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3 women found alive after going missing for a decade


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CLEVELAND (AP) — One neighbor says a naked woman was seen crawling on her hands and knees in the backyard of the house a few years ago. Another neighbor says he heard pounding on the doors and noticed plastic bags over the windows.

Police showed up at the house both times, the neighbors say, but never went inside.

Now, after three women who vanished separately about a decade ago were rescued from the peeling, rundown house Monday in a discovery that exhilarated and astonished the city, Cleveland police are facing questions about their handling of the case and are conducting an internal review to see if they overlooked anything.

Police Chief Michael McGrath said Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight had apparently been held captive in the house since their teens or early 20s.

Authorities arrested three brothers, ages 50 to 54. One of them, former school bus driver Ariel Castro, owned the home, situated in a poor neighborhood dotted with boarded-up houses. No immediate charges were filed.

The break in the case came when the 27-year-old Berry kicked out the bottom of a locked screen door at the home and used a neighbor’s telephone to call 911. Choking back tears, she breathlessly told the dispatcher: ‘‘Help me. I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now.’’

Police arrived to find the two other women, along with a 6-year-old girl who authorities said was believed to Berry’s daughter. Police would not say who the father was or where the child was born.

‘‘Prayers have finally been answered. The nightmare is over,’’ said Stephen Anthony, head of the FBI in Cleveland. ‘‘These three young ladies have provided us with the ultimate definition of survival and perseverance. The healing can now begin.’’

He added: ‘‘Words can’t describe the emotions being felt by all. Yes, law enforcement professionals do cry.’’

Authorities would not say how the women were taken captive, whether they were restrained inside the house or if they had been sexually assaulted. Police said they were trying to be delicate in their questioning of the women, given their ordeal.

Cleveland police came under heavy criticism in a separate case a few years ago following the discovery of 11 bodies in a man’s home and backyard in another poor section of the city. Neighbors had long complained about foul odors, and the victims’ families charged that police didn’t take the reports of missing women seriously.

As for whether police this time overlooked hints about the women’s fate, city Safety Director Martin Flask said Tuesday morning: ‘‘At this point, I can confirm that we have no indications that any of the neighbors, bystanders, witnesses or anyone else has ever called regarding any information, regarding activity that occurred at that house.’’

However, he said authorities were still checking all databases of calls to police, fire and emergency services.

Two neighbors said Tuesday that they were alarmed enough by what they saw at the house to call police on two occasions.

Elsie Cintron, who lives three houses away, said her daughter once saw a naked woman crawling on her hands and knees in the backyard several years ago and called police. ‘‘But they didn’t take it seriously,’’ she said.

Another neighbor, Israel Lugo, said he heard pounding on some of the doors of Castro’s house, which had plastic bags on the windows, in November 2011. Lugo said officers knocked on the front door, but no one answered. ‘‘They walked to side of the house and then left,’’ he said.

Neighbors also said they would see Castro sometimes walking a little girl to a neighborhood playground. And Cintron said she once saw a little girl looking out of the attic window of the house.

In the murder case from four years ago, the homeowner was eventually sentenced to death. In the wake of public outrage over the killings, a panel formed by the mayor recommended an overhaul of the city’s handling of missing-person and sex crime investigations.

The three rescued women appeared to be in good health and were briefly evaluated at a hospital and reunited with relatives. A photo released by Berry’s family showed her smiling with an arm around her sister. Police said they were taken to an undisclosed location in the suburbs.

A sign outside the home of DeJesus’ parents read ‘‘Welcome Home Gina.’’

Her aunt Sandra Ruiz told reporters that she was able to see all three. She asked that the family be given space.

‘‘Those girls, those women are so strong,’’ she said. ‘‘What we've done in 10 years is nothing compared to what those women have done in 10 years to survive.’’

Investigators celebrated the news almost as much as the families.

The disappearances of Berry and DeJesus never left the minds of police. Investigators twice dug up backyards looking for Berry and continued to receive tips about the two every few months, even in recent years. But few leads ever came in about Knight, who was the first of the three to disappear, in 2002.

Police said Knight disappeared at age 20 and is 32 now. Berry vanished at age 16 on April 21, 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King. About a year later, DeJesus was last seen at age 14 on her way home from school. They were found just a few miles from where they disappeared.

Police identified the three suspects as Ariel Castro, 52; Pedro Castro, 54; and Onil Castro, 50. Attempts to reach Ariel Castro in jail were unsuccessful.

Police did go to the house twice in the past 15 years, but not in connection with the women’s disappearance, officials said.

In 2000, before the women vanished, Ariel Castro reported a fight in the street, but no arrests were made, Flask said.

