Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Ashley Summers Missing In Cleveland Ohio~ Berry, DeJesus and Michelle Knight Found Alive~ Ariel Castro Indicted On 977 Counts!~ Castro Accepts Plea Deal/Castro Kills Himself!!!!!!!

(CNN) -- The discovery of three young women missing for a decade in Cleveland immediately raised the hopes of the family of a fourth missing woman Tuesday.
After all, Ashley Summers was just like two of the three discovered women: Cleveland teenagers who all disappeared within five blocks of each other over a four-year span.

The anticipation for Summers' family was heightened momentarily when authorities said they had yet to identify one of the three discovered women.
Was it Ashley? Could it be Ashley, who went missing almost six years ago at age 14?
"At first, when they said the third girl wasn't identified, I was hoping one would be Ashley," said her aunt, Debra Summers.
Ashley Summers' mother expressed similar emotions. "She said, 'Oh, my God' -- just hoping it was Ashley," Debra Summers, 30, said of her sister Jennifer Summers, 33, who wasn't immediately available for interviews Tuesday.
But the third woman held in captivity for a decade was someone else, not Ashley, authorities announced.
"I was upset, but I was happy at the same time that they found the third girl," Debra Summers said.
Now the Summers family is hoping that the investigation into the three women's decade-long captivity -- allegedly by three brothers -- will yield information about Ashley, who disappeared on July 6, 2007.
"We're hoping that it's connected, and they knew where she was," Summers said of the investigation. "We're hoping for a miracle."
Investigators will speak to the three discovered women to see if they know anything about Summers' disappearance, said Special Agent Vicki Anderson, of the FBI Cleveland Division.
The discovery of the three women might prompt someone who has information -- but never said anything -- to call authorities, she said.
"We're really very dependent on the public's assistance on things such as this, for them to be aware of people around them, to report things that are suspicious, to take a look at the pictures of these individuals who are missing and see if they recognize them," Anderson said.
Since Ashley Summers disappeared, "there's been no legitimate sightings, no accessing social media, anything," Anderson said.
Former FBI agent Jennifer Eakin said authorities have long believed in a link in the disappearances of Summers and two of the women discovered this week -- Amanda Berry and Georgina "Gina" DeJesus. Eakin is now a case manager at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which in 2008 held a comprehensive review of the cases with the FBI and Cleveland police.
"We did in fact believe there was an association between the Berry case and the DeJjesus case as well as the Summers case," Eakin said.
In 2009, CNN reported how the FBI was investigating connections between the three missing Cleveland teens. "We kind of put all three of these cases together to work them to see if there's any connection," FBI Special Agent Scott Wilson, in the agency's Cleveland Division, said then.
At the time, authorities said Ashley Summers was initially reported as a runaway after a family argument. Problem was, she never contacted her family again, authorities said.
"She's considered an endangered juvenile who may have been a runaway and possibly abducted," Anderson said.
The Summers family is also renewing their efforts to publicize Ashley's disappearance. The FBI's missing person website says Ashley Summers has a tattoo of "Gene" enclosed in a heart on her upper arm, and her birthday is June 16, 1993, making her 19 years old.
Jennifer Summers, a restaurant cook, has seven other children, whose ages range from 2 to 16, and Ashley is her oldest, said Debra Summers, a shipping clerk who lives in Parma, Ohio.
Debra Summers last saw her niece two weeks before she disappeared.
"She just hanged around the house and talked about her boyfriend and the usual stuff," Debra Summers said. "She actually wanted to move in with me, and I said yeah, but she never came."
Ashley Summers left her mother's home, where four younger siblings were then also living, and instead moved to her great-uncle's residence, so she could be closer to friends, Debra Summers said.
Then she vanished.
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BJ wrote:

Israel Lugo, a neighbor, said he called police in November 2011 after his sister saw a girl at the house holding a baby and crying for help. He said police came and banged on the door several times but left after no one answered.

Shame on LE! Some heads need to roll!

Yea, this is the same city that used overkill on that huge police chase of those 2 unarmed people in that car a few months ago, pumping over a hundred bullets into them. They need to go back to cop school and get a refresher course, me thinks. Even so, they are not perfect but it is a tough town and I wouldn't want their job for anything in the world. It seems to me that something could have legally been done but I don't know what.

The man, Charles Ramsey, who rescued the woman said he doesn't think he should get reward money.....it should go to the women that were held in the house. What a MAN, in the true sense of the word!

The interview Anderson Cooper did with Charles Ramsey was great. I'll post if if I can find it later. Here is an earlier interview.

Charles Ramsey Says Give Any Reward Money To Kidnapping Victims

CNN's Anderson Cooper interviewed Charles Ramsey, the man who helped rescue Amanda Berry and her daughter, who both had been held captive in a Cleveland home along with two other women. As more horrifying details have emerged (with many others likely to come), Ramsey's actions and extremely down-to-earth, no-nonsense demeanor have prompted many to call him a hero. But he said he's not, "Bro, I'm a Christian, an American, and just like you. We bleed same blood, put our pants on the same way. It's just that you got to put that -- being a coward, and I don't want to get in nobody's business. You got to put that away for a minute. "

Berry had been missing since 2003, while fellow kidnapping victims Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight had been missing since 2004 and 2002 respectively. Police insisted they had no idea that the women were at the home of Ariel Castro all these years, and neighbors were shocked this had happened in their midst. Ramsey, who moved into the neighborhood a year ago, said his conversations with Castro were "regular" and that he and others thought the little girls playing in Castro's yard were his granddaughters.
Ramsey recounted yesterday afternoon's events to Cooper: He spoke to Castro to give him some mail that mistakenly delivered to his house before heading to McDonald's to pick up a sandwich.
Came back home, I'm in my house, but I'm in the living room and I'm right by the front door, because I'm looking out the front door, and man, this girl screamed like a car had hit a kid, which made me, you know, stop eating, what the hell was that. You know, so when I got up, I saw this -- my neighbor across the street, he run across the street and I'm, like -- I'm thinking, where you going, because ain't nobody next door because I just saw Ariel leave.

And I know ain't nobody over there. Heard that girl scream and saw him run across the street, and I went outside and wondered what he was doing, and -- Amanda said, I'm stuck in here, help get me out. So he -- guy don't know English that well or panicked, he just looked at me and it's a girl. And that's all he did. So here I come with my, you know, half eaten Big Mac and I looked and I said well, what's up.

And she's like I've been trapped in here, he won't let me out, me and my baby. I said well, we ain't going to talk no more, come on. I'm trying to get the door open, I can't, because he torture chambered it some kind of way and locked it up, right? So I did what I had to do and kicked the bottom of the door, and she crawled out of it. She grabs her baby, which threw me off, all right, so fine. I got some girl and her kid.
Police confirmed the girl was Berry's. Ramsey told Cooper he told the crying little girl to be quiet because her mother was trying to help her, "She's like I want my daddy. And I said, who's her daddy? She said Ariel.... I said well, how's that possible? Because you wouldn't -- if you got kidnapped, he was having sex with [Berry]? Oh, Jesus. That little girl is his? Now we want to hurt [Castro]."

Ramsey told Cooper he was having "trouble sleeping" knowing that these women were next door to him all this time. When Cooper mentioned the FBI reward related to information for Amanda Berry whereabouts, he said, "I tell you what you do, give it to them... you know I got a job anyway," and pulled out his paycheck that he just picked up.

