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Inset: Tasha Beamon (Saginaw County Jail). Background: The home where Beamon allegedly kept her sister-in-law imprisoned for years (Google Maps).
In a distressing case unfolding in Michigan, a 48-year-old woman faces grave accusations of abusing her sister-in-law. Allegedly, she kept the 58-year-old victim locked in a basement for several years, providing only meager amounts of food and water essential for survival.
The accused, Tasha Beamon, was apprehended last week and now faces charges of unlawful imprisonment and first-degree abuse of a vulnerable adult, according to court documents.
The case came to light when officers from the Saginaw Police Department responded to a call on March 15. The call, received around 2 p.m., reported vandalism at a residence in the 1600 block of Gilbert Street, as noted by local CBS affiliate WNEM. The homeowner reported that a woman had broken a window and was still on the premises.
Upon arrival, police encountered a 58-year-old woman claiming she had just fled from a nearby house where she had been confined against her will for approximately two years. According to reports from WNEM and MLive, the woman explained that she resorted to breaking a window to prompt someone to alert the authorities.
Saginaw Police Detective Sgt. Jeff Doud recounted the woman’s harrowing story, stating, “She informed officers that she was rarely fed and had no access to water,” as detailed in a report from MLive. This chilling revelation paints a stark picture of the conditions endured during her captivity.
Authorities said the woman identified Beamon — her sister-in-law and caregiver — as the person who confined her in the basement since about 2024. The victim said she had been forced to stay on a mattress with a radio constantly blaring nearby, according to MLive.
“Usually, somebody was there,” Doud said. “She didn’t believe anyone was home at the time, so she was able to force a door open and escape.”
A neighbor, Colton Ehlow, told local ABC affiliate WJRT he was startled to find the woman inside his home after she shattered his window with a metal pipe.
“She asks me to call the cops at first, which was weird. But that was the first thing she said to me: Call the cops,” Ehlow said.
Ehlow described the woman as extremely frail.
“I thought she was like 78. She was this tall, skin and bones,” he said.
He also spoke about how the basement was set up.
“It was on the outside door, so you can’t get in from it,” Ehlow said. “You can’t unlock it from the inside, so that’s what clued them to believe her that she was trapped there.”
Investigators who searched Beamon’s home reportedly found evidence consistent with the woman’s account, including a locked basement door, a mattress, and containers of urine. Authorities also determined the victim had little to no access to food, water, a bathroom, or a shower.
Emergency responders transported the woman to a hospital, where staff determined she was suffering from severe malnourishment and could die if released, prosecutors alleged, according to MLive.
Beamon later admitted to keeping the woman in her home and not allowing her to leave, though she claimed the victim stayed in an upstairs bedroom — a statement that was reportedly contradicted by evidence at the scene.
Authorities believe Beamon may have been motivated by financial gain, alleging she kept the woman confined in order to collect her disability payments, Doud said.
Beamon is currently being held at the Saginaw County Jail, where a judge set her bond at $100,000. She is scheduled to make her next appearance in court on April 20.