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| The Door That Was Knocked Down to Facilitate Their Escape |
Ohio police has found three women
who went missing in separate incidents for a decade alive in a house in
Cleveland.
According to reports, Amanda Berry disappeared
in 2003 at the age of 16, Gina DeJesus disappeared the following year at the
age of 14, and Michelle Knight was the first to go missing a year before Amanda
at the age of 20.
There was also report of a child,
about six years of age, found with the women, but its identity and connection
with the people of the house have been kept confidential.
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| Amanda Berry |
According to Cleveland Police, Charles
Ramsey, a neighbour, was startled by screams coming from the house close by. He
was rushed to the building where he found a girl struggling to get outside.
Ramsey suggested the woman open
the door and exit, but she told him it was locked.
“We had to kick open the bottom. Luckily
on that door it was aluminum, it was cheap. She climbed out with her daughter,”
he said. After which Amanda, the woman,
used his cell phone to call the authorities.
In the recorded phone call,
Amanda tells the 911 emergency operator, “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.” She gave
the operator the name of her alleged kidnapper, adding that he was “out of the
house.”
The police said that the women
have been identified, and taken to the hospital, where the doctors have given
them each a clean bill of health.
In a meeting with reporters, Cleveland
Mayor Frank Jackson said, “I am thankful that Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and
Michelle Knight have been found alive. We have many unanswered questions
regarding this case, and the investigation will be ongoing.”
He added, “Again, I am thankful
that these three young ladies are found, and alive.”
The families of the women have
had a mixture of shock and delight at the news of their rescue.
Sylvia Colon, a relative of Gina
DeJesus, said the family had never given up hope, holding vigils every year and
keeping memorials outside the house.
“It’s been a whirlwind kind of
day. It’s surreal. We were living every day in the hope she would come home –
and she did”, she told BBC.
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| Gina DeJesus |
Gina DeJesus disappeared on April 2, 2004,
while walking home from school. According to the federal authorities, she was
last sighted at a payphone booth in the afternoon that day.
Amanda Berry, who worked at a
fast food restaurant just a few blocks from her home, went missing on April 21,
2003, after leaving work in the evening. Her mother, Louwana, died three years
after Amanda’s disappearance.
Michelle Knight went missing on
August 23, 2002. She was last seen at a cousin’s house, according to the
reports from Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The Police have arrested three
brothers in connection to the disappearances after the three victims were
found
in a house, just a few kilometers from where they disappeared.
One of the brothers, Ariel Castro, 52, was a
bus driver for Cleveland public schools, which the Cleveland school district
has confirmed, with no specifics.
His Uncle, Caesar Castro, who has
known Ariel to be “a good guy”, was shocked to know that his nephew held
captive three women in a house which is on the same street where his grocery
store stands.
It was ironical that Ariel’s son,
Anthony, had written an article about the increasing concern for safety in the
neighbourhood, while reflecting the disappearance of Gina DeJesus for his local
newspaper in 2004.
