EXCLUSIVE PICTURES INSIDE THE CLEVELAND KIDNAP HOUSE: Son of 'abductor' reveals how father padlocked doors to basement, attic and garage because 'we weren't allowed to go there'
- Photos show Ariel Castro in front of padlocked doors to the basement
- Son Anthony, 31, revealed how his father would beat him and once nearly beat his mother to death as she recovered from brain surgery
- Expressed his shock at the kidnappings and said they had no idea women were hidden behind the doors they were forbidden from opening
- But said his sister believes their father was capable of the crimes
- Just three weeks ago, Castro asked his son whether he thought police would ever find one of the victims, Amanda Berry
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Ariel Castro padlocked the doors leading to his basement, his attic and his garage and never allowed his family inside, his son has exclusively revealed to MailOnline.
Chilling photographs from 2001 show a grinning Castro, who is accused of holding three women captive for a decade, standing in front of a locked door - behind which unimaginable horrors may have been unfolding in the basement.
By that point, one of his alleged victims, Michele Knight, had already been missing for a year.
In an interview with MailOnline, his son Anthony Castro, 31, has spoken of his shock at his father's alleged crimes and revealed how Ariel Castro asked him just weeks ago whether he believed the kidnapping of Amanda Berry - one of his victims - would ever be solved.
'If it's true that he took her captive and forced her into having sex with him and having his child and keeping her hidden and keeping them from sunlight, he really took those girls' lives,' he said.
Signs: In a photograph taken in 2001, suspect Ariel Castro stands with a former girlfriend in front of a padlocked door, which led to the basement, at his home on Seymore Avenue, Cleveland
'He doesn't deserve to have his own life anymore. He deserves to be behind bars for the rest of her life. I'm just thankful they're alive.'
Among his infrequent contact with his father, who separated from his mother in the 1990s, one recent conversation particularly stands out in Anthony's mind.
In mid-April, he says, his father asked him whether he thought police would ever find Amanda Berry, who escaped the Cleveland home on Monday afternoon.
When Anthony said he thought Berry was likely dead because she had been missing so long, Ariel responded: 'Really? You think so?'
At that time, according to police, Berry was locked in the basement of his father's home.
'The house was always locked,' remembered Anthony, who appeared visibly tired but reacted with poise throughout the interview. 'There were places we could never go. There were locks on the basement. Locks on the attic. Locks on the garage.'
'House of horrors': Anthony Castro and his father stand in front of the door to the basement in 2001
Family: A photo from the late 1990's shows Pedro Castro (top right) and his nephew Anthony (seated center)
Ariel Castro, 52, was arrested with his two brothers, 54-year-old Pedro and 50-year-old Onil after Berry, now 26, dramatically escaped from the house on Monday, a decade after she vanished.
Berry was rescued from the home, along with 23-year-old Gina DeJesus, who disappeared in April 2004 at age 14, and 32-year-old Michele Knight, who vanished in 2000 when she was 20.
The women and a six-year-old girl who was born to Berry while she was in captivity were whisked away to hospital. They have now been released and are in a safe location, authorities said.
Details have started to emerge of the horrors they experienced in the house, with authorities reportedly discovering chains and tape to restrain the girls inside the home.
Police sources also told NewsChannel5 that there were multiple pregnancies among the three women but that they suffered miscarriages after they were beaten or because they were so malnourished.
The Castros' close links to the long-running investigation have also emerged. Pedro Castro told a TV crew last July that a police forensic excavation being conducted in the neighborhood for Berry's body was 'a waste of time'.
Shock: Anthony Castro has said he is horrified at news his father, Ariel Castro, allegedly kidnapped three girls and held them captive at his home for a decade. Anthony's uncles have also been arrested
Missed: Anthony said his mother moved them from Castro's home following years of abuse
Speaking to MailOnline on Tuesday, Anthony Castro, a banker who lives in Columbus, Ohio, depicted his father as a violent, controlling man who nearly beat his mother to death in 1993 while she was recovering from brain surgery.
'Abused': Anthony said his father beat his mother, Nilda Figueroa, who passed away last year
Speaking to MailOnline from his apartment, which is dotted with numerous family pictures, Anthony said his father was secretive and barred him from entering certain rooms when he wasn’t around.
Anthony said he last visited his father’s home two weeks ago, though he was not invited inside. He said he never suspected that his father could be keeping three women captive in the basement.
