Kidnapping survivor Jaycee Dugard was honored by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Tuesday night. For more CNN videos, visit our site at http://www.cnn.com/video/
Elizabeth Smart and Jaycee Dugard offer support to three Ohio women found after being missing for about 10 years. For more CNN videos, visit our site at http://www.cnn.com/video/
Cleveland man charged with kidnapping, rape after 3 missing women found in home
Published May 09, 2013
FoxNews.com
A Cleveland man was charged with kidnapping and rape Wednesday after investigators say he held three young women captive for years, binding them with ropes and chains in his home and only allowing them out a few times in disguise.
Ariel Castro, 52, is charged with four counts of kidnapping, covering the captives and the daughter born to one of them, and three counts of rape against all three women, prosecutor Victor Perez said. He will make his first public appearance in court Thursday.
A city councilman briefed on the case said the women were subjected to prolonged sexual and psychological abuse and suffered miscarriages, never finding a chance to escape until this week.
Councilman Brian Cummins said that many details remain unclear, including the number of pregnancies and the conditions under which the miscarriages occurred. He also said the women were kept in the basement for some time without having access to the rest of the house.
"We know that the victims have confirmed miscarriages, but with who, how many and what conditions we don't know," Cummins said. He added: "It sounds pretty gruesome."
The women were not kept in the same room, but knew they were not alone, he said.
None of the women, though, gave them any indication that Castro's two older brothers, who've been in custody since Monday, were involved, Tomba said. Prosecutors brought no charges against the brothers, citing a lack of evidence.
"Ariel kept everyone at a distance," Tomba said.
One thing that remains a mystery, he said, is how the women were kept in the house so long.
"As far as the circumstances inside the home and the control he may have had over those girls ... I think that's going to take us a long time to figure that out," he said.
He also said a paternity test on Castro was being done to establish who fathered the now 6-year-old child of captive Amanda Berry.
Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004 and were found Monday after one of them screamed for help to escape and contacted police.
Knight, 32, told police she had become pregnant five times and that each time Castro starved her and punched her in the stomach until she miscarried, according to a police report reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Berry told authorities she had given birth to her daughter in a plastic pool. Knight said she delivered the baby and revived her with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, reportedly under threat of death from Castro, the newspaper reported.
Two of the young women, meanwhile, were welcomed home by jubilant crowds of loved ones and neighbors with balloons and banners Wednesday. The families of DeJesus and Berry protectively took them inside, past hundreds of reporters and onlookers. Neither woman spoke, and their families pleaded for patience and time alone.
"Give us time and privacy to heal," said Sandra Ruiz, DeJesus' aunt. Ruiz thanked police for rescuing the women and urged the public not to retaliate against the suspects or their families.
Knight, the third captive, was reported in good condition at Metro Health Medical Center, which a day earlier had reported that all three victims had been released. There was no immediate explanation from the hospital.
In a development that astonished and exhilarated much of Cleveland, the three women were rescued on Monday after Berry, 27, broke through a screen door at the Castro house and told a 911 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."
In newly released police audio tapes, a 911 dispatcher notifies officers that she's just spoken to a woman who "says her name is Amanda Berry and that she had been kidnapped 10 years ago."
An officer on the recorded call says, "This might be for real."
After police arrive at the house, women can be heard crying in the background. Then an officer tells the dispatcher: "We found `em. We found `em."
Neighbors said that Ariel Castro took part in the search for one of the missing women, helped pass out fliers, performed music at a fundraiser for her and attended a candlelight vigil, where her comforted her mother. As recently as 2005, Castro was accused of repeated acts of violence against his children's mother.
On NBC's "Today" show, Police Chief Michael McGrath said he was "absolutely" sure police did everything they could to find the women over the years. He disputed claims by neighbors that officers had been called to the house before for suspicious circumstances.
"We have no record of those calls coming in over the past 10 years," McGrath said. On Tuesday, some neighbors said that they had told police years ago about hearing pounding on the doors of the home and seeing a naked woman crawling in the yard.
