- [Operator] Cleveland 911
police, ambulance or fire? - [Charles] Hey, check this out. I just came from McDonalds, right? This broad is trying to
break out the fucking house next door to me. She like, this mother
fucker done kidnapped me and my daughter and we been in this bitch. - [Operator] Sir, sir, sir, sir, sir,
- You know what I mean? - [Operator] you have to
calm down and slow down. Is she still in the street? - [Charles] Yeah, I'm looking at her. She right now, she calling y'all, she on another phone. (phone beeps) (phone rings) - [Operator] Cleveland 911, do you need-- - [Amanda] Hello, police? - [Operator] Do you need
police, fire or ambulance? - [Amanda] I need police. - [Operator] Okay and
what's going on there? - [Amanda] I've been kidnapped
and I've been for 10 years and I'm here, I'm free now. I'm across the street,
I'm using their phone. - [Operator] Okay, stay
there with those neighbors. Talk to the police when they get there. - [Amanda] Okay. - [Operator] Okay, talk to the
police when they get there. - [Amanda] Okay, hello? - [Operator] Yeah, talk to the
police when they get there. - [Amanda] Okay, are they
on their way right now? I need them now.
- We're gonna send them as soon as we get a car open. - [Amanda] No, I need them
now before he gets back. - [Operator] Can you ask her
if she needs an ambulance? - [Charles] Do you need an
ambulance? She need everything. She's in a panic, bro. I guess she's been kidnapped. So, you know, put yourself her shoes. - [Narrator] The chilling
911 calls you just heard were made in 2013 after a woman made a daring escape after nearly a decade in captivity. The news shocked not only the
Cleveland Ohio neighborhood where the woman had been held, but the world as more unbelievable details about the house of horrors were uncovered. (eerie music) The nightmare first began in 2002 when 21 year old Michelle Knight left the home of a family
member on August 23rd. Michelle had been on her way
to a case management meeting about the custody of her
two year old son, Joey, when she got lost. While trying to figure
out where exactly she was, Michelle was stopped
on the street by a man who she quickly recognized as the father of one of her friends. Trusting this man was the
worst mistake of her life. Growing up, Michelle had
a difficult home life where her family struggled to get by. She spent much of her time
helping to care for her siblings, but claimed to have been
abused as a child and teen. At only 14, it all became too much for her and she ran away from home, choosing to live on the streets instead. Eventually Michelle
decided to move back home and return to high school. Then at 18, Michelle became pregnant allegedly as a result of an assault. Soon after, she gave
birth to her son, Joey. Though she wanted to be
the best mother possible for her son, Michelle eventually lost
custody of him in 2002, after an incident reportedly involving her mother's boyfriend. Allegedly, the man became intoxicated and fractured Joey's knee. The young boy was then
moved from the house and placed in foster care. She was on her way to a meeting hoping to regain custody of Joey when and then 42 year old Ariel Castro pulled over to offer her
a lift to the hearing. Because Michelle knew him casually through one of his four
children, she agreed. Castro worked as a school bus driver for the Cleveland
Metropolitan School district and was a local musician. In the car, the two got to talking and Castro offered Michelle a puppy. The young mom was thrilled
thinking a puppy would make for a great present to Joey. Castro told her they could pick
up the puppy from his house before they continued to the meeting, but there was no puppy. Castro had likely been thinking
about abducting someone for a long time. When he saw Michelle walking alone and she agreed to get in the car, he was presented with
the perfect opportunity to carry out his fantasy. When they got to Castro's
2207 Seymour Avenue home and Michelle went inside, she had no idea that she would
never be allowed to leave. Once in the home, Castro struck. He wrapped extension cord around her neck, binding her arms and legs and
shoved a sock into her mouth to prevent her from screaming for help. Castro told her, "You're not
gonna leave for a long time." and began taking off his clothes. Terrified, Michelle started
to beg him to let her go, telling him that she
needed to get her son. Castro's response was to tear
the photo of Joey she carried into tiny pieces. It was the only picture she had of him. He told her that she would
never see her son again. He kept her chained in
the dark basement for days and put a motorcycle helmet over her head to muffle her screams. This was just the first of
repeated unimaginable horrors that Castro inflicted upon Michelle. He assaulted and beat
her multiple times a day. To keep her cries from being heard, he played loud music to drown them out. At some point, Castro had allowed Michelle to have a pet dog, a pit
bull puppy she named Lobo. But she claimed that when the dog bit him trying to protect her from him, he broke its neck in front of her. Castro felt a huge rush of power in those first few days with Michelle. He had complete control. He dictated when she
could eat, what she wore, where she slept, what items she was allowed to have and what happened to her own body. Killing the dog in front of
her was another show of power and likely a scare tactic as well. He wanted her to be afraid and
know that he was in charge. Castro lived alone, so there was no chance
of anyone else stumbling upon Michelle hidden there though. Though he had four children,
none of them lived with him. His ex common-law wife at
custody of the children and she moved out of
Castro's home in 1996. It was her mother,
Barbara Knight who filed the missing person report about Michelle. The report describes what
she was last seen wearing and states that she had a mental condition and that she confused
