Prosecutor may seek death penalty for Cleveland kidnap, rape suspect Ariel Castro

Kidnap victims freed in Cleveland
Cuyahoga County prosecutor Thomas McGinty says Ohio law calls for the death penalty for the “most depraved criminals who commit aggravated murder during the course of a kidnapping.” He says aggravated murder charges could be filed related to pregnancies terminated by force.

Ariel Castro is being held on $8 million bail. The 52-year-old former school bus driver was under a suicide watch in jail, where he was being held on kidnapping and rape charges for holding three women – Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight – inside his home for about a decade.

Knight, who still hasn’t been since in public, is said to be recovering in a hospital and has turned away visitors, CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds reports from Cleveland.

“She was severely beaten,” said Knight’s grandmother, Debora Knight. “He had beat so badly in the face, she has to have facial reconstruction, and she’s lost hearing in one ear.”

McGinty suggests the charges could number in the hundreds, if not thousands.

In his first court appearance Thursday, Castro looked down at the ground for almost the entire proceeding, biting his collar and signing documents with his handcuffed hands. He didn’t speak.

The women found alive after years in captivity endured lonely, dark lives inside a dingy home where they were raped and allowed outside only a handful of times in disguises while walking to a garage steps away, investigators say.

Assistant county prosecutor Brian Murphy said the women were beaten repeatedly and sexually assaulted. He said Castro used the women “in whatever self-gratifying, self-serving way he saw fit.”

While many questions remain about how Castro maintained such tight control over the women for so many years before one of them made a daring escape Monday, the horrors they suffered are beginning to come to light.

Castro lured the women into his vehicle, according to court documents filed Thursday.

Police say the women were apparently bound by ropes and chains at times and were kept in different rooms. They suffered prolonged sexual and psychological abuse and had miscarriages, according to a police report obtained Wednesday by CBS News, which corroborated information received earlier from a law enforcement source. Knight told police she suffered five miscarriages.

In note, Ariel Castro claimed he was sexually abused as a child
Baby born under death threat in Ohio nightmare
Kidnap suspect’s personnel file: Fired after infractions
Castro has been charged with four counts of kidnapping – covering the captives and the daughter born to one of them – and three counts of rape, against all three women.

Years before his arrest Monday, Castro apparently contemplated committing suicide, CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton reports.

In a lengthy, handwritten note from 2004 discovered in his house by FBI agents, Castro allegedly confessed to taking the three women and said that he was abused as a child and raped by an uncle, according to a law enforcement source.

Reynolds also reports that Castro called himself a “sexual predator” and provided details about taking each of his victims. He blamed the women for their own kidnappings, but he asks for whatever money he has to be donated to his victims after his death.

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How did Ariel Castro control the victims?

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Kidnapped girl said she forgot her Spanish in captivity
Kathleen DeMetz, a public defender who represented Castro in court, said he would be transferred from a city jail medical unit where defendants charged with sex crimes or are considered a suicide risk are normally held.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine told CNN Thursday night that his office received DNA profiles of Castro and will start trying to determine if he is involved in other crimes.

Earlier Thursday in court, Castro did not have a chance to talk to his two brothers, who were arrested and cleared without charges, DeMetz said.

The women and Castro have given lengthy statements to police that have helped build their case, said Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba.

None of the women, though, gave them any indication that Castro’s two brothers, who had been in custody since Monday, were involved, Tomba said. Prosecutors brought no charges against the brothers, citing a lack of evidence. The brothers appeared in court before Castro, on unrelated charges, and were in the process of being released.

Pedro Castro, 54, pleaded no contest to an open container charge while two charges against Onil Castro, 50, were dismissed.

“Ariel kept everyone at a distance,” Tomba said.

The women, now in their 20s and 30s, vanished separately between 2002 and 2004. At the time, they were 14, 16 and 20 years old.