DeJesus, who disappeared in 2004 and is in her early 20s, arrived home in the afternoon Wednesday to chants of "Gina! Gina!" Wearing a bright yellow hooded sweatshirt, she was led through the crowd and into the house by a woman who put her arm around the young woman's shoulders and held her tight.
Her father pumped his fist after arriving home with his daughter, and he urged people across the country to watch over the children in their neighborhoods -- including other people's kids.
"Too many kids these days come up missing, and we always ask this question: How come I didn't see what happened to that kid? Why? Because we chose not to," he said
Berry arrived at her sister's home, which was similarly festooned with dozens of colorful balloons and signs, one reading "We Never Lost Hope Mandy." Hundreds cheered wildly but weren't able to get a glimpse of Berry as she went in through the back.
A 2005 domestic-violence filing in Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court accused Ariel Castro of twice breaking the nose of his children's mother, knocking out a tooth, dislocating each shoulder and threatening to kill her and her daughters three or four times in a year.
The filing for a protective order by Grimilda Figueroa also said that Castro frequently abducted her daughters and kept them from her.
In 1993, Castro was arrested on a domestic-violence charge and spent three days in jail before he was released on bail. A grand jury did not return an indictment against him, according to court documents, which don't detail the allegations. It was unclear who brought the charge.
Meanwhile, the aunt of a 14-year-old girl who disappeared in 2007 near the house where the missing women were found said the girl's mother has spoken with the FBI.
"We're hoping for our miracle, too," said Debra Summers, who described her niece, Ashley Summers, as not the type of girl who would leave without coming back.
The FBI did not immediately return a call about the case and whether it was connected to that of the three missing women.
The Castros' brother-in-law Juan Alicea said the arrests of his wife's brothers had left relatives "as blindsided as anyone else" in their community. He said he hadn't been to the home of his brother-in-law Ariel Castro since the early 1990s but had eaten dinner with Castro at a different brother's house shortly before the arrests were made Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/09/cleveland-man-charged-with-kidnapping-rape-after-3-missing-women-found-in-home/#ixzz2SrTi7uJQ
Cleveland Missing teens Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus Michelle Knight Cleveland police said missing teens Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and a third woman were found in a west side house on Monday.
BREAKING NEWS: Two girls who went missing as teens found ALIVE after being kept in the basement of an Ohio house for a DECADE Amanda Berry went missing in 2003 when she was 16-years-old Gina DeJesus disappeared when she was 14-years-old in 2004 Michelle Knight disappeared in 2000 when she was 20-years-old All three of the women were found alive in a Cleveland home and are now being treated at a local hospital The 52-year-old man who owns the house has been arrested and is in police custody The women had a girl with them, thought to be about 3-years-old
Hundreds of people gathered in the streets near 2207 Seymour Avenue in Cleveland, where the women were discovered. Cleveland police said Berry, DeJesus and Michelle Knight are alive, talking and appear to be OK.
"I heard screaming... And I see this girl going nuts trying to get outside," said Charles, a neighbor would found the women. "I go on the porch and she said 'Help me get out. I've been here a long time.' I figure it was domestic violence dispute."
"She comes out with a little girl and says 'Call 911, my name is Amanda Berry'... When she told me, it didn't register." He said he made the call and gave Berry the phone. When police arrived, officers asked him if he knew who he rescued.
A witness who spoke Spanish told NewsChannel5's Stephanie Ramirez that he helped break down the door. He said there was a child who was about 4 or 5 years old with Berry, as well as other children inside the house. He said he recognized Berry from posters.
Officers have a suspect in custody. There will be a media briefing Tuesday morning.
Berry was last seen in 2003 when she was called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from work at the Burger King on West 110th Street and Lorain Avenue. She was set to turn 17 the day after her disappearance. Her mother died of heart failure in 2006.