her surroundings a lot, which may have been what happened just before Castro found her. Despite being kidnapped in broad daylight, the police believe that because Michelle had run away before, she
might have done it again. They assumed that because
she had lost custody of Joey, she decided to leave. This assumption may have greatly
impacted any search efforts to find her. Michelle's case was eventually forgotten. Her name was taken off the
missing person's database only 15 months after she
was reported missing. Though she didn't know it, her mother still continued
to search for her. However, some reports
claim that her family made very little attempt to find her. - I would give her a big hug
and kiss and say, I love you. - [Interviewer] You missed her? - Yes. - [Narrator] When there was no sign of what had happened to Michelle, her son was eventually
adopted by another family. On at least one occasion, Michelle tried to the house of horrors where Castro kept her confined. During her attempt, her neck
and back were hurt so badly, she was afraid to try again. She said, "We had no way
to get out of that house. And even if we tried, we got hurt." Seven months after
Michelle had been kidnapped and held captive, 16 year old, Amanda Berry
got up and got ready for work at a fast food restaurant
on April 21st, 2003. She thought about calling
in since the next day was her 17th birthday. Her entire life would've been different if she hadn't gone to work that day. It was during her walk home only a few blocks from her house that everything went horribly wrong. There was a vehicle sitting
in a driveway at an angle where she had to go around. Amanda remembered smiling at
the people inside the vehicle, a man and his daughter because the daughter
looked familiar to her. She believed it was one of her friends she had known in middle school. But then the vehicle
started following after her as she walked. The man pulled up to her and asked if she wanted a ride home. And Amanda realized that the
girl was no longer inside. When Amanda commented that the girl wasn't with the man anymore, he told her that his
daughter was at his house and asked Amanda if she wanted to see her. Believing that the man was
the father of her friend and therefore trustworthy,
Amanda told him yes, a choice she would come to deeply regret. Amanda had gone to school
with two of Castro daughters. But what she didn't know was
that neither lived with him. And in fact, they lived in
a different neighborhood with their mother. Though it isn't entirely clear, it appears that Castro
had been dropping off one of his daughters
before he spotted Amanda and took advantage of the fact
that she knew his daughter, to lure her to his house. When they arrived at the
house on Seymour avenue, the man told her that
the girl, his daughter, must have been in the bath. As they waited, he started
to show her around the house, a house she could never
be allowed to leave. Castro took Amanda upstairs and showed her where another young woman was fast asleep. Amanda didn't know it at the time, but the other woman was now
22 year old Michelle Knight. The nightmare only got worse from there. Castro forced Amanda into the next bedroom where he told her to pull her pants down. After, Amanda's wrists and
ankles were bound with tape. Castro went one step further
and added a belt over the tape around her ankles. She was chained to a pole in the basement as Castro put a helmet over her head and told her that if she was quiet, he would take her home. It was a lie. The initial rush of power
and excitement for Castro after he abducted Michelle had likely faded somewhat
after seven months. So we took Amanda to feel
that huge rush again. Just like with Michelle, Amanda happened to be in the
wrong place at the wrong time. Castro saw the opportunity
and he acted on it. That first day, Amanda
was left in the dark with only a TV for company. As much as she cried and
screamed, no one came to save her. Her family reported that
she was missing soon after and she watched on TV in Castro's basement as her mother and sister made
pleads for her safe return. - Any whereabouts or anything
of my daughter, Amanda Berry. Thank you all very much for being here. I appreciate it. - [Announcer] Amanda Berry's
mother's pleading for anyone with information about her
daughter's disappearance to come forward. She's been missing since late April. - [Narrator] After being
in the house for four days, Castro brought Amanda back
upstairs where he chained her to a radiator in a bedroom. Eventually, Castro asked
her if there was anything she wanted to pass the time. And Amanda asked him for
something she could write in. He brought her a diary
with a tiny lock and key. In one of her first entries, she wrote, "You never know what
you got till it's gone. I just can't wait to go home. I'm 17 now, but don't have a life. But he told me I'm young and
will go home before summer. Another two months." It was another lie. A week after abducting Amanda, Castro called her family to taut them about how he had taken her. He referred to her as Mandy, a nickname that only those
close to her ever used, which especially disturbed her family. Castro also claimed that
Amanda wanted to be with him. This call was almost Castro's downfall. He was literally two blocks
away from being caught. Around this time, the
FBI developed technology capable of tracking a
cellphone's location, but it only worked if
the phone was turned on. Authorities were able
to narrow down the call to within two blocks
of where Castro lived. And they staked out the area for weeks hoping for a sign of Amanda, but Castro never turned the phone back on. And so they eventually gave up. There were thousands of
reported sightings of Amanda over the years. There were even times when people reported that she had died, but her family kept hope because
