Between 2002 and 2004, Ariel Castro abducted Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus from the roads of
Cleveland
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
, Ohio, and later held them captive in his home at 2207 Seymour Avenue in the city's
Tremont neighborhood. All three women were imprisoned at Castro's home until 2013, when Berry successfully escaped with her six-year-old daughter, to whom she had given birth while captive, and contacted the police.
Police rescued Knight and DeJesus, and arrested Castro hours later.
Castro was charged with four counts of
kidnapping
Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...
and three counts of
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
.
He pleaded guilty to 937 criminal counts of rape, kidnapping, and
aggravated murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...
as part of a
plea bargain A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...
. He was sentenced to
life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...
plus 1,000 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
One month into his life sentence, Castro died by
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death.
Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
by hanging himself with bedsheets in his prison cell.
Kidnapper background
Ariel Castro (July 10, 1960 – September 3, 2013) was born in
Duey, Yauco, Puerto Rico
Duey is a barrio in the municipality of Yauco, Puerto Rico. According to the 2010 Census, it had a population of 1,108 inhabitants and a population density of 129.21 people per km².
Geography
Duey is located at the coordinates 18°5′36″N 6 ...
, to Pedro Castro and Lillian Rodriguez. His parents divorced when he was a child, and he moved to the Pennsylvania with his mother and three siblings. They first lived in
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
, Pennsylvania, before settling in
Cleveland
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
, Ohio, where Castro's father and other relatives were living. He had nine siblings (both full and half). Castro was a devout
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
.
Castro was sexually and physically abused throughout his childhood. He was molested starting at the age of five by a male neighbor in Puerto Rico and was also raped by an uncle. His mother had physically abused him by striking him with "belts, sticks and an open hand" daily and verbally abused him by "yelling negative things and cursing at
im. He was suspended in junior high for "touching a girl's breast." Castro attended
Lincoln-West High School in Cleveland.
As an adult, Castro met his girlfriend, Grimilda Figueroa, when his family moved into a house across the street from hers in the 1980s. Castro and Figueroa lived with both sets of their parents until they moved into their own home at 2207 Seymour Avenue, located in Cleveland's
Tremont neighborhood,
in 1992.
Their home was a two-story, , four-bedroom, one-bathroom house with a unfinished basement built in 1890 and remodeled in 1956.
According to Figueroa's sister, Elida Caraballo, "All hell started breaking loose" after the couple moved into their new home. Caraballo claimed that Castro beat Figueroa, breaking her nose, ribs, and arms and causing a
blood clot
A thrombus ( thrombi) is a solid or semisolid aggregate from constituents of the blood (platelets, fibrin, red blood cells, white blood cells) within the circulatory system during life. A blood clot is the final product of the blood coagulatio ...
on her brain that resulted in an inoperable
tumor
A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...
. He also threw her down a flight of stairs, cracking her skull.
In 1993, Castro was arrested for
domestic violence
Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...
, but was not
indicted
An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an indi ...
by a
grand jury
A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...
.
In 1996, Figueroa moved out of the house and secured
custody of their four children. Police assisted in the move and detained Castro, but they did not press charges.
Castro continued to threaten and attack Figueroa after she left him. In 2005, Figueroa filed charges in the
Cuyahoga County
Cuyahoga County ( or , see ) is a large urban county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. The county seat and most populous city is Cleveland. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,264,817, making it the second ...
Domestic Relations Court, which accused Castro of inflicting multiple severe injuries on her and of "frequently" abducting their daughters. The court granted her a temporary
restraining order
A restraining order or protective order is an order used by a court to protect a person in a situation often involving alleged domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault.
Restraining and perso ...
against Castro, but it was dismissed a few months later.
Figueroa died in 2012 due to complications from her brain tumor.
Before his arrest at age 52, Castro worked as a bus driver for the
Cleveland Metropolitan School District until he was fired in November 2012 for "bad judgment", including making an illegal U-turn with infants and toddlers on his bus,
using his bus to go grocery shopping, leaving a child on the bus while he went for lunch at
Wendy's
Wendy's International, LLC, is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (businessman), Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of D ...
, and leaving the bus unattended while he took a nap at home.
