Kidnapped girls found

[IQS.RLOW]

In captivity for 10 years!

Here's their rescuer


"I knew somethin was wrong when a pretty little white girl ran into the arms of a black man"

[Neferti]

I haven't seen anything about this, 10 years in captivity? Perhaps I should google Amanda Berry to get the real background story?

[Super Nova]

Three women abducted a decade ago found
• Police alerted to house by frantic 911 call
• 'Ariel Castro' arrested
• Children found at house
• Mother of Amanda Berry 'died of broken heart'

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were found after a neighbour heard screaming and called 911.

Miss Berry disappeared aged 16, on April 21, 2003, after she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King. Miss DeJesus went missing aged 14 on her way home from school about a year later.

Miss Knight disappeared about 10 years ago when she was 21.

Children were also found at the property. Police have arrested a 52-year-old man and his two brothers in relation to the abductions.

Cleveland's police chief Ed Tomba said he thought the women were tied up in the house and had been there since they disappeared.

Amanda Berry (C) reunited with her sister (L) in Cleveland, Ohio (AFP/Getty Images)

The women were discovered when a neighbour was alerted to their presence by screams from the house. He rushed to the property, where one of the women used his mobile phone to call emergency services, according to Cleveland police.

Neighbour Charles Ramsey speaks to media near the house on Seymour Avenue where the three missing women were rescued in Cleveland (AP)

"I heard screaming - I see this girl going nuts trying to get outside," Charles Ramsey, the man who found them, told WEWS.

"I go on the porch and she said 'Help me get out. I've been here a long time.' - She comes out with a little girl ... 'Call 911, my name is Amanda Berry'... When she told me it didn't register."




He said he kicked the bottom of the door open so Miss Berry could crawl out as the man ran from the house. She emerged with a young child, he said.

On the phone to police, Miss Berry begged them to come as soon as they could "before he gets back."

"Help me! I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped. I've been missing for 10 years. I'm free. I'm here now," she said, according to the recording of her frantic call to 911.

She told the dispatcher that the man who had held her captive was called Ariel Castro. When police arrived she told them there were two other captives in the home. At least one of the women is reported to have a baby.

Cleveland Police stand outside the home where they say missing women, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight were found (AP)

Local news stations said Mr Castro is the man in police custody.

All three women were taken to a hospital, where they were reported to be in good medical condition, police said. They were to be reunited with the remaining members of their families at the hospital, Cleveland's Channel 5 News reported.

"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. Again, I am thankful that these three young ladies are found and alive," Mayor Frank Jackson said.

Loved ones said they hadn't given up hope of seeing Miss Berry and Miss DeJesus again. Among them was Kayla Rogers, a childhood friend of Miss DeJesus.

"I've been praying, never forgot about her, ever," she told The Plain Dealer. "This is amazing. This is a celebration. I'm so happy. I just want to see her walk out of those doors so I can hug her."

Miss Berry's cousin Tasheena Mitchell told the newspaper she couldn't wait to hug her.

"I'm going to hold her, and I'm going to squeeze her and I probably won't let her go," she said.

Tasheena Mitchell, cousin of Amanda Berry celebrates outside of MetroHealth Medical Center (AP)

Mr Castro was described by neighbours as a friendly school bus driver and musician whose daughter would often come over with his grandchildren. Mr Ramsey said he had lived in the neighbourhood for a year and saw the man in the house where the women were found "every day".

Neighbour Charlie Czorb said he was stunned by how long the women had lived at the house undetected.

"This is our own backyard," he said. "These girls were locked up in our own backyard."

The case was back in the spotlight in January when a prison inmate was sentenced to four and a half years after admitting he provided a false burial tip in the disappearance of Ms Berry.

A judge in Cleveland sentenced Robert Wolford on his guilty plea to obstruction of justice, making a false report and making a false alarm.

Last year, Wolford told authorities to look for Ms Berry's remains in a Cleveland lot. He was taken to the location, which was dug up.

Miss Berry's mother, Louwana Miller, who had been hospitalised for months with pancreatitis and other ailments, died in March 2006. She had spent the previous three years looking for her daughter, whose disappearance took a toll as her health steadily deteriorated, family and friends said.

"She literally died of a broken heart," said city councilwoman Dona Brady, a friend of the Berry family.

Two men arrested for questioning in the disappearance of Ms DeJesus in 2004 were released from the city jail in 2006 after officers did not find her body during a search of the men's house.

One of the men was transferred to the Cuyahoga County Jail on unrelated charges, while the other was allowed to go free, police said.

In September 2006, police acting on a tip tore up the concrete floor of the garage and used a cadaver dog to search unsuccessfully for Ms DeJesus' body.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... alive.html

[Neferti]

Mmmm. Some very lucky girls. No wonder some people hope and pray that this is what happened to their missing child. Most people who disappear are never found. This is a sort of a good luck story, I guess?

[Super Nova]

These bastards should be locked up with Bubba and his mates for 2x10 years in a hole in the ground as punishment.

There is something to be said for "an eye for an eye" times two.

[AiA in Atlanta]

“Bro, I knew something was wrong when a pretty little white girl ran into a black man’s arms.”

[Neferti]

How were the girls "locked up"? Is there a picture of the house? I doubt anyone in Australia could keep children locked up for 10 years in a suburban home without causing some concern from nosy neighbours .........

[mantra]

A lot of homes have cellars in the US - so it probably makes it easy for a sicko to keep someone in captivity for such a long time. With 3 women though - you'd think they could have overpowered their kidnapper at some time or other.

[Neferti]

A lot of homes have cellars in the US - so it probably makes it easy for a sicko to keep someone in captivity for such a long time. With 3 women though - you'd think they could have overpowered their kidnapper at some time or other.

Forgot about America and their "basements" ... no windows and completely filled in and safe "in case of rotten weather". I would have thought that 3 females would have at least tried to support each other and try to get away ......but who knows what pressure they were under. If some male tried it on with me I would fight to the death and kill, if necessary for my survival.

[Aussie]

If some male tried it on with me ...

Not a snow flake's chance, Nappy.

What I have been quite taken by is how the Locals describe their escape as an 'Act of God.' I reckon the Tooth Fairy had SFA to do with it. WTF.....the escape is God's work in that very Community, but the Easter Bunny was responsible for the three kidnaps in that very Community!

Yeah.