her body was never found. Over the years that she was held captive, Amanda addressed almost
all of her diary entries to her mother, Luana Miller. She died at 43 in 2006 from heart failure. Though her family said
she died of a broken heart after losing Amanda, who she
searched for relentlessly. She never learned what
became of her daughter. It isn't known for sure
how Amanda found out her mother had died, but the women sometimes
had access to a TV or VCR where they frequently saw updates in their own missing person's cases. So she may have seen the
death announced on the news. After, she still addressed
her diary entries to her, but wrote, "Mother in heaven." When Amanda was first taken, Michelle only saw her for a few minutes, but then didn't see her again for months. Castro likely kept the girls separate so they wouldn't be able to
band together against him. If they were together
when he wasn't around, he wouldn't know what
they were discussing, especially what they
were saying about him. And this would make him feel
like he was not in control. Everything Castro did was about control. Even with two women already
held hostage in his house, Castro wanted more. A year after he took Amanda, he went looking for another victim. Castro promised Amanda
that if he got another girl into the house, then he
would finally take her home. It was another lie. Again Castro was searching for the high of that initial abduction because it is worn off after a year. As time passed, Castro began to anticipate the next abduction. The more he thought about doing
it, the more he wanted to. He likely felt a huge
thrill and rush of power each time he took a new girl. It seems that with each kidnapping, Castro felt more confident
and more dangerous as he captured younger women each time. Just five blocks from where
Amanda had been taken, Castro ran into someone he
knew on April 2nd, 2004, Castro's daughter, Arlene
Castro was walking home from school with 14
year old, Gina DeJesus. The girls were going to hang out but when Arlene's mother said, no, Gina started on the long
walk to her house alone. She called her own mother and
told her she was on her way, but she would never make it. Arlene was the last person to see Gina before she went missing. Castro also knew Gina's father. So when his vehicle pulled up
next to her on the sidewalk, she wasn't too alarmed to see him. Castro asked Gina if she had seen Arlene. And when she said she had, he asked for her help locating her. The request didn't seem out
of the ordinary for the teen. So she agreed and got
into the car with him. But Castro didn't take her to find Arlene. Instead, he brought her to
his house where he asked her to help him move some equipment. By now, Gina was understandably alarmed. Then Castro's behavior changed. Instead of telling her what
equipment he needed help with, he started to groom
himself in front of her. Trimming his eyebrows,
mustache and nose hairs. He shifted his attention to her and began inappropriately touching her. Gina warned him he could go to
jail because she was so young and he responded that she could leave. However, he had one stipulation, she had to leave out a different door than the one she came in and
to use the basement door. Likely just feeling relieved
that she could leave, Gina didn't ask any questions. Once in the basement, Castro pounced and tried to chain her up. At first, the chains weren't tight enough and Gina managed to get loose. She tried to run. Castro caught her and overpowered her, but she managed to land
a few hard kicks on him. Gina screamed for help, but he had turned up the volume
of the radio in his basement and the radio in the living
room so no one could hear her. He managed to tie her up and
left her in his basement. The day she went missing,
Gina's mother, Nancy Ruiz, called police to report
that she had disappeared. Yet investigators didn't immediately look into Gina's disappearance
as a missing child because they assumed she
may have run away from home. When the search for Gina finally began, something especially twisted happened. Castro joined in the efforts all the while he knew
exactly where Gina was. Because Castro was friends
with Gina's father, he helped pass out flyers
about her disappearance and even comforted Gina's
mother while at a vigil for her a year after she'd gone missing. Castro likely joined the search to gain access to
information about the case and any possible leads. He may have also wanted to
ensure that he was not a suspect since Gina was last
seen with his daughter. And finally, he likely felt excitement that he was helping with the search and that no one but him knew the truth. For the first few weeks that
Castro held Gina captive, he mostly left her alone, but on May 7th, 2004, he assaulted her for the first time. Horrifically, he
continued to do regularly. He chained up Michelle and
Gina together in the same room where they had to share a mattress. They would remain together in that room during their entire captivity. On a few occasions,
Michelle tried to intervene when Castro attempted to assault Gina, which resulted in her being assaulted and beaten more often herself. He would assault each of them while the other was still in the room. Castro had kidnapped all
three women within 20 months in a roughly five block area. Inside the home, the
women were forced to live in filthy and cramp conditions. They were chained up,
tortured and starved, all suffered from depression,
sickness and bed bugs. During the first winter she was there, Michelle was left naked for months with just a thin sheet to keep warm. She also wasn't allowed to
shower for the first eight months after she was taken. Amanda was kept in a
room the size of a closet with a dirty and old mattress. She had to go to the bathroom in a bucket, which was kept in the room
with her and smelled terrible. Anytime Castro showed them any kindness, it always came with just