[ He was earning $18.91 per hour when he was discharged. At the time of his arrest, Castro's home was in ]foreclosure
Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...
after three years of unpaid real estate taxes.
Kidnappings
Castro's modus operandi
A (often shortened to M.O. or MO) is an individual's habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also generally. It is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as .
Term
The term is often used in ...
for each woman was similar: he kidnapped his victims by offering them a ride; he drove each to his home at 2207 Seymour Avenue, lured them inside, took them to the basement, and restrained them.[ Also published by the ''Chicago Tribune'' as .]
Michelle Knight
Michelle Knight (born April 23, 1981) disappeared on August 23, 2002, after leaving a cousin's house. She was 21 years old at the time. On the day of her disappearance, she was scheduled to appear in court for a child custody case involving her son Joey, who was in the custody of the state.
Following Knight's rescue, police acknowledged that limited resources had been spent on investigating her disappearance, in part because she was an adult. Authorities believed that she had run away voluntarily due to anger over losing custody of her son. According to Cleveland Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba, she was "the focus of very few tips". Some criticized her subsequent removal from the National Crime Information Center
The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is the United States' central database for tracking crime-related information. The NCIC has been an information sharing tool since 1967. It is maintained by the Criminal Justice Information Services ...
database fifteen months after she disappeared, which made her largely unknown prior to her rescue. The Cleveland Division of Police (CDP) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
(FBI) maintain that her inclusion or exclusion had no bearing on her rescue.
Amanda Berry
Amanda Marie Berry (born April 22, 1986) disappeared on April 21, 2003, the day before her 17th birthday. She was last heard from around 8:00p.m. when she called her sister to tell her that she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King
Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...
at the corner of Lorain Ave & The FBI initially considered her a runaway until a week after her disappearance, when an unidentified male used her cell phone to call her mother, Louwana Miller. He said: "I have Amanda. She's fine and will be coming home in a couple of days".
Berry was featured in a 2004 segment of Fox
Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush").
Twelve species ...
's ''America's Most Wanted
''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Entertainment#Fox Alternative Entertainment, Fox Alternative Entertain ...
'' (re-aired in 2005 and 2006), which linked her to Gina DeJesus, who by that point had also gone missing in Cleveland. Berry and DeJesus were profiled on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show
''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...
'' and ''The Montel Williams Show
''The Montel Williams Show'' (also known as ''Montel'') is an American syndicated tabloid talk show, hosted by Montel Williams, which ran from July 8, 1991 to May 16, 2008.
On January 30, 2008, the end of production of new episodes of ''The Mo ...
'', where self-proclaimed psychic Sylvia Browne
Sylvia Celeste Browne (''née'' Shoemaker; October 19, 1936 – November 20, 2013) was an American writer and self-proclaimed medium and psychic. She appeared regularly on television and radio, including on '' The Montel Williams Show'' ...
told Berry's mother Louwana Miller in November 2004 that her daughter was dead and that she was "in water". This pronouncement devastated her mother, causing her to take down pictures and give away Berry's computer. However, Miller continued to search for Berry before dying from heart failure in early March 2006. Later that year, on December 25, 2006, Berry gave birth to a daughter. DNA evidence has confirmed that Castro was the father of the child.
Robert Wolford was a prison inmate who had lived in Tremont, and he claimed in July 2012 that he had information about the location of Berry's body. He led police to an empty lot on Cleveland's West Side, where they conducted a fruitless search. He was sentenced in January 2013 to years in prison for obstruction of justice
In United States jurisdictions, obstruction of justice refers to a number of offenses that involve unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investiga ...
, making a false report, and making a false alarm.
Gina DeJesus
Georgina Lynn DeJesus (born February 13, 1990) went missing on April 2, 2004, at age 14. She was last seen at a payphone
A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone or pay telephone or public phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic public areas. Prepayment is required by inserting coins or tel ...
around 3:00p.m. while on the way home from her middle school at West 105th Street and Lorain Avenue. At the time, she was friends with Castro's daughter Arlene. Shortly before Gina disappeared, she and Arlene had called Arlene's mother, Grimilda Figueroa, for permission to have a sleepover at DeJesus's house, but Figueroa replied that they could not and the two girls parted ways. Arlene was the last person to see DeJesus before her disappearance.