'The only thing I can express is a tremendous level of shock,' he said. 'To those girls, it's beyond comprehension what happened to them. It's just a nightmare. I just feel so horrible for them. Unspeakably horrible.'
Ariel's ex-wife Grimilda 'Nilda' Figueroa - Anthony's mother – moved Mr Castro and his three sisters out of Ariel’s house in 1996 after years of violent abuse.
Anthony said he now speaks with his father just a few times a year – and seldom visits his house.
'I haven't been at that house for longer than 20 minutes for longer than I can remember,' he said. 'And we’re talking since high school. Late 90s.'
Anthony said neither he nor his three sisters have had much of a relationship with Ariel Castro.
'Having that relationship with my dad all these years when we lived in a house where there was domestic violence and I was beaten as well... we never were really close because of that and it was also something we never really talked about,' he said.
Painful memories: Anthony, pictured looking through old family photos, said he rarely spoke to his father
Hurt: Anthony has spoken with family members and they all believe his father is capable of the crimes
'It’s astonishing to even think about that I was so close to that. That I was physically at the house two weeks ago while that was going on, it's a lot to grasp.'
Anthony said he has spoken with several members of his family since his father and uncles were arrested. After getting over the initial shock of the horrendous allegations, they all have accepted that Ariel was likely capable of holding the three women against their will
'They're all furious. They're livid,' he said.
Anthony said he has no idea what role his uncles could have played in the ordeal. However, he says he doesn't yet believe that the three women were kept at Ariel's house for the entire 10 years.
He speculated that his uncle Onil, who also owns his house and lives alone, might have been involved in keeping the women in captivity.
Homeowner: Ariel Castro, 52
Brother: Pedro Castro, 54
Arrest: Onil Castro, 50
Scene: Anthony said he rarely visited his father at his Cleveland home, where the women were found
Mother: Lillian Rodriguez (pictured center), the mother of the Castro brothers, returns to her home in Cleveland, Ohio after being questioned by police on Tuesday
Onil had two sons with a former live-in girlfriend of 15 years. The sons are now in their 20s, though Onil split with their mother about 10 years ago. He now lives alone.
'Part of me can believe he had something to do with it,' Anthony said of his uncle. 'Part of me can’t believe that it's something of this magnitude.
'My dad's brothers were the two closest people to him. My dad’s a really private person. If anybody knew what he was doing it would be those two.
'My dad is the most – he is the strongest and most able-bodied about of them. My two uncles are frail. They’ve drunk themselves into terrible health.'
Kidnapped: Amanda Berry, left, was 16 when she went missing in 2003, while another alleged victim, Gina DeJesus, right, was just 14 when she vanished in 2004. Both women were found on Monday
Heading home: Amanda Berry is pictured center with her sister, left, and daughter, right
Both men were alcoholics for many years, Anthony said, but Onil has since sobered up.
'When I was a kid, he was always drunk. Both of them, my uncles were always drunk,' he said.
His uncle Pedro, who lived with the mother of the brothers, has been so badly impacted by alcoholism that it's hard to even carry on a conversation with him, he said.
Pedro, he said, seemed content just living with his mother.
'Every time I went to visit my grandmother, he always just seemed be lying on his bed, watching TV. He was there every time.'
Amanda Berry disappeared in 2003 just a day before he 17th birthday. Her disappearance shocked her neighborhood in the west side of Cleveland
Celebration: A 'Welcome Home Gina' sign hangs on a fence outside the home of Gina DeJesus
After the disappearance of Gina DeJesus in April 2004, Anthony Castro penned a piece for his local paper which included quotes from her mother.
He was a journalism student at Bowling Green State University when he wrote the article, entitled 'Gina DeJesus’ disappearance has changed her neighborhood', for the Plain Press in June of that year.
Gina's mother Nancy Ruiz told him: 'You can tell the difference. People are watching out for each other’s kids. It’s a shame that a tragedy had to happen for me to really know my neighbors.