disturbing conditions. Amanda recalled that whenever
he allowed her to shower, she had to shower with him. Castro frequently assaulted the women. In order to muffle any sounds
of their cries for help, he used the sound system
to play loud music so no one would hear. Amanda said she tried to numb herself, but she secretly kept track
of each instance of assault with a number at the top
of the pages in her diary with the hope that one day he
would be caught and punished. Michelle became pregnant
on four or five occasions, but Castro forced her to
miscarry each pregnancy by beating her so severely. The injuries were so damaging, that they left Michelle unable
to have any more children. He ensured none could escape
by boarding up the windows and locking all of the doors. Castro also psychologically
manipulated them. Testing them to see if
they would try to escape, he sometimes pretended to leave the house and then would sneak back in
without the women knowing. That way, they could never
really trust he was gone. He would check that they
hadn't tried to leave and warn that if he ever caught
them attempting to escape, that would kill them. Other forms of Castro's manipulations were calculated gifts and deprivation, to pin the girls against each other. Castro used a domestic economy to hand out rewards to the women. He would give them cash allowances that they could use to buy
food and other necessities, which he could also take away. In order to ensure the women
didn't trust each other, he intentionally played
mind games with them, often between Amanda and Michelle. When he first took Gina, he gave her the nicest
room and let her eat first which caused some resentment
between the women. Buying occasional little
gifts for the girls was a manipulation tactic to gain their trust and cooperation. When you have had literally
everything taken away from you, such as Michelle, Amanda and Gina did, a small item takes on a larger meaning. Making sure the girls
didn't trust each other was Castro's way of ensuring they didn't join forces against him. It was another form control. One of the cruelest
moments of many cruelties was when Castro told Gina she had to play Russian Roulette with him and take turns pointing
the gun at each other. He claimed to have loaded
the gun with one bullet. At that point, Gina felt
like she had nothing to lose because she thought she was going to be in that house forever. But in a resistance streak, Gina also wanted a chance
to pull the trigger while the gun was aimed at Castro. She wanted to kill him. She pulled the trigger,
but nothing happened. Michelle was the most
outwardly resistant to Castro. She often talked back to
him, refusing to use his name when she spoke to him. Instead, she called him dude. Castro just liked her the
most out of his captives because she refused to break. Michelle later said,
"He wanted to break me and that's something he couldn't do because you can't break
someone who's already broken. You can only make them stronger." Something that all the
women held onto was hope. Whether it was finding
strength in the belief that their families would
never give up on them or even resistance by fantasizing that they could kill
Castro with rat poison. At first, the three women were
kept separate from each other in different rooms of the house. But then on May 23rd, 2004, Castro brought them all together just so they could watch a show. It was "America's Most Wanted" and featured both Amanda and
Gina's missing person's cases. This was is especially painful because the families of
both girls were interviewed. Gina said that after this,
she couldn't stand him, but had to act as though
she was friends with Castro in order to survive. Following Michelle's abduction,
there was very little, if any TV or news coverage about the case. Castro used this lack
of effort to find her to torture Michelle, telling her it was because
no one was looking for her. This was made all the worse when Amanda Berry's mother appeared on the news frequently begging for her daughter to be returned. Castro would twist this
to make Michelle feel even more alone in comparison. - [Interviewer] Do you ever
imagine that she would be found? - Not really, I didn't even think that we would ever see her again. We were still looking for, watching out, see if we see her on the street. But we, like I said, we
really never publicized it. - [Narrator] Michelle said,
"It would hurt because I knew my family didn't care." Castro even said to her, "Ain't you glad I took you?" After bringing the women
together to watch TV, they started to talk to each other. Well they spoke to each other
whenever they had the chance because Castro actually forbade them from speaking among themselves. He put gates up to keep them apart, but they could still speak. And when he closed the doors to stop them, they communicated through
pictures and notes carefully slid under doors. Whenever Castro left
them in the house alone, which was very infrequently, the women would sometimes
pretend like everything was okay, dancing and singing together or watching "The Vampire Diaries" on TV, attempting to fain any kind of normalcy. On occasion, Castro would allow the women to go outside of the home, but only to the yard or the garage. And whenever they were out of the house, he made them wear disguises,
such as a helmet or a wig, like the one shown here. Everything became all the more disturbing when Amanda turned 20. She began to suspect
that she was pregnant. For some reason, instead of forcefully terminating her pregnancy
as Castro had with Michelle, he allowed her to carry a baby to term. On Christmas day, 2006,
Amanda went into labor. Castro had purchased a baby pool for her to give birth in the home and had Michelle help
her deliver the baby. While she was in labor, Castro sat in a rocking chair
