Kidnapped women held in 'dungeon' for decade

Trio reunited with families as police release two brothers of suspect

An ex-school bus driver accused in the abduction ordeal of three young Ohio women was due in court on Thursday to face charges he kidnapped and raped the women, whom authorities said were held captive in the dungeon-like confines of his house for 10 years.

As two of the women received jubilant homecomings from loved ones on Wednesday and the third remained in a hospital, authorities in Cleveland disclosed details of the isolation and brutal treatment they endured before being freed this week.

Officials said the women were apparently bound by ropes and chains at times and were kept in different rooms. They endured starvation, beatings and sexual assaults. One of them had several miscarriages deliberately induced by their captor.

Their imprisonment came to an end on Monday after neighbors, drawn to the house by cries for help, broke through a door to rescue Amanda Berry, whose disappearance in 2003 the day before her 17th birthday was widely publicized in the local media.

The recording of her frantic emergency call that evening, in which Berry declared "I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm here. I'm free now", has been replayed countless times on television news broadcasts around the world.

Rescued with Berry, now 27, was her 6-year-old daughter, conceived and born during her confinement, and two fellow captives - Gina DeJesus, 23, who vanished at age 14 in 2004, and Michelle Knight, 32, who disappeared at age 20 in 2002.

Ariel Castro, 52, who was fired from his job as a school bus driver last fall, was charged on Wednesday with kidnapping and raping the women. He was scheduled to be arraigned in court on Thursday morning, prosecutors said.

His two brothers, Pedro Castro, 54, and Onil Castro, 50, were initially arrested as suspects in the case but were not charged after investigators determined they had no knowledge of the abductions or captivity of the women, police said.

However, the two brothers were also slated to appear in court on Thursday on unrelated outstanding misdemeanor warrants.

Berry told police that her escape on Monday marked her first chance to break free in the 10 years that she was imprisoned, an opportunity occasioned by Castro's momentary absence.

It also became clear that Berry's pregnancy with her daughter was not an isolated incident, according to Cleveland City Councilman Brian Cummins, who based his information on a police report from the initial investigation and briefing by police department sources.

Cummins said one of the three women - he did not know whom - had suffered at least five miscarriages that Castro is accused of having intentionally caused by starving her for weeks and beating her in the abdomen.

Berry's baby was born in a plastic inflatable kiddy pool on Christmas Day, 2006, authorities said. A paternity test will be conducted to determine the girl's father.

On Wednesday, after spending a day in seclusion following their hospital evaluations, Berry and DeJesus were each glimpsed by television cameras being whisked to celebrations with family members - Berry and her daughter at her sister's house and DeJesus at her mother's home.

Neither Berry, who was last seen leaving her job at a fast-food restaurant, nor DeJesus, who vanished while walking home from school, spoke publicly.

But DeJesus, clenched in a tight embrace by her sister Mayra and hiding her face in a yellow hooded sweatshirt, raised her hand in a thumbs-up sign to spectators chanting "Gina, Gina".

"This is the best Mother's Day I could ever have," said Nancy Ruiz, Gina's mother. She said she hugged her daughter and didn't want to let go. Mother's Day is on Sunday in the US.

Knight remained in a Cleveland hospital, where she was listed in good condition.

Reuters-AP

(China Daily 05/10/2013 page10)