'Bless their hearts, they’ve been great. People are really looking out for my daughter.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2320902/Ariel-Castro-Son-abductor-reveals-father-padlocked-doors-basement-attic-garage-places-werent-allowed-go.html#ixzz2SeKNEjIJ
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Neighbor of accused kidnapper says she saw naked woman in backyard TWO years ago... but police didn't take her seriously
- Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight kidnapped in Cleveland
- They all disappeared from the same block between 2002 and 2004
- Neighbor says she saw a naked woman in the kidnapper's backyard two years ago, but police didn't take her seriously
- Afterwards Castro put tarps over the yard to make it impossible to see in
- Police also knocked on the door of the home in 2004 as part of a child services' investigation
- Ariel Castro, 52, and his brothers arrested on suspicion of kidnapping
By LOUISE BOYLE and DAVID MCCORMACK
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A neighbor of accused kidnapper Ariel Castro has revealed that she saw a naked woman in his backyard two years ago and reported the incident to police.
Nina Samoylicz says the cops didn't believe her story but very soon afterwards Castro put tarps over his backyard making it virtually impossible for anyone to see in.
The story is the latest in a series of missed opportunities during which the three missing girls - Amanda Berry, 26, and Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32 - could potentially have been found sooner.
A neighbor of accused kidnapper Ariel Castro has revealed that she saw a naked woman in his backyard two years ago and reported the incident to police
‘When we seen the lady, like, the backyard was opened,’ Samoylicz told CNN. ‘Then, like, after that, like a week or two after, he put tarps up. He like, secluded himself.’
Cleveland police officials said on Tuesday that the department has no records of a call for service to that home.
Officers also visited the home on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio in 2004 as part of a child services' investigation.
Police knocked on the door of the home where the three missing girls were held captive for a decade - but left when no one answered.
Reunited: Amanda Berry (center) 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
Found: Amanda Berry (left) and Gina DeJesus (right) were found alive in Cleveland on Monday afternoon
Neighbor Nina Samoylicz has revealed that one night two years ago, she and some friends saw a naked woman in Ariel Castro's backyard
Police had been alerted to the man living at the home, Ariel Castro, now a suspect in the abduction, after he inadvertently left a boy at a bus depot while working as a school bus driver. No criminal charges were brought and no follow-up inquiries made.
The three woman escaped the home on Monday night, where it is believed they had been chained for ten years.
Questions will now be asked as to how police and federal investigators failed to find the girls who remained undetected at the home just three miles from the block where they all went missing.
Ariel Castro has lived in the house since 1992. His two brothers - Pedro, 54, and O'Neal, 50, - do not live at the home but were arrested in connection with the three abductions.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson told a news conference on Tuesday that police also responded to the west side home in 2000 following a disturbance in the street.
Authorities said that public records show no complaints or building violations at the Seymour Avenue home. There is also no record of any emergency service or fire department calls.
On Tuesday, Cleveland Police said: 'Every single lead was followed up on no matter how small. We dug up yards, canvassed neighborhoods. [The] real hero is Amanda Berry.'
Until now the search for the missing women had been fruitless, a series of false leads and bitter disappointment for the desperate families.
Brothers: From left, Ariel, Onil and Pedro have all been arrested in connection with the abduction of Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Michele Knight almost ten years ago
This map shows the block, Lorain Avenue, in Cleveland where the three girls went missing, years apart. They were found Monday on Seymour Avenue, approximately three miles from where they were abducted
HAWAII FIVE-O EPISODE WITH ABOUT GIRL MISSING FOR A DECADE AIRED AS NEWS OF ABDUCTIONS BROKE
Monday night's episode of TV drama Hawaii Five-O featured the story of a young girl being held captive for ten years.
It was broadcast as the eerily similar, real-life ordeal played out for three young women in Cleveland, Ohio.
The episode began with the body of a teenage girl being found in the woods, who the detectives discover was abducted ten years before.
The 17-year-old had been killed after trying to escape from her locked room.
It is soon reported that another child has been abducted with the police team racing against the clock to find the child kidnappers.
Last July, an empty lot on the west side of Cleveland was excavated for the body of Amanda Berry by forensic crews working on a tip from a convict.
The small lot on West 30th Street and Wade Avenue - which is two blocks from the Seymour Avenue home where the women were held - turned up nothing.
Michelle Knight, who was 20 years old when she went missing in August 2002, was last seen at a cousin's house near West 106th Street and Lorain Avenue.
Three years later, in April 2003, Amanda Berry, disappeared after leaving her job at a Burger King - at West 110th Street and Lorain. It was the day before her 17th birthday.