DeJesus was under the impression that Castro was picking her up to drop her off at home, and she trusted Castro because she was friends with his teenage daughter. No one witnessed her abduction and an Amber alert was not issued, which angered her father. He said in 2006, "The Amber Alert should work for any missing child. ... Whether it's an abduction or a runaway, a child needs to be found. We need to change this law".
A year after DeJesus's disappearance, the FBI released a composite sketch
A facial composite is a graphical representation of one or more eyewitnesses' memories of a face, as recorded by a composite artist. Facial composites are used mainly by police in their investigation of (usually serious) crimes. These images a ...
and description of a male suspect, described as, "Latino, 25 to 35 years of age, , , with green eyes, a goatee, and possibly a pencil-thin beard". According to court records, Castro was , , with brown eyes and a goatee.
DeJesus was featured in the ''America's Most Wanted'' segment which linked her to Berry. The disappearances received regular media attention into 2012, while the families held public vigil
A vigil, from the Latin meaning 'wakefulness' ( Greek: , or ), is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance. The Italian word has become generalized in this sense and means 'eve' (as in "on t ...
s. Castro attended at least two of these vigils, reportedly participated in a search party, and tried to get close to the DeJesus family. Castro's son Anthony was a journalism student in 2004, and he interviewed DeJesus's mother for an article about the disappearances in the ''Plain Press'' newspaper. Police kept the investigation open and offered a $25,000 reward for information.
According to Castro's uncle, his family knew the DeJesus family and had lived in the same neighborhood. Castro falsely claimed that he was not aware that DeJesus was a member of that family when he abducted her.
Captivity
Upon kidnapping Michelle Knight, Castro took her to the upper floor of his house, tied her hands and feet together, and pulled her up using her hands, feet, and neck. He left her there for three days without food. Prosecutors at Castro's sentencing wrote that diaries kept by his victims "speak of forced sexual conduct, being locked in a dark room, anticipating the next session of abuse, dreams of someday escaping and being reunited with family, being chained to a wall, being held like a prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
, missing the lives they once enjoyed, emotional abuse
Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is no scientific consensus on a definit ...
, Castro's threats to kill them, being treated like an animal, continuous abuse, and desiring freedom". Castro kept the women in locked bedrooms, where he forced them to use plastic toilets that were "emptied infrequently". He fed them one meal a day and allowed them to shower twice a week at most.
Knight told police that Castro had impregnated her at least five times and had induced miscarriage
Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can fetal viability, survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks ...
s each time through beatings, hitting her with dumbbells, punching her, and slamming her against walls. He also starved her. Knight's grandmother told reporters that she would require facial reconstruction
Oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) is a surgical specialty focusing on reconstructive surgery of the face, facial trauma surgery, the mouth, head and neck, and jaws, as well as facial plastic surgery including cleft lip and cleft palate s ...
surgery due to the beatings that she endured, and had lost hearing in one ear. At one point, Knight had a pet dog while in captivity, but Castro killed it by snapping its neck after it bit him while trying to protect Knight. DeJesus told law enforcement that Castro raped her, but she did not believe that he ever impregnated her.
On Christmas Day 2006, Castro allegedly ordered Knight to assist in the birth of Berry's child, which took place in a small inflatable swimming pool, and threatened to kill her if the baby did not survive. At one point, the baby stopped breathing, but Knight was able to resuscitate
Resuscitation is the process of correcting physiological disorders (such as lack of breathing or heartbeat) in an acutely ill patient. It is an important part of intensive care medicine, anesthesiology, trauma surgery and emergency medicine. ...
her. Castro occasionally took Berry's daughter out of the house, including to visit his mother; she called him "daddy" and Castro's mother "grandmother". In 2013, he showed one of his adult daughters a picture of the child and said that she was his girlfriend's daughter from a previous relationship; he had told others that she was his granddaughter.[ Berry taught her daughter how to read and write.
