MICHELLE KNIGHT - 20 yo - (2000) - AMANDA BERRY - 17 yo - (2003) - GINA DEJESUS - 14 yo - (2004) / Convicted: Ariel Castro (suicide)- Cleveland, OH :

Cleveland kidnapper Castro commits suicide in prison cell


1:00 p.m. EDT, September 4, 2013

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Ariel Castro committed suicide by hanging himself with a bed sheet in his prison cell, an Ohio coroner said on Wednesday, just one month into a life sentence for the kidnapping, rape and beatings of three women he imprisoned for a decade.

The former school bus driver, who pleaded guilty to 937 counts in July, was found hanged in his cell at an Ohio prison late Tuesday, a state corrections official said.

An autopsy on Wednesday confirmed the cause of death was suicide by hanging, said Dr. Jan Gorniak, the Franklin County coroner.

Castro, 53, was sentenced on August 1 to life plus 1,000 years in prison without the possibility of parole for abducting the three women and keeping them in the dungeon-like confines of his house, where they were starved, beaten and sexually assaulted.

Though he had not been on suicide watch, he was in protective custody with guards checking on him every half hour. He was isolated from other inmates at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient.

"This man couldn't take, for even a month, a small portion of what he had dished out for more than a decade," said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty, who agreed to a deal that spared Castro the death penalty in exchange for life in prison.

The case captured international attention in May, when many people were elated by news the three women had been found alive, then stunned by the details of their ordeal.

Some $1.4 million in charitable donations poured in from 10,800 donors seeking to help the women resume their lives.

The house where the three were held, bound with chains and ropes for periods of time, has been torn down along with two neighboring abandoned homes, creating an extended vacant lot in the working-class neighborhood.

"ROT IN HELL"

"Rot in hell, Castro," a woman passenger yelled from a white sport utility vehicle driving by the site on Wednesday, part of a slow but steady line of cars moving past a group of television trucks.

"I guess he couldn't handle it. He took the coward's way out," said neighbor Walter Freeman, 57.

In May, police found a suicide note and confession written by Castro upon searching his home.

His lawyer said on Wednesday that prison authorities repeatedly denied him a psychologist.

"If the state of Ohio is going to incarcerate an individual they should protect that individual from themselves and others," defense attorney Jaye Schlachet said.

"This is not good for the system and not good for the families," the lawyer said.

Castro was taken into custody in May, just after Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32, were freed with assistance from neighbors who heard Berry's cries for help.

Also rescued was Berry's 6-year-old daughter, fathered by Castro and born during her mother's captivity.

Castro pleaded guilty in July to kidnapping, rape, felonious assault and aggravated murder under a fetal homicide law for the forcible miscarriage of one of his three victims and had been incarcerated since August 5 at the Correctional Reception Center outside Columbus, the state capital, about 150 miles southeast of Cleveland.

He was to remain there while undergoing mental and physical evaluation before being transferred to a permanent lockup, prison officials said.

OVERCROWDED PRISONS

The Ohio prisons are at 130 percent capacity, a prison watchdog group says, and the Castro hanging closely follows two other high-profile deaths.

An Ohio death row inmate, Billy Slagle, 44, was found hanged in his prison cell on August 4, three days before he was due to be executed for the 1987 murder of a babysitter. Results of an investigation had yet to be released.

James Oglesby, 32, who was serving a life sentence for aggravated murder and kidnapping, died August 22 at a Toledo hospital after being beaten with baseball bats in the recreation yard at Toledo Correctional Institution.

Ohio's prison system had one confirmed homicide in 2010, two in 2011 and three in 2012, according to Joanna Saul, executive director of the Correctional Institution Inspection Committee, a state legislative group that monitors prisons.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-ohio-missing-20130903,0,4885370.story#ixzz2dwweTQ00

That was a good point about him not even being "able to handle a month" of what he put those dear girls through. I'm hoping his death will actually ease the pain of his victims - he's gone, totally gone from this life. No thoughts of him being "out there" somewhere and hopefully (after this) no more news stories about what's going on with him in prison. It's over - as much as it can ever be. May God continue to heal those abused by him.