In 2004, officers went to the home after child welfare officials alerted them that Ariel Castro, a school bus driver, had apparently left a child unattended on a bus, Flask said. No one answered the door, according to Flask. At some point in the investigation, police talked to Castro and determined there was no criminal intent, he said.

The women’s loved ones said they hadn’t given up hope of seeing them again.

Berry’s cousin Tasheena Mitchell told The Plain Dealer newspaper: ‘‘I'm going to hold her, and I'm going to squeeze her and I probably won’t let her go.’’

Berry’s mother, Louwana Miller, who had been hospitalized for months with pancreatitis and other ailments, died in 2006. She had spent the previous three years looking for her daughter, whose disappearance took a toll as her health steadily deteriorated, family and friends said.

___

Associated Press writer Kantele Franko in Columbus contributed to this report.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/05/07/missing-women-found-ohio-brothers-arrested/6LfXqol1nw4XaVcQqH81YJ/story.html#skip-target

Speechless. I've heard of these scenarios in movies, but I could never imagine one especially for 10 years. The road to emotional and mental recovery for these 3 will not be easy and it will take a lot of time. Not a lot of details are known about this but clearly sexual assault is the only reason this would happen. The biggest shocker is the kid that one of them had, all his life so far has been all about seeing slavery and sexual assault, his mind is gonna require a lot therapy as well.

Edited by Prince Solaris
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Glad to hear that these girls have escaped.

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That was heartbreaking to read. This world is filled with twisted, sick, people I'm glad those three women were found alive.

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Saw this on the news when I got home from work.  Nice to know with all the terrible stories the news has had to cover for the past few weeks that something positive is reported.  I can only imagine what those girls went through and what they are going to go through for probably the rest of their lives.  At least they have a chance at a somewhat normal life now.

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Mindblowing to imagine.  10 years.  Just think where you were 10 years ago, they've been kidnapped that long.

 

It's a wonderful thing that they escaped, but just makes me so sad to think about the hundreds, possibly thousands of similar situations out there in the world that remain unresolved.  It's too hard to think about.

 

 

But on the flipside, just one life saved means a world of difference, and here we have four saved.  Wonderful news.

Edited by JezMM
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Such a sickening story...glad to see it has had a happy ending, or at least as happy an ending as we could hope for. These poor women's lives have been destroyed, the road to recovery will be long and difficult who knows if they'll ever be able to lead a truely normal life again.....

 

....heartbreaking

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Oh my fucking god, it terrifies me to even think about what those three must have been put through. I really hate the fact that sick fucks like these Castro brothers even exist.

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Unbelieveable that they all look in such good shape after being Kidnapped after 10 years.

And now my parents are warning my sister not to go out till some people in the street are out..

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This is similar to the Josef Fritzl case where Josef Fritzl held his daughter and her children in captivity for a long period of time. Such a sickening situation in both cases.

Regardless, it's great that these girls managed to escape and are free now. It's going to take significant psychological (and possibly physical) help for them to become acclimated to the "outside world" again, but I'm sure they'll have plenty of support from their families.

To be trapped in one place for so long is just horrifying to think about.

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It's good to know these women are all right now. And as for the Castro brothers I am hoping that they get the death sentence. Sick fucks like those don't deserve to walk among the living.

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A death sentence is never right, even if they're scum.

 

Anyway, this sounds a lot like the Fritzl case from a couple of years back which was awfully disturbing too. It's amazing those poor women (and child) managed to escape after all those years...I'm actually surprised they were rather healthy after being stuck in a house for so long too, unlike the girl and children in the Fritzl case. But yeah, it's a relief they made it out alive and well and I hope them getting used to the outside world again is not too much of a struggle, especially for the child.  

Edited by Gabz Girl
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This is really close to where I live. It's so weird seeing so many girls saved. O.O

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I saw this on the news this morning. It's pretty much a miracle to even survive for years. I'm glad they all got out safely.

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Damn, I can't begin to imagine what those women went through, being stuck there for ten long years. Glad to see that they got out alive.

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  • 2 months later...

Well Castro has been sentenced to life in prison. Now I can rest well knowing that Bubba or the Booty Warrior are gonna deal with him in prison.

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My god, those poor people sad.png

 

What they went though sounds horrific and inhumane and I cant believe a human being would do this to three innocent women for almost a decade; just shows how dark humans can be :(.  The most messed up thing about this whole situation was that this could have been taken care off years ago; the sutile hints the nabors near this house in the recent few years were clear give aways that something bad was going on.  I'm really happy that these strong women and there son escaped that nightmare and are finally living there lives again :)

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That is bloody remarkable. It's good to see the 72 hour rule does not always hold true...

Good these beasts will now spend the rest of their lives locked up. That's karmic justice.