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Title: Reform life

Message Body:
Mi no mi fass but mi kinda lass ya now.
Up until a yr and a half ago no one in di party family didn’t know this man was capable of being loyal.
Couple months ago it was mas Glama. And now every minute him a fling up dem pic ya like him in new found love. Di sad part about this is all a him gal dem deh pon him Fb a see it.kaydan,veachy,Glama and serene plus jeneka. My question is this. A try him a try meck dem jealous? Or a di repayment dis him affi meckk fi all a di bunn weh him dash out? Mi seh from di fat boy get suck off Burgs quat and tunn lickel puppy dag unda Tracey. Burgs you future secure she nah go no weh. You can stop di acting and di reform performance now.

—

Heartcopy (20)
My husband’s half sister is mine too!

Dear Taiwo,

My husband and I are in a dilemma, honestly a way out is not visible or should I say we are yet to get one. This is because the issue at hand is too evident to be ignored and my husband and I are so confused.
I am fortunate to be raised by both parents and we had a happy family and a good background. My parents were into business and we were really comfortable. Their marriage to us their children was a good and perfect one and my younger sister and I used to pray and wish we would eventually marry a man like my father. He was our stereotype of a good husband and the way he treated mum, none of us would ever believe that dad had extra marital affairs.
Tunde, my husband was not that lucky, he lost his father at a very tender age, he told me died in a motor accident when he was two years old while his elder brother was five. His mother raised the two of them alone. She refused to remarry despite pleas and advice from family and friends. His mother eventually had a relationship with a man friend of hers when both of them were away in school.
Adekunle, his elder brother travelled abroad for his Masters, and he was in the university too. He told me he never met the man, but that his mother always told them about him and sometimes when he helped out with their school fees and extras in the house.
According to my husband, the said man, (his mother’s secret friend) was instrumental to his going abroad for his Master’s degree too and that was where we met. When we both finished our studies, we stayed back and started working. It was easy for me because all my siblings did the same and Tunde’s brother too was there to help out as all of us were together in Britain.
According to him, during our stay in the United Kingdom, his mother informed both of them that she was pregnant for her male friend, but he said then that he wasn’t prepared for that type of commitment in their relationship. She never considered abortion as an option, so she kept the baby. As at that time, she had gone into business herself and she was doing well.
With the support of her children, she was able to give their kid sister a very good and sound education. The pregnancy and the birth of the baby girl actually put an end to his mother’s relationship with her friend, but because she is mature and comfortable, she was able to move on without a problem and according to her, the little baby was just what she needed at that time since her children were grown and away from home.
We got married in Britain and both parents attended our marriage and played their roles as our parents. There was nothing like animosity between my father and my mother –in-law and nobody would believe they had ever met themselves before our wedding and traditional introduction.
My husband and I came into the country few years back, because we felt it was high time we did. You won’t believe that my father loved my husband so much that he encouraged him go into his business and he actually helped him to grow it. Both our parents have had cause to meet each other several times during family celebrations, but we had no cause to suspect they were keeping anything from us.
To the glory of God, the little girl has finished her studies, done her NYSC and even travelled to the US for her Master’s degree. She is back home and wants to get
married. You won’t believe the shock my husband received when his mother told him who his little sister’s father is.
I also found it difficult to believe when he told me that my father is his sister’s father. This is shocking, strange and annoying. According to my mother-in-law, she wouldn’t have raised this because she already knew what peoples reaction would be, but his sister insisted on knowing who her father is or was. Even if he was no longer living, she deserved to know.
She told him and felt there was no need keeping it a secret any longer from us since she had already told his sister. The problem now is, I don’t even know what she expected from me. I also don’t know what to do? Should I ask my father? How would my mother take it? Then, what would happen if my sister-in-law insists that her father should be visible in her wedding ceremony?
I am sure you would ask if we didn’t guess by her surname. She had always bore my mother-in-law’s maiden name. I don’t even know what my husband’s thinking is or how he feels about my father now. The worst thing is that he is not talking. Please, Taiwo, how does one handle a situation like this? I am happily married with two children. My husband and I love each other; I don’t want this situation or anything to destroy my home, kindly help out with your counsel.
Anonymous.