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Daughter of 'abductor' Ariel Castro was last person to see victim Gina DeJesus before she went missing a decade ago

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.'

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.

Police identified the three suspects as Ariel Castro, 52; Pedro Castro, 54; and O'Neal Castro, 50.

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. (that's not what the neighbors are saying!)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.

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Thanks for posting updates. I heard about this story yesterday but had not time to read about it until now. I hope they have news about Ashley so her family can get some closure.

Per HLN, Amanda Berry and her daughter are home and she w/be making a statement "soon".

By RICHARD ZWOLINSKI, LMHC, CASAC & C.R. ZWOLINSKI

C.R writes: By now we’ve all heard about the emotionally overwhelming escape of three young women who were kidnapped ten years ago—Amanda Berry when she was 16, Gina DeJesus at 14, and Michele Knight at 20.

This is an incredible story and reminded me right away of Elizabeth Smart and others who had a big chunk of their lives stolen by, well, monsters I’d call them.

Naturally, the negativistas out there are waxing antagonistic about the victims and buzzing about whether or not the girls missed opportunities to escape before now.

It sure doesn’t sound like it.

From rescuer Charles Ramsey , these young women (and Amanda’s daughter, born in captivity) were completely hidden from neighborhood eyes. No one had the least idea the three brothers who held them captive were doing so. Mr. Ramsey even describes eating together with the Castro brothers and the fact that he had no idea, whatsoever, that the neighbors’ house was a prison.

Let’s be clear: Even if the girls/women did have a “physical” opportunity to escape, they may not have had an emotional one.

Stockholm Syndrome or capture bonding, describes a psychological state and doesn’t seem all that difficult to parse from a layperson’s point of view.

A captive (such as Amanda) may forced to be physically close to her kidnapper because, horrifically, he rapes her.

She most likely relies on him to bring her food, and probably medication, toiletries, and other necessary items. Maybe he is the one who determines whether or not she may bathe or use the toilet.

Although prisoners may bond with each other, bonding with a person in power/control, the one who is able to improve conditions, makes sense from a survival point of view.

Perhaps the reasons for bonding or identifying with or even protecting a captor or abuser may begin consciously, but after some time, they become ingrained. It is frustrating to mental health professionals, clergy and family members, for example, when abused women go back to or even defend their abusers. But this identification has become part of how they see their world, it is impossible for them to “snap” out of it.

We know that spouses and sometimes children of alcoholics, drug abusers, and violent offenders sometimes collude to protect and defend the guilty party. In many cases this is labeled (extreme) co-dependency.

Is Stockholm Syndrome possibly a radical type of co-dependency?

We don’t yet know the full extent of the trauma the four endured nor do we know the full extent of the emotional (and physical) damage these men caused.

Anyway, this story is at once horrific and reaffirming. I can’t stop thinking about how these girls, especially Gina and Amanda and Amanda’s daughter, spent ten formative years in captivity. It’s very heartening, when you think about it, that the urge for freedom, for life, was greater than the power of the Castro brothers.

Thank God they were rescued, thank God Amanda Berry reached out to Charles Ramsey in a bid to escape.

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Amanda Berry's sister made a statement asking that the family be given the privacy that they need right now. Amanda will NOT be making a statement today.

I saw that and could NOT agree more.

Police sources tell the FOX 8 I-Team that they found a letter written by Ariel Castro inside his home detailing his involvement with the three women.
The letter is one of several items police now have as evidence. They have also confiscated ropes and chains that were in the house.
The three women, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight, were rescued from a Seymour Avenue home Monday. Amanda’s 6-year-old daughter was also rescued.
Ariel, Pedro, and Onil Castro were arrested shortly after the women were rescued. No charges have been filed. The three men are being kept in different cells.
Sources say Ariel Castro did take Berry’s daughter out of the house, even to visit his mother and to a playground.

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Makes me sick!!!! This is like another Jaycee case. Would bet the father is this Ariel. Bottom line is they are all SAFE!!

Michelle Knight, one of the three women found in Cleveland after disappearing 10 years ago, hasn't seen her mother since her rescue on Monday.

"I started crying and I was happy that they found her because I've been looking for her and I just don't want her to think that I forgot about her," Barbara Knight told Today's Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday of learning that her daughter had been found inside the home of alleged kidnapper Ariel Castro.

"I just wish my daughter would reach out and let me know that she's there," she added.

While the other two abduction victims reunited with their families after being checked at the hospital, Knight's situation is more complicated.

According to several media reports, the 4-foot-7-inch tall Knight, had some mental impairment before the ordeal.

"She had a mind of a child. She was slow," cousin Brenda Dinickle tells CNN.

Then she may have been beaten while in captivity – she reportedly had hearing loss and damage to some of the bones in her face, Fox8 in Cleveland reports.

Knight remains in the hospital Wednesday, and was listed in good condition, according to The Plain Dealer.
Strained Relationship
When Knight does leave the hospital, it's unclear whether she will return to Barbara Knight, who admits that her relationship with her daughter Michelle was strained when she disappeared in August of 2002.

"The way I understood it by certain people, they told me that maybe she didn't want [anything] to do with me," Barbara said. "But still in my heart I thought, no, because I know my Michelle."

According to Barbara, Michelle had lost custody of her son. NBC News reports she went missing the day of a schedule court appearance in the custody case. And police told Barbara, she said, that they believed she had left on her own accord.

"Because she was 20 they figured she just left because of the upset because of the baby and everything," she said.

For 10 years, Barbara noted, she held out hope that her daughter would be found alive. "I had my doubts but then I looked on the bright side," she said. "I prayed for some kind of thing to tell me at least if she's alive or not."

Now, though their relationship was strained, Barbara hopes she and Michelle can reconcile and reunite.

"I love you and I missed you all this time," Barbara said. "Hopefully, whatever happened between us, if something did, I hope it heals."
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Barbara Knight; Michelle Knight (inset)

A celebrity psychic has come under fire for telling Amanda Berry's late mother nearly 10 years ago that her daughter was dead. Amanda Berry went missing in 2003 and was found alive in Ohio on Monday.

Sylvia Browne, a self-described spiritual teacher and psychic, has made a career out of prophetic readings and lectures. Back in 2004, Louwana Miller turned to Browne for help on an episode of "The Montel Williams Show." She wanted to know what happened to her daughter, Amanda Berry, who disappeared at 16 years old on April 21, 2003. The psychic told the mother Berry was dead.

“She’s not alive, honey,” Browne said at the time, according to NBC affiliate WKYC's report on the segment. “Your daughter’s not the kind who wouldn’t call.”

Miller then asked Browne if she was ever wrong.

“Only God is right all the time but of course I’m wrong,” Browne responded. “But after 50 years of doing this work, I’d better be more right than wrong. I always say I hope I’m wrong. When it comes to this, I hope I’m wrong.”

Berry was allegedly kidnapped and held captive for 10 years. She was discovered trying to break free from a house in residential Cleveland on May 6 and was rescued along with a young child and two women, both of whom went missing around the time Berry disappeared. Suspect Ariel Castro and his two brothers, Pedro and Onil, have been arrested.

But the psychic had been able to convince Miller her daughter was dead. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Miller said she believed the prediction "98 percent" and began cleaning out some of her daughter's things, even though the FBI still considered her alive at the time.

