From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Three longtime missing women, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, have been found alive, apparently kidnapped and held for years as prisoners inside a house on Cleveland's near West Side.
Berry called police Monday afternoon and frantically told a dispatcher that she was alive and free after being kidnapped 10 years ago and held captive in a house on Seymour Avenue.
"We've confirmed it's them," a Cleveland detective said. "They are alive and safe." Police have scheduled a news conference for 9 a.m. today....
Police arrested three brothers, ages 50, 52 and 54. Police did not release names.
But neighbors said one of them is the owner of the house, Ariel Castro, 52, a Cleveland school bus driver until last November who had lived in the two-story house since 1992. Records show he was arrested for domestic violence in 1993, but a grand jury declined to indict him.
Police were searching the house and yard Monday night and into this morning.
Berry was the first to get out of the house, escaping through a broken door. A child came out behind her. Police then came and rescued the other two women, who were taken to the hospital. It wasn't immediately known who the child was.
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/tv_station_reports_berry_dejes.html#incart_river
My guess is that the brothers had constant watch over the girls, threaten to kill girls if one of them escaped and they got one of them pregnant 6-7 years ago.
Very sick.
At the Christmas Eve Café...
3 hours ago
How the hell does this happen?
ReplyDeleteHow could neighbors not know these girls existed? No one heard the baby crying? were they kept in a soundproofed basement?
I really hope someone does a number on these brothers who messed up these girls and their families. From what I've read, Berry's mother always believed her daughter would come home soomeday and even went on Oprah to talk about the case. Sadly, she has since passed away.
What is interesting is that these girls were much older than most kidnapped girls would be. Hostages tend to be taken at age 10 or younger because they are more likely to follow orders than teens.