On April 2, 2004, 14-year-old DeJesus went missing while walking home from Wilbur Wright Middle School. She was last seen around West 105 Street and Lorain Avenue. Her mother, Nancy Ruiz, said she believed DeJesus was sold into human trafficking.
"I always said it from the beginning; she was sold to the highest bidder," Ruiz said in April 2012.
The remaining families of both women went to MetroHealth Medical Center, where they will be reunited. FBI agents were also at the hospital Monday night as family and friends flocked to see the women.
"I am thankful that Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight have been found alive. We have many unanswered questions regarding this case and the investigation will be ongoing. Again, I am thankful that these three young ladies are found and alive," Mayor Frank Jackson said.
Last summer, there was a break in Berry case that turned out to be an inmate's hoax. Robert Wolford, 26, told authorities that Berry's body was in a vacant lot in Cleveland. Police searched at West 30th Street and Wade Avenue in July with backhoes, but nothing was found. Wolford was sentenced to four and half years in prison after pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, making a false report and making a false alarm.
Three women who went missing about a decade ago were found alive Monday in a residential area just south of downtown, and a man was arrested. Cheering crowds gathered Monday night on the street near the home where police said Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight were found earlier in the day.
Police didn't immediately provide any details of how the women were found but said they appeared to be in good health. Berry disappeared 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. DeJesus went missing at age 14 on her way home from school about a year later. They were found just a few miles from where they had gone missing.
The Plain Dealer newspaper reports Knight had been missing since 2002. Police said a 52-year-old man was arrested. There was no immediate word on charges. Loved ones said they hadn't given up hope of seeing Berry and DeJesus again. Among them was Kayla Rogers, a childhood friend of DeJesus. "I've been praying, never forgot about her, ever," Rogers told The Plain Dealer. "This is amazing.
This is a celebration. I'm so happy. I just want to see her walk out of those doors so I can hug her." Berry's cousin Tasheena Mitchell told the newspaper she couldn't wait to have Berry in her arms. "I'm going to hold her, and I'm going to squeeze her and I probably won't let her go," she said. In January, a prison inmate was sentenced to 4 1/2 years after admitting he provided a false burial tip in the disappearance of Berry, who had last been seen the day before her 17th birthday. A judge in Cleveland sentenced Robert Wolford on his guilty plea to obstruction of justice, making a false report and making a false alarm.
Last summer, Wolford tipped authorities to look for Berry's remains in a Cleveland lot. He was taken to the location, which was dug up with backhoes. Berry's mother, Louwana Miller, who had been hospitalized for months with pancreatitis and other ailments, died in March 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. Two men arrested for questioning in the disappearance of DeJesus in 2004 were released from the city jail in 2006 after officers did not find her body during a search of the men's house.
One of the men was transferred to the Cuyahoga County Jail on unrelated charges, while the other was allowed to go free, police said. In September 2006, police acting on a tip tore up the concrete floor of the garage and used a cadaver dog to search unsuccessfully for DeJesus' body. Investigators confiscated 19 pieces of evidence during their search but declined to comment on the significance of the items then.
No Amber Alert was issued the day DeJesus failed to return home from school in April 2004 because no one witnessed her abduction. The lack of an Amber Alert angered her father, Felix DeJesus, who said in 2006 he believed the public will listen even if the alerts become routine. "The Amber Alert should work for any missing child," Felix DeJesus said then. "It doesn't have to be an abduction.
Whether it's an abduction or a runaway, a child needs to be found. We need to change this law." Cleveland police said then that the alerts must be reserved for cases in which danger is imminent and the public can be of help in locating the suspect and child.
One of the women told a 911 dispatcher the person who had taken her was gone, and she pleaded for police officers to come and get her, saying, "I'm free now."
Cheering crowds gathered Monday night on the street near the home where police said Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight had been held since they went missing and were found earlier in the day.
Police didn't immediately provide any details of how the women were found but said they appeared to be in good health and had been taken to a hospital to be reunited with relatives and to be evaluated. They said a 6-year-old also was found in the home.
