Ohio man who held 3 women captive hangs himself
Posted by Michelle Moquin on September 5th, 2013
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Ohio man who held 3 women captive hangs himself
The Cleveland man serving a life sentence for holding three women captive in his home for a decade hanged himself in his prison cell, officials said Wednesday in another startling twist in the case that appalled and transfixed the city.
Ariel Castro, 53, was found hanging around 9:20 p.m. Tuesday at the state prison in Orient, said JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the corrections system. Prison medical staff performed CPR before Castro was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“He took the coward’s way out,” said Elsie Cintron, a neighbor who lived up the street from the former school bus driver in Cleveland. “We’re sad to hear that he’s dead, but at the same time, we’re happy he’s gone, and now we know he can’t ask for an appeal or try for one if he’s acting like he’s crazy.”
There was no immediate comment from his three victims.
Castro was sentenced Aug. 1 to life in prison plus 1,000 years after he pleaded to 937 counts, including kidnapping and rape, in a deal to avoid the death penalty. At his sentencing, he told the judge: “I’m not a monster. I’m sick.”
Castro had been in protective custody because of the notoriety of his case, meaning he was checked every 30 minutes, but was not on suicide watch, which entails constant supervision, Smith said.
An autopsy showed the death was suicide by hanging, said Dr. Jan Gorniak, Franklin County coroner. Gorniak would not comment on the circumstances in which Castro was found.
The three women — Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight — disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old. They were rescued from Castro’s home on May 6 when Berry broke out part of screen door and yelled to neighbors for help.
Elation over the women’s rescue soon turned to shock as details emerged about their captivity. Castro fathered a child with Berry while she was being held. The girl was 6 when she was freed.
Investigators also said the women were bound with chains, repeatedly raped and deprived of food and bathroom facilities. Knight told investigators she was beaten and starved to force her to miscarry over and over.
No one answered the door Wednesday morning at the home of Castro’s mother and brother.
In Castro’s old neighborhood, Jessica Burchett said his suicide had short-circuited the life sentence.
“It does give a little bit of closure to the families and people that got affected by what he did,” she said, “but at the same time he deserved to be in there for his life because of what he did to those girls.”
At the home of Berry’s sister, a woman who didn’t identify herself said from the porch that there would be no comment. An officer in a passing patrol car kept watch on the street.
Wearing their familiar red berets, members of the Guardian Angels volunteer patrol group stationed themselves outside DeJesus’ home and said her family didn’t want to be bothered as the community absorbed the news.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said in a statement: “I ask the community to continue to respect the privacy of the survivors so that they can move forward with their lives.”
Messages left for the women’s lawyers were not immediately returned.
Castro was watched closely in the Cuyahoga County Jail in the several weeks after his arrest and before his guilty plea, with logs noting his activity every 10 minutes. He was taken off the suicide watch in June after authorities determined he was not a suicide risk.
Castro’s attorneys tried unsuccessfully to have a psychological examination of Castro done at the jail before he was turned over to state authorities following his guilty plea, his attorney, Jaye Schlachet, said Wednesday. Schlachet would not comment further.
In an interview last month, Schlachet and attorney Craig Weintraub said that their client clearly fit the profile of someone with sociopathic disorder and that they hoped researchers would study him for clues that could be used to stop other predators.
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Associated Press writers Thomas J. Sheeran in Cleveland and Kantele Franko in Columbus contributed to this report.
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Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus.
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September 6th, 2013 at 10:39 am
Hmmmm……Interesting as he imprisoned those poor women for years, but couldn’t handle it himself and I’m sure he was treated better in prison than they were in his.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:40 am
Thanks for saving us tax payers additional money….
September 6th, 2013 at 10:40 am
Too bad he didnt do this years ago.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:42 am
Here’s a guy who couldn’t deal with life unless he was the one in control. Killing himself was the last chance he had to control something, so he took it.
I’d love it if he’d spent more time suffering in prison, but the fact that he’s dead is not a bad thing at all. My heart goes out to the 3 victims and the little girl – they are strong (obviously WAY stronger than this coward was), but they have a tough road ahead and I wish the best for them all.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:43 am
The creep held three women captive for 10 years and in the end he couldn’t handle his own captivity for more than a month? What did he think he inflicted on three innocent women? Coward.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:43 am
Lay him out somewhere and let the buzzards pick him clean. No burial needed.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:45 am
I’m really happy that the jail provided the resources required for him to execute himself. Good job boys.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:45 am
$2 for a rope, Chair provided by the prison, Saving the tax payers millions on a trail – Priceless!
September 6th, 2013 at 10:45 am
Thank Goodness. This creep finally did something for the good of mankind!
September 6th, 2013 at 10:46 am
Taxpayers should be relieved that they will no longer have to pay for his room, board and medical expenses. Good riddance to a big pile of (d)(o)(g) poop!
September 6th, 2013 at 10:47 am
“Rest in peace Ariel Castro” -Said no one ever
September 6th, 2013 at 10:48 am
Good, at least he saved the taxpayers money to keep him alive when a cemetery plot would have been better for him.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:49 am
Thanks to the inmates that helped him to see the light.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:49 am
Couldn’t have happened to a better coward.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:50 am
Life in prison plus 1000 years ? Ariel Castro you just bought a one way ticket to Hell, not just for 1000 years but for Eternity. You will face torment forever.
Suffer you beast.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:50 am
Goody gumdrops
September 6th, 2013 at 10:50 am
Now they can start the clock on his 1,000 year sentence.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:51 am
Let’s put webcam on the corpse and make it mandatory viewing for those guys that end up in pretrial diversion programs for domestic violence or custody interference, those sorts of things.
Do you suppose if there were a camera on him already anyone would have bothered calling to report the suicide in progress? “Hey, that scumbag is fixin’ to off himself, might want to go check into that…”
September 6th, 2013 at 10:53 am
How fitting…………
September 6th, 2013 at 10:54 am
The man who held 3 innocent woman captive for many years gets a taste of his own medicine and finds it is not worth staying alive.
His jail time was a perfect “do unto others as they do unto you” !
I am happy I don’t have to supply him housing food and other necessities any longer.
September 6th, 2013 at 10:54 am
Can I buy a pack of cigarettes for the inmates?
September 6th, 2013 at 12:40 pm
The prison staff was clearly negligent. Fine them five dollars each.
September 6th, 2013 at 12:41 pm
I would gladly see my tax money go to supporting this monster for the rest of his life. Prison for him would have been pure agony and I’d wished him a lifetime of it!
He shortened his time in prison. Even those condemned to death spend an average of 10 to 14 years on death row (which costs astronomically more than general population) – a miserable existence.
This guy gets to spend just ONE month, then takes his life. I feel cheated. But I’m glad he’s no longer on the earth.