“Please don’t misunderstand me," Miller reasoned to the Plain Dealer in 2004. “I still don’t want to believe it. I want to have hope but, after a year and a half, what else is there? It seems like the God-honest truth. My daughter would always call home.”

Berry's mother died in 2006 at the age of 43 after being hospitalized for pancreatitis.

When Berry was found alive this week, it became clear that Browne was very wrong. Critics began lambasting the psychic for her false and potentially damaging prediction, ABC News notes.

@andersoncooper
Anderson Cooper
In 2004 self proclaimed "psychic" Sylvia Browne told Amanda Berry's mother her daughter was dead. Has she no shame?
May 7, 2013 9:53 pm via Twitter for iPhone Reply Retweet Favorite
Various reports claim angry comments flooded Browne's Facebook page following Berry's discovery. That page has since been removed. Links to specific Facebook user comments appear broken as well.

In a statement to The Huffington Post, Browne responded to the criticism:

For more than 50 years as a spiritual psychic and guide, when called upon to either help authorities with missing person cases or to help families with questions about their loved ones, I have been more right than wrong. If ever there was a time to be grateful and relieved for being mistaken, this is that time. Only God is right all the time. My heart goes out to Amanda Berry, her family, the other victims and their families. I wish you a peaceful recovery.
Sherry Cole, Amanda Berry's cousin, reached out to Browne Wednesday morning to offer her love and support, according to Browne's public relations rep. Cole reportedly wanted to let Browne know that Browne had been accurate in her description of the perpetrators at the time.

“Our family in no way blames Sylvia. This doesn’t change anything. We still love her and believe in her," said Cole in a statement forwarded to HuffPost by Brown's rep.
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Psychic Sylvia Browne, seen here in 2010, told Amanda Berry's late mother in 2004 that Berry was dead. However, Berry was found alive on May 6 in Cleveland after allegedly being held captive for 10 years.

Cleveland (CNN) -- [Breaking news update at 5:10 p.m. Wednesday]
Cleveland authorities have charged the owner of a home where three women were found after about a decade in captivity with kidnapping and rape, but won't charge his brothers, the city prosecutor announced Wednesday.
[Original story, posted at 4:45 pm. Wednesday]
(CNN) -- Two of the three women rescued from a Cleveland home where they'd been held for about a decade or more returned home Wednesday while police readied charges against the men accused of keeping them captive.
Well-wishers from the neighborhood cheered as a gray van carrying Amanda Berry and the 6-year-old daughter she gave birth to during her captivity pulled up. The porch was decorated with balloons and stuffed animals and draped with a red banner that read, "Welcome home Amanda."
"We are so happy to have Amanda and her daughter home," her sister, Beth Serrano, told reporters. "I want to thank the public and media for their support and courage over the years."
A similar scene played out at the home of Gina DeJesus a few hours later. Family members embraced as DeJesus, wearing a neon-green hooded sweatshirt, was escorted into the home she hadn't seen since 2004.
"I knew my daughter was out there alive," Felix DeJesus, Gina's father, said Wednesday. "I knew she needed me, and I never gave up -- never gave up searching for her."
DeJesus, Berry and a third woman, Michelle Knight, were rescued Monday evening from the Cleveland home of 52-year-old Ariel Castro, police said. Knight was in good condition in a Cleveland hospital Wednesday.
Authorities expect to file charges Wednesday against Castro, a school bus driver fired in 2012, and his two brothers, Pedro Castro, 54, and Onil Castro, 50, a police spokeswoman said.
Police deny neighbors called about suspicious activity
City officials said ropes and chains have been found inside the home. While Public Safety Director Martin Flask said investigators haven't confirmed how the ropes and chains were used, police Chief Michael McGrath told NBC's "Today" that they were used to restrain the missing women.
Ramsey to 911: 'She's in a panic' Amanda Berry's emotional call to 911
"We have confirmation that they were bound," he said. He said investigators believe the women were allowed out of the house only rarely, but he wasn't sure how often they were tied up or chained.
"We'll have a better feel for that question once the interviews with the victims (are) completed later today," McGrath said.
The brothers were arrested Monday night after Berry, now 27, staged a daring escape with the aid of two neighbors, Charles Ramsey and Angel Cordero. Investigators began questioning them Tuesday night, FBI Special Agent Vicki Anderson said Wednesday.
Neighbor who helped Berry an instant Internet star
In a telephone call recorded Tuesday, by CNN affiliate WJHL, Berry sounded upbeat -- telling her grandmother Fern Gentry that she felt "fine" and that the 6-year-old girl also rescued Monday from the Cleveland home is indeed her own.
"I love you honey, thank God," Berry's tearful grandmother Fern Gentry could be heard telling her granddaughter. "I've thought about you all this time. I never forgot about you."
'She's probably angry at the world'
The three women disappeared from the same Cleveland street -- Lorain Avenue -- and were held just three miles away.
Knight was the first reported missing, in August 2002. She was 21. A police report on her disappearance described her as having "mental abnormalities," but her mother told "Today" that Knight only suffered from asthma.

"Certain people, they told me that maybe she didn't want nothing to do with me," Barbara Knight said. "But still, in my heart, I thought, no, because I know my Michelle."
Barbara Knight said she had not yet spoken to her daughter.
"She's probably angry at the world, because she thought she would never be found, but thank God that somebody did," she said. Asked what she would say, Barbara Knight said, "I love you and I missed you all this time."
Michelle Knight's brother, Freddie Knight, said he met with his sister at the hospital and gave her a hug. He said the ordeal had left her traumatized.
"I hugged her because she wanted a hug," he said. "My sister is going to move on, forget the past ... , leave it behind, start anew."
Knight's disappearance was followed by that of Berry, who was last seen at the end of her shift at a Burger King in April 2003. She was 16. DeJesus was reported missing a year later, in April 2004, at 14.
The investigation
Evidence technicians returned to Ariel Castro's home again Wednesday, and investigators still have much work ahead of them, Cleveland police Detective Jennifer Ciaccia said Tuesday. But an exhaustive search of the grounds turned up no evidence of human remains, Flask said.
Neighbors feel 'fooled' by Cleveland abduction suspect
Some neighbors of Ariel Castro second-guessed themselves Tuesday, questioning why they hadn't noticed signs earlier and if they could have prevented the horrors. Others said they had reported something suspicious to police in the past -- statements the city's police department have denied.
Police had visited the home twice, authorities said Tuesday, once after Castro called about a fight in the street and again in 2004 to investigate an incident in which was accused of leaving a child alone on a bus. No one answered at the home, and investigators later interviewed him elsewhere, police say.
"Media reports of multiple calls to the Cleveland Police reporting suspicious activity and the mistreatment of women at 2207 Seymour are false," spokeswoman Maureen Harper said in an e-mailed statement. Other officials said call records contained no evidence that neighbors ever called police to report unusual activity at the home.
On Tuesday, neighbor Israel Lugo and another neighbor, Nina Samoylicz, told CNN that they had called police in recent years to report separate incidents at the home.
Samoylicz said she and others saw a naked woman in the backyard of the home and called police. But Faliceonna Lopez, Samoylicz' sister, told a slightly different version Tuesday night on CNN's "Piers Morgan Live." She said after seeing the woman, they told their mother, not police.
Survival the key difference from 'House of Horrors' case
Lugo said he called police in 2011, after hearing yelling coming from the home. He said police knocked on the door "like 20 good, hard times," without response. They looked around the property, weren't able to see anything and left, he said.
According to court documents, Ariel Castro's former common-law wife accused him of repeatedly abusing her, including breaking her nose twice, breaking two ribs, dislocating her shoulder twice and knocking out a tooth.
Grimilda Figueroa, who died in 2012, also accused Castro of causing a blood clot on her brain, according to the 2005 documents. A judge granted a protection order, but lifted it three months later after repeated court delays and hearings Castro did not attend, according to the documents.
Figueroa's father, Ishmael Figueroa, said Ariel Castro was abusive toward his late daughter. He said he and his wife once shared a house with Castro and Grimilda, and Castro would not let family members upstairs to the second floor where the couple lived. When they moved to the Seymour Avenue house, Castro would not let family members inside, Figueroa said.
But Maria Castro Montes, a cousin of the suspects, told CNN Wednesday if other family members had any inkling or suspicion of wrongdoing, they would have spoken up.
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I used to marvel at Sylvia Brown's talents, but, after this, her name is mud in the psychic world in my opinion.