On a recorded 911 call Monday, Berry declared, "I'm Amanda Berry. I've been on the news for the last 10 years."
She said she had been taken by someone and begged for police officers to arrive at the home on Cleveland's west side before he returned.
"I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years," she told the dispatcher. "And I'm here. I'm free now."
Berry disappeared 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. DeJesus went missing at age 14 on her way home from school about a year later. They were found just a few miles from where they had gone missing.
Police said Knight went missing in 2002 and is 32 now. They didn't provide current ages for the other two women.
Cleveland Police have released audio of the 911 call Amanda Berry made to police after she escaped her captors in Ohio. Three women who went missing around a decade ago had been tied up and held in a home in Cleveland, Ohio, before being found alive, police said.
Michele Knight vanished in 2002 at the age of 20 while Amanda Berry disappeared aged 16 in 2003. A year later, Gina DeJesus went missing at the age of 14 .
Three brothers have been arrested.
One of the women frantically told a police emergency dispatcher that the person who had taken her was gone and pleaded for police officers to come and get her, saying: "I'm free now." Report by Sarah Johnston.
Gina DeJesus' mother has spoken of her joy after her daughter was rescued from a decade in captivity in a Cleveland house. Nancy Ruiz addressed the media after Gina DeJesus was freed from being held for ten years in a house on Seymour Avenue.
"I want to thank everybody that believed, even when I said she was alive, and believed. And I want to thank them. Even the ones that doubted - I still want to thank them the most, because they are the ones that made me stronger, the ones that made me feel the most - that my daughter was out there," she said.
Amanda Berry, her daughter who was born in captivity, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus were rescued after screams were heard by a neighbour and responded to.
Veteran school bus driver Ariel Castro has been charged with kidnapping and rape. Report by Ashley Fudge.
end update
.....................................................N E V E R L O S E H O P E ! ! ! ! ..............................................................................
Pictured: The three brothers 'who kidnapped three girls and kept them captive for 10 years' as it emerges the victims 'gave birth to at least FIVE babies in the home'
- Missing women Amanda Berry, 26, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michele Knight, 32, were found on Monday after Amanda escaped and called 911
- Girl, 6, also found alive after Amanda gave birth to her inside the home
- Police sources claim one of the women had as many as three miscarriages because she was so malnourished
- Police arrest 52-year-old 'captor' who owned house and his two brothers
- The women - then girls - were kidnapped separately on the same street more than nine years ago and taken just three miles away
- Authorities visited the home in 2004 but left after no one answered the door
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Authorities have released pictures of the three brothers arrested after three missing women were found at a Cleveland home where they had allegedly been held captive for a decade.
The mugshots of Ariel Castro, 52, who owned the property, and his brothers Onil, 50, and Pedro, 54, emerged as police sources claimed the women reportedly had multiple pregnancies at the home.
At least five babies were born at the house, while one of the victims suffered as many as three miscarriages because she was so malnourished, police sources told NewsChannel5.
Other sources told WKYC that the captors would beat the women when they were pregnant, meaning that the babies would not survive.
It is unknown what happened to any children who were born at the home, and it is not clear whether a six-year-old girl who was found alive there on Monday is among the number cited by sources.
The girl was found after her mother, kidnap victim Amanda Berry, 26, climbed through a screen door on Monday afternoon while her alleged captor was out and fled to a neighbor's home to call 911.
Scroll down for videos and audio of the 911 call
Homeowner: Ariel Castro, 52
Brother: Pedro Castro, 54
Arrest: Onil Castro, 50
Reunited: Amanda Berry (centre) at the Cleveland Hospital alongside her emotional sister (left) and the daughter that she gave birth to during the 10 years she was held against her will
When police arrived minutes later, they found Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michele Knight, 32, who had also been missing for a decade, along with the young girl.
At the press conference, authorities confirmed that the little girl was born to Berry while she was in captivity, but it is not known which of the three suspects - if any - is the father.
