Imagine being chained to the wall of a dirty room that wasn’t your own, being mentally tormented by a man who is widely considered to be a positive influence in the community. Imagine being impregnated by your captor, then giving birth in a kiddie-pool in the basement of the house that has become your worst nightmare. Three young women were held captive by Ariel Castro, a local school bus driver and band bassist, for over ten years.1
Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Georgina DeJesus were the three strong and inspiring young women that survived this nightmare. In Cleveland, Ohio, Ariel Castro captured his first victim, Michelle Knight, as she was walking home from her cousin’s home in 2002. He held her in his basement to torment and rape her, which allowed him to develop power over her. Castro then moved her upstairs in his home, where the abuses continued. Some of the early abuse that Knight endured ended in pregnancies, but Castro would beat her until she miscarried.2
The second victim, Amanda Berry, was last seen by her co-workers at Burger King the day before her seventeenth birthday in 2003. On her way home from work, she accepted a ride home from community member, Ariel Castro. However, the ultimate destination was not what she had expected. Within the time Castro held Berry captive, he impregnated her. She gave birth to her daughter, Jocelyn, in the basement of Castro’s home in a kiddie-pool with the assistance of Knight. Castro had threatened Michelle Knight’s life, insisting that if the baby didn’t survive, neither would she. So when Berry’s daughter wasn’t breathing at birth, Knight successfully performed CPR on the infant, saving her life.3
Georgina DeJesus was a friend of Castro’s daughter, a fact he used to lure her into his car. In 2004, DeJesus was walking home from school when Castro approached her and offered her a ride home. The fourteen-year-old girl recognized him and accepted the offer, little did she know that she wouldn’t be returning to her home for another nine years. The three women only had each other from 2002 until they were rescued in 2013.4
Each woman’s nightmare began similarly as Castro had a system of abuse that he used to overpower them. This system made them fear him so much that they wouldn’t fight back or attempt to escape. One of the tactics Castro used to prevent his victim’s from escaping was that he intentionally left their doors unlocked, and then he patiently waited by the front door for them. When Castro discovered that one of them trying to escape, he violently beat them, using it as an example to the other captives as to what would happen if they chose to flee.5
Castro successfully hid his monstrosities from the community he lived in for the eleven years he held the women captive. His friends and family noticed that he didn’t have people over often, but that wasn’t abnormal for Castro. After his wife divorced him, Castro spent most of his time outside of his home, attending local concerts with bands as the bassist, and even attending searches and vigils for the women he held captive in his own home. The community had no reason to suspect that he had anything to do with the women’s disappearances. Roughly two weeks before the rescue of the women, Castro had an individual over because he was interested in purchasing their bass guitar. The man said he had no idea that there was anyone in the home other than Castro, hearing only a sound like a dog upstairs.6
The community will never forget the day Castro made a simple mistake. On May 6, 2013, Castro left a door unlocked. The women upstairs, contemplating whether it was another one of Castro’s wicked tricks or an honest mistake, remained in their rooms. Eventually, however, Amanda Berry built up the courage to try to escape. When she discovered that it was a mistake on Castro’s end, she and her daughter headed for the door. It was the middle of the day when Berry had opened the front door and started yelling for help, her daughter at her side. Castro’s neighbors noticed the strange scene and immediately came to Berry’s aid.7
The screen door was locked from the outside so the neighbor’s kicked in a corner to free Berry and her daughter, Jocelyn. Berry then immediately called the police to get the other girls rescued from their real life nightmare. Upon the girls’ escape, the neighborhood was stunned. Throughout those eleven years, none of Castro’s surrounding neighbors had any indication or idea that three women were being held captive just a few yards away.8
Nobody knew what to think. The community felt like they had failed these three women. Ultimately, Ariel Castro plead guilty to 937 counts of kidnapping, rape, and aggravated assault. He was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years in prison without the possibility of parole. After a month in prison Castro hung himself with his bed sheets in his cell. While kidnapping is a horrific crime, it is not uncommon in the United States. In 1999, it was estimated that 11.4 children per 1,000 in the United States are reported missing. So, how well do you know your neighbors?9
- Phillip J. Resnick M.D. and George W. Schmedlen Ph.D., “Competency Report,” Court Psychiatric Clinic, (2013); 2-3. ↵
- Biography.com Editors, “Ariel Castro Biography”, The Biography.com Website, (2014) https://www.biography.com/people/ariel-castro-21311121. ↵
- Corky Siemaszko, “Michelle Knight still recovering five years after being freed from Ariel Castro,” ABC News, (2018), https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michelle-knight-still-recovering-5-years-after-being-freed-ariel-n870906. ↵
- Melanie Eversley and Doug Stranglin, “Autopsy: Ariel Castro hanged himself in prison cell,” USA Today, (2013), https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/04/ariel-castro-hung-prison/2761177/. ↵