And a year later, Gina DeJesus, then 14 years old, was last seen leaving her middle school at West 105th Street and Lorain.
All three were found safe on Monday night after Berry bolted from a home on Seymour Avenue, about three miles from where they were last seen.
She told police that she and the other girls were being held prisoner by Ariel Castro, 52, who has been arrested along with his two brothers on suspicion of kidnapping.
The exact circumstances of the abductions is currently unclear, and it is not known whether or not the kidnapper deliberately targeted the block where all three victims were taken.
2001 - Michelle Knight - disappeared near her cousin's house
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
The story of Amanda and Gina's disappearance has been well known in the area for the past decade, as their relatives have continually held vigils and kept the story alive in the press.
Michelle's case was less high profile - she was 18 at the time of her disappearance on Aug. 23, 2002 and was last seen at a cousin's house near West 106th Street and Lorain Avenue.
Michelle was not officially registered as missing on the Ohio Police Missing Persons website.
Her grandmother, Deborah Knight, told the Plain Dealer that some family members had concluded, based in part on suggestions by police and social workers at the time, that she had run away after he son was removed from her custody.
But mother Barbara Knight told Cleveland.com that long after police stopped searching, she kept the hunt up for her daughter handing out fliers on Cleveland's West Side.
She told them that several years ago she believes she saw her daughter walking with an older man at a shopping plaza on West 117th Street.
She said that she shouted out her daughter's name but the woman, who was being pulled along by her companion, did not turn around.
Ms Knight, told the newspaper she never believed her daughter would have vanished without a trace on her own and that she kept searching long after police gave up looking for her.
'I'm praying that if it is her, she will come back with me, so I can help her recover from what she has been through,' the mother was quoted as saying.
'So much has happened in these 10 years. She has a younger sister she still has not met.'
2003 - Amanda Berry - vanished after finishing work at Burger King
Search: Amanda Berry disappeared on April 21, 2003, a day before her 17th birthday
Three years later Amanda Berry disappeared on April 21, 2003, a day before her 17th birthday.
Amanda vanished 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 aged 44.
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.
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,' Ms Brady said.
In April 2004, Miller turned to a psychic on Montel Williams’ nationally syndicated television show.
The psychic, Sylvia Browne said She’s not alive, honey.'
'Your daughter’s not the kind who wouldn’t call.'
Browne said she envisioned Amanda’s jacket in a Dumpster with 'DNA on it.'
Miller went back to the West Side home where she had been keeping Amanda’s things in careful order and cleaned up.
This is the Burger King at West 110th Street and Lorain Avenue where Amanda Berry was last seen in April 2003. The other two girls were also last seen on the same block
She gave away her daughter’s computer and took down her pictures. 'I’m not even buying my baby a Christmas present this year,' she told local newspaper Cleveland.
In 2009, Wisconsin investigators believed there were striking similarities between Amanda and the body found by deer hunters.
But test results comparing Amanda's DNA and that of the body came back negative.
In January, a prison inmate was sentenced to four and a half years after admitting he provided a false burial tip in the disappearance of Berry.
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.
Two men arrested for questioning in the disappearance of in 2004 were released from the city jail in 2006 after officers didn't 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.
2004 - Gina Dejesus - last seen on way home from school with friend
Missing: Gina DeJesus, aged 14, went missing on April 2, 2004, on her way home from Wilbur Wright Middle School on Parkhurst Drive
A year after Georgina DeJesus, then 14, disappeared on her way home from Wilbur Wright Middle School on Parkhurst Drive.
Known as Gina, the seventh-grader in special education classes, was last seen near a payphone in Cleveland in mid-afternoon on 2 April 2004 with a classmate.
The pair had called the friend's mother asking for a sleepover at the Gina's house, but when the girl's mother said no the pair parted ways.
'I gave her the $1.25 to catch the bus because it was cold outside,' said her mother, Nancy Ruiz.
But she has 'the tendency to walk home and use the money for' after-school snacks, she explained.
A bloodhound tracked her scent a block from the corner of West 105th Street and Lorain Avenue, where she was last seen, to West 104th Street, then the trail went cold.
Gina’s cousin Sylvia Colon told local press in 2004 that her father, Felix, was 'beyond desperate' to bring her home.
Ruiz’s yard and house in the 3700 block of West 71st Street become a shrine for Gina.