OMG these attornies are saying castro deserves this and that about being treated civil. Well why don't they ask the girls (ohio 3) their opinion. I'm sure they feel he did himself in cause he couldn't live with himself or in prison for the rest of his life. He just sped up his judgement from God by his own doing. I feel this is a relief in that these girls know he is gone and castro himself chose to do this. he was not murdered. he killed himself.

in her honor

I wonder if this was suicide or if someone murdered him.

I'm glad he's dead, one more POS we don't ever have to worry about again.  I'll bet his victims sleep better.

I do think he should have been in his cage for decades.  He needed to at least get a feel for what he put those poor little girls through. 

It couldn't have happened to a more deserving pervert.  I just wish he had suffered more.

Child's name deleted in Cleveland kidnapping case

Updated: 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013
Posted: 9:29 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013
The Associated Press

CLEVELAND — A judge says the name of a girl fathered by a Cleveland man who held her mother captive for a decade will be deleted from the public court record.

The decision by Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) County Common Pleas Judge Michael Russo involves the daughter of kidnapper Ariel Castro and one of his three victims, who gave birth on Christmas 2006. The Plain Dealer (http://bit.ly/14CROsR ) reports the prosecutor asked to have the child's name deleted from court records to protect her privacy.

The child's mother, Amanda Berry, kicked out the door of Castro's house in May and yelled for help, freeing herself, the 6-year-old girl and two other women. DNA evidence confirmed that Castro was the girl's father.

The 53-year-old Castro pleaded guilty in July. He committed suicide in prison Sept. 3.

http://www.middletownjournal.com/ap/ap/crime/childs-name-deleted-in-cleveland-kidnapping-case/nZ577/

Two women held by Ariel Castro to tell of captivity in book; third will appear on TV

By Simon Moya-Smith, NBC News

Two of the women held captive for a decade in a Cleveland home before escaping in May are telling their harrowing tale to a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author.

Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, who have largely been silent on the details of their captivity and bondage, are being interviewed for a book by Mary Jordan of the Washington Post, according to attorney James R. Wooley, who represents the women.

"Many have told, and continue to tell, this story in ways that are both inaccurate and beyond the control of these young women," Wooley wrote in a statement. "Gina, Amanda and their families have decided to take control and are now interested in telling the story of what happened to them."
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Jordan and her Washington Post colleague, Kevin Sullivan, will collaborate on the book, Wooley said.

Michelle Knight, who also was held prisoner by Ariel Castro will not participate in the book project, but has been recently interviewed by Phil McGraw. The interview is scheduled to air on his show "Dr. Phil" in November.

"As the first victim to break her silence, she makes never-before-heard revelations about what went on in Castro’s Cleveland house of horrors. Knight recalls the day-to-day details of her decade in captivity in a manner that can be described as passionate, moving and poignant. She is the self-proclaimed, most hated victim in the house, and according to Knight, suffered the most abuse at the hands of Castro," McGraw told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

On May 6, the three women escaped from Castro's modest Seymour Avenue home after Berry partially kicked out a storm door and called for help. Berry's 6-year-old daughter, fathered by Castro, also was freed.

Castro was arrested that same day and was later convicted of nearly 1,000 counts, including kidnapping and rape.

Castro was sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years, but was found dead in his cell Sept. 3 in a death ruled suicide but this month was determined to possibly be related to auto-erotic asphyxiation.

In 2003, Jordan and Sullivan won the Pulitzer Prize for their reporting on the abhorrent conditions of Mexico's justice system.

There is no release date yet for the book on the Cleveland kidnappings.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/21/21067737-two-women-held-by-ariel-castro-to-tell-of-captivity-in-book-third-will-appear-on-tv?lite

Cleveland kidnap survivor sits down with Dr. Phil

November 3
The Associated Press

CLEVELAND — One of three women who escaped from a ramshackle Cleveland home after more than a decade in captivity is about to share her story.

Michelle Knight will appear on the "Dr. Phil" show Tuesday and Wednesday in a taped interview.

The show says Knight "describes the horrible conditions in the house" and discusses her physical, mental and sexual abuse. That includes "being tied up like a fish" and spending weeks chained and tortured in the basement, according to the show.

Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus escaped May 6 when Berry pushed out a door and yelled for help.