Sylvia Brown got it totally wrong about those trapped minors too. She needs to find another hobby.

Cleveland (CNN) -- The baby Amanda Berry gave birth to while she was held captive in a Cleveland home was delivered by another one of the young women in the house, according to a police source familiar with the investigation.
The information was corroborated in a police report seen by CNN. When Berry went into labor, Ariel Castro, now charged with kidnapping and rape, grabbed captive Michelle Knight and told her to deliver the baby.
The baby was born into a plastic tub or pool to contain the afterbirth and amniotic fluid.
When the baby was born, it stopped breathing and everyone started screaming, the source said, citing the girl's account. Castro allegedly said, "if that baby dies, I'm going to kill you."
"What's most incredible here is that this girl who knows nothing about childbirth was able to deliver a baby that is now a healthy 6-year-old," the source said.
The three women spent their days and nights captive at 2207 Seymour Avenue, a 1,400-square-foot home in one of Cleveland's oldest neighborhoods. They went outside only twice in that span -- just "briefly" at that -- Cleveland public safety director Martin Flask said.
More often, the three would be in different rooms, though they interacted occasionally and came to "rely on each other for survival," said a law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the investigation.
One thing they could count on was that their alleged captor would never let them out.
Castro would often test Berry, Knight and Georgina "Gina" DeJesus, the young women he'd allegedly abducted, by pretending to leave, said the law enforcement source. He'd return suddenly: If there were indications any of the women had moved, they'd be disciplined.
Years went by. In that time, the women saw their parents on television at vigils held for them, according to the law enforcement source. They got emotional, knowing their loved ones were looking for them.
And in time, Knight and DeJesus "succumbed" to "their reality," the law enforcement source said.

But "something must have clicked" for Berry on Monday evening, said Cleveland's deputy police chief Ed Tomba. She staged a daring escape, and with the help of Castro's neighbors Charles Ramsey and Angel Cordero, freed herself, her 6-year-old daughter, Knight and DeJesus.

On Wednesday night, Castro, the man who allegedly held them against their will for so many years, was behind bars.
He'll be arraigned Thursday morning on four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape tied to the case, said Victor Perez, chief assistant prosecutor for the city of Cleveland.
The women found in his home, meanwhile, are back with family -- the same relatives who cried and struggled but, for the most part, never gave up hope.
"I knew my daughter was out there alive," said Felix DeJesus, Gina's father, moments after she arrived Wednesday afternoon at a family home in Cleveland. "I knew she needed me, and I never gave up."

Knight was 21 on August 22, 2002, when Castro lured her into his vehicle along Cleveland's Lorain Avenue, according to charging documents. Castro took her back to his home on Seymour Avenue, about three miles away, and didn't let her go.
In that time, Knight was sexually assaulted repeatedly, the documents state. But soon, she wasn't alone.
The next year -- on April 21, 2003, the eve of her 17th birthday -- Berry experienced the same nightmare scenario. While walking home from her job at Burger King that night, she too took a ride from Castro on Lorain Avenue.
Almost exactly a year later, they were joined by DeJesus, then all of 14 years old.

They remained in that hell until Monday evening, when Berry screamed for help. Hearing her cries, Ramsey and Cordero kicked in a door to help her escape.
According to Cordero, Berry's 6-year-old daughter ran out of the house too, wearing only a diaper and a sullied shirt. Police are conducting a DNA test to determine the child's paternity.
"Help me, I am Amanda Berry," Berry begged a 911 operator from Ramsey's house. "I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years. And I'm here, I'm free now."
Cleveland police Chief Michael McGrath told NBC's "Today" show that the women were bound and that there were "chains and ropes in the home."

There were no apparent constraints Monday, the law enforcement source with firsthand knowledge of the investigation said. Yet Knight and DeJesus didn't run out of the house with Berry although they could have, the source said, describing them as brainwashed and fearful.
'Ariel kept everybody at a distance'
So how did this all happen in an urban neighborhood? Did Castro, a former school bus driver and upbeat and "outgoing" musician, according to one bandmate, keep such a secret from not only his neighbors but his family, as police allege?

Soon after the three women were found, Castro and two of his brothers who were with him were taken into custody.
Over the next two days, authorities officials "found no facts to link" Onil and Pedro Castro to the kidnappings -- though both brothers will appear in Cleveland Municipal Court on Thursday related to outstanding warrants on misdemeanor cases on other matters.
"Ariel kept everybody at a distance," Tomba said of the suspect, explaining why even his brothers and other family members (Castro talked on Facebook about having five grandchildren) apparently were in the dark.
Castro has been talking to investigators since Tuesday, as have the three young women police say he kidnapped and raped.
After those conversations, Tomba said he doesn't believe there are other victims -- including Ashley Summers, who was 14 when she went missing in the same part of Cleveland in 2007 -- or anyone other than Castro involved.
And since Monday, law enforcement personnel have combed through Castro's Seymour Avenue home -- which Tomba said was in "disarray" when officers first went in -- and removed more than 200 items that they hope will let them piece together what happened.
Additionally, FBI agents searched a boarded-up home two doors down after obtaining information over the past few days tying that building to the case, the deputy police chief explained.