According to a statement from the CDP, officers visited Castro's home only once following the kidnappings to discuss an unrelated incident. Castro did not appear to be home at the time and was later interviewed elsewhere. Neighbors have said that they called the police about suspicious activity observed at the home, but police claim that they have no record of any such calls.][ Also published by WHNT as]
Ariel Castro Charged with Kidnapping, Rape; Brothers Pedro and Onil Released
". Castro's son Anthony reported that there were certain areas of the house that were locked and inaccessible. He also mentioned an occasion three weeks before the women's escape when Castro asked him if Berry would ever be found. Anthony said that he told Castro that Berry was likely dead, to which Castro responded: "Really? You think so?"
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
affiliate WKYC
WKYC (channel 3) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. Its studios are located on Tom Beres Way (a section of Lakeside Avenue in Downtown Cleveland named after the station's lo ...
reported that Castro recalled each of the three abductions in great detail during his interrogation
Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful informa ...
and indicated that they were unplanned crimes of opportunity. According to WKYC's sources, Castro did not have an "exit plan" and believed that he would eventually be caught. He referred to himself as "coldblooded" and a sex addict. Police found a suicide note
A suicide note or death note is a message written by a person who intends to die by suicide.
A study examining Japanese suicide notes estimated that 25–30% of suicides are accompanied by a note. However, incidence rates may depend on ethnic ...
in the house in which he discussed the abductions and wrote that his money and possessions should be given to the kidnapped women if he were caught.
Escape and rescue
On the morning of May 6, 2013, Berry was finally able to make contact with Castro's neighbors, leading to her escape with her 6-year-old daughter and the rescue of DeJesus and Knight by authorities.[ According to police, Castro had left the house that day and Berry realized that he had failed to lock the "big inside door", although the exterior storm door was bolted.] She did not attempt to break through the outer door because she thought that Castro "was testing her", according to the police report. Previously, Castro had tested the women by leaving the house partially unlocked and exits unsecured. If they attempted to escape, he beat them. Instead, Berry screamed for help when she saw neighbors through the screen.
Neighbors have offered differing views of the escape. According to Berry in her memoir ''Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland'', neighbor Angel Cordero responded to the screaming, but left as he was unable to communicate with Berry because he was a Spanish-speaker who spoke little English. Neighbor Charles Ramsey arrived at the scene and suggested kicking out the storm door's bottom panel. Together, Ramsey and Berry kicked a hole through the bottom of the door and Berry crawled through with her daughter. Berry told Ramsey that she and her child were being kept inside the house against her will. Once both were free, Ramsey called 9-1-1
911, sometimes written , is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Maldives, Palau, Panama, Iraq, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as ...
from his home, while Berry called as well from the home of another neighbor, saying: "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!"
Responding police officers Michael Tracy, Barbara Johnson and Anthony Espada entered Castro's house. They walked through an upstairs hallway with guns drawn, announcing themselves as CPD. After peeking out from a slightly opened bedroom door, Knight entered the hallway and leaped into an officer's arms, repeatedly saying, "You saved me." Soon afterward, DeJesus entered the hallway from another room. Knight and DeJesus walked out of the house, and all three women, plus the child, were taken to MetroHealth Medical Center
The MetroHealth System is a non-profit hospital, non-profit, public Health care system#United States, health care system located in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1837 as City Hospital, The MetroHealth System serves the residents of the city of Cl ...
. Berry and DeJesus were released from the hospital the next day, and Knight was discharged four days later on May 10.
Arrest and legal proceedings
Castro was arrested in a McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...
parking lot shortly after the victims were rescued. He was charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape on May 8, which carry prison sentence
In criminal law, a sentence is the punishment for a crime ordered by a trial court after conviction in a criminal procedure, normally at the conclusion of a trial. A sentence may consist of imprisonment, a fine, or other sanctions. Sentences for ...
s of ten years to life
Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
in Ohio. Two of Castro's brothers, Pedro and Onil, were also initially taken into custody, but were released on May 9 after police announced that they had no involvement in the kidnappings. The charges against the two brothers were dropped.
Castro made his first court appearance at the Cleveland Municipal Court on May 9, where bail
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...
was set at $2 million per kidnapping charge, adding to a total of $8 million. Prosecutors intended to seek the death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
against Castro. Additional charges were reported to be pending, including aggravated murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...
(for intentional induction of miscarriages), attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions.
Canada
Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seve ...
, assault
In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...
, a charge for each instance of rape, and a kidnapping charge for each day each captive was held. On May 14, Castro's attorneys said he would plead "not guilty" to all charges if indicted for kidnapping and rape.