She lit candles on her porch on a nightly basis and prayed for the safe return of her daughter.
Distraught: Felix DeJesus, holding a banner showing his daughter's photograph, standing by a memorial in his living room in Cleveland (file photo)
Victim: Last year, Gina's mother Nancy Ruiz raised concerns that her daughter might have been the victim of human trafficking
Two men arrested for questioning in the disappearance of DeJesus in 2004 were released from the city jail in 2006 after officers didn't 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.
Last year, Ginas' mother Nancy Ruiz raised concerns that her daughter might have been the victim of human trafficking.
'I always said it from the beginning; she was sold to the highest bidder,' she said.
Just two months ago there was a vigil to mark the ninth anniversary of her disappearance.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2320972/Ariel-Castro-Neighbor-accused-kidnapper-says-saw-naked-woman-backyard-TWO-years-ago--police-didnt-seriously.html#ixzz2SeLWJ4Sc
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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.'
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.
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.
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.
House of horror: Aerial views of a house on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio where the three women were held captive for 10 years
Shocked: Neighbors said they were shocked to hear the women were living in the basement of the home
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
Escape: A neighbor managed to kick down a door at the home, pictured, freeing the women
Escape route: The front door of a house where the women escaped after a neighbor helped them
'HELP ME! I'M AMANDA BERRY!': VICTIM'S FRANTIC 911 CALL
Amanda Berry: Help me, I'm Amanda Berry.
Operator: Do you need police, fire or ambulance?
Berry: I need police.
Operator: OK, and what's going on there?
Berry: I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years. And I'm here. I'm free now.
Operator: OK, and what's your address?
(The operator tries to figure out where she is.)
Berry: I'm across the street. I'm using their phone
Operator: OK, stay there with those neighbors and talk to the police when they get there.
(The operator repeats her instructions several times.)
Berry: OK, are they on their way right now? I need them now.
Operator: We're gonna send them as soon as we get a car open.
Berry: No, I need them now before he gets back.
Operator: All right. We're sending them, OK?
Berry: OK. I mean, like, right now.
Operator: Who is the guy who went out?
Berry: His name is Ariel Castro.
Operator: All right. How old is he?
Berry: He's like 52.
Operator: All right, and a...
Berry: And I'm Amanda Berry. I've been on the news for the last 10 years.
Operator: OK, I got that, dear... what is his name again?
Berry: Uh, Ariel Castro.
Operator: And is he white, black or Hispanic?
Berry: Uh, he's Hispanic.
Operator: What's he wearing?
Berry: I don't know cause he's not here right now. That's how we got away.
Operator: When he left, what was he wearing?
Berry: (Indistinguishable)
Operator: The police are on the way. Talk to them when they get there.
Berry: OK.
They added that Child Protective Services had been sent to the home in 2004 but after knocking on the front door and getting no response, did not make contact with Castro - and did not return.
The call came after Castro, who worked as a bus driver for the city of Cleveland until last year, inadvertently left a young boy on the vehicle when he returned to the bus depot.
After an investigation, no criminal intent was found.
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.
'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.
Castro has lived in the house since 1992 and he was arrested for domestic violence in 1993.
Sources close to local station WOIO are telling the station that the women were reportedly tied up during their captivity and police found chains hanging from one of the ceilings
They also reported that there were signs that dirt had recently been moved in the backyard of the house, though police continue to investigate whether or not the dirt will lead to any new evidence in the case.
Michelle went missing in 2000 when she was 20.
Amanda disappeared on April 21, 2003, a day before her 17th birthday.
A year after Gina, then 14 went missing on April 2, 2004, on her way home from school.
Amanda disappeared shortly after she called her sister to say that she was getting a ride home from her job at Burger King.
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
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
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.
Rescue: Neighbour Charles Ramsey said he had seen a woman screaming for help at the front door of the house and broke the door down
Details: Cleveland police Deputy Chief Ed Tomba, right, addresses the media as Safety Service Director Martin Flask, left, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, second left, and Cleveland Police Sgt. Sammy Morris listen
At the hospital Amanda with her daughter was photographed with her older sister Beth Serrano, who has maintained the search for her sister since their mother died in 2006.
Before the kidnapping: Gina was 14 when she vanished on the way home from school in 2004
Beth's husband Ted Serrano told local station WOIO that his wife is overjoyed about her sister's return.