and read a book on babies rather than offer an aid. The birth wasn't easy. Not only because she had to give birth without any professional help, but the child wasn't breathing at first. Castro apparently
threatened to kill Michelle if she didn't save the baby. Michelle managed to get
the child to breathe by blowing air into her mouth. And thanks to her efforts,
the baby survived. Amanda named her daughter, Jocelyn. The baby became a very welcome distraction and source of joy for
the three young women. According to Michelle, Castro
began calling Amanda his wife after the child was born. He even referred to them all as a family. For the most part, Jocelyn was as hidden from the outside world as the others. But unlike the three women, Castro would occasionally let
her outside in the backyard, to the park or to Sunday
services with him. He even took Jocelyn to visit family, including his mother, Lillian Rodriguez. Apparently Jocelyn called her grandmother. Rodriguez never revealed where she thought the young girl came from or
who she thought her mother was. All the while, Amanda
worried Castro might possibly do something to her daughter. And what might be one of
the strangest turn of events for the women, they also watched the
Breaking News in August, 2009, of Jaycee Dugard's escape
from captivity after 18 years. The three women were
fascinated by the story and watched for any updates. It must have been particularly
surreal to see the evidence of someone escaping a situation so similar to the one
they were currently in. And yet when talking about the man who had held Jaycee
captive, Phillip Garrido, Castro made the comment,
"That guy was crazy." Though it may seem like
Castro was at least willfully ignoring any similarity between himself and Garrido, when one of the women said
that what happened to Jaycee was just like their situation, he asked him if they were going
to write a book about this. Castro must have felt extremely confident that no one would ever discover the women because he occasionally had
friends and family members come over to the house. On one occasion, the women
were almost able to alert Castro's daughter that they were there. While Arlene visited the home, they were hidden away in the basement. They were close to shouting for help, but they were too afraid
that Castro would kill them if they did. They had another chance to call for help when the house next door to Castro's was raided by police in 2010. But again, they were too afraid. On another occasion
when he had family over, he hid the women in a van. There were many close
calls over the years. when police were investigating
Gina's disappearance, they looked at connections
with their friends, including Arlene Castro. But instead of investigating her father, they became suspicious of her stepfather, Fernando Colon. Colon claimed that during
an interview with police, he told them that the person they should really be
looking into was Castro, as he also knew Gina. He alleges that he even
said that Castro was known to be violent. However, nothing never came of the tip and the FBI claims that
they have no written record of Colon saying this. another close call for the
women in Castro's house, quite literally involved
Castro's other daughter, Angie, who found a weird message
on her answering machine. The message sounded like it
was left after her number had been pocket dialed. But the frightening part was
that she could hear the voice of a young woman's screaming and shouting, "Get away from me." Concerned about what she had heard, Anjie she reported the
message to the police who traced the call but
instead of tracing a to Castro, they believe the call came
from a different phone. Gina's mother would later
assert that some kind of mistake must have been made
when the call was traced because she believes
that it come from Castro. At one point the police
believed that Amanda's case was solved when Robert Wilford, a man already convicted of murder in 2007, admitted in 2012 that he had
also killed Amanda Berry. This was of course a lie, but investigators didn't
know that at the time. Not only did Wilford
pass a lie detector test, a notoriously unreliable
measurement of truth, but he claimed that he
could lead the police to Amanda's remains. Even though it wasn't the conclusion anyone was hoping for with Amanda's case. The police and her
family had their hopes up that they would finally have answers. Oddly, the area where
Wolfer told the police they could find her body was nearby to where Amanda was actually
trapped alive in Castro's home. Investigators didn't find any remains. As the excavation was filmed by the news, Castro's brother, Pedro,
was actually seen pointing at the efforts and saying,
"That's a waste of money." The police dug up one other backyard in their search for Amanda. Everything changed on May 6th, 2013. Jocelyn who had more freedom
in the house than the women went downstairs before she ran
back up to tell Amanda that, "I don't find daddy. Daddy's nowhere around." And there was something
else for the first time, Amanda's bedroom door
had been left unlocked. Amanda isn't sure if the unlocked door is another test left by Castro. But she immediately knew
it was their chance. At this point, she'd been held
captive for 10 long years. She made her way downstairs. Jocelyn was right, there
was no sign of Castro. The front door had an alarm on it, but it was the storm door beyond that proved to be the issue. It was padlock shut, but
Amanda was determined. She pulled the door open just enough that she could stick an arm through. She started screaming for help. While this was happening, Gina feared that Castro had
caught Amanda and out of terror, told Michelle to stay with her upstairs instead of running to help Amanda. 75 year old Aurora Marty
heard the calls for help. And as an arm reached
out from behind the door, Marty ran over to the