Their kidnapper, Ariel Castro, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. He hanged himself Sept. 3.

On "Dr. Phil," Knight will also discuss how she was able to survive her ordeal. She was 20 years old when she was kidnapped in August 2002.

"Three women were taken, three women were rescued, but only two went home," said Phil McGraw, referring to Knight's decision not to reunite with her family.

The Knight interview was announced earlier as three segments but was trimmed.

"Out of respect for Ms. Berry and Ms. DeJesus, she chose to speak about their shared experiences only from her own point of view," McGraw told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer (bit.ly/1aR5f9c) in comments published Saturday.

"When you listen to her describe the horrible living conditions and how she was treated, you wonder how anyone lasted a day let alone more than a decade. In the 12 years of doing the 'Dr. Phil' show, no one has changed me like Michelle Knight and her story of survival."

Knight, the only victim to appear at Castro's sentencing, told him, "You took 11 years of my life away, but I've got my life back! I spent 11 years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning."

McGraw said he found Knight "very bright, well-spoken and eager" to have her own voice after suffering years of abuse.

Castro was found dead in his cell just a few weeks into his sentence. A coroner ruled his death a suicide but an Ohio prisons report indicated he may have died accidentally while choking himself for a sexual thrill.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/11/02/4593306/dr-phil-show-has-freed-cleveland.html#storylink=cpy

November 6, 2013 5:05 PM

Michelle Knight, Cleveland kidnapping survivor, tells Dr. Phil "I was the most hated one"

(CBS) CLEVELAND - In an interview with Dr. Phil, Michelle Knight, one of three women held captive in Ariel Castro's Cleveland home for nearly a decade, expressed disappointment with fellow victim Amanda Berry and said her captor treated her especially harshly because her family wasn't looking for her.

Knight described her relationship with Berry as "ok," but noted the two are "not best of friends."

"Amanda was one of those girls that really didn't get it," Knight told the psychologist host, Phil McGraw, in the second of two taped interviews Wednesday.

She went on to say that Castro treated Berry "totally different" and this may have caused Berry to look at "the situation in a different way."

Knight explained that she delivered Berry's baby in Castro's home in 2006. She said that she was told by Castro that if the baby died, he would kill her.

Knight said that the baby was born blue and that she had to give the baby CPR so that it started breathing.

While Berry was allowed to give birth to a baby that she and Castro conceived, Knight said she became pregnant five times while inside the house and each time, Castro caused her to have a miscarriage.

One time, she said, Castro jumped right on her stomach "with his feet and heavy body" in an effort to terminate her pregnancy.

Knight said she was starved and repeatedly punched in the stomach. She said Gina DeJesus, the third woman kidnapped and held captive in Castro's home, helped her get through the miscarriages and cope in times of pain.

She recalled a time when she was forced by Castro to eat a sandwich with mustard on it, which she is allergic to.

"My throat and my body swelled up. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't talk," she recounted.

Knight said DeJesus got her through it and didn't let her die.

Knight said she doesn't understand why Amanda was allowed to have a baby and she wasn't.

"I was a girl that couldn't be broken, a girl that couldn't be underestimated," she told Dr. Phil. "When he found out he couldn't control me very much, he didn't want to give me a kid."

"I think he liked her more," Knight said of Berry. "Cause he had an obsession with blondes. He would always say, 'I don't want to make her cry, I don't want to make her upset or I don't want to hear her whiny mouth. He would try to make her happy instead of sad."

Knight said she felt like she was the most hated woman in the house and that Castro would frequently remind her that she didn't have a family that loved her and was looking for her.

"That's the reason why I hate you," Knight said Castro told her. "Because I can abuse you and nobody would care. No one."

"...And it would hurt because I knew my family didn't care and I knew my family wasn't there for me, cause they never was," Knight went on to say in the televised interview.

Police did show up at Castro's home once, according to Knight. But, she says, they left after no one answered the door.

Maureen Harper, a spokesperson for the Mayor of Cleveland, told Crimesider that police responded to Castro's home twice: once after police received a call from Castro reporting a fight in the street, and again in relation to an investigation regarding Castro and his duties as a bus driver. Police investigated the possibility that Castro had left a child unattended on a school bus and visited the house, but there was no response at the door.

