Inset: Tasha Beamon (Saginaw County Jail). Background: The home where Beamon allegedly kept her sister-in-law imprisoned for years (Google Maps).
A Michigan woman, aged 48, faces accusations of grievously mistreating her sister-in-law by allegedly detaining the 58-year-old in a locked basement for several years, providing only minimal amounts of food and water to sustain her.
Authorities detained Tasha Beamon last week, charging her with unlawful imprisonment and first-degree abuse of a vulnerable adult, as indicated by court documents.
The case against Beamon began when the Saginaw Police Department responded to a report of a property being vandalized on the 1600 block of Gilbert Street at around 2 p.m. on March 15. According to local CBS affiliate WNEM, the caller reported that a woman had shattered a window and remained outside the home.
Upon arrival, officers encountered a 58-year-old woman who claimed she had just fled from a nearby residence where she had been confined against her will for approximately two years, as reported by WNEM and MLive. The woman explained that she broke the window to attract attention and seek assistance.
“She informed officers that she was rarely fed and had no access to water,” stated Saginaw Police Detective Sgt. Jeff Doud, according to MLive.
Authorities confirmed that the woman identified Beamon, her sister-in-law and caretaker, as the individual responsible for keeping her imprisoned in the basement since around 2024. The victim recounted being forced to stay on a mattress with a radio perpetually playing nearby, MLive reported.
“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.