A Cuyahoga County grand jury returned a true bill of indictment against Castro on June 7. It contained 329 counts, including 2 counts of aggravated murder (under different sections of the Ohio criminal code) for his role in the termination of one of the women's pregnancies. The indictments covered only the period from August 2002 to February 2007. The county prosecutor, Timothy J. McGinty, stated that the investigation was ongoing, and that any further findings would be presented to the grand jury. McGinty said that pursuing a death penalty specification would be considered following completion of indictment proceedings.
After entering a not guilty plea for Castro on June 12, one of his attorneys, Craig Weintraub, said that although some of the charges against Castro were indisputable, "it is our hope that we can continue to work toward a resolution to avoid having an unnecessary trial about aggravated murder and the death penalty". He noted, "We are very sensitive to the emotional strain and impact that a trial would have on the women, their families and this community". Castro was found competent to stand trial on July 3.
On July 12, a Cuyahoga County grand jury returned a true bill of indictment for the remainder of the period after February 2007. It brought the total to 977 counts: 512 counts of kidnapping, 446 of rape, seven of gross sexual imposition, six of felonious assault, three of child endangerment
Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, emotional and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...
, two of aggravated murder, and one of possession of criminal tools. On July 17, Castro pleaded not guilty to the expanded indictment. He faced death by lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium) for the express purpose of causing death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but t ...
if convicted on all of the charges.
Castro pleaded guilty on July 26 to 937 of the 977 charges against him, including charges of kidnapping, rape, and aggravated murder, as part of a plea bargain A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...
which called for consecutive sentences of life in prison plus 1,000 years, all without parole
Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...
.[ Under the plea deal, Castro forfeited his right to ]appeal
In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...
, and could not profit in any way due to his crimes. He also forfeited his assets, including his Seymour Avenue house, which prosecutors said would be demolished. Castro was told by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Russo, "You will not be getting out. Is that clear?" to which Castro responded, "I do understand that, your honor." Castro also made comments about his "addiction to pornography
Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...
" and "sexual problem", but was cut off by Judge Russo, who said such issues could be discussed at the August 1 sentencing hearing.[ A law firm representing Berry, DeJesus, and Knight released a statement that the three women were "relieved by today's plea. They are satisfied by this resolution to the case, and are looking forward to having these legal proceedings draw to a final close in the near future".][
At the sentencing hearing on August 1, Castro was sentenced to consecutive life terms in prison, plus 1,000 years, all without any possibility of parole. He was also fined $100,000. The court forfeited all of his property and assets to the Cuyahoga County government.] Before his sentencing, Castro addressed the court for nearly twenty minutes, in which he said he was "a good person" and "not a monster", but that he was addicted to sex and pornography and had "practiced the art of masturbation
Masturbation is a form of autoeroticism in which a person Sexual stimulation, sexually stimulates their own Sex organ, genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. Stimulation may involve the use of han ...
" from a young age. He claimed that he had never beaten or tortured the women, and insisted that "most" of the sex he had with them "was consensual". He shifted between apologizing and blaming the FBI for failing to catch him, as well as blaming his victims themselves for getting in a car with a stranger, along with insisting to the court that when he had sex with them he discovered they were not virgins. He would alternately shift back into apologetic comments, saying: "I hope they can find in their hearts to forgive me because we had a lot of harmony going on in that home".
The sentencing judge also heard from Knight and family members of Berry and DeJesus. Knight told Castro: "You took eleven years of my life away. I spent eleven years in hell; now your hell is just beginning. I will overcome all that has happened, but you will face hell for eternity. I will live on, you will die a little every day as you think of the eleven years of atrocities that you inflicted on us ... I can forgive you, but I will never forget."[
]
Aftermath
Survivors
Knight, Berry, and DeJesus released a video statement on July 9, 2013, thanking the public for their support. An attorney for Berry and DeJesus said that the women "still have a strong desire for privacy" and did not wish to speak to the media about their ordeal. The Cleveland Courage Fund, a bank account set up to help the women in their transition to independent life, had collected approximately $1.05 million at the time of the video's release.[ Before Berry's disappearance, her grandfather had promised to give her a classic ]Chevrolet Monte Carlo
The Chevrolet Monte Carlo is a two-door coupe that was manufactured and marketed by the Chevrolet division of General Motors. Deriving its name from the Monte Carlo, city in Monaco, the Monte Carlo was marketed as the first personal luxury car ...