house across the street from hers on Seymour avenue. The girl behind the door says to her, "I'm Amanda Berry." Marty doesn't speak much English, but she still recognized the name. She said, "You can't be
Amanda, Amanda's dead." Because of her arthritis, Marty struggles to help
Amanda pull the door open. There are conflicting accounts
about what happens next but either way, Amanda begs
for help getting the door open and then Charles Ramsey sees her arm. - [Charles] Hey, check his out. I just came from McDonalds, right? This broad is trying to
break out the fucking house next door to me. - [Narrator] He grabs the
other side of the door and starts pulling, trying to get it open. When that work, he kicks at it, telling Amanda to do the
same thing on the other side. And she does. The bottom panel on the
storm door gives way and she can crawl through. - [Operator] Sir, sir, sir, sir, sir,
- you know what I mean? - [Operator] you have to
calm down and slow down. Is she still in the street? - [Charles] Yeah, I'm looking at her. She right now, she calling y'all. She on another phone. - [Narrator] With her six
year old daughter in her arms, Amanda ran to a neighbor's
house to call 911. The entire time, she was
terrified that Castro would return and hurt her, even though she was surrounded by people. Her call goes through at 5:52 p.m. - [Amanda] Hello, police? Help me, I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped and I've
been missing for 10 years and I'm here, I'm free now. I'm across the street,
I using their phone. - [Operator] Okay, stay
there with those neighbors. talk to the police when they get there. - [Am] Okay. - [Operator] I have a
cop here on the phone with a female that says
her name is Amanda Berry and that she had been
kidnapped 10 years ago. Still has her on the phone right now. She's saying that the
you male is Ariel Castro. - [Narrator] Police were sent
immediately to the house. They arrived at 5:54, about two minutes after
Amanda called for help. As they arrived, they
were flagged by a woman with a small child in her arms. They quickly realized that
this isn't some prank call, but that it's real. She's the girl from the missing
person flyers, Amanda Berry. (Amanda mumbles) - [Officer] This might be for real. - [Narrator] And then
Amanda tells the police that she isn't alone. - [Officer] There might
be others in the house. - [Narrator] Two officers forced their way through the crack in the door that Amanda had escaped through. They managed to open the storm door so more officers can follow after them. They check the basement, but it's empty. Then an officer climbs the stairs and shouts, Cleveland police. Michelle had no idea what
was going on downstairs, but when she finally worked up the courage to go and find out, she opened the door to a
police officer shouting. - [Officer] Adam 23 radio. - [Operator] Go ahead. - [Officer] We found them. We found them. - [Narrator] As soon as she
realized it was the police, Michelle runs into the officer's arms and hugs them shouting, "You saved me. You saved me." She told them to never let her go. The officer couldn't help
but tear up when he asks, if there's anyone else, Gina DeJesus comes out of another bedroom. - [Officer] Georgina DeJesus
might be in this house also. - [Narrator] For the first
time since they were taken, the three women were outside of the house. Michelle is now 32, Amanda 27 and Gina 23. The police broadcast the
description of Castro's vehicle and he was found just as he pulled into a McDonald's parking lot. He was arrested and handcuffed
on the spot at 6:16 p.m. One of his male relatives
was in the car with him. Not long after this, the police announced that they had arrested two other men on suspicion of kidnapping, Castro's brothers, Pedro and Onil. All three were arrested. One reason the brothers
fell under suspicion was that Onil was with Castro
at the time of his arrest. However, only Castro was charged and Pedro and Onil were released. Though it's hard to imagine no one who knew Castro had any idea that he had kidnapped three women and held them captive in
his house for over 10 years. Investigators stated that neither brother appeared to have been involved. They also said that
neither had any knowledge about the three women. Generally speaking, most people are under no legal obligation to report a crime, whether they knew about it in advance, witnessed its commission or found out about it after the fact. However, there are exceptions to this law. Some examples would be mandated reporters, if you aid in a bed in the crime, or if you willfully conceal the commission of a felony federal offense. The latter can result in a
charge of misprision of a felony, which is a form of obstruction of justice. The shocking rescue made worldwide news. Instead of celebrating her
release after 11 years, Michelle was rushed to the hospital. She complained to the
police about how chest pains and trouble breathing. She is a small woman but at
the time that she was found, she only weighed around 84 pounds. She was so tiny that the police thought she was actually a child. At the hospital, Michelle
found out that she had a bacterial infection in her stomach and only had days to live. If she hadn't been freed from
Castro's house when she was, she would have died. She eventually recovered, but that wasn't the worst of it. Michelle has been left with
lifelong physical damage. On top of never being
able to have children because of Castro's physical assaults, Michelle's eyesight has
been permanently altered after spending so much
time trapped in the dark. She also suffered from
damage to her facial bones from the repeated beatings to her head. On one occasion, Castro
broke her jaw with a barbell. None of this compares
to the mental effects of Castro's torture. During those long years of captivity, Michelle occasionally
contemplated taking her own life, but her will remain strong
when she thought about her son. Once the women were rescued, Castro's house was boarded up. After the women were discovered, people started to come forward