As they investigate, authorities are facing second-guessing as to whether any of this could have been prevented. Some comes from neighbors who say they contacted police about suspicious activity on Castro's property such as reports of screaming and naked women in his backyard. Authorities say they never got any such calls.
In fact, police say they had only been to Castro's house twice, once after he called about a fight on his street and in 2004 to investigate an incident in which he was accused of leaving a child alone on a bus. No one answered at the home, and investigators later interviewed him elsewhere, police said.
Police deny neighbors called about suspicious activity
And according to court documents from 2005, Castro's former common-law wife accused him of repeatedly abusing her, including breaking her nose twice, breaking two ribs, dislocating her shoulder twice and knocking out a tooth. A judge granted a protection order but lifted it three months later.
Tomba, for one, said he doesn't think authorities dropped the ball.
"I'm just very, very confident (that) law enforcement officers ... checked every single lead, and if there was one bit of evidence (they would have) followed it up very, very aggressively," he said.
"In hindsight, we may find out that maybe we did, but that's going to be in hindsight."
Neighbors feel 'fooled' by Cleveland abduction suspect
Relief, joy as victims reunite with family
For the first time in years, relatives of Berry, DeJesus and Knight -- whom Perez described Wednesday as "safe and healthy" -- don't have only memories to fall back on. They can look forward, and move on with their lives.
Barbara Knight told "Today" that, as of Wednesday, she still hadn't talked with her daughter Michelle. Michelle Knight, now 32, was then in a Cleveland hospital in a good condition.
"She's probably angry at the world, because she thought she would never be found," Barbara Knight said. "But thank God that somebody did."
Asked what she would tell her daughter, her mother said, "I love you and I missed you all this time."
Well-wishers welcomed Berry and her daughter on Wednesday to a family home in Cleveland that was decorated with balloons and stuffed animals.
"We are so happy to have Amanda and her daughter home," said her sister, Beth Serrano.
A similar scene played out at a DeJesus family home, where relatives embraced their long-lost relative.
Sandra Ruiz said that her niece, DeJesus, is "ecstatic" to be back with her relatives. When the now 23-year-old arrived at the house, "she was happy, she looked at the house and she wanted a tour."
"What more can she say -- her face, her expression, her smile, (her) hugging says it all."
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The Telegraph and National Post Staff | 13/05/09 | Last Updated: 13/05/09 10:05 AM ET

Amanda Berry told her grandmother in a telephone call that her daughter was called Jocelyn and was born at Christmas time six years ago.

“She looks great, happy, healthy and ate a popsicle last night,” said Ed Tomba, Cleveland’s deputy police chief.

Jocelyn was born while Berry and two other women — Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus — were being held captive in the basement of a Cleveland home, allegedly by 52-year-old Ariel Castro.

Various reports on Wednesday and Thursday said that Jocelyn was born in an inflatable swimming pool in the basement of Ariel Castro’s house and that Castro threatened to kill Berry if Knight was unable to deliver the child alive.

The Daily Mirror reports that Knight needed to give the baby CPR to keep her alive, and that she was not breathing when she was born.

The girl reportedly met with Ariel Castro’s mother whom she called “grandmother.” When Jocelyn and Berry were rescued, neighbour Charles Ramsay reported that she had asked for her father.

There are also reports that Berry home-schooled Jocelyn during their time in the Castro house.

Berry, 27, looked gaunt and tired as she arrived for the emotional reunion at the home of her sister Beth, the last person to speak to her before she disappeared in April 2003.

Crouching behind her in the back seat of a minivan driven by FBI agents was the slight frame of her six-year-old daughter, the child born during her imprisonment in a house just a few miles away.

Berry made a dramatic escape with Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32, from the run-down clapboard home of Ariel Castro on Monday afternoon after she screamed for help from behind a closed door.

As Berry looked out at the “Welcome Home” banners, party balloons and cuddly toys on the porch, her sister Beth Serrano issued a brief statement. “I just want to say that we are so happy to have Amanda and her daughter home. I want to thank the media and the public for their support but our family would request privacy so my sister, niece and I can have time to recover.”

In a remarkable development, investigators found a “suicide note” written by Castro, law enforcement sources told 19 Action News.

In the note, apparently written several years ago outlining what he did and why, Castro apparently writes about needing help for sex addiction and blames his victims for getting into a car with him. The note also refers to family problems and a poor childhood.

As DeJesus also went home yesterday, it emerged that Castro had joined the searches for the girl he had abducted on her way home from school. Gina, then 14, was the best friend of Castro’s daughter Arlene.

An accomplished guitarist, Castro performed at a benefit concert held in her honour and was even said to have been seen comforting DeJesus’s mother at a vigil last year.

Knight is continuing to receive medical care. The first of the three to be kidnapped in 2002, she has reportedly suffered hearing damage and facial injuries after years of beatings.

At the time of her abduction, she was in the middle of a family dispute and had lost custody of her young son. The authorities believed she had run away.

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Castro's bail is 8 MILLION DOLLARS!!
Not high enough!

Michele Knight's Mother Speaks Out

Aired May 8, 2013 - 09:30 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Zoraida Sambolin is live in Cleveland. She spoke with members of Knight's family.

What did they say?

ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: You know, they said a lot, Carol. And I guess what's really surprising, and you mentioned it, surprising to me right off the bat, was a lot of these family members had no idea that she had been kidnapped. They said that they thought that she was living in another state with somebody else. And so they found out that she had been kidnapped by the reports of she had been rescued. So that was really shocking.

Another thing is that her brother, Freddie, you know, talked about the relationship that they had with their mother. He says that when he was just 14 years old, that his mother kicked him out of the house because he showed up late for a soccer game. He has very mixed emotions about his mother now coming back, trying to reunite with Michele.

Freddie did go to the hospital, and he spent time with his sister, and he talked to her, but, you know, he doesn't have very positive feelings about his mother. His mother did appear on the "Today" show this morning. I want to play a little bit about what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA KNIGHT, MICHELE KNIGHT'S MOTHER: That I love you, and I missed you all this time. And hopefully whatever happened between us, if something did, I hope it heals. Because I really want to take her back to Florida with me. I don't want to leave her up in Cleveland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: I got to tell you, Carol, the family was firm on this. They said that they do not want their mother or Freddie, in particular, does not want his mother to take Michele back. He said, look, she failed us once. How can we trust that she won't fail us again? He had some very harsh words because of the way that he's been treated. I want you to listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDDIE KNIGHT, MICHELE KNIGHT'S BROTHER: I don't like my mom. I hate my mom completely.

SAMBOLIN: Why?

F. KNIGHT: Because what she let the uncle do to us and my sister, me and my uncle beat the hell out of us. She -- he pushed my sister (INAUDIBLE), down and my cousin Michael down on the ground, he a blood clot in his head. My mom didn't help us. When my uncle was doing that, she couldn't do anything. She didn't try to stop it. I'd call the police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: You know, Carol, I asked Freddie, was she actually responsible for the abuse that was happening in the home that forced you to leave the home? And he said, no, she wasn't the one who actually committed the abuse, but she also didn't stop it. And so, you know, some very bitter words.

There was another woman present there, her name is Barb, and she was actually part of the search effort when Michele first disappeared, and we've heard the mom say repeatedly that she canvassed the neighborhood, that she put up all these flyers throughout the neighborhood, trying to find her daughter, but what Barb says is that, yes, they went and canvassed the neighborhood, they went to police, but there were no flyers ever distributed and that shortly thereafter, Barb kind of -- gave up looking for her daughter.

So, you know, that's the story from the family and in particular that young man who is very bitter about the situation right now.

COSTELLO: So basically Michele Knight went from one nightmare situation to a worst nightmare.

SAMBOLIN: Yes, yes.

COSTELLO: It also makes you wonder if her family told police --

SAMBOLIN: Very unfortunate.

COSTELLO: -- that she was a runaway. Police probably didn't look for her as stringently as they might.

SAMBOLIN: Well, you know what's interesting, they did tell them that not -- you know, she was older, right, 20 years old, but she was mentally challenged and they did give that information to police. They were hoping that that would help them look a little bit more aggressively for her because, you know, what they kept on saying yesterday was she's slow. She's slow. And I asked them to define what that meant.

And, you know, she has a developmental disability. And so they were eager to make sure that they could help her and find her. She went out to make a phone call, she never returned home. And so at the end of the day, they were a little disappointed in police in what they believed were the lack of effort in trying to find her.

COSTELLO: What else can you say? Zoraida, thanks so much.