- Biography.com Editors, “Ariel Castro Biography”, The Biography.com Website, (2014) https://www.biography.com/people/ariel-castro-21311121. ↵
- Corky Siemaszko, “Michelle Knight still recovering five years after being freed from Ariel Castro,” ABC News, (2018), https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michelle-knight-still-recovering-5-years-after-being-freed-ariel-n870906. ↵
- Melanie Eversley and Doug Stranglin, “Autopsy: Ariel Castro hanged himself in prison cell,” USA Today, (2013), https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/04/ariel-castro-hung-prison/2761177/. ↵
- Corky Siemaszko, “Michelle Knight still recovering five years after being freed from Ariel Castro,” ABC News, (2018), https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michelle-knight-still-recovering-5-years-after-being-freed-ariel-n870906. ↵
- Andrea Sedlak, David Finkelhor, Heather Hammer, and Dana Schultz, “National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview,” NISMART, (2002): 5-10. ↵
124 comments
Nicole Ortiz
It horrifies me reading about events like these, especially with all of the human trafficking that has been occurring lately. Situations like these make it hard to be able to truly trust not only neighbors but friends and family as well because you just never really know what a person’s true intentions are until they come out. I’m just glad that the 3 women that were being help captive where able to escape their kidnapper’s house and return back to their families and are safe once again after many years of abuse.
Carly Jimenez
Just reading this article gives me so many more worries than I already have about situations like this. It is scary to think that even the nicest people have dark sides to them. This man kept 3 women in his house for years and no one ever noticed. I don’t think that a lot of people know that this happens so often and even now more than ever. Threatening and beating these women so they knew not to try to escape is just horrifying. You can never really trust anyone and what is worse is that he manipulated these girls to ride with him not knowing what was going to happen next. As awful as this situation was, you did a good job of telling the story.
Angelina Gonzalez
I remember seeing this story being on the news on the television as a child. It horrified me then, and it horrifies me now. How can someone be so cruel to put another person through this much pain. This has always been a big fear of mine, and now having a little sister I am even more cautious when out and always try to teach her to never go with people. We live in a cruel world and never know how people truly are behind closed doors. I wonder if they would have had another chance, if Amanda Berry had not had the courage to try and escape. Either way I am extremely happy they are free now and never have to see his face again.
Nelly Perez
These kinds of situations scare me to get paranoid. There are people like Castro that try to appear nice when in reality they aren’t at all. I watched the documentary and even watched the film adaptation. Reading this was better, but it still shocked the community. It’s really scary on how manipulative people could be and that they kidnap to cause physical and mental damage to the victims.
Gabriel Lopez
It’s absolutely horrifying reading about what these women went through, especially when one of them had to go through the process of giving birth while they were held captive. I can’t imagine the psychological effects that they had after they were freed. It is surprising how nobody in the neighborhood didn’t suspect anything, and it is scary to think about if there’s something like this in my own neighborhood, hence the title of this article.
Hannah Hennon
It is hard to think that those women were trapped there for nine years, and no one noticed one single thing. I do not understand how you hide three girls in your house and not raise any questions. This really does go to show that you cannot trust anyone or everyone. The number of how many he pleaded guilty to kidnapping, raping, and assaulting was insanely high. That man deserved to be in prison facing the consequences.
Santiago Diaz
The three young women fought for their lives for 10 years because of a sick human being wanting “fun” kidnapping is a very serious offence in these past decades that has to be stopped pr at least minimized because such innocent and helpless people are losing their lives or losing years or their lives to a person that is disgusting and inhuman.
Shea Slusser
Kidnapping is a very serious issue, which is why our parents have always told us to not talk to strangers. Hearing stories like these make me feel so much for the victims, and any victim who has had to go throw such terror. I cant imagine what these girls had to have gone through with Castro impregnating them, beating them, and the many many threats. Hate to learn about yet another kidnapping, but its very really and should be noticed.
Victoria Davis
People always say accidents always happen when your close to home. This one exemplifies that statement exactly. This man was not someone the community was worried about or even suspected. It is always the people you never expect that surprise you the most. It was such a miracle that Castro left the door open and for the girl to work up the courage to escape because no telling when their next opportunity would have been.
Rahni Hingoranee
The title of the story is eerie itself. I have heard of this crime before and it haunts me. This is the type of criminal behavior that makes me, as a young woman, scared to ever go out alone. The fact that the community failed to find out for eleven years is also extremely disappointing in my opinion, but I suppose there is nothing more they could have done.