Parole Board: Katie Beers' Captor Would Have Been Denied Release
MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A man who died hours after a parole hearing on his kidnapping conviction would have faced at least two more years behind bars had he survived.
A New York state parole board released the decision denying parole on Monday in the case of John Esposito.
The Long Island contractor died last week of natural causes at Sing Sing prison in Ossining. He did not know of the decision when he died.
He was serving up to life in the kidnapping of then-10-year-old Katie Beers in 1992. He hid her in a dungeon in his Bay Shore home for 17 days.
"I'm saddened at the loss of a life, but at the same time I'm happy that John Esposito will never be granted parole or have the opportunity to hurt anyone ever again," Beers said in a statement last week after his death was reported.
Beers, now 30, broke her silence on her ordeal back in January, granting an exclusive interview to CBS 2′s Jennifer McLogan.
"I was more concerned with trying to get free and trying to survive. Looking back, it's amazing to learn of the support I had from everybody," Beers said during that interview. "The remembering has been difficult because I buried it for so long."
Beers grew up in a profoundly neglected home where she was a victim of emotional and sexual abuse. Esposito, who was her neighbor, claimed that he loved her.
Beers is married with children and lives in Pennsylvania.
Esposito's death followed the shocking suicide of an even more high-profile convict.
Ariel Castro, the man who held three Cleveland women captive for roughly a decade, committed suicide in a Ohio state prison facility, officials announced on Sept. 4.
Ohio corrections spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said Castro, 53, was found hanging in his cell around 9:20 p.m. on Sept. 3 at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio.
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