The Lost Girls (25 page)

Amanda told her sister she would call back, and spoke to the man driving the van. He introduced himself as Ariel Castro, asking if she knew his son, who used to work at Burger King, and his daughter Angie. Amanda recognized their names and she walked around the van, as Castro opened the front door for her.

Once inside, she realized that they were alone, and the girl she had seen was no longer there. When Amanda asked where she was, Castro said Angie was back at his house.

Then Castro had driven past her street without stopping, but Amanda was not nervous, as she’d seen the girl with him earlier.

“When they got to the house on Seymour,” Detective Parker wrote in her police report, “he pulled into the back of the driveway and went into the house by the back door, leading into the kitchen.”

He told Amanda that Angie was taking a bath, and started showing her around the house. She followed him upstairs, going past a closed door with a hole where the handle had been removed. Amanda looked through and saw a woman inside, whom she would soon learn was Michelle Knight. When she asked Castro who it was, he said it was his roommate.

“Once they were upstairs in what was his bedroom,” Harasimchuk later testified, “Amanda Berry told Ariel Castro to please take her home or she would call the police. She attempted to run out of the room and became disorientated and ran into a closet.

“It was at this time that Ariel Castro first sexually assaulted her. He then used duct tape to tie her wrists and her legs. He put duct tape on her mouth and a motorcycle helmet on her head. He then carried her down to the basement where he physically restrained her with a chain. He left her overnight alone in the dark basement.”

Amanda then described giving birth to Jocelyn in the basement, assisted by Michelle Knight.

Next the detectives interviewed Gina DeJesus, who recounted her abduction. She was walking home from school with her best friend Arlene “Rosie” Castro, when they had telephoned her mother for permission for Gina to come over and play. Arlene’s mother had said no, as she was grounded.

“After that DeJesus and Rosie went in separate directions,” wrote Detective Harasimchuk in his report. “Rosie’s father, Ariel Castro, drove down the street and asked if DeJesus had seen his daughter. DeJesus stated that she had just seen her and then Castro asked if she would help him out.”

After Gina was inside his Jeep Cherokee, Castro informed her he had to stop off at his house to get some money.

“Once at Castro’s house, 2207 Seymour,” wrote Harasimchuk, “he asked if she could help him pick up a speaker. [They] went into the bathroom and [he] was looking at himself in the mirror. Castro then asked her to show him her privates. DeJesus states she got uncomfortable and wanted to leave. Castro said she could leave but would have to go out of a different door than she came in.”

Castro had tricked her down into his basement and attacked her. After chaining her to a pole and handcuffing her wrists with plastic ties, he raped her for the first time.

Finally, Michelle Knight told detectives how she got lost on August 22, 2002, on her way to meet a social worker about her son, Joey. She had been in a Family Dollar store asking directions when Ariel Castro had suddenly appeared and offered to drive her. She told detectives that she had only accepted his help because she knew his daughter Emily.

He then drove her to 2207 Seymour Avenue, where she had remained until a couple of hours earlier.

“All the victims said that they were repeatedly sexually assaulted by Ariel Castro,” Harasimchuk later testified, “either vaginally, orally or anally. [They] all described a pattern of being repeatedly sexually, physically and emotionally assaulted by Ariel Castro, during the entire time that they were held captive.”

As the news that Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus had been found spread around Cleveland like wildfire, hundreds of people gathered on the streets of the West Side to celebrate, with passing drivers honking their horns in support. Many more gathered outside the MetroHealth Center, awaiting word on the rescued women’s conditions.

All the local TV affiliates, as well as national cable stations, went live, preempting regular programming that night. And scores of newspapers from all over the world dispatched reporters out to Cleveland on the first available flights.

By 8:00
P.M.
, a small encampment of TV news crews had moved into Seymour Avenue, where they would remain for the next several weeks. And reporters scurried around interviewing anybody that lived on Seymour Avenue and had ever seen Ariel Castro.

But the big scoop was WEWS-TV reporter’s John Kosich’s first interview with Amanda Berry’s rescuer Charles Ramsey, who was already being hailed a hero.