SAMBOLIN: It breaks your heart.

COSTELLO: It does. It really does.


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________

Barbara Knight told The Plain Dealer her daughter loved school, had many friends, and planned on becoming a veterinarian. However, at the age of 17, Michelle was assaulted at school, and her reports were not taken seriously. The teen became pregnant shortly thereafter and dropped out of school, though she planned to eventually return. The woman lost custody of her son, her mother said, after getting into a relationship with an abusive man who injured the boy.

The missing persons report filed in 2002 notes that Michelle Knight had a mental condition that made her easily confused by her surroundings, according to News Net 5.

A cousin, Brenda Dinickle, said that Michelle Knight had "the mind of a child," according to the New York Post.

Barbara Knight also told The Plain Dealer that she fears police have incorrectly identified her daughter, as false reports have surfaced in the past.

___________

NBC has already paid this "mom" to fly to Ohio to be reunited with her daughter. I wish NBC would butt out. I suppose Dr. Phil will get involved at some point. Ugh. Mom is just interested in cashing in on this fame and money, IMO. I really hope Michelle is not forced to go back with this uncaring "mom."

I found a video with an interview of Michelle's grandma.

That poor girl. I have no words.

Oh, Thank God! Michelle has been taken in by Gina DeJesus and her family! Mom already has an attorney to try and wrench her away.

Troubled Michelle Knight is staying with fellow captive Gina DeJesus after refusing to see her mother as she is the last to be released from hospital
Barbara Knight has hired a lawyer to try to get access to her daughter
Michelle has asked for privacy to get over her trauma
Said to be in good spirits and grateful for fund to help the victims
Her twin brother said he was worried she would become the 'forgotten kidnap victim'
Michelle Knight has finally been released from hospital and is staying at the home of Gina DeJesus after she refused to see her mother.
Michelle became the third and final victim to leave the hospital where she was being treated for the physical and mental abuse she endured over ten years allegedly at the hands of Ariel Castro, who is accused of routinely beating and raping his three victims.
The hospital said she is in good spirits and grateful for the fund created to aid the victims.
But she has refused to see her mother Barbara, choosing instead to stay with her fellow captive.
A family friend who talked to Nancy DeJesus said the DeJesus family is taking Michelle Knight in because she says Gina is her only family left in Cleveland.
More info and video at link.

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Good news! Gina's family is going to adopt Michelle! They said they were sisters for 10 years and they are going to stay sisters. What a great family.

Hopefully this "mother" will stop trying to go after Michelle and any possible money coming out of this case.

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samgoodwin wrote:Good news! Gina's family is going to adopt Michelle! They said they were sisters for 10 years and they are going to stay sisters. What a great family.

Hopefully this "mother" will stop trying to go after Michelle and any possible money coming out of this case.

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Let's hope this goes smoothly for all concerned and the bio mother butts out!

5/10/2013


DNA tests have confirmed that Ariel Castro, the suspect in the kidnapping and decade-long imprisonment of three women in Cleveland, is the father of a 6-year-old girl born to one of the women in captivity, the Ohio attorney general said Friday.

Attorney General Mike DeWine also said that Castro’s DNA did not match other unsolved Ohio cases. He said that the FBI is still checking Castro’s DNA against unsolved cases elsewhere in the country.

Castro, 52, is charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape in the abductions of the three women and is being held on $8 million bond. They were freed Monday night when one of them, Amanda Berry, broke through a door and screamed for help.

Berry is the mother of the 6-year-old, who was also rescued from the house, authorities have said.

The baby was delivered in a kiddie pool by another captive, Michelle Knight, according to a Cleveland police report. Knight told investigators that Castro threatened to kill her if the baby died, the report said.

Knight also told investigators that Castro impregnated her at least five times, and starved her and pummeled her in the stomach to force her to miscarry, the police report said.

A DNA match to Castro would confirm what Berry told police, according to the police account. It also said that Castro would take the child out with him, and made sure the girl did not know Knight’s or DeJesus’ real name in case she said them in public.

An Ohio prosecutor pledged Thursday to pursue charges of aggravated murder against Castro for any pregnancies that he terminated.

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5/9/2013

Charles Ramsey, the neighbor who said he helped free three women from a Cleveland house of horrors, told "Nightline" that another neighbor, Angel Cordero, got to Amanda Berry before him, then decided to walk away. But that is not how Cordero tells it.

"I helped her and I was first," Cordero told ABC's Cleveland affiliate WEWS-TV in Spanish."Ramsey arrived after she was outside with the girl. But the truth who arrived there, who crossed the street, who came and broke the door, it was me."

In an interview with "Nightline" anchor Cynthia McFadden, Ramsey, 43, described what he said happened Monday afternoon when he helped rescue Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight, who allegedly had been kidnapped by Ariel Castro.

Ramsey said he was sitting inside his home, eating McDonald's, when he heard a piercing scream from the house next door.

"[A] scream that is etched in my head forever," he said. "That sound stopped children from playing. Everybody looked at that house."

Ramsey said he first looked out of his window and saw his neighbor, Cordero, who Ramsey called, "the Dominican," run from across the street to alleged kidnapper Castro's house, which is next door to his. Then Ramsey said he raced outside to see what was going on.

"He ran over there, saw her, 'Please help get me out,'" Ramsey said, mimicking a woman's voice. "That's what made me go over there and say, 'Who the hell is trying to get out?'"

At first, Ramsey said, he thought someone had broken into Castro's house, gotten themselves locked in and couldn't escape. But that all changed when he saw Berry's face.

"When I saw that girl, I don't recognize her, I saw a white girl, [I said] 'What's your problem?'" Ramsey said. "Keep in mind, the Dominican, as I'm saying this, runs back over there behind me. I look across the street and say, 'She needs to get out of here.' He says, 'I'm not getting involved in that.'"

Ramsey said he then "did what I had to do" to get Berry out of the house. When the door wouldn't open, Ramsey said, he helped her bust out the aluminum bottom so she and her daughter, whom Ramsey said was with her, could break free. After Berry and the little girl were out, Ramsey said, he called 911.

"I took the phone and called 911, and I said [to Berry], 'Now listen, now you go across the street and you see that f*** that didn't help you, go get his cellphone. You call 911 from his phone. That way, while I'm trying to get through and you trying to get through, we both bound to make this happen,'" he said.

That's when Berry ran into a neighbor's house across the street and made the dramatic 911 call in which she said, "I'm Amanda Berry, I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm here I'm free now."

Cleveland Police Deputy Chief Ed Tomba singled out Ramsey by name in a news conference Wednesday, saying he deserved to be rewarded for responding to Berry's cries for help.

Since then, Ramsey has been hailed as a hero. Hodge's Cleveland, a downtown restaurant where Ramsey works as a "dish technician," started selling T-shirts with his likeness and the words "Cleveland Hero -- Charles Ramsey" on them.

The proceeds, according to the restaurant, will go to charity.

The restaurant's assistant general manager, Jimmy Henthorn, said Ramsey came into Hodge's the day after the amazing rescue.

"Chuck stopped in to get his paycheck, saw everyone, and just wanted to say, 'Still have my job, right?' And I said, 'Of course you still have your job.' He said he was looking forward to just getting back to work."

"He will be back for sure," said another co-worker, Peter Brooks. "All of us hope that he does."

But now, Angel Cordero is saying that he helped the women escape, not Ramsey.

