A defendant accused of hiding a McKeesport teenager in his home reportedly stabbed himself and took pills this morning before his trial was to begin.

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Thomas Hose of McKeesport is accused in the alleged decade-long captivity of Tanya Kach. He and defendant Judith Sokol were to go on trial this morning in Allegheny County Court.

But his attorney, James Ecker, held a courthouse press conference to announce Mr. Hose is in Mercy Hospital. Mr. Ecker said Mr. Hose's mother, Eleanor Hose, called him at 7 a.m. and said her son was sitting in a kitchen chair and bleeding in their Soles Street home.

"He said he had stabbed himself and taken pills," Mr. Ecker said. The lawyer said his client stabbed himself "quite a few times," including in the chest. He did not know what pills he took.

Mr. Ecker said he talked to his client last night and he seemed fine. But when he talked to him at the hospital this morning he sounded "out of it."

Mr. Ecker said Mr. Hose was being stabilized but he was unsure of his condition and planned to go to the hospital.

Judge John Zottola, who is presiding over the case, announced later that Mr. Hose's six to seven stab wounds were superficial. He said Mr. Hose would be committed for a mental evaluation. The judge also revoked Mr. Hose's bond.

Judge Zottola said Ms. Sokol opted to have her trial continued to May 14, the new date set for Mr. Hose's trial.

The judge also issued a gag order in the case.

Miss Kach, 25, revealed in March that she had run away 10 years earlier and had vanished, spending that time in Mr. Hose's house. She was 14 and a student at a school where Mr. Hose was a security guard.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.