Kosich began by asking Ramsey to walk him through what had happened.

An animated Ramsey responded that he heard screaming. “I’m eating my McDonald’s. I come outside and see this girl going nuts, trying to get out of the house. So I go on the porch … and she says, “‘Help me get out! I’ve been here a long time.’”

Ramsey said he had initially thought it was a domestic dispute, as he tried to open the screen door, which was locked, with only enough room to get a hand through.

“So we kick the bottom,” he said, “and she comes out with a little girl and she says, ‘Call nine-one-one. My name is Amanda Berry.’”

At first the name didn’t register, but when he finally spoke to the emergency dispatcher he realized exactly who she was.

“I thought the girl was dead,” he told Kosich.

Ramsey said he had then watched the police go into the house, coming out a few minutes later with Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.

Then Kosich asked about his neighbor Ariel Castro.

“You got some pretty big testicles to pull this off, bro,” replied Ramsey, without missing a beat. “Because we see this dude every day. I mean every day … I barbecue with this dude. We eat ribs and whatnot and listen to salsa music.”

Kosich asked about the girls’ reactions to being outside the house in the sunlight.

“Bro,” replied Ramsey, “I knew something was wrong when a little, pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms. Something is wrong here. Dead giveaway. Dead giveaway.”

And within minutes that interview had gone viral, turning Charles Ramsey into a media sensation.

Soon after 8:00
P.M.
the Cleveland Police Department released mug shots of the three Castro brothers, along with audio of Amanda Berry’s dramatic 911 call. It would be played countless times over the next few weeks, becoming synonymous with the story.

When her brother called to say their cousin Amanda Berry had been found, Tasheena Mitchell had not dared believe it. There had been so many hoaxes and false alarms in the past. But as soon as she turned on her TV and saw it was true, Tasheena, and another cousin Destiny Berry, had driven straight to the MetroHealth Center to see Amanda.

“I’m just so excited,” Destiny told WKYC-News. “I think about her every day. I’ve prayed about her every night. We’re just so close but so far away, because they won’t let us in.”

Destiny said the three of them had grown up together, and were all best friends before she disappeared.

“We were so close,” said Destiny. “Inseparable, and when she came up missing it killed us. All the hoaxes and games and the rumors that went on during the years. That’s another thing.”

Destiny said the biggest tragedy of all was Louwana Miller dying without knowing her daughter was alive.

“She left without knowing,” said Destiny. “And now she’s coming home, her mother’s not even here to see that.”

At around 9:00
P.M.
, Dr. Gerald Maloney, who had admitted the four victims in the emergency room, gave an impromptu press conference outside MetroHealth Medical Center.

“We’re assessing their needs,” he told reporters and the large cheering crowd. “The appropriate specialists are evaluating them now. This isn’t the ending we usually get to these stories.”

Later that night MetroHealth Medical Center released an official statement.

“The women have had a preliminary physical examination and are in fair condition,” it stated. “They have been reunited with their families. MetroHealth joins our community in grateful appreciation for their safe return.”

After finishing work that night at his bank in Columbus, Ohio, Ariel Castro, Jr., had dined with his best friend, Trevor. He had inadvertently turned off his cell phone ringer, and on checking it after the meal, there was a stream of messages from friends and family members. They all said that Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and another girl, whose name he didn’t recognize, had been found alive in a house on Seymour Avenue. And a man in his fifties driving a blue car had been arrested.

On hearing the news, Castro was delighted that the girls had been found safe, especially Gina, whom his sister Arlene had been the last to see.

He immediately called Arlene, asking if she had heard the great news. She said that she had and was going straight out to celebrate.

“My sister was so excited,” Castro said later
.
“She had worried so much about Gina all those years. She had felt so much guilt that she was with her just before she went missing.”

It was only when he called his aunt Elida Carabello that he sensed something was terribly wrong. Elida said she suspected his father had been arrested, as he perfectly fitted the description of a fifty-two-year-old man who drove a blue car and lived on Seymour Avenue. Ariel, Jr., told her that she must be mistaken, as he would never do anything like this.

Then when he turned on the television and heard Amanda’s 911 call, mentioning his father by name, he knew his aunt was right.