'She said (Amanda)'s okay, she's got a daughter. She said she's okay, she looks good,' Mr Serrano told the station.
Beth has worked closely with the DeJesus family, whose daughter Georgina 'Gina' DeJesus was found in the same home as Amanda.
On Monday evening, DeJesus' cousin Sylvia Colon spoke to CNN, saying that the missing girl's mother Nancy Ruiz confirmed to relatives that Gina is alive and well in hospital.
'What a phenomenal mother's Day gift this is,' Ms Colon told the station.
Earlier in the case, DeJesus' mother Nancy Ruiz raised the alarm that her daughter was the victim of human trafficking.
'I always said it from the beginning; she was sold to the highest bidder,' Ms Ruiz said in April 2012.
The disappearance of Knight did not attract the local media attention of the Berry and DeJesus cases.
Her grandmother, Deborah Knight, told the Plain Dealer that some family members had concluded, based in part on suggestions by police and social workers at the time, that she had run away.
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 now
Hope: Felix DeJesus, holding a banner showing his daughter's photograph, standing by a memorial in his living room in Cleveland in 2004
Relief: A sign outside the Burger King where Amanda Berry was last seen before her kidnap
Support: 'We Love You' is seen written on the sidewalk outside the DeJesus home on Tuesday
Celebration: A 'Welcome Home Gina' sign hangs on a fence outside the home of Gina DeJesus
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.
But her mother Barbara Knight, who now lives in Florida, told the newspaper she never believed her daughter would have vanished without a trace on her own and that she kept searching long after police gave up looking for her.
'I'm praying that if it is her, she will come back with me, so I can help her recover from what she has been through,' the mother was quoted as saying.
'So much has happened in these 10 years. She has a younger sister she still has not met.'
Relatives were emotional throughout the night on Monday, with some unable to speak through their tears.
'I'm going to hold her, and I'm going to squeeze her and I probably won't let her go,' Amanda's cousin Tesheena Mitchell told The Cleveland Plain Dealer.
A childhood friend of Gina, Kayla Rogers, said she couldn't wait to hug her.
'I've been praying, never forgot about her, ever,' Rogers told The Plain Dealer newspaper.
Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson was the first public official to speak out about the case, confirming the identities of the three 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,' he said.
Charles Ramsey, the neighbor who rescued the girls, said that he was shocked about the discovery because the man who owns the home - who is thought to be the kidnapper- did not stay hidden from those around him.
'I've been here a year. I barbeque with this dude, we eat ribs and what not and listen to salsa music.
Not a clue that that girl was in that house or that anyone else was in there with,' Mr Ramsey said of Castro.
'He's somebody you look and then you look away because he's just doing normal stuff.
'You got some big testicles to pull this one off because we see this guy every day,' he told NewsNet5.
Local news reporters told CNN that Castro is said to have worked as a bus driver for the Cleveland Metropolitan schools, though it is unclear whether that was the case when the women were kidnapped.
He was a school bus driver in the Cleveland area. He was once the subject of police investigation after inadvertently leaving a boy on the school bus when he returned to the bus depot, authorities said at the press conference.
Only Ariel Castro lived at the home. The brothers lived elsewhere and authorities said they are now interested in searching other properties in relation to the investigation.
Relief: Emotional: Tasheena Mitchell, Amanda's cousin, said that she can't wait to hug her 'and never let her go'
Scrutiny: A large crowd gathers outside MetroHealth Medical Center - the women appear to be in good health and were taken to a hospital to be evaluated and to reunite with relatives
'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.'
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.'
Castro's Facebook page depicts a man with a passion for motorcycles and the bass guitar.
His last post to the social networking site on May 2 says: 'Miracles really do happen, God is good :)'
Remarkably, Castro's son - also named Ariel who now goes by 'Anthony' - penned an article for the Cleveland Plain Press about the disappearance of Miss DeJesus back in 2004.
Anthony Castro told WKYC-TV reporter Sara Shookman: This is beyond comprehension… I’m truly stunned right now.
Also struck by the allegations, the suspects' uncle, Julio Castro, told CNN: 'I never want to see them again.'
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.
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.
Two men arrested for questioning in the disappearance of DeJesus in 2004 were released from the city jail in 2006 after officers didn't 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.