with stories about the house on Seymour avenue. Elsie Centron who lived
three houses away from Castro claimed that several years earlier, her daughter had spotted a naked woman crawling in Castro's backyard. She said she police about it, but they didn't take it seriously. In a similar incident,
another neighbor, Israel Lugo, claimed he heard pounding on the doors coming from inside Castro's house and called the police in 2011. When the police showed up, Lugo alleged that they knocked on the door and when no one answered, they left. The police admitted that
they'd been at the Castro house twice in the last 15 years, but they maintained those
visits had nothing to do with the women's disappearances. In contrast to this, after his arrest, other neighbors came forward to say that Castro always appeared to be happy and respectful. Disturbingly, the kids and
parents in the area trusted him and he was known to take the children on rides on his motorcycle. What may be most horrifying of all is the fact that Castro was almost stopped on multiple occasions. Before he had the chance
to hold three women captive for a decade, he had a long history of
abuse and several run-ins with the police, including
an incident involving the owner of a house neighboring his own. In 1994, Ernesto Santiago had
come to check on his property. When he eyes to chain
link fence was missing. He asked Castro about it and according to the police report, Castro became upset and picked up a shovel and attempted to hit the victim with it. In 2004, while Castro was
working as a bus driver, he was charged with child
endangerment and abduction. He'd allegedly left a 13 year old boy on the bus unsupervised. when he got back on the
bus, he drove it to Wendy's and once there, allegedly told
the child to lay down, bitch. while he went inside
the restaurant to eat. He denied ever saying that. When he was interviewed about
the incident, Castro said, "I just totally forgot he was there. I didn't check the bus." He was suspended for 60 days, but the charges were unsubstantiated due to insufficient evidence. He was eventually fired in 2012 after leaving the bus unattended
in a fire lane for hours. As well, there is a long
trail of police reports recording Castro's physical assaults against his common law wife, Figueroa, dating back to 1989. After an incident, she called
the police to report Castro, but never went through
with pressing charges because he had allegedly
threatened to kill her and their children if she did. Another police report states
that in a different incident, Figueroa asked Castro where he was going and he became violent and slapped her. When she tried to get away from him, he slammed her into the wall
and against a washing machine. Her shoulder and arm were
both injured in the assault. Castro made another threat when Figueroa eventually lodged a formal
complaint against him after a horrific incident
where he reportedly stomped on her head with his boots on in front of their children. Figueroa's son ran from the house and Castro chased after him, giving her a chance to
lock him out of the home. When the police arrived,
Castro tried to flee, but they caught him. According to a court petition, Figueroa had suffered a broken nose, broken ribs, two dislocated shoulders, and a lost tooth at the hands of Castro. Figueroa also developed a brain humor from the multiple head injuries she had. When Figueroa went to take
the stand at the courthouse about the incident, Castro
allegedly threatened her at the entrance and she never testified. Because of this, he was never indicted as there wasn't enough evidence. It's not uncommon for
victims of domestic violence to become uncooperative after filing charges with the police. This may be due to fear,
battered women's syndrome or because they don't think
the violence will happen again. Police and prosecutors always try to take as many photos as possible, statements and any other
evidence they can collect so that if the victim
becomes uncooperative, they can still prove the charges. While it's obviously more
difficult to get a conviction without the victim's
testimony or cooperation, it is still often done. It was only after Amanda's daring escape that Castro was brought to justice. During his trial, Castro
claimed to have an addiction to adult content and said, "I'm not a monster, I'm sick." He also made claims that went
directly against the evidence police found in the home, such as the chains and ropes
used to restrain the women. Castro said that he treated the girls well and claimed any intercourse
with them was consensual. When asked about terminating Michelle's multiple pregnancies,
he admitted that he had, but only after alleging it
was always a mutual decision. Castro refused to take
responsibility for what he did by using excuses, such as that he's sick or that
he treated the girls well. He knew exactly what he
was doing when he abducted and tortured the girls over the course of 10 to 11 long years. - [Lawyer] We'd like to
enter a plea of not guilty. We will waive the reading
of the indictment, waive the 24 hour period and just enter the plea. - Mr. Castro currently faces
hundreds of years in prison with the current charges. And it is our hope that
we can continue to work toward a resolution, to avoid having an unnecessary trial about aggravated murder
and the death penalty. - [Narrator] Castro is
a classic narcissist and exhibited several traits of narcissistic personality disorder, including a grandiose
sense of self importance, is preoccupied with fantasies
of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love, requires excessive admiration, has a sense of entitlement, is interpersonally exploitative, IE takes advantage of others