Today police praised Berry, who went missing a day before her 17th birthday in 2003, for escaping and alerting authorities to the two other women at the home.
'The real hero here is Amanda,' Cleveland Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba said at a press conference on Tuesday morning. 'She came out of that house and that started it all.'
The praise for Amanda came as police revealed that Child Protective Services had been sent to the home in 2004, but left without speaking to the homeowner, Ariel Castro, after there was no answer.
Castro, 52, has been arrested along with his two brothers, Pedro, 54, and Oneil, 50. At the press conference, authorities said they believe they have the three men responsible, who will face charges.
Discovery: Amanda Berry, 26, (left) and Gina DeJesus (right), 23, were found alive in a house in Cleveland after being missing for 10 years. Berry disappeared aged 16, while DeJesus went missing at 14
Scene: The women were helped out of this home on Seymour Avenue that belongs to Ariel Castro
The women and young girl were taken to MetroHealth Medical Center, as they are reportedly suffering from severe dehydration and slightly malnourished. Dr Gerald Maloney, an emergency department physician, said they were in 'fair condition'.
'The nightmare is over,' said Cleveland FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen Anthony at the press conference. 'These three young ladies have provided us with the ultimate definition of survival and perseverance. The healing can now begin.'
House of horror: Aerial views of a house on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio where the three women were held captive for 10 years
The disappearances of Amanda and Gina has captured the attention of the entire city for the past decade, as their relatives have continually held vigils and kept the story alive in the press.
Shocked: Neighbors said they were shocked to hear the women were living in the basement of the home
The three women were kidnapped on the same street and found at the home just three miles away as their alleged kidnappers hid in plain sight. Neighbors said they often saw Castro walking with the six-year-old girl.
Combing: Cleveland police and FBI agents search a yard. There were apparently signs that dirt had recently been moved in the backyard of the house
Cleveland police believe the women were tied up in the home after they were snatched and local reports noted there were chains hanging from the ceiling.
Escape: A neighbor managed to kick down a door at the home, pictured, freeing the women
After 10 years being held against their will, the women were finally freed just before 6pm on Monday after neighbor Charles Ramsey, heard screaming from the house as he sat down to eat a meal.
Mr Ramsey, told WEWS-TV he saw Amanda, who he didn't recognize, at a door that would open only enough to fit a hand through screaming, 'Help me get out! I've been in here a long time.'
'We had to kick open the bottom,' he said. 'Lucky on that door it was aluminum. It was cheap. She climbed out with her daughter.'
When Amanda fled the home and ran across the street to call police, she was holding the hand of a young girl. The two other women followed her out of the home when law enforcement arrived.
Escape route: The front door of a house where the women escaped after a neighbor helped them
'Help me I'm Amanda Berry... I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for ten years and I'm here. I'm free now,' Berry is heard saying in the call to police that has been publicly released.
'I need them now before he gets back!' she said in the frantic phone call to 911, going on to identify her captor as Ariel Castro.
The Plain Dealer reported that Castro was arrested at a nearby McDonald's.
...
Michelle went missing in 2000 when she was 20.
The search: FBI investigators remove a bag of evidence from the home that belongs to Ariel Castro, the man that Amanda Berry named during her frantic 911 call as being her captor
Amanda disappeared on April 21, 2003, a day before her 17th birthday.
Horrific: Local reporters say that investigators found chains hanging from the ceiling in the house and the women were believed to have been tied up during their decade-long abduction
A year after Gina, then 14 went missing on April 2, 2004, on her way home from school.
Investigation: Police and FBI congregate outside a house on Cleveland's west side
Amanda disappeared shortly after she called her sister to say that she was getting a ride home from her job at Burger King.
Amanda's mother, Louwana Miller, who had been hospitalized for months with pancreatitis and other ailments, died in March 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.
In November 2004, she even turned to a psychic, Sylvia Browne, on Montel Williams' television show.
'She's not alive, honey,' Browne told her. 'Your daughter's not the kind who wouldn't call.'