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
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#ixzz2SeNW7KLL
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Daughter of 'abductor' Ariel Castro was last person to see victim Gina DeJesus before she went missing a decade ago
- Gina DeJesus went missing on her way home from school in Cleveland, Ohio in 2004
- Her best friend Arlene Castro had planned to walk home with her friend but changed her mind at the last minute
- Gina walked home instead of taking the bus as she have given her last 50 cents to Arlene for the payphone
- Gina DeJesus, now 23, Amanda Berry, 27, and Michelle Knight, 32, escaped a home owned by Arlene's father Ariel Castro on Monday
By LOUISE BOYLE
|
The daughter of alleged abductor Ariel Castro was the last person to see Gina DeJesus, her best friend, before she went missing almost ten years ago.
Arlene Castro had planned to go to her friend Gina's house on the day she disappeared in April, 2004. However when Arlene called her mother to ask permission, she was told to come straight home and the girls parted ways.
Gina was not seen again until she escaped from a home owned by Arlene's father Ariel Castro - around three miles from where she went missing in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Best of friends: Arlene Castro (right) was the last person to see Gina DeJesus (left) in 2004. Arlene's father Ariel has been charged in her abduction
Coming home: Gina Dejesus, now 23, who disappeared in Cleveland, Ohio in 2004, escaped from a home on Monday just miles from where she went missing - and is believed to have known her abductor
Last sighting: Arlene Castro told America's Most Wanted that she was meant to go to her friend Gina's house that day after school but her mother said that she had to come home
A year after her friend disappeared, Arlene Castro told America's Most Wanted: 'She [Gina] gave me 50 cents to call my mom - and my mom said no i can't go over to her house. So I told her and she [Gina] said ''ok'' and just walked.'
After Gina gave Arlene 50 cents to call her mom, she didn't have enough money for bus fare and so began to walk home - but never made it.
It was also revealed today that Ariel Castro had attended vigils to pray for the safe return of the three missing women including his daughter's best friend.
It is thought that Gina herself knew the man who allegedly snatched her at the age of 14 in 2004 from a Cleveland street.
Further details emerged on Tuesday about the close links that Ariel Castro kept to the families of the missing women, even attending vigils on the anniversaries of their disappearances alongside distraught family and friends.
Gina DeJesus, 23, Amanda Berry, 26, and 32-year-old Michelle Knight escaped a home in Cleveland, Ohio on Monday night owned by Ariel Castro after ten years in captivity.
Castro's brothers Pedro and O'Neal have also been arrested. Details were also emerging about their close links to the long-running investigation into the young women's disappearances.
Pedro Castro told a TV crew last July that a police forensic excavation being conducted in the neighborhood for Miss Berry's body was 'a waste of time'.
The chilling connections between the missing women and their alleged abductors came as Miss DeJesus' family flew balloons and rolled out 'welcome home' signs on Tuesday as they prepared for the young woman to return after almost ten years in captivity just miles from their home.
Brothers: From left, Ariel, Onil and Pedro have all been arrested in connection with the abduction of Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Michele Knight almost ten years ago
Miss DeJesus went missing aged 14 in 2004 on her way home from school.
Her aunt Sandra Ruiz said: 'Those girls, those women are so strong. What we've done in ten years is nothing compared to what those women have done in ten years to survive.'
Ms Ruiz said that she had visited her niece, now 23, and the other two women who had been abducted.
The aunt added: 'She knew who were were and she knew we were looking for her all this time.'
Gina's oldest cousin Robert Osorio told NBC Latino that it was a time of relief and happiness for their family, who come from Puerto Rico.
He said: 'I saw her in the hospital. She’s happy - she’s in good spirits. She recognizes everybody by name. She’s just happy to be home.'
He said that his younger cousin appeared to have lost weight over the years.
Gina's parents were not immediately available for comment but it is believed that the 23-year-old will return to live with her mother.
Her mother Nancy Ruiz told the Plain Dealer in 2005 that she never gave up hope believing her daughter was out there and alive.
Her home is covered in Christian symbols and she lit candles nightly for her daughter's safe return.
Relief: A 'Welcome Home Gina' sign hangs on a fence outside her family home on May 7 in Cleveland
In April, the DeJesus’ family had marked the nine-year anniversary since Gina disappeared
All three women were released from Metro Health Medical Center on Tuesday morning.