“When I heard Amanda Berry … say his name,” said Ariel, Jr., “I knew he was guilty. I mean, who would come up with a name like Ariel Castro or invent that kind of story?”

Lillian Roldan had been eating dinner with her new husband and their two-year-old daughter when a friend called her cell phone, asking if she’d heard that Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and another girl had been found alive, and who had been arrested. When Lillian said she hadn’t, her friend said it was her ex-boyfriend.

“I said, ‘What do you mean, “my ex-boyfriend”?’” said Lillian. “‘You mean Ariel Castro?’ And I’m saying, ‘No! No! No!’”

Then Lillian turned on the television to see Ariel Castro’s mug shot, and knew it was true.

“Oh my God,” Lillian tearfully recalled, “I felt everything. Upset. Really mad. Angry. Sad. Why did he do it? How he did it? I don’t know.”

Jovita Marti, whose mother had helped Amanda Berry escape, went round to Lillian’s house that night to comfort her.

“She was crying a lot when she found out,” said Jovita. “I said, ‘Girl, you’re lucky that you’re not with them.’”

At eleven Monday night, Amanda called her father, Johnny Berry, and grandmother Fern Gentry in Tennessee, to tell them she was safe.

“She said, ‘Hi, Daddy, I’m still alive,’” said her father, who is terminally ill with pulmonary disease. “‘I love you, I love you, I love you.’ We were both crying … it was the happiest day of my life.”

Then, in an emotional telephone call, broadcast live on WEWS-TV, Gentry had a tearful reunion with her granddaughter.

“How are you?” asked Fern.

“I’m fine,” replied Amanda.

“I’m glad to have you back. I thought you were gone.”

“No, I’m here,” said Amanda, her voice welling up with tears.

“And we’re happy down here for you,” said her grandmother. “The little girl is your baby?”

“Yes,” replied Amanda, “she is my daughter, born on Christmas.”

“We have to get together soon.”

“I know it,” said Amanda.

Gina DeJesus also spoke to relatives via speakerphone from the MetroHealth Medical Center. She requested they not ask about her captivity, but volunteered how Ariel Castro liked to celebrate their “abduction day,” as if it were their new birthday.

Now living in Naples, Florida, Barbara Knight was watching the evening news when she first learned Michelle had been found alive. She spent the rest of the evening trying to call her daughter at the MetroHealth Medical Center, but Michelle refused to take her calls.

Late Monday night, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty, who would prosecute the case, joined dozens of Cleveland police officers and FBI agents at 2207 Seymour Avenue, as they began searching the house. Across town at Cleveland City Jail, the three Castro brothers were put on suicide watch. At one point Ariel Castro was escorted past his brother Onil’s cell.

“Onil,” he said, “you’re never going to see me again. I love you, bro.”

Early Tuesday morning, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus were discharged from MetroHealth Medical Center and taken to a hotel at a secret location in Cleveland. The FBI had arranged twenty-four-hour security, to protect them from the media. Michelle Knight, who was still in a serious condition, remained in the hospital undergoing treatment.

The Cleveland abductions were now making front-page headlines all over the world:
HORROR HOUSE: 3 WOMEN MISSING FOR A DECADE RESCUED IN OHIO,
trumpeted the
New York Post
;
US WOMEN ABDUCTED TEN YEARS AGO FOUND ALIVE,
read the
Daily Telegraph
; and
The Guardian
proclaimed:
CLEVELAND POLICE CRITICIZED AS CITY ASKS: WHY WERE WOMEN NOT FOUND SOONER.

Much of the TV and newspaper coverage that morning featured dramatic interviews with various neighbors, who reported seeing: naked women on leashes crawling on their hands and knees in the back garden; suspicious screams coming from the house; and a woman clutching an infant and pounding on the window for help.

They spoke of calling Cleveland police on numerous occasions, who had come to 2207 Seymour Avenue and then left again after not getting an answer.

Comparisons were already being made to the Anthony Sowell serial killings two years earlier, where Cleveland police had been accused of not taking the missing-persons reports of the eleven female victims’ families seriously enough.