Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight found in Cleveland: Girls were 'tied up in basement for TEN YEARS' before escaping as 3 brothers arrested | Mail OnlineBy Meghan Keneally
PUBLISHED: 00:08 GMT, 7 May 2013 |
UPDATED: 08:35 GMT, 7 May 2013
Three girls who went missing as teenagers managed to escape from their captor after spending a decade chained up in the dungeon of an Ohio house.
Amanda Berry, 26, and Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32, were found alive in the Cleveland house just a few miles from where they disappeared.
The trio escaped after a neighbour helped break down the door after hearing Berry scream for help when their captor left the house.
Ariel Castro, 52, has been arrested and is in police custody in connection with the kidnapping case along with his two unnamed brothers, who are 50 and 54.
Berry's relatives have confirmed that one of the children in the house is her daughter that she gave birth to while being held against her will.
Reunited! Emotional moment kidnapping victim Amanda Berry introduces young DAUGHTER born during ordeal to her sister
'Help me get out. I’ve been in here a long time': Neighbor describes the moment he freed Amanda Berry when he heard her cries for help
'I'm here, I'm free now' The dramatic 911 call Amanda Berry made moments after she was freed
The women appear to be in good health and were taken to a hospital to be evaluated and to reunite with relatives.
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
After 10 years being held against their will, the women were finally freed after neigbour Charles Ramsey, heard screaming from the house.
Mr Ramsey, told WEWS-TV he saw Berry, 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 Berry fled the home and ran across the street to call police, she was holding the hand of a young girl.
'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.
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.
Berry disappeared on April 21, 2003, a day before her 17th birthday, and a year later then-14-year-old DeJesus went missing on April 2, 2004.
Police will hold a press conference Tuesday morning to address the case.
The women were taken to MetroHealth Medical Center, as they are reportedly suffering from severe dehydration and slightly malnourished but alive.
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.
Berry went missing shortly after she called her sister to say that she was getting a ride home from her job at Burger King.
DeJesus went missing on her way home from school.
Michelle Knight went missing in 2000 at the age of 20-years-old.
Berry was photographed with her older sister Beth Serrano, who has maintained the search for her sister since their mother died in 2006.
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.
Amanda's mother Louwanna Miller, died in March 2006 after the years of her daughter's disappearance had taken a toll on her deteriorating health.
Local news reports said that she 'died of a broken heart.'
Two men arrested for questioning in the disappearance of DeJesus in 2004 were released from the city jail in 2006 after officers did not find her body during a search of the men's house.
One of the men was transferred to the Cuyahoga County Jail on unrelated charges, while the other was allowed to go free, police said.
In September 2006, police acting on a tip tore up the concrete floor of the garage and used a cadaver dog to search unsuccessfully for DeJesus' body.
Investigators confiscated 19 pieces of evidence during their search but declined to comment on the significance of the items then. --AP
Amanda's sister has continued to keep the case in the public's attention since their mother died.
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.
Beth Serrano has worked closely with the DeJesus family, whose daughter Georgina 'Gina' DeJesus was found in the same home as Amanda.
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.
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 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,' Charles 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.
Crowds of Cleveland residents gathered at the police station and cheered as squad cars pulled into the station Monday night, and a similar crowd gathered outside of the hospital.
Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd
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