I'd be pissed at the police if I was a resident too; that first occasion was written off as a joke and these women suffered because of it. I wonder if there'd be a way to find the operator who dismissed the call... somebody needs to be held accountable here.

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I'm very glad this miracle happened and they are now safe. And now those losers are going to be locked up for the rest of thier lives, which I think is a good punishment. This is why I never give up hope, if this was to happen to someone dear to me I wouldn't give up on them despite how long it takes.

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I'm very glad this miracle happened and they are now safe. And now those losers are going to be locked up for the rest of thier lives, which I think is a good punishment. This is why I never give up hope, if this was to happen to someone dear to me I wouldn't give up on them despite how long it takes.

The sad news is we can't really fault the police for giving up after three days; most people who vanish will have indeed been killed by that time.

At least this shows there's always still that slight chance, however low, of survival.

There have been kidnappers with some twisted sense of ethics who release people after they do whatever (usually rape) to them... but they are sadly not the norm. Most view a person who stays alive as a liability and so... sad.png

Edited by Ogilvie Maurice
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Now that those guys are in prison for life (thank God) I wonder if any new details have ernerged about what exactly happened in those 10 years? I remember during the Fritzl case there was lots of info on what exactly happened but nothing here. I'm just curious...

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Now that those guys are in prison for life (thank God) I wonder if any new details have ernerged about what exactly happened in those 10 years? I remember during the Fritzl case there was lots of info on what exactly happened but nothing here. I'm just curious...

I am really curious to hear about what happened exactly as well. I'm guessing sexual exploitation... but wouldn't be surprised if torture or the like also happened.

The sad thing is that after seeing live footage of the death camps' events, almost nothing surprises me anymore about the sickening things human beings can do to one another.

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  • 1 month later...

UPDATE: Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro found hanging in cell:
 

Ariel Castro, who kept women captive at his home in Cleveland, Ohio, has died after being found hanging in his cell.

Prison officials said he died in hospital late on Tuesday, after prison medical staff failed to revive him.

Castro, 53, held three women against their will for about a decade until May this year. He kept his victims chained up and raped them.

He was sentenced on 1 August to life imprisonment without parole plus 1,000 years. The house was demolished.

The former school bus driver abducted Michelle Knight, 32, Amanda Berry, 27, and Gina DeJesus, 23, from the Cleveland streets between 2002-04.

A spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, JoEllen Smith, said: "He was housed in protective custody which means he was in a cell by himself and rounds are required every 30 minutes at staggered intervals.

"Upon finding inmate Castro, prison medical staff began performing life saving measures. Shortly after he was transported to [the prison medical facility] where he was pronounced dead at 10:52 pm."

"A thorough review of this incident is under way," she added.

Castro was placed in protective custody because of the notoriety of his case, but was not on suicide watch.

Gina DeJesus was 14 years old when she disappeared. Amanda Berry was 16, and Michelle Knight, 21. Castro also fathered a child with Amanda Berry, who was rescued after she escaped from the house and contacted police.

Castro was arrested the same day. He was charged with multiple counts of kidnapping, rape and aggravated murder.

At his sentencing, Castro told the court that he had been "driven by sex", adding: "I'm not a violent predator… I'm not a monster, I'm a normal person.

"I'm just sick. I have an addiction, just like an alcoholic has an addiction."

He said he never planned to abduct the women, but acted on the spur of the moment when he kidnapped his first victim. He said that he was "truly sorry" for what he had done.

But passing sentence, Judge Michael Russo told Castro there was no place in the world for people who enslave others.

Castro pleaded guilty to 937 charges related to the ordeal of his victims, including numerous rapes.

A deal with prosecutors spared him a possible death penalty for murder.

In a victim impact statement made to the sentencing court, Ms Knight told how their captor went to church every Sunday, before coming home to "torture" the women.

"I spent 11 years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning," she said. "You will face hell for eternity.

"From this moment on, I will not let you define me, or affect who I am. I will live on, you will die a little every day."

She was the only victim to speak in person at the hearing.

The judge banned Castro from ever seeing the daughter, now six years old.

In an interview last month after his conviction, Castro's lawyers said that he fitted the profile of someone with a sociopathic disorder. They expressed hope that researchers would study him for clues that could be used to stop other predators.

The three women escaped from Castro's home on 6 May, when Amanda Berry broke part of a door and yelled to neighbours for help.

The two other women were so frightened that at first they were reluctant to leave the house despite the presence of a large number of police officers.

"You saved us! You saved us!'' Michelle Knight, told an officer as she ran into his arms.


Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/23955379

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This reminds me of the alleged leader of the fatal gangrape of the university student in India last year, who was also found hanging in his cell...

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