, built in the year when she was born. He kept the car after her kidnapping in case she was found alive, and gave it to her when she was released, although it was in need of restoration from having been unused. Several automotive shops offered to perform the restoration for free.
Knight discussed some of her ordeals in an interview with ''People'' magazine one year after her release, as well as her life leading up to her abduction. After her rescue, she legally changed her name and began to get several tattoos as her way of coping with the healing process. She also revealed that her son was adopted by his foster parents while she was in captivity and that she wanted to see him, but she does not want to bring him into the ordeal which she has had to deal with, and planned to see him after he becomes an adult. She planned to open a restaurant and dreamed of getting married, which she did in 2016, and hoped to adopt children, as her years of abuse and torture have made it unlikely for her to ever be able to give birth again. She also planned to reunite with Berry and DeJesus in the future, but began focusing on getting her own life back on track.
Berry and DeJesus received honorary diplomas from John Marshall High School in 2015. In an interview with WKYC, DeJesus says that she was volunteering for the Amber Alert committee, offering comfort to families of abducted children. She remains in touch with Berry and her family. In February 2017, Berry joined the staff of Fox affiliate WJW in Cleveland, where she hosts short recurring segments in which she reports missing person
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as Life, alive or Death, dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accide ...
cases in order to help families reunite with missing family members. In April 2019, Berry reunited with Charles Ramsey, six years since her rescue, at an interview that was broadcast on WJW.
House demolition
As part of the plea bargain, the house where Castro had lived and held the women captive was demolished on August 7, 2013. Knight was present and handed out yellow balloons to spectators, which she said represented missing children. The balloons were released before DeJesus's aunt began the demolition with a swing of a crane. The house has been completely blurred out on the street view of Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...
. As of 2018, a park and garden sits in the spot formerly occupied by Castro's house.
Castro's death
Castro was found hanging from a bed sheet with his pants pulled to his ankles and without underwear in his detention cell at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio
Orient is a census-designated place and former village (United States)#Ohio, village in Pickaway County, Ohio, United States. The population was 246 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census.
Orient is home to the Pickaway Correctional Instit ...
, on the evening of September 3, 2013, one month into his life sentence. He was 53 at the time of his death. He had left a handwritten letter, dated on the same day, quoting Bible passages in which he wrote, "If you confess...you will be saved" and "God loves you, for all are sinners", as well as a note with the text "love my kids and grandkids". Prison staff performed CPR on him before he was taken to the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC) is a multidisciplinary academic medical center located in Columbus, Ohio, United States, on the main campus of Ohio State University.
History
The Ohio State Health System includes Univ ...
in Columbus, where he was pronounced dead shortly after. The following day, Franklin County coroner Jan Gorniak announced that a preliminary autopsy had found the cause of Castro's death to be suicide by hanging
Suicide by hanging is the intentional killing of oneself (suicide) via suspension from an anchor-point such as an overhead beam or hook, by a rope or cord or by jumping from a height with a noose around the neck.
Hanging is often considered to ...
. He was later cremated
Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning.
Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...
and his ashes were scattered in an undisclosed location.
On October 10, 2013, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC or ODRC) is the administrative department of the Ohio state government responsible for oversight of Ohio State Correctional Facilities, along with its Incarcerated Individuals. Ohio's pri ...
released a report which suggested that Castro may have died accidentally from auto-erotic asphyxiation
Erotic asphyxiation (variously called asphyxiophilia, hypoxyphilia or breath control play) is the intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for the purposes of sexual arousal. With a partner (or alone), the act often involves strangulatio ...
rather than suicide. Gorniak rejected the possibility, standing by her ruling of suicide. The report also said that two prison guards had falsified logs documenting their observation of Castro hours before he was found dead. They were placed on paid administrative leave. He was not on suicide watch
Suicide watch (sometimes shortened to SW) is an intensive monitoring process used to ensure that any person cannot attempt suicide. Usually the term is used in reference to inmates or patients in a prison, hospital, psychiatric hospital or militar ...
at the time of his death but had been subjected to routine checks every thirty minutes due to his notoriety.
