A Saginaw woman is accused of holding her sister-in-law against her will for about two years.

SAGINAW, Mich. — A 48-year-old Saginaw woman is facing felony charges after police said her 58-year-old sister-in-law escaped from a basement, broke a nearby window and told officers she had been held against her will for about two years.

The case began as a report of malicious destruction of property on March 15, but police said it quickly became a vulnerable adult abuse investigation. Tasha Beamon was later arrested and charged with unlawful imprisonment and first-degree vulnerable adult abuse. Investigators said Beamon had been acting as the woman’s caretaker, giving the case added weight because the alleged victim depended on her for basic care.

Police said officers were dispatched around 2 p.m. to the 1600 block of Gilbert Street after a caller reported that an unknown woman had broken a window and remained outside. When officers arrived, they found the woman and heard a different account than a simple vandalism complaint. She said she had escaped from a nearby house and broke the window because she needed someone to call police. Saginaw Police Detective Sgt. Jeff Doud said the woman told officers she was not fed often and did not have access to water. That statement sent officers and detectives from the broken window to the nearby home where she said she had been confined.

The woman told investigators she had been kept in a basement since about 2024, police said. She described sleeping on a mattress while a radio played nearby and said she had little or no access to food, water, a bathroom or a shower. Police said the basement door was locked in a way that supported her account that she could not leave freely. Investigators reported finding a mattress, containers of urine and other evidence they said matched the woman’s description of the basement. Police have not released the woman’s name, citing her status as a vulnerable adult and the nature of the allegations.

A neighbor, Colton Ehlow, said the woman appeared inside his home after shattering a window with a metal pipe. Ehlow said the first thing she asked for was police. He described her as extremely frail and said she looked far older than her 58 years. He also said the basement setup raised questions for police because the door could not be unlocked from the inside. Investigators said the woman believed no one was home when she forced her way out of the house where she had been kept. Doud said that belief gave her a chance to escape after a long period in which someone was usually present.

Emergency responders took the woman to a local hospital, where authorities said she was treated for severe malnourishment. Prosecutors said medical staff believed she could die if released without care. Police said the hospital findings were part of the evidence supporting the vulnerable adult abuse charge. Investigators also said they reviewed the house, interviewed witnesses and questioned Beamon before charges were filed. Beamon allegedly acknowledged keeping the woman in the home and not allowing her to leave, though police said she claimed the woman stayed in an upstairs bedroom. Investigators said evidence found in the basement contradicted that account.

The investigation also focused on money. Police said they were examining whether Beamon kept the woman confined to collect her disability payments. Doud said financial gain was a possible motive, though authorities have not publicly released a full accounting of benefit payments or bank records. No additional financial charges had been announced in the public reports reviewed for this story. The allegation remains part of the broader investigation as police and prosecutors build the case around confinement, care, medical condition and control over the woman’s daily life.

Beamon was arrested April 2 and booked into the Saginaw County Jail. A judge set bond at $100,000. The charges she faces are serious felonies under Michigan law, and the case is expected to move through preliminary court proceedings before any trial decision. It was not clear from public reports whether Beamon had entered a plea or retained an attorney. Police Chief Bob Ruth praised officers and detectives for what he called thorough work in securing charges tied to deeply troubling allegations. Prosecutors will have to show probable cause for the charges to proceed.

The allegations shocked the neighborhood because the first public sign of trouble was not a welfare check, a missing person report or a family complaint. It was a broken window. The woman’s act changed the role of the caller from a property-crime victim to a witness in a possible long-term confinement case. Police said the call placed officers in front of a woman who was asking for help and gave them a direct route to the home where she said she had been trapped. That sequence became the spine of the criminal complaint.

The case also placed attention on how difficult hidden abuse can be to detect when the alleged victim is an adult living inside a private home. Police said the woman was a vulnerable adult, but they have not released details about her disability or medical condition. They also have not said how long Beamon had formal or informal caregiving responsibility for her. The public record so far does not explain whether other relatives, neighbors, agencies or medical providers had contact with either woman during the alleged two-year confinement period. Those gaps remain part of what investigators may examine as the case moves forward.

As of the latest public reports, the woman remained connected to medical care after being taken from the Gilbert Street area, and Beamon remained accused of unlawful imprisonment and first-degree vulnerable adult abuse. The next milestone is the court process tied to the felony charges and any additional filings prosecutors may make.

Author note: Last updated April 28, 2026.