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
Victoria Muller
It is shocking to think that these women were kidnapped by such a well known person in the community, abused, and not able to escape until many years later. It must have been terrible to have to live in such fear for so long. The closing statement is even more impactful when it says that it isn’t uncommon in the United Sates for kidnappings to happen.
Vanessa Quetzeri
To think that we may not really even know our neighbors is terrifying. Castro held these three girls captive for 11 years and nobody took notice. He had a clever way of disguising himself as another genuine, member of the community. I am glad that he made the mistake of leaving the front door unlocked because these girls finally got their freedom from years of torture and abuse.
Isabella Torres
I can’t even begin to imagine being kidnapped and held captive for as long as these women were, not to mention the horrific and constant abuse they each faced. I think being kidnapped is a fear that nearly every person has at some point or another, and it is so difficult to imagine being so close to your friends and family but not being able to do anything about it. It’s hard to believe how long it went on without anybody discovering Castro’s crimes, but I guess he didn’t give anyone a reason to be suspicious. Things like this make me wonder how it is possible for a human to even have the desire to do this to others.
Trinity Casillas
Kidnapping stories always scare me because I imagine myself in the situation and I freak out yet I still read them and I can’t look away. The fact that many abductors, like Castro, impregnate their victims and will go to decent lengths to make sure the delivery is ok confuses me greatly. My guess would be is that they do it because they want to have as much power and control they can have but it still makes it difficult to wrap my mind around.
Briley Perkins
The article gave me chills, for the fact that it could possibly and it does in fact happen today. It was crazy that none of the neighbors had noticed anything different about the house considering there were three girls being held captive. The fact that all the girls had previously known the man, as well as the neighborhood, made it even more shocking that the fact you may not know someone as well as you would like to think. At the end of the day, I am so thankful that the girls were able to escape, even though I can’t imagine the pain they are in to this day.
Cristianna Tovar
This article perfectly underscores the notion that you really can’t trust anybody. To an outsider’s perspective, Ariel Castro seemed to be a friendly, fun, and trustworthy individual. Behind closed doors, however, he was a vicious person who kidnapped and raped three young women who he had lured into his home for over ten years. Just as the title of this article implies, you never really know who a person truly is, even if they’re living just a few yards away from you. I am so glad that the girls were able to escape from Castro’s evil grasp and seek help from authorities. He took many years away from the girls’ lives and replaced it with torture and abuse, which makes it even worse to think that he had a daughter of his own. A truly heartbreaking story, but the women involved in this case are true warriors for escaping.
Alin Bocardo Felix
Reading articles about kidnapping, murders and hideous crimes is no longer as shocking as it used to be. The information the articles consists of is well written, unfortunately well enough to imagine it; but the question will always linger. Why would someone commit such a crime, and not just once or twice, but at such a repetitive state. The actual question is how could someone dissociate themselves so much from society that their norms are so out of place? The three poor girls endured hell on earth during their most important developmental age and will never be able to regain their old life, and at times like this is when one realizes that some punishments will never even out with the crime. Overall, the article’s chronological order helps with keeping up with the facts, but the introduction paragraph didn’t seem to do much justice to the remainder of the article; personally, I wouldn’t ask such hypothetical questions in regards to a real life situation such as this one.
Audrey Uribe
The terror in this story really had me on the edge of my seat as I read this. I grew up hearing about the 3 strong women that eventually escaped the horrors of a man whom was seen as a “positive influence in the community” but turned out to be a monster. The other details in this article about Castro made my heart drop. The fact that he would attend searches for the girls he had kidnapped is something I don’t think I will ever rap my mind around. There is this question of how could a person be so cruel? Yet a bigger question is who are the cruel people around me that I see as a “positive influence”? This article was deep and eye opening. Someone capturing and torturing 3 women for over 10 years makes me sick to my stomach.
Nicholas Hatch
This article was very sickening to read. It is awful to think that kidnappings and abductions like these happen and it’s only getting worse over time. It’s very important to be aware of all your surroundings because you never know what can happen. It’s very eerie to think that Castro had 3 girls that he mentally and physically abused for 11 years. This goes to show that not everyone can be trusted and you need to be aware. In today’s society, it is not only important for women to be aware, but for men too. You would be crazy to think that just because you are a guy, that all this can be avoided.
Amanda Quiroz
This is the second or third article I’ve read about that has to do with kidnapping. Thank God the three girls managed to escape along with the child. If Berry hadn’t attempted an escape, who knows how long they would have been kept down there. This shows that you really have to watch who you trust. You never truly know for sure.