Man Who Held Three Women Captive Hanged Himself

Ariel Castro, the Cleveland man who held three women captive for a decade, has died after apparently hanging himself inside his prison cell.

The 53-year-old was found in his cell at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, at 9.20pm on Tuesday, prison officials said.
Prison medical staff performed CPR on him before he was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead 90 minutes later.

JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said Castro was being held in protective custody because of the notoriety of the case.
This meant he was checked every 30 minutes, but he was not on suicide watch.

Castro kept his victims chained inside his house

His three victims - Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Michelle Knight - disappeared between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20-years-old.


Before the sentencing, Castro's lawyers had unsuccessfully tried to have a psychological examination of their client.
They argued Castro fit the profile of sociopathic disorder, and said they hoped researchers would study him for clues that could be used to stop other predators.
Castro, a former school bus driver, said during his sentencing hearing that he was a man suffering from a pornography addiction.
"I'm not a monster. I'm sick," he said.

Gina DeJesus (L), Amanda Berry (C) and Michelle Knight (R)

He was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to 937 counts including kidnap and rape.
His victims told a horrific story of starvation, beatings and sexual abuse during the years of captivity in his home in Seymour Avenue in east Cleveland.

Castro chained them by their ankles, fed them only one meal a day and provided plastic toilets in their bedrooms that were rarely emptied.
He is the father of Ms Berry's six-year-old girl, DNA tests have confirmed.
Ms Knight, who confronted him in court, said: "You took 11 years of my life away, and I have got it back."
"I spent 11 years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning."
The three women escaped on May 6, when Ms Berry broke open a door and alerted neighbours.

Castro's house has been torn down

"Help me," she said in a call to the police emergency dispatcher.


"I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now."
Castro was arrested that evening.