Aurora Marti said she was the first person to see Amanda Berry screaming in Castro's doorway.

As Marti and her friend, Ana, crossed the street towards Berry, they called out to Ramsey for help, but with the women's broken English, communicating was hard, Marti told ABC News. So the women yelled for help from their friend, Angel Cordero, a fellow Spanish speaker.

Ramsey was there and did help free Berry, Marti said, but it was Cordero who kicked down Castro's door, setting Berry free.

When Berry screamed, "I'm Amanda Berry!" according to Marti, she replied, "No, Amanda Berry died years ago."

Cordero and Ana both agreed with Marti's version of events.

Neither Marti nor Cordero deny that Ramsey was there and that he helped, Marti said, but the heavy lifting to set the women free, according to Marti, was done by Cordero.

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OFGS, let's not fight about who set her free, folks. Ramsey has already said he wants any reward money given to the girls, so Cordero needs to let it go. They may well have worked together to break the door down, but Ramsey is a more colorful character, so too bad.

(And by "folks" I mean Cordero and company, not you, Nite! LOL.)

No Worries Sam!
I figure they're fighting over the reward money anyway. You know how people get when money is an issue.

Ramsey is a more colorful character

That's an understatement. What a guy!

May 12, 2013

Three women rescued from a house a decade after they disappeared said Sunday that they are happy to be home and pleaded for privacy so they can heal and reconnect with their families.

An attorney for the women also said they are extremely grateful for the support of family, law enforcement and the community.

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight remain in seclusion and released their first statements since they were found May 6 after Berry escaped and called 911.

Ariel Castro is suspected of imprisoning the women inside his house for nine years or more, allowing them outside only a few moments, and raping them. A DNA test also confirmed that Castro fathered a 6-year-old girl who Berry gave birth to in the house. The girl escaped the house with Berry.

Castro is being held on $8 million bond. The 52-year-old former school bus driver was charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape.

The women, now in their 20s and 30s, vanished separately between 2002 and 2004. At the time, they were 14, 16 and 20 years old.

Attorney Jim Wooley read statements attributed to all three women.
Knight, who was the first to disappear and the last of the three released from the hospital, said, ‘‘Thank you to everyone for your support and good wishes. I am healthy, happy and safe and will reach out to family, friends and supporters in good time.’’

Berry added: ‘‘Thank you so much for everything you’re doing and continue to do. I am so happy to be home with my family.’’

And DeJesus, the youngest of the three, said: ‘‘I am so happy to be home, and I want to thank everybody for all your prayers. I just want time now to be with my family.’’

The Associated Press does not usually identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault, but the women’s names were widely circulated by their families, friends and law enforcement authorities for years during their disappearances and after they were found.

The attorney for the women said none of them will do any media interviews until the criminal case against Castro is over. He also asked that they be given privacy.
‘‘Give them the time, the space, and the privacy so that they can continue to get stronger,’’ Wooley said.

Castro was represented at his first court appearance Thursday by public defender Kathleen Demetz, who said she can’t speak to his guilt or innocence and advised him not to give any media interviews that might jeopardize his case.

Castro’s two brothers, who were initially taken into custody but released Thursday after investigators said there was no evidence against them, told CNN that they fear people still believe they had something to do with the three missing women.
Onil and Pedro Castro said they've been getting death threats even after police decided to release them. Pedro Castro said he would have turned in his brother if he had known he was involved in the women’s disappearance.
‘‘Brother or no brother,’’ he told CNN.


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After initially getting caught up in the crimes of their brother, Pedro and Onil Castro were cleared of any wrongdoing. Now they're going out of their way to show that they want nothing to do with kidnapper Ariel Castro. Both brothers gave CNN's Martin Savidge their first interview together since all three siblings were arrested for the kidnapping of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michele Knight, and they were unrelenting in their criticism of their brother, who they now call a "monster."

The brothers also gave some indication of how Ariel Castro was able to get away with his crimes for so long. Pedro and Onil say they rarely visited Ariel's home and when they did, he never let them go past the kitchen. (Their brother told them that the rest of the house was sealed off to save energy.) Even when they had meals together they would sit outside on the porch, and Pedro says there was always a radio or TV on to drown out any other noises elsewhere in the house.

As for how they feel about their brother now, both men minced no words, calling him a "monster" and saying they want to see him punished severely. Onil Castro said, "I hope he rots in that jail. I don't even want them to take his life like that. I want him to suffer in that jail to the last extent. I don't care if they even feed him."

Part of the reason the brothers have displayed such anger toward Ariel is because even though they did nothing wrong, they will have some trouble clearing their own names. Despite the fact that police have completely cleared Onil and Pedro of any charges, the men say they are still receiving death threats and are currently hiding in an undisclosed location. Even if they didn't commit the crimes, many people will ask how they didn't know what their brother was doing. At the very least, he's ruined the family name and they are desperate to let the world know they had nothing to do with it.

In other developments over the weekend, two women who were inadvertently driving by the Castro house just as police were arriving for the first time managed to catch a cellphone video of Amanda Berry's first moments of freedom. They shared the video for the first time with NewsNet5 in Cleveland.
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The two-story house at 2207 Seymour Avenue has become a source of controversy for the city of Cleveland. It was there that Ariel Castro, 52, allegedly imprisoned kidnapping victims Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight for a decade.

Now that Castro has been charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape, and is in jail on $8 million bond, the question is what to do with the house or horrors he left behind.

The house has been boarded up and is surrounded by a 10-foot fence. It is also under constant surveillance by the Cleveland police. Why, you might ask, does a dilapidated, four-bedroom house need a police escort?

Because at least three people have threatened to burn it down, Cleveland city councilman Brian Cummins told The Daily Beast. And to Cummins, the message is clear: "As a representative of the county, it is my job to understand what the residents want — and this community wants it down."

That isn't going to happen anytime soon, mainly because it's still a crime scene. While FBI investigators have already taken 200 items from the crime scene, the house itself will remain an important piece of evidence until the trial is done.

"The prosecutors are going to want to preserve it so they can take jurors into it to view, and the defense would want it preserved so at least they could do their own investigation," criminal law professor Michael Benza told the Associated Press.

Even after the trial, it's not clear what will happen to the house. The Daily Beast reports that Castro last paid real-estate taxes for the house in 2010, and that it was marked for foreclosure in May. Castro most likely doesn't have the money to pay for the house's demolition, which means Cleveland taxpayers would probably be on the hook for the bill.

If officials leave the house standing, there is no law in Ohio requiring sellers to tell buyers whether a violent crime was committed on the premises.

Neighbor Carla Smith told The Daily Beast that she thinks the city should turn the house into a memorial with a "plaque saying 'Hope for the three girls,' because all they had was hope and prayer."

Most of the neighbors interviewed by reporters, however, seemed to want the place torn down.

"The girls that was in that house, when they ride by there, if they ever ride by there again, they won't have to see that, to remind them or maybe scare them," Castro neighbor Johnny Wright told the Associated Press. "What they went through, I don't think any human being should ever been through that."


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CLEVELAND — The man who famously put down his Big Mac to help rescue three women held captive for a decade in an Ohio house will never have to pay for another burger in his hometown.