to achieve his own ends, lacks empathy shows, arrogant, hotty behaviors and attitudes. He was also sadistic, meaning he derived gratification from the physical and emotional suffering he caused and other people. Castro eventually admitted he would've been easily
caught at the beginning if the police had only seen
the surveillance footage from Wilbur Ride Middle School, near where he took Gina. In a bold statement of stomach
churning irony, Castro said, "If they would've questioned me, it's possible that it
would've ended right there. I feel that the FBI let those girls down." Castro's arrogant statement about how the FBI let those girls down is another example of his narcissism. Not only does he deflect
any responsibility, but he is also actually blaming the FBI. Only Michelle attended
Castro sentencing hearing. She told him, "I spent 11 years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning." On August 1st, 2013, Ariel Castro was sentenced
to life in prison. After he pled guilty to 937
counts of kidnapping and assault in exchange to avoid the death penalty, his sentence was extended
to include 1,000 more years. Castro never even came close
to serving his sentence. The 937 counts were charges because each individual
assault, kidnapping, et cetera of each victim was charged as a separate offense on an indictment. While in prison, he complained frequently
about the prison food, even believing it had been tampered with and said that the prison
guards were negligent. Less than two months into his sentence, on September 3rd, 2013
Castro was found dead in his prison cell after he had taken his own life by hanging. Records from the jail show
that Castro was listed as requiring special observation because he was believed to be at risk of taking his own life. Castro had complete power over
multiple people for years. Being in jail was a total
loss of control for him and he couldn't stand
that he wasn't calling the shots anymore. Officers found his body 27 minutes after their last check on him, kneeling with a bed sheet
tied around his neck and attached to a window hinge. Oddly, his shorts were
found around his ankles and he wasn't wearing underwear. Because of this detail at first, it was incorrectly believed
that Castro may have died as a result of autoerotic asphyxiation, which would've made his death an accident. However after speaking to other inmates, it became clear that
Castro had lost weight while incarcerated causing his pants to frequently slip down. This explained why his shorts
were down when he died. Castro left a note behind
where he cited scripture and wrote that "Those who
confessed with their heart will be saved." In another note he wrote, "My kids and grandkids." and
drew a heart around the words. Other doodles on the page were some of his family members' names, more hearts, flowers and music notes. On one hand, Castro's
death robbed the women of the satisfaction of knowing
that he was being punished for his many crimes. But on the other hand, their
nightmare was officially over. All three women were
eager to begin their lives after captivity, but
reintroduction into society wasn't easy for any of them after a decade being held hostage. The women suffered from complex post-traumatic stress
disorder after years of abuse. Michelle was the first to speak publicly about the horror she faced as the one who had been
held by Castro the longest. - I'm learning that I'm more stronger, I am able to define who I am not by the situations
that are surrounding me. So I learned in life
it's better to forgive, but you'll never forget
what happened to you. But for your healing process,
it's better to forgive. - [Narrator] Though Michelle
had hopes of gaining custody of her son, she did not. Still his adoptive parents send her photos and updates about him. It's a very difficult situation but it would've been
extremely disruptive for Joey to be uprooted from the
only home he has known for most of his life. As part of moving on, Michelle changed her
name to Lily Rose Lee. She's published two books
under her birth name about her life during
and after those 11 years, titled "Finding Me" and
Life After Darkness". On the anniversary that she escaped, May 6th, 2016, she got married. Amanda has been able to raise Jocelyn in a healthy and safe environment. since she was taken as a teen, Gina said that one of the
things she always wanted to do was learned to drive. She now has her driver's
license and went back to school. Amanda and Gina collaborated on a book with two Pulitzer Prize winning
Washington post reporters and published their own
book called "Hope" in 2015. Amanda and Gina are still
friends to this day, but they are no longer
in contact with Michelle. Gina explained that all
three women liked each other at one point in the beginning, but their relationship was fractured now. It appears that the ways Castro attempted to turn the women against each other had lasting effects on them. He often played Amanda and
Michelle off of each other, so they never really got along while Amanda and Gina grew close and shared a lot with
each other over the years. Amanda simply said that she and Michelle were two different people. Both Amanda and Gina have stated that they wish the best for Michelle. When Michelle was asked, why she no longer speaks
to the other women, she said Gina was like a sister to her, but their lives uphold them
in different directions. She hasn't directly
commented about Amanda. Today, all three women work
in some way to help survivors, highlighting missing persons cases or help the families of missing persons. Michelle founded Lily's Ray of Hope to help victims find housing, clothing and access to education. Amanda began hosting a segment on the news about Cleveland's missing
persons cases in 2017. Gina became an ambassador for the Northeast Ohio Amber Alert and founded that Cleveland Family Center for Missing Children and Adults. All three women have proven
their courage, perseverance, and unbelievable ability to survive.
