
He made Katie record a message for her aunt Linda, the same message that was made to look like the distress call Katie made from the phone booth outside Spaceplex. This was then played by John over a call to Linda later in the day, to make it look like Katie was calling her.
This shows that John had thought this through. He hadn’t only made an entire plan to kidnap Katie but had specifically built an entire underground dungeon to keep her in.
That’s pure evil oozing from someone whose mind is fixated on sadistic and cruel deeds.
John provided her with food and sexually assaulted her in the dungeon. The dirty and dingy place also had a television set that Katie would watch. She was able to see all the news about her disappearance and how Captain Verone kept the search on in hopes of finding her.
But she was far stronger than what happened to her and was way smarter than her predator, John Esposito could ever imagine. He had no idea what was coming.
The Search For Katie Beers
The cops were busy with their investigation of Marilyn, Linda and Sal but Captain Verone strongly suspected John Esposito. On digging through John’s past records, the authorities made a horrifying discovery.
John had previously been involved in the kidnapping of a seven year old child, fifteen years before he kidnapped Katie. He was never charged for that abduction. The authorities started focusing on John and were at his doorstep every day but their efforts were in vain as they couldn’t find any clue.
In reality, Katie’s loud bangs on the walls and door of the dungeon were just going unheard because of the sound proofing. But Katie wasn’t going to give up. One day, when she was free from her neck chains for some time, she found some keys, took one of them and hid it underneath the mattress. And luckily it was the key to unlock her chains! Now, Katie could unlock herself whenever she wanted to. At least she could have some freedom while John was away.
Despite living an unbelievably terrorizing nightmare, Katie still hoped that she would be free one day and that day was not very far away. Because she didn’t just hope for it, she had a plan for it.
Katie’s Remarkable Courage
Outside of the dungeon, John felt pressure from being under constant scrutiny and inside the dungeon, he had no solace either. Katie was manipulating him in order to break free.
When she asked him questions about her studies, work and future, John had said that he intended to marry her when she would turn eighteen and that he loved her. She understood that he had no intentions to let her go so she quickly devised a clever plan.
On the fourteenth day of Katie’s terrifying experience in the dungeon, she told John that she wasn’t feeling too well. In reality, she was fine but this was just a ploy to stress John out. She knew that if John feels like she’s going to die, he will get nervous of getting caught and will probably let her go.
Her plan worked! This pressure from outside and inside the dungeon made John confess. He turned himself in.
He led the detectives inside the dark and stomach-turning dungeon where a shocked Katie lay frozen in disbelief. Once they told her that they were the police, she quickly got out of the tunnel and walked towards her freedom.
The authorities were amazed at the nine year old’s courage, strength and intelligence. I don’t think I’d last a day with my sanity intact in a place like that and with a person like John Esposito. Hats off to Katie for being not just a survivor but a victorious warrior.
Justice For Katie
Katie went through the torturous ordeal all alone and even paved her own path towards her freedom. Yes, you heard that right. A nine year old girl single-handedly changed her kindapper’s mind.
To top it all, before her life was on the line and her courage was put to test, she had already been through enough hell. Finally, she would see her predators behind bars.
John Esposito was arrested and the dungeon was no longer a secret. His monstrosity was out in the open for everyone to see.
For the next few months, therapist Mary Bromley used art and play therapy to help Katie heal from all the trauma she had endured from everyone around her.
John pled guilty to kidnapping in the first degree but didn’t confess to sexually assaulting her. This verdict was out on July 27, 1994. He was sentenced of 15 years to life behind bars.
Salvatore Inghilleri was found guilty of sexually assaulting Katie. On August 9, 1994, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
For the crimes they committed and the horror and trauma that Katie will not forget for life, the sentences don’t really look like justice. But Karma is real. Both Sal and John died while serving their sentence in prison.
Sal Inghilleri died on February 21, 2009. John Esposito died on September 5, 2013, the same day he finally, after 20 years, confessed to sexually assaulting Katie. The two filthy-minded predators didn’t get a chance at seeing free life again, because unlike Katie Beers, they didn’t deserve it.
The shocking part of the whole case is that none of the two women, Marilyn and Linda were ever charged for their neglect and abuse. I think they should’ve been punished too because abuse isn’t just about physical and sexual assault, it’s also about deteriorating someone’s mental and emotional well-being.
The two women went on to live their lives like nothing happened. What do you think their punishment should have been? Let me know in the comments.
In true crime stories, the end isn’t always ugly. Katie formed a unique and beautiful bond with Captain Verone. She had watched him on TV during her time in the dungeon. She saw a man who worked tirelessly to find her. He never gave up on his search for Katie.
Captain Verone too was amazed at the little girl’s presence of mind and bravery. They formed a truly remarkable bond and wished well for each other from the bottom of their hearts. She finally found an adult she could truly and whole-heartedly trust.
Katie Leaves Her Past Behind
After the horrific experience, Katie was placed in foster care. She finally had a normal family with loving parents and siblings. Being the exceptionally brave child that Katie was, she grew up to be a resilient woman and authored her book “Buried Memories” in which she details her twisted and painful childhood experiences.
Katie is happily married to a wonderful man and has two amazing children. She also worked with the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children. She strongly feels that she wouldn’t want any other child to ever go through what she went through.
Her story and her resilience are an inspiration to many young girls and boys. Knowing her story is enough to make people believe that no matter the situation, there’s always a way out.
Katie’s extraordinary feat paved her way for a future that wouldn’t be defined by what happened to her, but instead, it would be shaped by how she overcame it.
I recommend watching Unseen channel’s coverage of this case.
Just like Katie, there are many more victims in the world who suffer villainous acts at the hands of such hostile criminals. If you’d like to read about more true crime stories, let me know the ones you’d like me to cover.
