The Cleveland Kidnappings: What happened afterward?

In May 2013, the city of Cleveland, Ohio, was shocked with the discovery and rescue of three women who had spent almost a decade in captivity.

A man named Ariel Castro (pictured here) kept them locked and under his control, a real-life horror story that shocked the world.

Born in Puerto Rico, Ariel Castro was a school bus driver, described as very nice by his neighbors. However, his ex-wife Grimilda Figueroa, with whom he had three children, commented that he was violent. Figueroa abandoned him due to the mistreatment he received from him.

Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus, were just 21, 17, and 14, respectively, when Castro kidnapped them. If that wasn't heartbreaking enough, during her captivity, Berry gave birth to a baby girl.

Castro's house, located at 2207 Seymour Avenue, gained notoriety as Cleveland's “House of Horrors.” The eerie stillness around the property most of the time raised questions among neighbors, who wondered if anyone lived there, as reported by CNN.

According to CNN, Amanda Berry managed to desperately call for help through a small gap in the door that was holding her captive with a padlock. After hearing her screams, a neighbor named Charles Ramsey immediately alerted the police.

That call for help in 2013 was the end of captivity for Amanda Berry, her daughter Jocelyn, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight. It ended almost 10 years of imprisonment and the beginning of a long process of recovery and search for justice for the victims.

One of the survivors, Michelle Knight (pictured), has undergone a remarkable transformation after 11 years of kidnapping.

Knight was Castro's first victim, she kidnapped shortly after leaving a relative's house while she was on her way to court to fight for custody of her son.

As reported by People Magazine, Knight has written two books that have achieved great success in the United States, appearing on the New York Times bestseller list, recounting her experience during the kidnapping, as well as her healing process.

Image: jruscello / Unsplash

In an interview with Dr. Phil, Michelle Knight revealed that she managed to achieve one of the goals she set for herself after regaining her freedom: Getting married. Her husband's name is Miguel. This helped her significantly on her path to rebuilding her life.

Photo: Daria Obymaha/Pexels

Michelle Knight has chosen to change her name to Lily Rose Lee. This name change may represent a symbolic rebirth, a new identity that reflects her healing process and her new life, defined by her own terms.

Lily Rose Lee (in the picture, third on the left), now sports tattoos that evoke the five babies she lost during her kidnapping, a constant reminder of that dark and traumatic time. However, they are also a manifestation of her desire to transcend and overcome adversity.

During their kidnapping, the three young women suffered all sorts of abuses. They were subjected to inhuman conditions, including deprivation of food and basic freedoms, as well as constant fear and humiliation. Castro mistreated them physically and emotionally, with sexual misconduct, beatings, torture, and death threats.

They were imprisoned in a dungeon, bound with chains. “It was a torture room in which Castro made his twisted fantasies come true,” explained one of the officers in charge of the investigation.

One of Ariel Castro's favorite amusements was keeping them hungry, giving one of the three food and forcing the others to watch her eating it.

Amanda Berry, who was kidnapped in 2003, recalled at the time of her rescue by the police that she recorded her kidnapper's abuse in a notebook.

“I knew I would be released. I wanted my family to know what I went through, how horrible it was. I wanted him to be held accountable for it,” she recalled, according to an article published by Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia.

Image: honza_kahanek / Unsplash

Amanda Berry, with the assistance of Michelle Knight, gave birth to a girl, the outcome of her kidnapper's abuse. To deal with raising a little kid in the basement, Amanda developed for her daughter a make-believe life.

“We pretended to walk to school, I tried to make it as real as possible for her. We finally got to school, I dropped her off and said 'Ok. I love you, have a good day' and then I became a teacher”, Berry recounted, according to La Vanguardia.

Gina DeJesus, kidnapped in 2004, also suffered the torments of Ariel Castro. In addition to the rapes, the beatings disfigured her. These injuries made it difficult for DeJesus to be recognized by the authorities at the time of her rescue.

Gina Dejesus's parents, Nancy Ruiz and Felix DeJesus, never stopped looking for her. The couple (pictured here) had few resources, so they printed flyers that they put around the city. Ariel Castro got one of these flyers, who then showed up to Gina.

Gina DeJesus along with her cousin, Silvia Colon, founded the Cleveland Family Center for Missing Children and Adults in 2018.

The center aims to provide a place where families and survivors can seek support and resources, offer preventive training and raise awareness to establish a safer community for all the people in Cleveland.

Image: dj_johns1 / Unsplash

Ariel Castro was charged with 937 counts and sentenced to life in prison. According to Spanish newspaper El País, during the trial, Castro claimed to be sick and tried to apologize for his actions: “I know I did wrong, but I am not a violent person”.

According to El País, Castro was treated differently from other prisoners. “He was under special protection, he had his own cell and the guards made a round every 30 minutes,” prison official JoEllen Smith explained in a statement.

Image: ansleycreative / Unsplash

Despite these measures, he took his own life with a sheet tied around his neck in his cell on September 3, 2013. His house in Cleveland was eventually torn down.

The Cleveland kidnappings left a mark on the local community and across the country. However, Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus are a reminder that people can overcome adversity and find hope even in the most desperate situations.