There have been previous reports that a neighbor called police after seeing naked women on dog leashes, crawling in the backyard of Castro's home. Knight called that statement false in the interview with Dr. Phil. She said that Castro let her and the other two girls out in the backyard at times, but that the scenario described by the neighbor did not take place.

When the interview turned to the day Knight, Berry and DeJesus escaped from Castro's home, Knight expressed sadness and shook her head as the television host played a recording of Berry's 911 call.

Knight, Berry and DeJesus escaped from Castro's house on May 6, 2013 when Berry pushed out a door and called for help. She ran across the street to a neighbor's house where she made called 911.

"She didn't mention us," Knight said of the 911 call, which she called "sad."

"Maybe she was angry about everything... life...," Knight said in an attempt to justify Berry's lack of mention. "She just took a different road than everyone else."

Luckily, when police responded to Castro's home, they rescued Knight and DeJesus as well as Berry and her daughter.

Knight described the rescue as being like "a roller-coaster" and recounted how she wouldn't let go of the police officer.

"The first thing I said is, 'We're going home!,'" she said.

Knight was kidnapped in August 2002, when she was 20-years-old, reports the Associated Press. She has been the most public of the kidnap victims since then and even made a visit to Castro's neighborhood before his home was demolished.

Castro, 53, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

A month into his sentence, Castro was found dead in his cell. His hanging death was ruled a suicide, but a prison report indicated he may have died accidentally while choking himself for a possible sexual thrill, according to the Associated Press.

"He took a cowards way out," Knight said of Castro's suicide.

She said she would have preferred he have spent the rest of his life in prison

"The pain he put us through is pain he didn't want to go through," she said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57611150-504083/michelle-knight-cleveland-kidnapping-survivor-tells-dr-phil-i-was-the-most-hated-one/

Moving this from Resolved Other to Adjudicated.  He was convicted even though he was too much of a coward to serve his sentence.

Dr. Phil 5/7/2014

Documents released regarding Amanda, Gina and Michelle

Kim Wendel, WKYC
11:31 a.m. EDT May 6, 2014

CLEVELAND -- In response to numerous requests for public records regarding the case of Ariel Castro, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office released its first round of documents about 2 p.m. today.

In all, 989 pages of paperwork have been made public.

Just after 4 p.m., the documents were unpublished by the prosecutor's office after it was discovered that personal information that should have not been released was published.

WKYC expects the prosecutor's office to re-release further redacted documents soon. We will post them as soon as they are released.

Among other documents, they include evidence results from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, a threat assessment, the police reports regarding the day the girls escaped and a receipt for property taken from inside and outside the Seymour Avenue home.

Documents 720-722 detail Amanda's statement about her escape

Documents 669-673 are Michelle Knight's missing person report

Documents 674-690 are Amanda Berry's missing person report

Documents 691-702 are Gina DeJesus's missing person report

Documents 703-715 document the police reports as police first arrived on Seymour Avenue

Documents 726-727 detail a conversation where Castro confesses but says he was a victim as well when he was a child and that he can now die in prison.

Documents 717-718 contain information on Pedro and Onil Castro

Documents 728-731 refer to Angie Gregg (Castro's daughter)

Documents 732-748 have Castro's possessions' seized, including cars and cash

Documents 793-797 refer to the "Blue Journal" kept by Amanda Berry

Documents 847-849 refer to a black journal titled "Love" kept by Amanda Berry

Some are simply labeled "supplemental documents" and "other documents."

Castro's psychological evaluation was released and we see why he was put on suicide watch.

In a statement, the prosecutor's office said "We have sought in reviewing these documents to balance our legal obligations to make available public records against the privacy rights of the three women and the minor child at the center of this case. Additional records will be released in the near future."

http://www.wkyc.com/story/news/local/northeast-ohio/2014/05/05/documents-released-regardiing-amanda-gina-and-michelle/8729865/

Documents:  http://www.documentcloud.org/public/search/projectid:%20%2213928-ariel-castro-case-public-documents-from-cuyahoga-co-prosecutors-office%22

Michelle Knight Song "Survivor" (Preview)