Ariel Castro kidnaps 3 teen girls in Cleveland, holds them captive for years | Nightline

may 6 2013 the gritty Heartland city of Cleveland witnessed a miracle [Music] Amanda told the police ain't just only one it's some old girls up in that house Gina DeJesus returns here she is indeed home Michelle Knight was never on our radar at all police arrested who owns the home their abductor it turns out was a deranged school bus driver now we want the world to know we survived we loved life we were stronger than a real classroom tell me about your childhood I had a lot of things that went on in my life that was very traumatic like sexual abuse emotional abuse you name it I went through it she felt neglected a male relative sexually abused her and when he thinks she was 12 13 14 years old it's just um nightmarish so I basically ran away going to school I was always bullied she was approached by a older boy at school he kind of charmed her Lea they started having sex and she realized she was pregnant I want it to be the best mom she goes to look for a job to better her life and leaves her child in the hands of her mother her mother's boyfriend was drunk and he grabbed Joey by the leg and fractured his knee Michelle took Joey to the hospital and social services put Joey in foster care she is going to court because she's fighting desperately to get her little boy Joey back I was so super excited to get to the appointment and then I couldn't find the place she was pretty desperate so she walked over to a Family Dollar Store to ask the clerk where this address was and then my best friend's father comes into the store and gets you to the point where you said I know where it's at I can take you straight to it so I got into his car you started talking about how his daughter was at home and I was like it would be super nice to see her he shoved me in the room and he said you're not gonna leave for a long time and then he starts undressing herself and he ripped off my son's picture right in front of me the only picture I had and said you will never see him and that hurt it's so bad the knife felt like it was going deeper and deeper into my chest claps his hand over her mouth and tells her don't scream or I'll kill you and then he proceeds to tie her up then he masturbates in front of her couldn't move couldn't do anything I couldn't tell what time of day it was because I was hooked to a pole in the middle of the floor with a motorcycle helmet on my head he routinely rapes her in the basement three four times a day he would often leave a radio on really really loud so that even if she started screaming it couldn't hear it anyway because there was music playing Ariel Castro once again he's prowling around looking for young women how bold is that Amanda had been walking home for Burger King suddenly a red car pulls up the driver it's a familiar face in Amanda realize that this was Ariel Castro knew she knew his daughter they had all gone to school together you know it's a friend's dad and he's like well she's at my house would you like to go see her I said yeah sure I haven't seen her in a while they pull up in front of a modest looking white house it was just really dark in there and um so meet autumn opinions from there I knew like this was gonna be good this is a scale model of Ariel Castro's home Amanda Michelle chained up in separate bedrooms this nondescript house plays a huge role in the fact that it could help Ariel Castro in keeping human prison going and we knew he had kids but at the time he was living single but Amanda Berry when she first went missing her mother lawanda Millard was on the TV pleading for her return living daily we had thousands of leaves there's still hope for the family I would see them on TV and I'm like that kept me going and I said you know what I'm gonna make it home to you as long as you fight I'm gonna fight 14 year old Gina DeJesus grew up on the rough-and-tumble west side of Cleveland I told it to be aware of her Thrones at all times tell us about that day you were with his daughter yes Arlene Castro we were talking about what we wanted to do because it was Friday and then I was thinking you could come over and Gina let her bus money to make the telephone call she asked her mom and her mom doesn't know the last thing she said to me was the only 50 cents right after that Ariel Castro pulls up and offers Gina arrived he asks me if you seen my daughter and this lure was the trick of Ariel Castro using his own children as pawns you felt there's nothing strange about this right I just know that that was her father err my dad was friends with him and now she's in the house he's like stars like touch me and stuff and then I'm like what are you doing here you go to jail then he just switches up like well okay you're gonna go home now he said but you can't go through the same door you came in you have to leave you know through another door I have a superstition what turns out to be the basement and then once you were in the basement what happened in the entertaining me up to the pole when did you realize that there were others in the house that you weren't the only one he was like I have Amanda berry upstairs and I have another girl upstairs but she's not on the TV like nobody cares about her her name was Michelle Knight he would talk to me every single day your families don't care about you ain't you glad I took you I felt like he hated me the most because he I was the one that stood my ground five times you were pregnant yes and each time he aborted it I'm sorry I'm Michele and he's the reason why I can't have children now and that's the most luckiest building ever but he couldn't break me it was a dark and hopeless existence in that house until one day everything changed when amanda announced she was going to have a baby and he was going to allow her to keep that baby it's Christmas morning 2006 and Amanda goes into labor you got this baby pool because he didn't want you no I'm s on the bed and he brung Michelle in the room he says if this child dies I would kill you Amanda gave birth to this child in the room where she had been changed and she picked out her name Jocelyn she was just the most beautiful [Music] you hear of rape victims who have a child how do you just wrap your mind around it and make it work this is his kid you know how do I feel about that hmm she resembled him a lot and I would look at her and I just felt like she's mine she's mine [Music] surprisingly he bonded with this child when she was about two he started taking her outside she had never been to parks before and seeing little kids like herself and I know when the best times when you looked out and you saw the sunlight on her face for the first time it was the most beautifulest thing I just felt like this that's where she should always be well I see him walking to the baby up and down the street he's spoiling it this kid riding like who did you steal this girl from in you know Ariel just looks over see oh this is my girlfriend's daughter can you imagine that the baby was born on Christmas Day and it turned out to be the gift that got them out of the house hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more video show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 4,669,476

Keywords: Cleveland, Ariel, Castro, Gina, DeJesus, Michelle, Knight, abducted, kidnapped, Amanda, Berry, captivity, captor, chained, escape, missing, abc, abcnews, p_cmsid=2494279, ARIEL CASTRO, CAPTIVE, OHIO

Id: cKPFXTQME18

Length: 10min 52sec (652 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 04 2020