A consultant's report was released on December 3, and officially concluded that "all available evidence pointed to suicide, including a shrine-like arrangement of family pictures and a Bible in Castro's cell, an increasing tone of frustration in his prison journal and the reality of spending the rest of his life in prison while subject to constant harassment." The Ohio State Highway Patrol
The Ohio State Highway Patrol is a division of the Ohio Department of Public Safety and has the primary responsibility of traffic enforcement in the U.S. state of Ohio.
Divisions
Operationally, the Patrol is divided into units whose varying task ...
also reviewed the case and reached the same conclusion.
Castro's family
Many of Castro's immediate and extended family members alike disowned him, denounced his actions, and apologized to the victims and their families. His brothers Pedro and Onil, who were arrested alongside him but later released, appeared on a CNN interview denouncing him and expressing their shock. They also detailed how when they visited Ariel’s house, he would keep certain areas off limits for visitors. A member of Castro's extended family in Puerto Rico alleged that "a demon inside him made him lose his mind."
Castro's son, journalist Ariel Anthony Castro, refused to visit his father in prison. He also struggled with sharing the same name as his father.
Castro's daughter, Emily Castro, was found guilty of attempted murder after she slashed her 11-month-old daughter's throat four times with a knife on April 4, 2007, the day after the baby's father moved out of their home. She was serving her 25-year prison sentence during and after the kidnappings.
In January 2014, Castro's nephew, Jeremi J. Alicea, was arrested for and charged with 22 counts related to child pornography, including 21 counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and one count of possessing a criminal tool.
Media depictions
Books
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Films
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* ''The Cleveland Kidnappings'' (documentary). Discovery+
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discov ...
. 2021.
See also
* Michael J. Devlin
Michael John Devlin (born November 19, 1965)[Fritzl case
The Fritzl case was a case that emerged in 2008, when a woman named Elisabeth Fritzl (born 6 April 1966) informed investigators in the city of Amstetten, Lower Austria, that she had been held captive for 24 years by her father, Josef Fritzl ( ...](_blank)
* Gary M. Heidnik
* Natascha Kampusch
Natascha Maria Kampusch (born 17 February 1988) is an Austrian author and former talk show host. At the age of 10, on 2 March 1998, she was Child abduction, abducted and held in a secret cellar by her kidnapper Wolfgang Přiklopil for more than ...
* Kidnapping of Colleen Stan
* Kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart
Elizabeth Smart, Elizabeth Ann Smart, aged 14, was kidnapping, kidnapped on June 5, 2002, by Brian David Mitchell from her home in the Federal Heights, Salt Lake City, Federal Heights neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah. She was held captive by ...
* Kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard
On June 10, 1991, Jaycee Lee Dugard, an eleven-year-old girl, was abducted from a street while walking to a school bus stop in Meyers, California, United States. Searches began immediately after Dugard's disappearance, but no reliable leads w ...
* Kidnapping of Tanya Nicole Kach
* List of long-term false imprisonment cases
This is a list of notable long-term false imprisonment cases.
Cases involving children imprisoned by relatives
* Álvarez incest case, Alba Nidia Álvarez, Mariquita, Colombia, 25 years, discovered in March 2009.
* Anna (feral child), "Anna", Pe ...
* List of people who committed suicide by hanging
* Steven Stayner
Steven Gregory Stayner (April 18, 1965September 16, 1989) was an American kidnapping victim and the younger brother of serial killer Cary Stayner. On December 4, 1972, seven-year-old Stayner was abducted in Merced, California, by child molester K ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castro, Ariel
2000s missing person cases
2002 in Ohio
2003 in Ohio
2004 in Ohio
2013 in Ohio
2000s kidnappings in the United States
21st century in Cleveland
April 2003 crimes in the United States
April 2004 crimes in the United States
August 2002 crimes in the United States
Crimes in Cleveland
Formerly missing American people
Incidents of violence against girls
Kidnapped American children
May 2013 in the United States
Missing person cases in Ohio
People from Cleveland
People from Yauco, Puerto Rico
Rape in the United States
Torture in the United States
Violence against women in Ohio