The above picture tells a story of Ariel Castro and how he maintained his home as a prison for three young women. He held them in seclusion and sexually assaulting them for his own pleasure, a Cuyahoga County, Ohio, prosecutor told a judge Thursday. He is accused of the kidnapping and rape of Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight, and Georgina "Gina" DeJesus between 2002 and 2004.
The three women escaped, Monday, May 6th while Castro was not at home. Berry drew the attention of neighbors who helped her break through a door and summon police.
Michelle Knight, said she became pregnant at lease five time during her captivity but once Castro learned she was pregnant he would make abort the baby. "He starved her at least 2 weeks, then he repeatedly punched her in the stomach until she miscarried," the initial police report states.
Amanda Berry was also impregnated by Castro. She delivered her baby at home in a plastic tub. Shortly after the baby was delivered, the child stopped breathing. Castro threatened to kill her if the baby did not survive.
The three women, Berry, Knight and DeJesus were only outside of Castro's home only twice during their kidnapping. According to the initial incident report, the women said that Castro first chained them in the basement, but later freed them from the chains and allowed them to live upstairs on the second floor. Castro would often test the young women by pretending to leave and would discipline them if there was any indication that the they moved during his absence. Throughout the years, the three women began to rely on each other for comfort and survival as it became more clean that they would not be allowed to leave Castro's entrapment.
Although it seemed as if the women had succumbed to the reality of enslavement by Castro, something charged the evening of Monday, May 6, 2013 when 27-year-old Berry staged a daring escape. Berry screams for help through a crack in the front door. With the help of neighbors Charles Ramsey and Angel Cordero they kicked open the door freeing herself, her 6-year-old daughter and the two other women. Knight and DeJesus were not so eager to escape to freedom. Sources described Knight and DeJesus as brainwashed and fearful. According to Cordero, Berry's 6-year-old daughter ran out of the house wearing only a diaper and sullied shirt. Police are conducting a DNA test to determine the paternity of the child.
The police called contacted once the women were freed. "Help me, I am Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years. And I'm here, I'm free now." were the pleas to an 911 operator from Ramsey's house.
How The Women Were Captured
Life After The Escape
Berry and DeJesus are back with their families. Knight was hospitalized in good condition Thursday, said MetroHealth Medical Center spokeswoman Tina Shaerban-Arundel.Soon after the three women were found, Castro and two of his brothers, Onil and Pedro Castro, were taken into custody. Authorities found no facts to link the two brothers to the kidnappings. Ariel Castro was arraigned Thursday morning on four courts of kidnapping and three counts of rape. Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Lauren Moore ordered Castro to be held on a $8 million dollar bond, $2 for each women and the 6-year-old child. Law enforcement have been searching through Castro's Seymour Avenue home removing more than 200 pieces of evidence that they hope will let them piece together what happened.
The Heros
Charles Ramsey allegedly heard Berry screaming and desperately pleading for help from inside the Castro's home. Thinking she was escaping a domestic dispute, he kicked open a door for her. But its the straight talking and somewhat humorous way that Ramsey recants the story is what has made the struggling dishwasher an overnight internet sensation. Ramsey has proven to be a humble hero. Many fundraising efforts have be started in Ramsey's honor. "Thank You Charles Ramsey", a fundraiser created by Robby Russell of Portland, Oregon, has raised more than $10,000 in a couple of days. Ramsey has decided not to accept any of the money but instead give all reward money to the victims.Although Ramsey seem to be the most favored of the heroes, Angel Cordero claims that he was the actually hero. Cordero says that Charles Ramsey showed up once Berry had already escaped.
Cordero was visiting friends in the neighborhood when he heard the a cry for help inside the Seymour Avenue house. When Cordero approached the house he went to the door and asked if there was a fire. Berry replied, no, that she had been held, kidnapped, for 10 years. Cordero says Berry then cracked one door but another door was closed and chained. He then began kicking the door in the attempt to break the chain. Cordero explains the escape, "she succeeded in escaping through the bottom of the door, and once she had escaped, she remembered the girl and returned into the house, picked up the girl and left. And when she left with the little girl, she said 'Let's get out of here because, if this guy comes, he's going to kill us. If he finds me here, he going to kill me and he's going to kill you.'" Once freed, Cordero says Berry went to the house of the neighbor he was visiting and called police.
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