But Councilwoman Dona Brady said she had spent many hours with Miller, who never gave up hope that her daughter was alive.
'She literally died of a broken heart,' Brady said.
Before the kidnapping: Gina was 14 when she vanished on the way home from school in 2004
Search: Authorities have been searching for the missing girls for years; pictured are the computer-generated images of what Gina, left, and Amanda, right, were believed to have looked like no
Relief: Two people hug outside the hospital . Crowds of Cleveland residents gathered at the police station and cheered as squad cars pulled into the station Monday night
Public: The disappearances of Amanda and Gina captured the attention of the entire city for the past decade, as their relatives have continually held vigils and kept the story alive in the local press
'WE SHOULD NEVER GIVE UP HOPE': OTHER KIDNAPPING VICTIMS REACT
As details about the three kidnapping victims emerge, others who have experienced similar crimes in the past have offered their support.
Jaycee Dugard, who was missing for 18 years after she was kidnapped in 1991 (see box above), issued a statement to KCRA3.
'These individuals need the opportunity to heal and connect back into the world,' Dugard said.
'This isn't who they are. It is only what happened to them. The human spirit is incredibly resilient. More than ever this reaffirms we should never give up hope.'
Speaking to Good Morning America, another victim, Elizabeth Smart, said the case highlights the importance of the public staying alert.
'I'm just so overjoyed, so happy to hear another happy ending,' she said. 'We just need to have constant vigilance... because miracles do happen.'
Her father Ed Smart described the rescue as 'three miracles' to CNN on Tuesday.
And the parents of Madeleine McCann have said the rescue of the women in Ohio 'reaffirmed' their hope of finding their daughter.
'The discovery of these young women reaffirms our hope of finding Madeleine, which has never diminished,' they said in a statement.
'Their recovery is also further evidence that children are sometimes abducted and kept for long periods.
'So we ask the public to remain vigilant in the ongoing search for Madeleine.
'Our thoughts are with the women in America and their families.'
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KIDNAPPED CHILDREN FOUND ALIVE
Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight are not the first American kidnap victims to be found safe long after their abduction.
Jaycee Lee Dugard's case is perhaps the most extreme of all - she was missing for 18 years after being kidnapped aged 11, and bore two daughters to her captor.
She was abducted on her way to school by Phillip Garrido in South Lake Tahoe, California in June 1991. Her identity was revealed when he behaved erratically in public, attracting police attention.
Elizabeth Smart was another high-profile kidnap victim who was eventually rescued after she spent nine months in captivity.
She was taken from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah in June 2002, aged 14 - the abduction was witnessed by her sister Mary Katherine, who shared the room.
Danielle Cramer, who was discovered in June 2007 after being missing for almost a year, was another kidnap victim. Adam Gault and Ann Murphy hid her at their home in West Bloomfield, Connecticut after she ran away from her family.
She was found locked in a small space under a staircase, but police later suggested that she could have plotted with her kidnappers.
Shawn Hornbeck, from Richwoods, Missouri, was missing for more than four years, from October 2002 to January 2007.
He was abducted aged 11 by paedophile Michael J. Devlin while riding his bicycle, and held at the kidnapper's home nearby.
Devlin tortured him until he agreed to do anything he asked, then used the boy for his own sexual pleasure over the following years.
Steven Stayner was kidnapped in Merced, California at the age of seven in 1972 and found in March 1980.
Kenneth Parnell pretended to be the boy's father and enrolled him in school, but was secretly molesting him and convinced him he had been abandoned by his parents.
When Steven escaped aged 14, he also managed to rescue another victim of Parnell, five-year-old Timmy White.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2320519/Amanda-Berry-Gina-DeJesus-Michele-Knight-Ohio-trio-went-missing-TEN-YEARS-ago-ALIVE.html#ixzz2SfD712xJ
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With just two weeks left to craft a deficit reduction package, members of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction remain far from a deal, this according to both Democratic and Republican aides close to the negotiations.
