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May 9th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
“He has lived in the area for 39 years. He is on unemployment
compensation and to the best of my knowledge, he has no convictions for
felonies or serious misdemeanors,” she said.
County prosecutor Brian Murphy said: “I would like to say that the
charges against Mr Castro are based on premeditated decisions to snatch
three young women from Cleveland’s South Side streets.
“Two of the victims incurred a horrifying ordeal for more than a decade,
a third for close to a decade, and the ordeal eventually resulted in a
little girl believed to have been born to one of the women while in
captivity.
“And also, along with captivity, there were repeated beatings. They were
bound and restrained and sexually assaulted, basically never freed to leave
this residence,” he said.
His brothers Pedro, 54 and Onil, 50, also appeared in the court facing minor
misdemeanour charges. They pleaded no contest and were sentenced to time
served. They were detained on Monday when Ariel was arrested, but have not
been charged in connection with the kidnapping.
One of the captives gave birth to a daughter during the years they spent
confined in Castro’s home. The trio escaped on Monday, when Ms Berry managed
to scream for help.
Two
of the Ohio women were reunited with their families on Wednesday,
while the third received medical treatment. Police interrogated their
alleged captor and searched another house on the same Cleveland street.
The women are believed to have only been allowed to leave the home briefly on
two occasions, both times to go into the house’s garage “in disguise,”
Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba earlier said.
“They don’t believe they’ve been outside of the home for the last 10
years,” he said. “They were not in one room, but they did know
each other and they did know each other was there.”
He confirmed that FBI investigators had searched another house on the same
street, without providing further details.
He refused to comment on reports that Castro had impregnated Knight at least
five times and would punch her in the stomach until she miscarried.
Castro, a former school bus driver whose family hails from Puerto Rico, has
been described as a friendly neighbour who raised few suspicions but who
also kept to himself, rarely if ever allowing anyone inside his home.
“Ariel kept everybody at a distance,” Dep Chief Tomba said. “He
ran the show.”
Castro was accused in a 2005 family court filing of beating his ex-wife
Grimilda Figueroa, who passed away last year, and of “frequently”
abducting their two daughters, but he was never charged.
Shocking
details emerged on Wednesday about how the trio lived in a “sexual
torture chamber”, during a decade of abuse and beatings.
In a remarkable development, investigators also reportedly found a “suicide
note” written by Mr Castro, law enforcement sources told 19 Action News.
In the note, apparently written several years ago, he 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.
Ms Berry arrived on Wednesday at her sister’s home escorted by police
motorcycles and FBI agents. The porch was bedecked with balloons and
messages of support. Well-wishers – and a phalanx of news reporters – were
waiting.
Later, Ms DeJesus was escorted into her family home by relatives, sheltering
under a yellow hooded top but managing to give a weak wave to supporters,
who were chanting “Gina, Gina, Gina.”
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