Katie Beers voices support for Wisconsin kidnapping victim

Katie Beers kidnapped and held by a family friend for 17 days in Bay Shore.

News 12 Staff

Jan 12, 2019, 3:09 AM

Updated 2,176 days ago

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It's been more than two decades since Katie Beers was rescued from an underground bunker on Long Island.
At just 9 years old in 1992, she was kidnapped and held by a family friend for 17 days in Bay Shore. She says she was in survival mode at the time.
Beers now lives in central Pennsylvania. News 12 caught up with her via Skype Friday to get her thoughts on the kidnapping and rescue of Jayme Closs in Wisconsin.
"The fact that she had the willpower to survive the 88 days knowing that her parents were shot and killed," Beers says. "Then she has to endure being abducted for a length of time. She is very, very, very strong."
According to authorities, Closs disappeared in October after her parents were found fatally shot. Police say she escaped her captor and approached a woman walking her dog on Thursday, 70 miles from home.
John Esposito, the man convicted of kidnapping Beers, died in prison in 2013. Now a mother of two, Beers says she hopes Closs gets the same love and support she did to help her get through the ordeal.
In the Closs case, police arrested 21-year-old Jake Thomas Patterson. He's been charged him with first-degree murder and kidnapping.
Jan. 13 marks 26 years since Beers was rescued.