European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 17, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday january 17, 1993 i . The stars and stripes a Paga 9calls pour in to help girl held captive from wire reports t a bitter fight for custody of Katie Beers the 10-Ycar-old Long Island girl who was kept in an underground cell for 16 Days intensified Friday. Meanwhile hundreds of people from around the country phoned to offer help to the girl. Katie was reported to have testified Friday before a 23member Suffolk county grand jury that began hearing a a charges against her suspected captor John Esposito. Esposito 43, was being held on $500,000 bail. It was unclear if other charges would be brought in the Case but officials said they were considering allegations of sexual abuse. As hundreds of people called from around the country offering toys Money and adoption Katie remained at an undisclosed location Friday in the custody of Suffolk county child Protection workers. She was said to be receiving counselling to help her Cope with the trauma of her Captivity. During her Captivity a i cried a lot the girl told a Law enforcement source who spoke Beers on condition of anonymity. The source talked to Katie on Friday and described her As Quot a very Happy Perky Little girl. Its amazing she came through it like  the girls Mother Marilyn Beers has Long been feuding with Katie a go Moth an image from the videotape shows a Section of the underground Bunker. Cell where Katie was kept by the new York times Bay Shore . A even inside the Dank underground room where Katie Beers was held for 16 Days she was not free to move about police revealed at a news conference Friday most of the time she was kept in a wooden compartment sealed by a bolted Hatch. The compartment looked like a coffin. This was one of the new details to come out As Suffolk county police released an extraordinary videotape showing the secret underground chamber beneath the Bay Shore Bungalow owned by John Esposito 43, the contractor charged with kidnapping the 10-year-old girl. The tape provided the Public with its first glimpse of a room that has intrigued and shocked Many since Esposito revealed its existence wednesday. Police also said Friday that bedclothes in the room were stained when Katie arrived suggesting others had been there before her. They declined to elaborate on what the stains were saying tests were being conducted. And they said that contrary to initial accounts by Esposito a lawyer Katie had been pushed and twisted into the chamber against her will after resisting Esposito a sexual advances. Police said they were continuing to investigate whether Esposito previously had sexually abused children in the room. They said they had no leads on specific cases. The videotape took Center stage Friday. It shows a dark cramped room its Entrance hidden by an array of trapdoor and tunnels. Wires and tubes Snake around its Stark plywood Walls. Debris clutters the Concrete floor. A toilet unconnected but its bowl draped with plastic bags sits in a Corner. Or Over who should rear the girl. Beers had assigned temporary custody to Suffolk county shortly after Katie was found wednesday. She sought to regain custody a Quot of negotiations with it Rich hearing i judge James . Doyle in Suffolk coun Friday in hours county lawyers and a Brief hearing before to family court in Central Islip. Jeffrey Adolph an assistant county attorney said custody of Katie would remain with the county at least temporarily. However authorities agreed to allow Beers to be reunited privately with her daughter Friday night for the first time since the girl was found. Further hearings Over custody Are expected this week. Katie a godmother Linda Inch Iltchi with whom the girl had lived off and on for much of her life was not involved in fridays hearing or negotiations. But she and her husband a a Man who was arrested last october on charges of sexually abusing Katie a also wanted custody and were waiting in the wings. It Inch Iltchi sometimes would allow Katie to go with Esposito to toy stores or Ganje arcades. She said during an appearance thursday on Donahue that she never sus pc cd she was risking the girls safety by doing so. A a i did no to think he was capable of doing something so sick a she said. Before Katie a disappearance her Mother and godmother each had accused the other of mistreating her. Katie frequently skipped school and wandered the streets by herself even late at night. She divided her time Between her mothers filthy cockroach infested Home and the Home of her godmother. Every moment from the Day Esposito pulled and pushed her into the chamber. The release of the tape appeared intended not Only to satisfy the Public a curiosity but also to show How Esposito could have kept Katie in the room even though detectives had searched the Bungalow and kept him under constant surveillance from the Start. It. Dominick Varrone the detective who has headed the investigation said Esposito had taken such elaborate Steps to build and conceal the chamber that had he a not come Forth i done to think we would have Ever found  Katie occupied her Days police said watching a television that gave the compartment its Only Light. Esposito let her out on occasion to use the toilet but she often had to relieve herself in the compartment soiling the mattress and the Flimsy Blanket she slept under. She screamed and pounded for help when viewing a closed circuit to Monitor she saw police searching Esposito a Bungalow a Day after she disappeared. Outside the soundproof compartment however no one heard her screams. The videotape shows officers re enacting the elaborate series of Steps Esposito v the room 6 feet below John Esposito a Bungalow is where 10-year-old Katie Beers was held captive for 16 Days. Television with Cable Hookup compartment where Katie Beers was held captive Monitor linked to hidden camera in front of Bungalow where Esposito could Monitor outside source Suffolk county police department used to enter the chamber which was beneath a room he used As an office in the Bungalow behind his main House at 1416 Saxon ave. A the took these Steps every Lime he went to the room a As nest As we can determine rom Katie a once a night every night a Varrone said. The chamber a Entrance was hidden beneath a Cabinet of shelves sunken into a closet in a spartan room with a desk and a television. Inside the shelves near the top Hung two plastic Kitchen Hooks secured by screws and holding two baseball Caps. The Hooks when removed with a screwdriver revealed two bolts sunken into the wait on either Side. Two other bolts secured the Cabinet near the Bottom. Once the bolts were removed police said Esposito placed a rubber wheel mounted on a Board beneath the Cabinet and rolled it out into the room. Even with the Cabinet removed the closet appeared Normal. Api Floto Bianca Iii Jeff Magness but in the video officers demonstrated How Esposito then rolled Back a pinkish carpet a layer of carpet padding and a layer of linoleum revealing a Square Concrete slab with a single Eye Hook in the Center. With a Winch connected to another Hook hidden in the closet he lifted the 200-Pound slab revealing the Entrance to a 7-foot Shaft into which Varrone said a Katie was pulled and pushed As she screamed and wrestled with Esposito. The Shaft leads to a passageway about 5 feet Long and Large enough Only for a person to move through on the stomach or Back. Behind three More doors each of which Esposito had to Anbolt with a Battery powered screwdriver was the chamber. Varrone said the of big a behavioural services unit which studies serial criminals marvelled at the Way the Bunker had been built and concealed. A they never saw anything constructed in such a meticulous manner a he said