Charles Ramsey has been promised free burgers for life at more than a dozen Cleveland-area restaurants.
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One of the first cops to arrive at the Cleveland home where three women were being held captive for a decade described the miraculous discovery as “one bombshell after another.”
Patrol Officer Anthony Espada was “overwhelmed” when he realized Amanda Berry, missing since 2003, was still alive. Then he found Michelle Knight. And then Gina DeJesus.
“I’m just glad I was there, you know, just making sure they were safe,” Espada said in an account of the May 6 rescue posted on the Cleveland police’s Facebook page. “I feel so happy for them. It is just unbelievable.”
Espada said a dispatcher alerted his patrol car and said a female had called 911 claiming to be Berry.
Although Berry had been missing for a decade, since age 16, her unsolved case was widely remembered in Cleveland.

Around 6 p.m., Espada and his partner arrived at the Seymour Ave. home where they spotted a woman holding a young girl in her arms on the porch.
They were unsure about her identity, but when she came up to the driver’s side of the car, they knew.
“Just the emotion from that point that ... it was Amanda was overwhelming,” Espada said.
They weren’t sure if the alleged abductor — later identified as Ariel Castro — was still home.

Berry, who was the first to be rescued after a neighbor heard her screams, wouldn’t stop pointing at the house.
“My partner asked if anyone was still inside. She said, ‘Yes. Gina DeJesus and another girl,’” Espada said. “And it was like another bombshell with overwhelming force just hit me.”
The cops ran inside, and Espada had an eerie feeling because the house was so quiet.
He didn’t think anyone was even home — and then he heard the sound of feet shuffling on the top floor.

It was Knight. She appeared in a doorway, and when she saw Espada, she grabbed him.
“I mean, within moments she came charging at me,” he recalled. “She jumped onto me ... She’s like, ‘You saved us! You saved us!’ And I’m holding onto her so tight.”
Another young woman came out of the bedroom. Espada asked her name.
“My name is Georgina DeJesus,” she replied.

DeJesus was 14 when she disappeared in 2004 — a case that had also baffled police and received intense media attention.
At that point, Espada was overcome with emotion.
“It was like one bombshell after another,” he said. “That’s when I broadcasted, '2Adam23, we found them! We found them!'”
Espada is haunted by the memories of that day.

“I just keep replaying it and replaying it every day since it happened,” he said. “I’m just glad just to be a part of it, all of the officers there on the scene that day. Everything just went so awesome, and well.”
Police declined to make the officer available for interviews Tuesday because he is a witness in the investigation of Castro, the homeowner now charged in the disappearance of the three women.
The house was boarded up last week and a 10-foot security fence was installed around the property. Patrol cars blocked off the street for eight days and reopened it Tuesday.
The three women had been held captive since they disappeared between 2002 and 2004, when they were in their teens or early 20s, authorities said.
Castro, a 52-year-old former school bus driver, faces four counts of kidnapping, including a child he had by Berry, and three counts of rape. His attorney has not returned messages seeking comment. He remains jailed on $8 million bond.
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The daughter of 52-year-old Ariel Castro says her father preyed on his children's friends. According to a May 17 report from the L.A. Times, two of the women Castro allegedly kidnapped a decade ago were friends of his children.

The L.A. Times reports that Castro's daughters, Emily and Arlene Castro went to school with 27-year-old Amanda Berry and 23-year-old Gina DeJesus. In fact, Arlene Castro was reportedly the last person to see Gina DeJesus before she disappeared from a Cleveland, Ohio neighborhood in 2004.

Emily Castro, who serving a 25-year prison sentence for stabbing her daughter in 2011, told reporters she was bothered that her father allegedly used her and her sister to search for his victims. She said;

“He would come to his own kids' neighborhood, not his own. I'm not saying he should have done it [at] all. I'm saying he didn't consider anything about us being his kids.”

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and a third victim, 32-year-old Michelle Knight were allegedly kidnapped by Ariel Castro from 2002 to 2004. The trio remained captive inside Castro's home for a decade. Castro has been arrested and charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape.
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raine1953 wrote:CLEVELAND — The man who famously put down his Big Mac to help rescue three women held captive for a decade in an Ohio house will never have to pay for another burger in his hometown.

Charles Ramsey has been promised free burgers for life at more than a dozen Cleveland-area restaurants.
Read more: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I have to say..Charles Ramsey is something else. I enjoy his interviews. He's quite a colorful human being and I am NOT talking about the color of his skin. Even my 90 yo mother who lives in Ohio gets a "kick" out of his interviews. She even said, "He's just done wonders for McDonald's". LOLOL.

He deserves MORE than just hamburgers!!

McDonalds Big Mac and whatever else they sell........
Basically this is how I feel about all fast food and I haven't eaten it for 20 years or more.
I hope some of the restaurants in the area that serve healthy food have donated to his cause.

I hope so too but he seems to like Micky D's.

He could have taken the reward money and didn't. He deserves a medal. Even though the circumstances are Horrific, he makes me laugh.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Charles Ramsey wants the world to know he is not endorsing restaurants offering Ramsey Burgers, or giving him free burgers for life, and is likewise disgusted with an online video game produced in Taiwan that features him.

The 43-year-old Cleveland man who helped rescue Amanda Berry, her daughter, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight on May 6 from a Seymour Avenue home in Cleveland wants help for the victims and no undue publicity, his attorney, Patricia Walker, said Friday.

"I want everyone to know that I have nothing to do with this trash," Ramsey said in a written statement through the Medina firm of Walker & Jocke.

Walker said Ramsey is disgusted with the online video game that depicts him and Ariel Castro, the man accused of holding the women hostages, throwing hamburgers at each other.

Ramsey gained worldwide acclaim when he stopped eating his a McDonald Big Mac to help free Berry, who was trying to get out through a door on a next-door house on Seymour Avenue on the city's near West Side. His interviews have gone viral on the Web. Ramsey's video interviews, in particular, went viral online.

Restaurants began paying homage to Ramsey soon after the rescue. Hodges and Pura Vida in downtown Cleveland, where Ramsey works as a dishwasher, created the Ramsey Burger.

Chef co-owner Chris Hodgson described the sandwich as an 8-ounce burger of Certified Angus Beef with a secret sauce.

Hodgson's partner, Scott Kuhn, owner of the Driftwood Restaurant Group, then pushed for a "Chuck Card" that Ramsey could use to get a free hamburger in any of the participating restaurants.

That led to more than a dozen restaurants pledging to serve Ramsey a free burger anytime he wishes.


Kuhn issued a statement about 6:45 p.m. that said the burger will be removed from the menu.

"The Ramsey burger was named to honor an employee at a time he indicated he would be returning to his job at Hodge's. It was not developed to generate additional revenue for the restaurant -- nor has it," the statement said. "We are saddened to hear that Chuck did not take this -- or the offer of so many Cleveland restaurants to give him free meals -- in the spirit we intended."

Walker, who got Ramsey as a client on referral from another attorney, said he does not endorse the consortium of Northeast Ohio restaurants offering "Ramsey Burgers" or who are promoting that Ramsey can receive free burgers for life.

"I never told these people they could use my name for this," Ramsey said in the written statement.

Walker also said Ramsey has not authorized any merchandise and has no website or social media accounts.

"He is encouraging people to do things that will help the victims," Walker said. "He was never asked about authorizing Ramsey Burgers."

Walker said Ramsey hired her seeking protection with intellectual and property rights, seeking more control over his likeness, name and voice.
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I love this guy!