Cleveland police Commander Keith Sulzer said they were taken to an undisclosed location in the Cleveland suburbs.
A sign outside of the DeJesus family home in Cleveland, Ohio read 'Welcome Home Gina'.
A childhood friend of Gina, Kayla Rogers, said she couldn't wait to hug her.
'I've been praying, never forgot about her, ever,' Miss Rogers told The Plain Dealer newspaper.
The three women were held in the house for around ten years, police said. Authorities later arrested Ariel Castro, who owned the home, along with his brothers Pedro and O'Neal.
Finally home: Brother of Gina, Ricardo DeJesus, waits outside the family home, decorated with banners and balloons
Hope: Sandra Ruiz, aunt of Gina DeJesus, said that she had visited all three women and talked about their strength to survive
A six-year-old also was found in the home. Cleveland police Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said Tuesday that the girl is believed to be Berry's daughter but declined to say who the father was or where the child was born.
The women appeared to be in good health and were taken to a hospital to be evaluated and reunited with relatives. A photo released by Miss Berry's family showed her smiling with an arm around her sister.
Authorities declined to say whether the women were restrained or if any of them had been sexually assaulted. Police said they were trying to be delicate in their questioning of the women, given the trauma they endured.
Neighbor Juan Perez told NBC's Today show that he rarely saw Ariel Castro or anyone else at the house.
'I thought the home was vacant. I thought he probably had another property and he would just come and check and see if everything is OK.' Perez said. 'I didn't even know anybody lived there.'
The women's escape and rescue began with a frenzied cry for help.
Happiness: Family and friends tie balloons to the fence of the DeJesus family home in readiness for Gina's return
A neighbor, Charles Ramsey, told WEWS-TV he heard screaming on Monday and saw Miss Berry, whom he didn't recognize, at a door that would open only enough to fit a hand through.
He said she was trying desperately to get outside and pleaded for help to reach police.
'I heard screaming,' he said. 'I'm eating my McDonald's. I come outside. I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of a house.'
Neighbor Anna Tejeda was sitting on her porch with friends when they heard someone across the street kicking a door and yelling.
Tejeda, 50, said one of her friends went over and told Berry how to kick the screen out of the bottom of the door, which allowed her to get out.
Speaking Spanish, which was translated by one of her friends, Ms Tejeda said Berry was nervous and crying. She was dressed in pajamas and old sandals.
At first Tejeda said she didn't want to believe who the young woman was. 'You're not Amanda Berry,' she insisted. 'Amanda Berry is dead.'
Never giving up hope: Gina DeJesus' father Felix holds up a post in shortly after her disappearance in front of a shrine to his daughter
But when Miss Berry told her she'd been kidnapped and held captive, Ms Tejeda said she gave her the telephone to call police, who arrived within minutes and then took the other women from the house.
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 come to the home on Cleveland's west side before the man 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.'
Police said Knight disappeared in 2002 at age 20 and is 32 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. About a year later, DeJesus vanished at age 14 on her way home from school.
Berry is now 27, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Authorities didn't provide a current age for DeJesus. They were found just a few miles from where they had vanished.
Berry is now 27, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Authorities didn't provide a current age for DeJesus. They were found just a few miles from where they had vanished.
Police identified the three suspects as Ariel Castro, 52; Pedro Castro, 54; and O'Neal Castro, 50.
Freedom: Amanda Berry (pictured right with her sister) was locked up at a Cleveland home for ten years along with Michele Knight and Gina DeJesus
Attempts to reach Ariel Castro in jail were unsuccessful Monday. There was no public phone listing for the home, which was being searched by dozens of police officers and sheriff's deputies.
Officials said on Tuesday they had no records of anyone calling about criminal activity at the house where three kidnapped women were kept for years before being found. They also had no records of code violations or fire department calls.
Police did go to the house twice in the past 15 years, officials said.
In 2000, before the women vanished, Ariel Castro reported a fight in the street, but no arrests were made, Public Safety Director Martin Flask said.
In 2004, officers went to the home after child welfare officials alerted them that Ariel Castro, a school bus driver, apparently left a child unattended on a bus, Flask said. No one answered the door at Castro's house, and police later determined there was no criminal intent, he said.
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.
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.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2320811/Missing-Ohio-girls-Abductor-knew-family-Gina-Dejesus-attended-vigil.html#ixzz2SeQQ4m9a
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